Controller for a progressive die assembly for the manufacture of laminated parts

Claim 2

A controller for a progressive die assembly, the progressive die assembly including advancing means for advancing sheet stock material, punching means for forming laminas from the sheet stock material, rotating means for rotating at least one lamina prior to stacking and interlocking said at least one lamina with another lamina to thereby form a stack of laminas, and a rotation sensor for monitoring the rotating means, said controller comprising: rotation sensing means for receiving signals from a said rotation sensor and determining the current angular position of a said rotating means; and angular rotation means for providing control signals to the said rotating means based on the current angular position of the said rotating means as determined by said rotation sensing means, to enable the said rotating means to rotate said at least one lamina relative to a said another lamina prior to stacking and interlocking said at least one lamina to thereby compensate for lamina thickness variations.

Claim 3

The controller of claims 1 wherein said angular rotation means provides control signals for rotating said at least one lamina within an arcuate range of approximately 30° to 330° .

Claim 4

The controller of claim 1 wherein said angular rotation means provides control signals for rotating said at least one lamina approximately 180° .

Claim 5

The controller of claim 1 wherein said angular rotation means includes means for generating an error signal according to a comparison of the determined angular position of the said rotating means with a desired rotational position, and means for communicating said error signal to activate the said rotating means and thereby rotate the said rotating means to the desired rotational position.

Claim 6

The controller of claim 1 further comprising means for operator entry of the number of laminas to be rotated, wherein said angular rotation means provides control signals for rotating said laminas according to the number of laminas to be rotated entered by the operator.

Claim 7

The controller of claim 1 for a progressive die assembly having a gauge for measuring the thickness of the sheet stock material, said controller further comprising means for receiving signals from the said gauge, and wherein said angular rotation means provides control signals for automatically rotating said laminas in response to measured thickness of the sheet stock material.

Claim 8

The controller of claim 1 for a progressive die assembly having a rotating means capable of incremental rotation wherein said controller includes increment means for determining the amount of incremental rotation of the said rotating means, and said angular rotation means provides control signals which are also based on the amount of incremental rotation determined by said increment means.

Claim 9

The controller of claim 1 for a progressive die assembly which includes a sensor for monitoring the said punching means to determine the operative state of said punching means, said controller further including punch sensing means for receiving signals from said sensor for monitoring the said punching means and timing means for coordinating operation of said punching means and said rotating means, said timing means coupled to the said punch sensing means, said rotation sensing means, and said angular rotation means to thereby prevent said angular rotation means from providing control signals for the rotation of the said rotating means during the punching stroke of the said punching means.

Claim 10

The controller of claim 1 for a progressive die assembly which includes a gauge for measuring the thickness of the sheet stock material, means for forming bottom laminas to thereby separate lamina stacks, and means for operator entry of nominal stack height, said controller further comprising means for calculating an average thickness based on the thickness measured by the said gauge, and means for comparing the calculated average thickness to the nominal stack height entered by the operator to determine the number of laminas for each stack and activate said bottom lamina forming means when the nominal stack height is achieved.

Claim 11

The controller of claim 1 further comprising means for operator entry of at least one of the parameters of stack height, skew angle, and nominal lamina thickness, wherein said angular rotation means provides control signals for rotating said at least one lamina according to at least one of the input parameters of stack height, skew angle, and nominal lamina thickness entered by the operator.

Claim 12

The controller of claim 1 wherein said angular rotation means also provides control signals to the said rotating means to rotate said laminas according to a desired skew angle.

Claim 13

The controller of claim 1 further comprising means for operator entry of the desired skew angle.

Claim 14

The controller of claim 1 further comprising means for operator entry of the number of laminas desired to be rotated in order to compensate for thickness variations, and wherein said angular rotation means determines whether to provide control signals to the said rotating means in order to rotate a particular lamina according to the following table: ______________________________________ CONDITION Result ______________________________________ n < (N/2Q - 1/2) no rotation (N/2Q - 1/2) < n < (N/2Q + 1/2) rotation (N/2Q + 1/2) < n < (1.5N/2Q - 1/2) no rotation (1.5N/2Q - 1/2) < n < (1.5N/2Q + 1/2) rotation (1.5N/2Q + 1/2) < n < (2.5N/2Q - 1/2) no rotation (2.5N/2Q - 1/2) < n < (2.5N/2Q + 1/2) rotation (2.5N/2Q + 1/2) < n < (3.5N/2Q - 1/2) no rotation (3.5N/2Q - 1/2) < n < (3.5N/2Q + 1/2) rotation (3.5N/2Q + 1/2) < n < (4.5N/2Q - 1/2) no rotation (4.5N/2Q - 1/2) < n < (4.5N/2Q + 1/2) rotation (4.5N/2Q + 1/2) < n no rotation ______________________________________ where: N is the nominal total number of laminas in a stack; Q is the minimum number of rotations entered by the operator; and n is the particular lamina number in a stack where n=1 for the first lamina and n=N for the last lamina.

Claim 15

The controller of claim 1 for a progressive die assembly which includes a gauge for measuring the thickness of the sheet stock material at two locations, said controller further comprising means for operator entry of the maximum allowable parallelism error, and wherein said angular rotation means determines whether to provide control signals to the said rotating means in order to rotate a particular lamina according to the following table: ______________________________________ CONDITION Result ______________________________________ ΣT.sub.1 - ΣT.sub.2 > ± Ep/2 rotation ΣT.sub.1 - ΣT.sub.2 ≦ ± Ep/2 no rotation ______________________________________ where: T 1 is the thickness measurement of the sheet stock material at a first edge of the sheet stock material; T 2 is the thickness measurement of the sheet stock material at a second edge of the sheet stock material; and E p is the parallelism error entered by the operator.

Claim 16

The controller of claim 1 wherein said angular rotation means determines a desired angular position for the said rotating means, said angular rotation means providing control signals based on the desired angular position which is determined according to the equation: φ=k * B.sub.S * (S/H)+θ where: φ is the desired angular position of the said rotating means: k is a constant related to the amount of movement needed for one complete rotation of the said rotating means; B S is the skew factor; S is the current accumulated height of stack; H is the stack height; and θ is a variable having a value which depends on the amount of rotation desired for thickness variation compensation.

Claim 17

The controller of claim 1 wherein said punching means includes a solenoid, said controller further comprising means for activating said solenoid.

Claim 18

The controller of claim 16 wherein said punching means includes a counterbore solenoid and wherein said solenoid activating means selectively activates said counterbore solenoid for controlling the punching of a counterbore in the laminas.

Claim 19

The controller of claim 17 wherein said activating means activates the counterbore solenoid according to the equation: (C.sub.D -S)>T.sub.N /2 where: C D is the counterbore depth, S is the accumulated stack height, and T N is the nominal lamina thickness.

Claim 20

The controller of claim 16 wherein said punching means includes an interlock solenoid and wherein said solenoid activating means selectively activates said interlock solenoid for controlling the formation of interlock tabs in the laminas.

Claim 21

The controller of claim 19 wherein said activating means activates the interlock solenoid to completely blank out the interlock tabs according to the equation: S≧H-T.sub.N /2 where: S is the accumulated stack height, H is the desired stack height, and T N is the nominal lamina thickness.

Claim 22

A controller for providing control signals to a progressive die assembly, the progressive die assembly including advancing means for advancing sheet stock material, punching means for forming laminas from the sheet stock material, and rotating means for rotating at least one lamina prior to stacking and interlocking said at least one lamina with another lamina to thereby form a stack of laminas, said controller comprising: position sensing means for determining the current angular position of the said rotating means; angular rotation means coupled to said position sensing means for providing control signals to the said rotating means to enable the said rotating means to rotate at least one lamina relative to a said another lamina prior to stacking and interlocking said at least one lamina to thereby compensate for lamina thickness variations.

Claim 23

A controller for providing control signals to a progressive die assembly, the progressive die assembly including advancing means for advancing sheet stock material, punching means for forming laminas from the sheet stock material, and rotating means for rotating at least one lamina prior to stacking and interlocking said at least one lamina with another lamina to thereby form a stack of laminas, said controller comprising: position sensing means for determining the current angular position of the said rotating means; angular rotation means coupled to said position sensing means for providing control signals to the said rotating means to enable the said rotating means to rotate at least one lamina relative to a said another lamina prior to stacking and interlocking said at least one lamina to thereby compensate for lamina thickness variations.

Claim 24

The controller of claim 21 wherein said angular rotation means provides control signals for rotating said at least one lamina within an arcuate range of approximately 30° to 330°.

Claim 25

The controller of claim 21 wherein said angular rotation means provides control signals for rotating said at least one lamina approximately 180°.

Claim 26

The controller of claim 21 further comprising means for operator entry of the number of laminas to be rotated, wherein said angular rotation means provides control signals for rotating said laminas according to the number of laminas to be rotated entered by the operator.

Claim 27

The controller of claim 21 for a progressive die assembly having a gauge for measuring the thickness of the sheet stock material, said controller further comprising means for receiving signals from the said gauge, and wherein said angular rotation means provides control signals for automatically rotating said laminas in response to measured thickness of the sheet stock material.

Claim 28

The controller of claim 21 for a progressive die assembly having a rotating means capable of incremental rotation wherein said controller includes increment means for determining the amount of incremental rotation of the said rotating means, and said angular rotation means provides control signals which are based on the amount of incremental rotation determined by said increment means.

Claim 29

The controller of claim 21 for a progressive die assembly which includes an inserting means for pushing the laminas into said rotating means and thereby stacking and interlocking the laminas and a sensor for monitoring the said inserting means, said controller further including punch sensing means for receiving signals from the said sensor for monitoring the said inserting means to determine the operative state of the said inserting means, and timing means for coordinating operation of the said inserting means and the said rotating means, said timing means coupled to the said punch sensing means and said angular rotation means to thereby prevent said angular rotation means from providing control signals for the rotation of the said rotating means during the stacking and interlocking operation of the said inserting means.

Claim 30

The controller of claim 21 for a progressive die assembly which includes a gauge for measuring the thickness of the sheet stock material, means for forming bottom laminas to thereby separate lamina stacks, and means for operator entry of nominal stack height, said controller further comprising means for calculating an average thickness based on the thickness measured by the said gauge, and means for comparing the calculated average thickness to the nominal stack height entered by the operator to determine the number of laminas for each stack and activate said bottom lamina forming means when the nominal stack height is achieved.

Claim 31

The controller of claim 21 wherein said angular rotation means also provides control signals to the said rotating means to rotate said laminas according to a desired skew angle.

Claim 32

The controller of claim 29 further comprising means for operator entry of said desired skew angle.

Claim 33

The controller of claim 21 further comprising means for operator entry of the number of laminas desired to be rotated in order to compensate for thickness variations, and wherein said angular rotation means determines whether to provide control signals to the said rotating means in order to rotate a particular lamina according to the following table: ______________________________________ CONDITION Result ______________________________________ n < (N/2Q - 1/2) no rotation (N/2Q - 1/2) < n < (N/2Q + 1/2) rotation (N/2Q + 1/2) < n < (1.5N/2Q - 1/2) no rotation (1.5N/2Q - 1/2) < n < (1.5N/2Q + 1/2) rotation (1.5N/2Q + 1/2) < n < (2.5N/2Q - 1/2) no rotation (2.5N/2Q - 1/2) < n < (2.5N/2Q + 1/2) rotation (2.5N/2Q + 1/2) < n < (3.5N/2Q - 1/2) no rotation (3.5N/2Q - 1/2) < n < (3.5N/2Q + 1/2) rotation (3.5N/2Q + 1/2) < n < (4.5N/2Q - 1/2) no rotation (4.5N/2Q - 1/2) < n < (4.5N/2Q + 1/2) rotation (4.5N/2Q + 1/2) < n no rotation ______________________________________ where: N is the nominal total number of laminas in a stack; Q is the minimum number of rotations entered by the operator; and n is the particular lamina number in a stack where n=1 for the first lamina and n=N for the last lamina.

Claim 34

The controller of claim 21 for a progressive die assembly which includes a gauge for measuring the thickness of the sheet stock material at two locations, said controller further comprising means for operator entry of the maximum allowable parallelism error, and wherein said angular rotation means determines whether to provide control signals to the said rotating means in order to rotate a particular lamina according to the following table: ______________________________________ CONDITION Result ______________________________________ ΣT.sub.1 - ΣT.sub.2 > ± Ep/2 rotation ΣT.sub.1 - ΣT.sub.2 ≦ ± Ep/2 no rotation ______________________________________ where: T 1 is the thickness measurement of the sheet stock material at a first edge of the sheet stock material; T 2 is the thickness measurement of the sheet stock material at a second edge of the sheet stock material; and E P is the parallelism error entered by the operator.

Claim 35

The controller of claim 21 wherein said angular rotation means determines a desired angular position for the said rotating means, said angular rotation means providing the control signals based on the desired angular position which is determined accordingly to the equation: φ=k * B.sub.S * (S/H)+θ where: φ is the desired angular position of the said rotating means; k is a constant related to the amount of movement needed for one complete rotation of the said rotating means; B S is the skew factor; S is the current accumulated height of stack; H is the stack height; and θ is a variable having a value which depends on the amount of rotation desired for thickness variation compensation.

Claim 36

The controller of claim 21 wherein said punching means includes a solenoid, said controller further comprising means for activating said solenoid.

Claim 37

The controller of claim 34 wherein said punching means includes a counterbore solenoid and wherein said solenoid activating means selectively activates said counterbore solenoid for controlling the punching of a counterbore in the laminas.

Claim 38

The controller of claim 35 wherein said activating means activates the counterbore solenoid according to the equation: (C.sub.D -S)>T.sub.N /2 where: C D is the counterbore depth, S is the accumulated stack height, and T N is the nominal lamina thickness.

Claim 39

The controller of claim 34 wherein said punching means includes an interlock solenoid and wherein said solenoid activating means selectively activates said interlock solenoid for controlling the formation of interlock tabs in the laminas.

Claim 40

The controller of claim 37 wherein said activating means activates the interlock solenoid to completely blank out the interlock tabs according to the equation: S>H-T.sub.N /2 where: S is the accumulated stack height, H is the desired stack height, and T N is the nominal lamina thickness.

Claim 41

A controller for a progressive die assembly, the progressive die assembly including advancing means for advancing sheet stock material, punching means for forming laminas from the sheet stock material, rotating means for rotating at least one lamina prior to stacking and interlocking with another lamina to thereby form a stack of laminas, and inserting means for pushing the laminas into said rotating means and thereby stacking and interlocking the laminas, said controller comprising: pushing control means for providing control signals to the said inserting means; and angular rotation means for providing control signals to the said rotating means, said angular rotation means communicating with said pushing control means to enable the said rotating means to rotate at least one lamina relative to said another lamina prior to stacking and interlocking said at least one lamina to thereby compensate for lamina thickness variations.

Claim 42

A controller for a progressive die assembly, the progressive die assembly including advancing means for advancing sheet stock material, punching means for forming laminas from the sheet stock material, rotating means for rotating at least one lamina prior to stacking and interlocking with another lamina to thereby form a stack of laminas, and inserting means for pushing the laminas into said rotating means and thereby stacking and interlocking the laminas, said controller comprising: pushing control means for providing control signals to the said inserting means; and angular rotation means for providing control signals to the said rotating means, said angular rotation means communicating with said pushing control means to enable the said rotating means to rotate at least one lamina relative to said another lamina prior to stacking and interlocking said at least one lamina to thereby compensate for lamina thickness variations.