DIGITIZING APPARATUS

Abstract: An apparatus for producing digital data along a profile path obtained by profiling a model surface, and wherein a normal vector is correctly found. First, a probe is moved along the first profile path, the results thereof are digitized and tangential vectors at every point are stored in a memory (8). Then, the probe is moved in the second profiling direction at right angles with the direction of the first profile path to find tangential vectors. A normal vector component is calculated by a normal vector calculation unit (9) based on the two tangential vectors.

Description: This invention relates to a digitizing apparatus in which the surface of a model is traced by a probe which measures distance contactlessly, thereby forming digitizing data along the profiling path. In ordinary tracer control, a stylus is moved while in contact with the surface of a model, and displacement quantities εx, εy, εz along respective axes, which quantities depend upon the tracing path on the model surface, are detected from a tracer head. In a tracer control apparatus, the displacement quantities εx, εy, εz along the respective axes are combined into a vector and the direction of a normal to the model surface is computed to form profiling data. When machining is subsequently performed based on the digitizing data, offset values conforming to the axial components of the normal vector are decided and a difference between stylus diameter and cutter diameter is corrected by a three-dimensional correction. In digitizing based on this conventional contact profiling system, the direction of displacement does not accurately reflect the normal line direction of the model surface owing to friction between the stylus and model, and it is difficult to form accurate digitizing data because of the effects of disturbance as caused by roughness of the model surface. In addition, owing to the inaccurate normal vector, the original model shape cannot be reproduced at the time of machining even if cutter diameter is compensated for in three dimensions. Reference is made to DE-A-3445981 in this respect. The present invention has been devised in order to solve the foregoing problems and its object is to provide a digitizing apparatus in which the digitizing of a model surface is performed twice using a contactless probe and the direction of the normal is accurately decided to enable a highly precise three-dimensional correction. According to the present invention, there is provided a digitizing apparatus in which the surface of a model is traced by a probe which measures distance contactlessly, thereby forming digitizing data along the profiling path, comprising profiling direction setting means for setting a first profiling direction which defines the profiling path, and a second profiling direction which perpendicularly intersects the first profiling direction, memory means for storing tangent vectors computed from an error quantity between probe measurement distance and a reference distance in each of the profiling directions, arithmetic means for computing, from perpendicular vectors which perpendicularly intersect said tangent vectors and which are computed on the basis of the tangent vectors, a normal vector with regard to the surface of the model at each point of intersection between the two profiling directions, each normal vector being the sum of the associated perpendicular vectors and correcting means for correcting, on the basis of the normal vector and a cutter to be used in implementing the digitizing data, digitizing data formed with regard to the first profiling direction. The digitizing apparatus of the invention is such that the surface of a model M is digitized twice, namely along a first profiling path and a second profiling path, using a contactless probe, for example as shown in Fig. 4, so that the direction of the normal to the digitized model can be accurately corrected and digitizing data can be formed which includes highly precise three-dimensional correction direction data. Brief Description of the Drawings Fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a view for describing contactless profiling, Fig. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a digitizing apparatus which controls a probe, Fig. 4 is a view illustrating two profiling paths for digitizing a model surface, and Figs. 5 and 6 are views illustrating an example of a procedure for computing a normal vector at a point of intersection. An embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. First, contactless profiling will be described with reference to Fig. 2. This is a method in which profiling data is formed, without making contact with the surface of a model, by means of a probe sensor P, such as a laser probe, which measures distance contactlessly. The probe sensor generally is set to a reference distance and outputs the difference between this distance and an actually measured distance as an error quantity. More specifically, points A, B and C on the surface of a model M are taken as suitably selected sampling points. In order to form profiling data for this surface, first a vertical distance L₁ from point A to a probe P is measured, then the probe P is moved to the next sampling point B while applying a correcting operation, which is commensurate with an error quantity Δ L₁ (= L₁-L o ) between the measured distance and a reference distance L o , along the direction of the measurement axis, next a vertical distance L₂ at point B is measured to compute an error quantity Δ L₂ in the same manner, and then the probe is moved to point C while correcting this error quantity. In this way positional coordinates of the three sampling points within three-dimensional space are decided so that profiling data along the profiling path can be digitally sampled. Fig. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a digitizing apparatus for controlling the probe P which performs the above-described contactless profiling. Numeral 11 denotes a tracer control apparatus, 12Z, 12X represent DA converters for DA-converting digital velocity signals Vx, Vz along the respective axes generated by the tracer control apparatus 11, and 13Z, 13X designate servo circuits for the respective axes. Numerals 14Z, 14X denotes motors for drive along the Z and X axes, respectively, 15Z, 15X represent position detecting pulse coders for generating respective pulses Pz, Px each time the corresponding motors rotate through a predetermined angle, and 16Z, 16X denote present position registers for the respective axes for monitoring present position (Xn,Zn) along the axes by reversibly counting, in dependence upon the direction of movement, the pulses generated by the corresponding pulse coders. The tracer control apparatus 11 receives, as inputs, the necessary data regarding commanded velocity Vcmd, profiling limits and profiling method, etc., from a control panel (not shown), as well as a measured distance L from the probe P. When these inputs arrive, the tracer control apparatus 11 computes the error quantity Δ L between the measured distance and the reference distance L o and computes, from the error quantity Δ L, the velocity of the probe P in the normal direction as well as the velocity thereof in a tangential direction. Also inputted to the tracer control apparatus 11 are the present axial positions (Xn,Zn) synchronized to the computation period. The apparatus 11 computes the angle of inclination of the model surface in the profiling direction and, based on this angle of inclination and the velocities in the normal and tangential directions, outputs the axial velocity signals Vx, Vz to the DA converters 12X, 12Z as profiling data. The movement of the probe P is controlled at the commanded profiling velocity Vcmd while the probe is held the reference distance L o above the surface of the model M. The profiling data (Vx,Vz) outputted by the above-described digitizing apparatus is obtained by continuously picking up points on the profiling path of the surface of model M. A correction corresponding to the diameter of the cutter must be performed in order to perform actual machining based on the digitizing data. Since the cutter diameter correction is performed in three dimensions in the direction of the normal to the surface of model M, it is necessary, in order to perform the cutter diameter correction correctly, to calculate the direction of the normal to the model surface at each point on the profiling path by some method and decide the direction of the three-dimensional correction. Therefore, according to the present invention, the direction of the normal is correctly decided by performing digitizing on the surface of the model M twice, namely along a first profiling path 1 and a second profiling path 2, as shown in Fig. 4. Fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the general construction of the abovementioned tracer control apparatus 11. Numeral 3 denotes a profiling direction setting unit for setting profiling directions which define the second profiling path 2, which forms a plurality of points of intersection with the first profiling path 1 at predetermined intervals. Numeral 4 denotes a profiling direction computing unit for computing profiling direction, 5 an adder for computing the error quantity Δ L between the measured distance L and the reference distance L o , 6 a velocity signal generating unit for generating a normal direction velocity signal Vn, 7 a velocity signal generating unit for generating a tangential direction velocity signal, 8 a memory for storing a tangential direction velocity signal Vt, 9 a normal vector computing unit for computing a normal vector at the point of intersection between the two profiling paths, and 10 a profiling data generating unit for generating profiling data from the computed profiling direction and velocity signals. Contactless profiling with the digitizing apparatus having the construction designed above will now be described. First, the probe P is moved along the first profiling path 1, the results are digitized and a sequence of tangential vectors, each of which is based on the error quantity between measured distance and reference distance of the probe P computed at that time, are computed along the first profiling path 1 and stored in the memory 8. Next, the probe P is moved along the path 2 formed by the profiling direction setting unit 3. In this case, the profiling direction setting unit 3, which sets the second profiling direction so as to form a plurality of points of intersection with the first profiling path 1 at a predetermined interval, defines the profiling path 2 in synchronization with the computation period of the profiling direction computing unit 4, thereby forming the plurality of points of intersection. The reason for this is convenience in terms of the computations when performing a profiling data correction, described below. Fig. 5 illustrates a portion of the second path 2 along which the probe P is moved at right angles to the first path 1. Let (Xp,Yp,Zp), (Xq,Yq,Zq) respectively represent machine positions at points P, Q astride the path 1, and let R, S respectively represent tangential vector ℓ beginning and end points on either side of the point of intersection of path 2 with the path 1. A perpendicular vector which perpendicularly intersects the tangential vector of the profiling path 1, and a perpendicular vector which perpendicularly intersects a vector PQ obtained by linearly approximating the profiling path 2, are computed as follows: Based on the length ℓ₁ [= √ (X2-X1)² + (Y2-Y1)² ] of the projection of the tangential vector ℓ shown in Fig. 6 onto the x-y plane, the former perpendicular vector is a vector perpendicular to this tangential vector ℓ (ℓ₁,Z2-Z1). That is, this perpendicular vector is expressed as follows in the original x-y-z space: Similarly, based on the length ℓ₂ (not shown) [= √ (Xp-Xq)² + (Yp-Yp)² ] of the projection of vector onto the x-y plane, the vector which perpendicularly intersects the vector is a vector perpendicular to the vector (ℓ₂,Zq-Zp). That is, this perpendicular vector is expressed as follows in the original x-y-z space: The normal vector computing unit 9 computes the two perpendicular vectors from the tangential vector stored in the memory 8, adds these two vectors and outputs the sum as digitizing data in the normal direction with regard to the model surface. It is of course permissible to store a tangential vector at each point of the profiling path 1 in the memory 8 from the beginning based on the data from the computing unit 4. Further, depending upon the setting of the second profiling path 2, the method of computation between the two perpendicular vectors performed by the computing unit 9 can be changed. For example, the normal vector can be computed by a weighted mean which is appropriately weighted. In any case, by thus accurately deciding the normal direction with respect to digitizing data formed along the initial profiling path 1, an accurate three-dimensional correction can be performed when performing machining by the digitizing data. The digitizing apparatus of the present invention is such that the digitizing of a model surface is performed twice using a contactless probe, the direction of the normal to the digitized model can be accurately decided, and digitizing data which includes highly precise three-dimensional correction direction data can be formed.

Claims: A digitizing apparatus in which the surface of a model is traced by a probe (P) which measures distance contactlessly, thereby forming digitizing data along a profiling path (1), characterised by profiling direction setting means (3,4) for setting a first profiling direction which defines said profiling path (1), and a second profiling direction (2) which perpendicularly intersects the first profiling direction; memory means (8) for storing tangent vectors (V t ; , in Fig.5) computed from an error quantity between probe measurement distance (Li) and a reference distance (Lo) each of the profiling directions (1,2); arithmetic means (9) for computing, from perpendicular vectors which perpendicularly intersect said tangent vectors and which are computed on the basis of these tangent vectors (V t ; , in Fig.5), a normal vector with regard to the surface of the model at each point of intersection between the two profiling directions, each normal vector being the sum of the associated perpendicular vectors; and correcting means for correcting, on the basis of the normal vector and a cutter to be used in implementing the digitizing data, digitizing data formed with regard to said first profiling direction. A digitizing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said profiling direction setting means (3,4) sets said second profiling direction so as to form a plurality of points of intersection with the first profiling path at predetermined intervals. A digitizing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that said memory means (8) stores a tangential vector decided as a functional value of the error quantity.

Inventors: MATSUURA HITOSHI, MATSUURA, HITOSHI
Applicants: FANUC LTD, FANUC LTD.
Application year: 1988
Main classification: B23Q35
IPC codes: B23Q15, G05B19, B23Q35