Patent ID: 6732423
Filing Date: 2004-05-11
Classification: B23P,F16G,G05B,Y02P,Y10T

Abstract:
An apparatus for assembling a laminated ring, comprising:a component storage facility for storing a plurality of endless ring components of each of layers which are to be laminated into a laminated ring; component data managing means for storing component data including size data representative of at least respective circumferential length values of the ring components stored in said component storage facility; combinatorial trial calculation means for performing combinatorial trial calculations to combine the component data of the layers, one by one for all the layers, in said component storage facility under a predetermined combinatorial condition based on the component data of the ring components stored by said component data managing means, to generate a plurality of lamination combinatorial data representing combinations of the ring components of the respectively layers which can be assembled into said laminated ring; and unloaded product selecting means for selecting lamination combinatorial data corresponding to a laminated ring to be actually assembled from the lamination combinatorial data generated by said combinatorial trial calculation means; wherein ring components of each of the layers corresponding to the lamination combinatorial data selected by said unloaded product selecting means can be unloaded from said component storage facility to assemble a laminated ring; said unloaded product selecting means comprising: means for setting a target frequency distribution in a predetermined standard range of size data of ring components of each of the layers such that the target frequency distribution is of a substantially identical shape between the layers and target frequencies in all classes established in said standard range are equal to or greater than a predetermined positive minimum value; means for determining an actual frequency distribution of size data of ring components of each of the layers in said component storage facility as an actual inventory frequency distribution based on the size data held by said component data managing means; means for comparing said target frequency distribution and said actual inventory frequency distribution with each other for each of the layers and extracting a layer where an error of said actual inventory frequency distribution with respect to said target frequency distribution is maximum as a particular layer; means for correcting a deviation, from a target frequency in said target frequency distribution, of a frequency in each of classes in the actual inventory frequency distribution of said particular layer, which frequency is greater than the target frequency in said target frequency distribution, with a predetermined weighting coefficient for each of the classes; means for selecting a class in which the corrected deviation is of a maximum value as a class with unloading priority; and means for selecting lamination combinatorial data including component data belonging to said class with unloading priority of said particular layer, out of the lamination combinatorial data generated by said combinatorial trial calculation means, as lamination combinatorial data corresponding to a laminated ring to be actually assembled; wherein said weighting coefficient is established such that the value of said deviation which is corrected by said weighting coefficient is greater for a class whose frequency tends to increase as a new ring component is loaded into said component storage facility.