WORKPIECE SURFACE QUALITY ISSUES DETECTION

Abstract

A method for checking the quality of a workpiece, a surface section of the workpiece is finished with a manufacturing device. A reference signal representing a time dependent difference between an ideal tool position and a real tool position of a tool of the manufacturing device in a reference phase is determined when finishing the workpiece. A test signal representing a time dependent difference between an ideal tool position and a real tool position of a tool of the manufacturing device in an operation phase is determined when finishing the workpiece. A mean value and a standard deviation value from the reference signal is determined. Data points of the test signal are determined, where the test signal deviates from the mean value more than a defined multiple of the standard deviation value. The surface quality of the workpiece is estimated by using the determined data points.

Claims

1.-11. (canceled)

12. A method of estimating a surface quality of a workpiece, said method comprising: finishing a surface of the workpiece with a manufacturing device; determining a reference signal representing a time dependent difference between an ideal tool position and a real tool position of a tool of the manufacturing device in a reference phase when finishing the workpiece; determining a test signal representing a time dependent difference between the ideal tool position and the real tool position of the tool of the manufacturing device in an operation phase when finishing the workpiece; only when the reference signal and the test signal relate to a finishing operation of the manufacturing device, executing the steps of: determining a mean value and a standard deviation value from the reference signal for data points of a sliding window, with a size of the sliding window being individually defined for the workpiece to be finished, and a finishing speed is a parameter when adjusting the size of the sliding window size; determining data points of the test signal, where the test signal deviates from the mean value more than a defined multiple of the standard deviation value; and estimating the surface quality of the workpiece by using the determined data points of the test signal.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the reference signal and the test signal are based on measurement signals obtained from a measurement device of a controller of the manufacturing device or from a measurement device external from the controller of the manufacturing device

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the reference signal is a part of the test signal.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the test signal and the reference signal each have a plurality of data points, each of the data points of the test signal and reference signal including a sample of a relative position value of the tool.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising: moving a finishing tool of the manufacturing device in a moving direction which is not perpendicular to a surface section of the workpiece; and performing a coordinate transformation on the reference signal and the test signal before determining the mean value and the standard deviation value, so that a transformed coordinate of both the reference signal and the test signal is perpendicular to the surface section of the workpiece.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising synchronizing the test signal and the reference signal with each other.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the defined multiple of the standard deviation value is obtained by choosing a factor specific for the workpiece and/or the step of finishing the surface and multiplying the factor with the standard deviation value.

19. A manufacturing device, comprising: a tool section comprising a tool for finishing a surface section of a workpiece; a measuring means configured to determine a reference signal representing a time dependent difference between an ideal tool position and a real tool position of the tool of the manufacturing device in a reference phase when finishing the workpiece and for determining a test signal representing a time dependent difference between the ideal tool position and the real tool position of the tool of the manufacturing device in an operation phase when finishing the workpiece, wherein the reference signal and the test signal relate to a finishing operation of the manufacturing device; and a calculating means configured to determine a mean value and a standard deviation value from the reference signal for data points of a sliding window, with a size of the sliding window being individually defined for the workpiece to be finished, and with a finishing speed being a parameter when adjusting a sliding window size, determine data points of the test signal, where the test signal deviates from the mean value more than a defined multiple of the standard deviation value, and estimate a surface quality of the workpiece in response to the determined data points of the test signal.

20. The manufacturing device of claim 19, constructed in the form of a CNC machine.

21. The manufacturing device of claim 20, wherein the CNC machine is a milling machine.

22. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer readable computer program, wherein the computer program when loaded into a processor and executed by the processor causes the processor to perform the method of claim 12.

Description

[0031] The present invention will now be described in more detail along with the attached figures showing in:

[0032] FIG. 1 a flow chart of an example of an inventive method;

[0033] FIG. 2 a schematic block diagram of an inventive manufacturing device;

[0034] FIG. 3 a diagram of a reference signal;

[0035] FIG. 4 a diagram of a test signal; and

[0036] FIG. 5 a diagram with detected anomalous data points.

[0037] The following specific embodiments represent preferred examples of the present invention.

[0038] The flow chart of FIG. 1 shows principal steps of a specific embodiment of a method for estimating a surface quality of a workpiece according to the present invention. In a first step S1 a surface section of the workpiece 7 (compare FIG. 2) is finishing with a manufacturing device 1.

[0039] In a second step S2 determining a reference signal 13 (compare FIG. 3) representing a time dependent difference between an ideal tool position and a real tool position of a tool 3 of the manufacturing device 1 is determined in a reference phase when finishing the workpiece 7. An example of such reference signal 13 is shown in FIG. 3. A reference signal is a difference between a real position of a tool and a nominal position of the tool of the manufacturing device. Typically it is noisy (see below).

[0040] In a third step S3 there is determined a test signal 16 (see FIG. 4) representing a time dependent difference between an ideal tool position and a real tool position of a tool 3 of the manufacturing device 1 in an operation phase when finishing the workpiece 7. In one embodiment the reference signal is gained independently from the test signal. In another embodiment the reference signal equals to the test signal at least temporarily.

[0041] In an optional forth step S4 both signals, the reference signal and the test signal are synchronised. The reason for this step is that the reference signal and the test signal should represent the same sample region. However, it is not necessary to perform a highly exact synchronisation.

[0042] In an optional fifth step S5 there may be performed a filtering step. Only data points relating to finishing operations shall be evaluated. Other actions of the manufacturing device, specifically those where the tool is in air, are not of interest. Thus, in order to reduce the data amount the signals or data are filtered. Only those data remain which relate to the finishing operation.

[0043] In an optional sixth, step S6 a coordinate transformation may be performed. This transformation is necessary if the tool movement is not perpendicular to the surface of the workpiece. In this case an inclined movement of the tool should be transformed into a coordinate system with perpendicular and parallel axes to the surface of the workpiece.

[0044] In a seventh step S7 a mean value and a standard deviation value are determined from the reference signal. Preferably, the mean value and the standard deviation value are determined for data points of a sliding window. The position of the sliding window should be updated according to the actual position of the tool for real-time anomaly detection.

[0045] In an eight step S8 data points of the test signal are determined, where the test signal deviates from the mean value more than a defined multiple of the standard deviation value. Thus, all data points are determined which lay outside a window defined by a multiple of the standard deviation value in both directions of the mean value. Thus, all data points are determined which lay too far away from a nominal position.

[0046] According to a ninth step S9 the surface quality of the workpiece is estimated by using the determined data points. This estimation may be performed manually or automatically. The result of the estimation may be a binary value representing e.g. “sufficient” or “not sufficient”.

[0047] The block diagram of FIG. 2 shows the principal structure of a manufacturing device of an embodiment of the present invention. The manufacturing device 1 includes a tool section 2 comprising a tool 3 for finishing the workpiece 7. Additionally, the tool section 2 comprises a drive 4.

[0048] The manufacturing device 1 may further include a controller 5. The controller 5 may comprise measuring means 6 for determining a reference signal 13 representing a time dependent difference between an ideal tool position and a real tool position of a tool 3 of the manufacturing device in a reference phase when finishing the workpiece 7 and for determining a test signal 16 representing a time dependent difference between an ideal tool position and a real tool position of a tool 3 of the manufacturing device 1 in an operation phase when finishing the workpiece.

[0049] Furthermore, the controller 5 may comprise controlling means 8 for providing a control signal for tool section 2. Moreover, the controller 5 may comprise an interface 9 for communication with external devices.

[0050] A bidirectional communication may be established between the controller 5 and the tool section 2. Thus, the control signal can be sent from the controller 5 to the drive 4. Additionally, the tool section 2 may comprise a measurement unit (not shown in FIG. 2) for measuring the position of the tool 3. The respective measurement signal can be sent via the bidirectional communication linked to the measurement means 6 of the controller 5 in order to gain the reference or test signal.

[0051] The manufacturing device 1 also includes calculating means 10 for determining a mean value and a standard deviation value from the reference signal, determining data points of the test signal, where the test signal deviates from the mean value more than a defined multiple of the standard deviation value, and providing the determined data points for estimating the surface quality of the workpiece 7. The calculating means 10 may receive the reference signal and the test signal from the controller 5 via a communication link 11. Furthermore, the output information for estimating the surface quality of the workpiece may be provided from the calculating means 10 via an output interface 12.

[0052] The manufacturing device 1 may be a CNC machine like a CNC milling machine, a CNC drilling machine, a CNC lathe machine or the like.

[0053] In a specific embodiment the method for estimating the surface quality of a workpiece 7 may be based on the analysis of high frequency data from a CNC machine controller or an external measurement device. It may be assumed that the tool is perpendicular to the workpiece surface during the finishing operation and a corresponding signal of the z-coordinate represents the height of the tooltip relative to the workpiece surface. Otherwise, a corresponding coordinate transformation can be performed.

[0054] There is provided a reference signal 13 as shown in FIG. 3. The horizontal axis represents the time. Specifically, the data points are a sequence of samples, where each sample represents a sampling time. The vertical axis of FIG. 3 shows the difference between the real or measured position of the tool and the nominal position of the tool. This difference between real value and nominal value is noisy over time due to measurement artefacts, forces applied to the tool 3 or the like. The reference signal 13 has a mean value 14. This mean value 14 can be determined in a sampling window 15. Furthermore, a standard deviation can be calculated in the sampling window 15.

[0055] Besides the reference signal 13 there is provided a test signal 16 shown in FIG. 4 which serves for estimating the surface quality of the workpiece 7. The coordinates of FIG. 4 are the same as those in FIG. 3. The test signal 16 has a plurality of anomalous data points 17. They have a higher amplitude compared to the reference signal 13. This means that the difference between the real position value of the tool and the nominal position value of the tool is higher than usually. Therefore, these data points 17 represent anomalies.

[0056] Specifically, the signal processing may include the following steps: [0057] a) The signals are filtered in a way that only data points corresponding to finishing operation and actual processing (touching the surface) are preserved. Other operations, for example those when the tool is in air, are eliminated. The signals are also being synchronized, so that corresponding data points in both signals refer to the same processing step. This synchronization may not be perfect with some acceptable error defined in the next step. [0058] b) Statistical features (mean value and standard deviation value) are extracted from the reference signal. These features may represent two vectors (sets of single values) of sliding mean values and sliding standard deviation values. To calculate them, a sliding sampling window 15 is generated with a size that can be defined for each type of workpieces individually. For instance, for a signal with a sampling period of 0.002 s the window size can be selected in the interval from 500 to 2000 samples. If appropriate, any other number of samples can be chosen for the sampling window 15. [0059] c) For each value of the test signal a check is performed whether it represents an anomaly or not. Specifically, for a given data point in the test signal a window should be taken that includes this point. Then, a parameter a shall be chosen that will define the sensitivity of the algorithm to deviations in data. The product α*σ defines a size of an interval from mean value μ (compare also reference number 14), wherein a represents the standard deviation value and a the settable factor. If the signal value is lying outside of the interval α*σ from the mean value μ, this data point may be marked as anomaly. Respective marks 18 show such anomalous data points in FIG. 5. The mean value μ and the standard deviation value a correspond to the mean value and standard deviation value calculated in the corresponding sampling window 15 of the reference signal 13.

[0060] The advantage of the embodiments of the present invention is that a fully automated test for workpiece surface quality check may be achieved. This quality check can be used either in real time during manufacturing process or offline during quality control. Unlike existing solutions it does not require additional measurement equipment or any manual efforts and is based only on the controller data available during processing.