Patent EP0337122A2 successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
EP0337122A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
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Part program generating system
Assignee: Westinghouse Electric Corp
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Filing: 1989-03-10
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2009-03-10
Abstract
Abstract The present invention is a system that takes a drawing definition produced by a CAD/CAM system 10 and produces a debugged program to machine apart by numerical control. The drawing definition is a list of the surfaces which create the part. A list of surface features from a drawing is scanned by a process planner 14 and a list of primitive shapes and transition points in each shape is created to produce a process tree which controls regions for machining. The process also specifies tools, feeds and speeds necessary for rough machining the part. An appropriate machine is selected based first on the rough stock dimensions of the stock to be used to make the part and then on the number of tools that can be held by the machine and possible feed speeds of the machine. A code generator 16 completes macrocalls corresponding to processes required to make the part. The resulting part program is transferred to a code processor 18 which produces the machine tool code for the particular machine 20 selected.
Inventors
- 👤 Bruno Mohammed Belkhiter
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-10 02:08
CPC Classifications
G; G05; G05B; G05B19/00; G05B19/02; G05B19/18; G05B19/402; G05B19/4097; Y; Y02; Y02P; Y02P90/00; Y02P90/02
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 15
Claim 1
Independent Claim
77 words
A process for generating a numerical control program from a part-drawing, said numerical control program being of the type suitable for machining and producing a required workpiece or part, said process comprising the steps of: initially reading the geometry of the part from the part-drawing by automatically recognizing and noting points, curves, surfaces and conics; characterized by: (a) producing a shape signature representative of the read geometry; (b) generating the numerical control program from the shape signature.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
77 words
A process for generating a numerical control program from a part-drawing, said numerical control program being of the type suitable for machining and producing a required workpiece or part, said process comprising the steps of: initially reading the geometry of the part from the part-drawing by automatically recognizing and noting points, curves, surfaces and conics; characterized by: (a) producing a shape signature representative of the read geometry; (b) generating the numerical control program from the shape signature.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
65 words
A process as recited in claim 1, wherein step (b) comprises the steps of: (b1) producing a process tree with nodes from the shape signature; (b2) determining boundaries for each node of the process tree; (b3) determining a machining operation from the boundaries; (b4) selecting processes based on the shapes defined by the boundaries; and (b5) producing machining program steps based on the processes selected.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
52 words
A process as recited in claim 2, wherein step (b1) includes the steps of: (i) producing a list of primitive shapes and transition points from the shape signature; (ii) determining a highest transition point and dividing the list into sublists responsive to the determination; and (iii) repeating step (ii) for each sublist.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
29 words
A process as recited in claim 2, wherein step (b2) includes the step of assuming a boundary of a parent node when a current node has a boundary undefined.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
26 words
A process as recited in claim 2, wherein step (b3) includes comparing the boundaries to contents of a table that defines machining operations based on boundaries.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
21 words
A process as recited in claim 2, wherein step (b4) include traversing a shape pattern tree comparing branches to boundary surfaces.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
38 words
A process as recited in claim 2, wherein process selection includes tool designation and step (b4) includes calculating a size of a region to be machined and determining the number of rough cutting passes responsive to the size.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
31 words
A process as recited in claim 2, wherein process selection includes tool designation and step (b4) includes process order selection by traversing the process tree concatenating processes of the same type.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
21 words
A process as recited in claim 2, wherein step (b4) includes creating directional contouring passes from a list of part surfaces.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
21 words
A process as recited in claim 2, wherein step (b5) includes completing a machining program macro-call designated by the selected process.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
44 words
A process as recited in claim 1, wherein step (b) comprises the steps of: (b1) determining primitive shapes from the geometry relating to the shape signature; (b2) matching primitive shapes with processing steps; and (b3) combining the processing steps to produce the desired program.
Claim 13
Independent Claim
99 words
An apparatus for automatically generating a numerical control program from a part-drawing, of a workpiece or part to be made by machining said numerical control program being of the type suitable for machining and producing a required workpiece or part, said apparatus comprising: means for reading a geometry of the part from the part-drawing by automatically recognizing and noting points, curves, surfaces and conics as required on a finished part; characterized by shape means for generating a shape signature which is representative of the read geometry; and programming means for generating the numerical control program from the shape signature.
Claim 14
Independent Claim
99 words
An apparatus for automatically generating a numerical control program from a part-drawing, of a workpiece or part to be made by machining said numerical control program being of the type suitable for machining and producing a required workpiece or part, said apparatus comprising: means for reading a geometry of the part from the part-drawing by automatically recognizing and noting points, curves, surfaces and conics as required on a finished part; characterized by shape means for generating a shape signature which is representative of the read geometry; and programming means for generating the numerical control program from the shape signature.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
66 words
An apparatus as recited in claim 12, wherein said programming means comprises: means for producing a process tree from the shape signature; means for determining boundaries for each node of the process tree; means for determining a machining operation from the boundaries; means for selecting machining processes based on the shape defined by the boundaries; and means for producing machining program steps from the processes selected.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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