Methods and systems for optimizing punch instructions in a material forming press system

• US 7,418,309 B2
• Filed: 09/22/2005
• Issued: 08/26/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: The Bradbury Company Inc.
• Original Assignee: The Bradbury Company Inc.
• Inventors: Asher, Larry Dale Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): DeCady; Albert
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shechtman; Sean P.
• Application Number:
  US11/232,522
• Publication Number:
  US 20070062350A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,069 Days
• Field of Search: 700/92, 700 99-101, 700/165, 700/173, 700/179, 700/182, 700/206, 83/72, 83/755
• US Class Current: 700/165
• CPC Class Codes: B21D 28/265 with relative movement of sheet and tools enabling the punching of holes in predetermined locations of the sheet, e.g. holes punching with template
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 83/04 Processes
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 83/141 With means to monitor and control operation [e.g., self-regulating means]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 83/155 Optimizing product from unique workpiece

Abstract

Methods and systems are disclosed to optimize punching instructions. An example method disclosed herein obtains a tool bed layout, the tool bed including a description of a plurality of tool punch parts, each tool punch part further including tool definition information; obtains a component layout, the component including a description of a component having at least one feature requiring a punching operation; validates the component layout; advances the component to a position of optimum depth; determines a hit score at the position of optimum depth; and repeats the component advancing and the hit score determination until all of the at least one feature of the component is assigned to a tool punch part.

Claims

1. A method of optimizing punching instructions comprising:

obtaining a tool bed layout, the tool bed layout comprising a description of a plurality of tool punch parts, each tool punch part further comprising tool definition information;

obtaining a component layout, the component layout comprising a description of a component having at least one feature requiring a punching operation;

validating the component layout;

advancing the component to a position of optimum depth;

determining a hit score at the position of optimum depth; and

repeating the component advancing and the hit score determination until all of the at least one feature of the component is assigned to a tool punch part.

2. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein advancing the component to a position of optimum depth comprises advancing the component to align a feature thereon proximate to the tool punch part capable of forming the feature.

3. A method of claim 2 wherein aligning the feature proximate to the tool punch part capable of forming the feature includes at least one of aligning the feature directly under the tool punch part and aligning the feature directly under a maximum offset range of the tool punch part.

4. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein determining a hit score comprises evaluating punch capabilities for each of the plurality of tool punch parts at each of the at least one feature of the component.

5. A method as defined in claim 1 further including:

determining positions of optimum depth having a maximum hit score; and

assigning the maximum hit score positions as the optimized punch instructions.

6. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein obtaining the tool bed layout comprises parsing at least one of a formatted file, parsing an XML file, and querying a database.

7. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein obtaining the component layout comprises parsing at least one of a formatted file, parsing an XML file, and querying a database.

8. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the tool definition information comprises at least one of tool index, tool use count, home location, offset range, dimensions, assignment status, and material type.

9. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the component layout comprises at least one of component dimensions, component material gauge, number of features, feature type, feature indexes, and feature dimensions.

10. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein validating the component layout comprises determining if at least one of the tool bed layout and the component layout are in a valid format.

11. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein validating the component layout comprises comparing the tool bed layout to the component layout to determine whether the tool bed comprises tools required for punching features of the component layout.

12. A punching instruction optimizing system comprising:

a punch press comprising a tool bed, the tool bed comprising a plurality of tool punch parts;

a punch press control system;

a data store comprising a tool bed layout and at least one component layout to define at least one component feature;

a material input to receive strip material, the plurality of tool punch parts operating on the strip material to punch the at least one feature according to the component layout;

a punch press validator; and

a punch press optimizer to determine an optimized strip material insertion depth and optimize punch operations, the optimizer determining a hit score for each operation.

13. A punching instruction optimizing system as defined in claim 12 wherein the punch press optimizer determines an optimized strip material insertion depth via advancing the component to align one of the at least one feature thereon proximate to at least one of the plurality of tool punch parts capable of forming the at least one feature.

14. A punching instruction optimizing system as defined in claim 13 wherein the system aligns the at least one feature directly under the at least one of the plurality of tool punch parts.

15. A punching instruction optimizing system as defined in claim 13 wherein the system aligns the feature directly under a maximum offset range of the at least one of the plurality of tool punch parts.

16. A punching instruction optimizing system as defined in claim 12 wherein the system determines the hit score for each operation by evaluating punch capabilities for each of the plurality of tool punch parts at each of the at least one features of the component.

17. A punching instruction optimizing system as defined in claim 12 wherein the system determines operations having a maximum hit score and said operations assigned as system punching instructions.

18. A punching instruction optimizing system as defined in claim 12 wherein the data store obtains the tool bed layout by parsing at least one of a formatted file, parsing an XML file, and querying a database.

19. A punching instruction optimizing system as defined in claim 12 wherein the data store obtains the component layout by parsing at least one of a formatted file, parsing an XML file, and querying a database.

20. A punching instruction optimizing system as defined in claim 12 wherein the tool bed layout comprises information of at least one of tool index, tool use count, home location, offset range, dimensions, assignment status, and material type.

21. A punching instruction optimizing system as defined in claim 12 wherein the plurality of component features comprises at least one of component dimensions, component material gauge, number of features, feature type, feature indexes, and feature dimensions.

22. A punching instruction optimizing system as defined in claim 12 wherein the punch press validator comprises determining if at least one of the tool bed layout and the component layout are in a valid format.

23. A punching instruction optimizing system as defined in claim 12 wherein the punch press validator comprises comparing the tool bed layout to the component layout to determine whether the tool bed comprises tools required for punching features of the component layout.

24. An article of manufacture storing machine readable instructions which, when executed, cause a machine to:

obtain a tool bed layout, the tool bed layout comprising a description of a plurality of tool punch parts, each tool punch part further comprising tool definition information;

obtain a component layout, the component layout comprising a description of a component having at least one feature requiring a punching operation;

validate the component layout;

advance the component to a position of optimum depth;

determine a hit score at the position of optimum depth; and

repeat the component advancing and the hit score determination until all of the at least one feature of the component is assigned to a tool punch part.

25. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 24 wherein the machine readable instructions cause the machine to advance the component to align a feature thereon proximate to the tool punch part capable of forming the feature.

26. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 25 wherein the machine readable instruction cause the machine to at least one of align the feature directly under the tool punch part and align the feature directly under a maximum offset range of the tool punch part.

27. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 24 wherein the machine readable instruction cause the machine to evaluate punch capabilities for each of the plurality of tool punch parts at each of the at least one feature of the component.

28. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 24 wherein the machine readable instruction cause the machine to:

determine positions of optimum depth having a maximum hit score; and

assign the maximum hit score positions as the optimized punch instructions.

29. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 24 wherein the machine readable instruction cause the machine to parse at least one of a formatted tool bed layout file, parse an XML tool bed layout file, and query a database comprising tool bed layout information.

30. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 24 wherein the machine readable instruction cause the machine to parse at least one of a formatted component layout file, parse an XML component layout file, and query a database comprising component layout information.

31. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 24 wherein the machine readable instruction cause the machine to determine if at least one of the tool bed layout and the component layout are in a valid format.

32. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 24 wherein the machine readable instruction cause the machine to compare the tool bed layout to the component layout to determine whether the tool bed comprises tools required for punching features of the component layout.