Patents Assigned to Fanuc LTD
  • Patent number: 8051741
    Abstract: A managing structure for an umbilical member includes a flexible conduit for leading an umbilical member inserted therein from a front arm of a robot to a working tool mounted on a wrist of the robot, a first conduit mounting portion provided adjacent to the front arm, and a second conduit mounting portion provided adjacent to a point where the umbilical member is connected to the working tool. One end of the conduit is attached to the first conduit mounting portion, while the other end of the conduit is attached to the second conduit mounting portion. The conduit is laid so that a section thereof between the first conduit mounting portion and the second conduit mounting portion does not contact the body of the robot.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2011
    Assignee: FANUC Ltd
    Inventors: Toshihiko Inoue, Kazutaka Nakayama, Takatoshi Iwayama
  • Patent number: 8054012
    Abstract: A motor driving apparatus having a converter, which receives AC voltage and converts it to DC power, and an inverter, which receives the DC power and converts it to AC power, includes a charge/discharge control circuit and a capacitor connected in parallel to a link section between the converter and the inverter, and energy stored in the capacitor C8 is charged and discharged at arbitrary timing by the charge/discharge control circuit. The invention thus provides a motor driving apparatus that supplies energy to a motor so that the peak of the input current from a power supply to the motor can also be suppressed when particularly large energy is needed during the second half period of motor acceleration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 3, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2011
    Assignee: Fanuc Ltd
    Inventors: Shunsuke Matsubara, Yasusuke Iwashita, Yuuichi Yamada, Shigeki Hanyu, Masatomo Shirouzu, Koujirou Sakai
  • Patent number: 8049457
    Abstract: A press machine controller (10) for controlling a press machine (30) having a servo motor (41) to drive a slide (38) via a reduction mechanism (37) changed in reduction ratio in accordance with the position of the slide (38) is disclosed. The device includes a command generator (20) for generating at least one of a position command, a speed command and a torque command for the servo motor (41); a vibration command generator (13) for generating a vibration command based on a parameter preset for the press machine controller (10); a slide position detector (12) for detecting the position of the slide (38); and a vibration command adding portion (21, 22, 23) for adding the vibration command to any one of the position command, the speed command and the torque command for the servo motor (41) in the case where the slide position is in a predetermined range. The press machine, even if stopped with the slide at the bottom dead center, can be restarted with a small torque.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2011
    Assignee: Fanuc Ltd
    Inventors: Tadashi Okita, Hiroyuki Kawamura, Kouki Kameta
  • Patent number: 8047093
    Abstract: A parallel robot including a movable-section drive mechanism having a parallel mechanism configuration and operating to allow a movable section to perform a three-axis translational motion with respect to a base section; and a wrist-section drive mechanism operating to allow a wrist section to perform a rotational motion with respect to the movable section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2011
    Assignee: Fanuc Ltd
    Inventors: Satoshi Kinoshita, Hikaru Yamashiro
  • Patent number: 8043083
    Abstract: An injection molding machine is provided with a linear guide block configured to be guided on a linear guide rail and a guide mounting block which is secured to the linear guide block and supports the movable platen. Two mounting bolts and two adjust bolts are disposed individually at two positions, spanning between the movable platen and the guide mounting block. The size of a gap between the movable platen and the guide mounting block is adjusted by independently tightening the adjust bolts, whereby the horizontal tilt of the movable platen is adjusted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2011
    Assignee: Fanuc Ltd
    Inventors: Koichi Nishimura, Naruhiro Nishimura, Masatoshi Senga
  • Publication number: 20110257787
    Abstract: A robot control apparatus includes a force measuring unit for acquiring the force data required for the control operation, a calculating unit for calculating the force exerted by gravity on the force measuring unit and the dynamic terms generated by the motion of the robot arm, of all the forces exerted on the force measuring unit from the working tool, a compensation unit for compensating the force measured by the force measuring unit using the force exerted by gravity and the dynamic terms calculated by the calculating unit, and a command adjusting unit for adjusting the operation command for the robot arm in accordance with the force exerted on the force measuring unit by the dynamic terms and gravity in the case where each of the dynamic terms is larger than a predetermined threshold value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 27, 2011
    Publication date: October 20, 2011
    Applicant: FANUC LTD
    Inventors: Takashi SATO, Takahiro IWATAKE
  • Patent number: 8040097
    Abstract: A mechanical system includes a plurality of amplifier groups each having a common power source unit connected to a higher-level power source and a plurality of power supply units for supplying power to servo motors from the common power source unit. A servo motor drive control device of the mechanical system includes a plurality of amplifier group electric power detection units each determining an electric energy of the corresponding one of the amplifier groups.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2011
    Assignee: Fanuc Ltd
    Inventors: Yasusuke Iwashita, Tadashi Okita, Hiroyuki Kawamura, Yuuya Ueno
  • Patent number: 8041447
    Abstract: A numerical controller controlling a 5-axis machine tool compensates setting error that arises when a workpiece is set on the table. Error in the three linear axes and the two rotation axes are compensated using preset error amounts to keep the calculated tool position and tool direction in a command coordinate system. If a trigonometric function used for error compensation has a plurality of solution sets, the solution set closest to the tool direction in the command coordinate system is selected from the plurality of solution sets and used as the positions of the two rotation axes compensated in the above error compensation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 15, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2011
    Assignee: FANUC Ltd
    Inventors: Toshiaki Otsuki, Soichiro Ide, Takafumi Sasaki
  • Patent number: 8038385
    Abstract: A spindle device driven by driving fluid, having accurate rotation and superior quietness. The device includes a stator having at least one inlet for introducing the driving fluid, a rotor having at least one flange arranged outside of the stator and provided with nozzles for jetting the driving fluid, and a static-pressure fluid bearing for rotatably supporting the rotor with respect to the stator. The stator has a first inner path for conducting the driving fluid introduced from the inlet to the rotor and the rotor has a second inner path communicating with the first inner path of the stator for conducting the driving fluid to the nozzles. The driving fluid introduced from the inlet of the stator is jetted from the nozzles of the rotor through the first and second inner paths to rotate the rotor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2011
    Assignee: Fanuc Ltd
    Inventors: Tomohiko Kawai, Kenzo Ebihara, Takeshi Ooki
  • Patent number: 8026689
    Abstract: A control device for a machine tool including a feed axis driving motor; a first power consumption calculating portion calculating power consumption of the feed axis driving motor; a second power consumption calculating portion calculating power consumption of equipment adapted to be operated by constant power; and a motor control portion determining a target time constant correlated with at least one of acceleration time and deceleration time of the feed axis driving motor, based on a summation of the power consumption calculated by the first power consumption calculating portion and the power consumption calculated by the second power consumption calculating portion, and controlling the feed axis driving motor based on the target time constant.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2011
    Assignee: Fanuc Ltd
    Inventors: Yasusuke Iwashita, Tadashi Okita, Junichi Tezuka
  • Patent number: 8020466
    Abstract: An umbilical-member processing structure for an industrial robot which includes a forearm having a tool managing and relaying device and a wrist with proximal end rotatably connected to the forearm and having a work tool mounted on the distal end thereof, with an umbilical-member connected to the work tool being disposed to run along the wrist via the tool managing and relaying device: wherein the forearm has a first reduction gear which reduces the rotational speed of a driving source to drive the forearm in rotation; the first reduction gear having a first insertion hole for passing the umbilical-member therein; and wherein the wrist comprises a first wrist element having a through-path in communication with the first insertion hole and rotatably connected to the forearm, and a second wrist element having a second insertion hole in communication with the through-path and rotatably connected to the first wrist element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2011
    Assignee: FANUC Ltd
    Inventors: Toshihiko Inoue, Kazutaka Nakayama, Takatoshi Iwayama
  • Patent number: 8018747
    Abstract: Disclosed is a PWM rectifier in which switching losses in a semiconductor device are reduced without degrading the response of a control system. In a PWM overmodulation region, the modulation scheme is set to a three-phase modulation scheme. In other regions, a switchover condition such as the amplitude of an input current is acquired and compared with a switchover level. If the switchover condition equals or exceeds the switchover level, the modulation scheme is switched over to a modified two-phase modulation scheme which reduces the number of switching operations to two thirds for the same PWM frequency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2011
    Assignee: Fanuc Ltd
    Inventors: Yasusuke Iwashita, Tadashi Okita, Masakazu Niwa, Kenta Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 8018192
    Abstract: A trajectory display device capable of correctly quantifying an error of a three-dimensional trajectory of a machine tool, and displaying or outputting the error. The trajectory display device has a command line segment defining part adapted to define a command line segment which connects two temporally adjacent points, in relation to each commanded position; an error calculating part adapted to define a normal line extending from the actual position to each command line segment and calculate an error of the actual position relative to a commanded trajectory, the error being determined as a shorter one between a length of a shortest normal line among the defined normal lines and a length of a line segment extending from the actual position to a commanded position which is the nearest from the actual position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2011
    Assignee: FANUC Ltd
    Inventors: Yasusuke Iwashita, Tadashi Okita, Junichi Tezuka, Kazuyuki Sugiyama
  • Patent number: 8014899
    Abstract: An article conveying robot system capable of effectively containing an article in a container conveyed by a conveyor by using a robot. A container detecting part measures the distribution of shading of an image of each containing cell based on a detection result of the container, detects the containing state of each cell, and stores the detection result of each cell. An information managing part of a controller of an upstream side robot receives information from a container detecting part of a controller of a downstream side robot, and then generates containing cell information. An information managing part checks the cell information to be processed, and then transmits the cell information to a task executing part only when an article is not located in the corresponding cell. Task executing part controls the robot so as to locate an article in the selected cell based on the cell information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2011
    Assignee: Fanuc Ltd
    Inventors: Kazunori Ban, Ichiro Kanno, Fumikazu Warashina, Masafumi Ooba
  • Patent number: 8014898
    Abstract: A robot controller (7) controlling a robot (1) used combined with a machine tool (5, 6) provided with a communication unit (9) connecting the robot controller to a machine tool, a detection unit (52) detecting through the communication unit a type and number of machine tools, and a setting unit (55) setting the robot controller based on the type and number of machine tools detected by the detection unit. Due to this, machine tool and robot startup work can be simply and easily performed without requiring skill or increasing the startup man-hours. The setting unit selects one setting file from among a plurality of setting files for the robot controller, stored in the robot controller, based on the type and number of machine tools detected by the detection unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2011
    Assignee: Fanuc Ltd
    Inventors: Hiroji Nishi, Yoshitaka Ikeda
  • Patent number: 8010233
    Abstract: An image processor for a robot system, performing image processing for a video signal output from a camera. The camera can output a first video signal including obtained image data as well as internal vertical and horizontal synchronization signals, and output a second video signal including image data obtained based on external vertical and horizontal synchronization signals as well as the external vertical and horizontal synchronization signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2011
    Assignee: FANUC Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoshiki Hashimoto, Takehisa Sera, Shougo Takahashi
  • Patent number: 8010302
    Abstract: First and second screens are set for a tool path display apparatus for displaying a path of the tip of a tool attached to a machine tool. The first screen displays the three-dimensional path of the tip of the tool obtained by synthesizing the position information of the drive axes of a 5-axis machine tool. The second screen displays the waveforms of the position deviations and current instructions of the drive axes in chronological order. When a part (line segment) of the three-dimensional path of the tip of the tool is selected on the first screen, the display attribute of the corresponding time area is changed on the second screen so that the time area can be identified.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2011
    Assignee: Fanuc Ltd
    Inventors: Tadashi Okita, Hiroyuki Kawamura, Junichi Tezuka, Kazuyuki Sugiyama
  • Patent number: 8006538
    Abstract: A control device, for a servo die cushion, by which the speed of a die cushion is prevented from largely deviating from the speed of a slide, whereby the press force between the slide and the die cushion is not significantly reduced. The control device includes a slide speed detector for detecting the speed of the slide, a die cushion speed detector for detecting the speed of the die cushion, and a die cushion speed commanding part for controlling the speed of the die cushion. When a tentative speed command of the die cushion is largely deviated from the detected slide speed, the command of the die cushion is corrected such that the absolute value thereof does not exceed the value calculated by adding the absolute value of the detected slide speed to a positive constant.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2011
    Assignees: Fanuc Ltd, Komatsu Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasusuke Iwashita, Tadashi Okita, Hiroyuki Kawamura, Satoshi Ikai
  • Publication number: 20110198973
    Abstract: A fan motor is mounted on the upper wall of the casing. The lower surface of this upper wall is formed into an inclined surface in which inclination is formed from the front wall side of the casing toward a back wall across from the front wall. When the fan motor is driven, oil mist or moisture contained in the air are condensed into water droplets or oil droplets. These water droplets or oil droplets fall and flow to the inner wall surface of the upper wall of the casing along the inner peripheral wall of a vent hole. Then the water droplets or oil droplets flow along the profile line of a vent hole smoothly (without stopping) and roll down the side wall of the casing.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 28, 2010
    Publication date: August 18, 2011
    Applicant: FANUC LTD
    Inventors: Kazuhiko Hirano, Kazuyuki Sasaki
  • Patent number: 7996114
    Abstract: A workpiece picking device and method for reducing the cycle time of a picking operation of workpieces, by omitting or reducing the movement of a robot manipulator when an image of the workpieces is captured. An image processor of the picking device includes a camera controlling part for reading image data from a camera, a memory for storing the image data, a workpiece detecting part for extracting one or more images from the memory and detecting one or more workpieces in the image, and a workpiece selecting part for selecting a workpiece to be picked among the workpieces detected by the workpiece detecting part. The image processor further includes a stacked condition judging part for determining whether the condition of the stacked workpieces in a container is changed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2011
    Assignee: Fanuc Ltd
    Inventors: Kazunori Ban, Keisuke Watanabe