Granted Patent B2

US 12,330,254 · App. 17/595,724 · Granted Jun 17, 2025

Inventors: Philippe Jacot (Bevaix, CH); Sébastien Laporte (Thyez, FR)

Assignee: WATCHOUTCORP SA

B23Q15/28B23Q17/2233B23Q17/249

Abstract

Claims (33)

1. Material removing machining module for a machine tool comprising:

a part support intended to receive a part to be machined;

a control unit of the part support adapted to control and to modify the position of the part support in the machining module;

a toolholder intended to receive a tool having an end portion used for machining the part mounted on the part support;

a control unit of the toolholder adapted to control and to modify the position of the toolholder in the machining module; and

a unit for detecting the profile of the tool mounted on the toolholder, said detection unit comprising an optical system for determining the profile of said end portion of the tool mounted on the toolholder,

wherein said optical system is mounted on the part support,

wherein said machining module further includes a target that is part of the optical device, said target being mounted on the toolholder and including an active face forming a positioning reference adapted to be moved on the optical axis (O) of the optical system when the toolholder is in a predetermined angular position about its axis (X) and in a predetermined axial position along its axis (X), forming a position referencing the toolholder relative to the part support,

wherein the target is a three-dimensional target including on an active face:

a first structure defining a plane reference face, and

a second structure having a face inclined relative to said plane reference face, and

wherein said optical system comprises a first image capture system and a second image capture system, wherein the difference between the focal distance of the second image capture system and the focal distance of the first image capture system is between the minimum distance and the maximum distance inclusive separating the reference face from the inclined face.

2. Machining module according to claim 1 , wherein said optical system is configured to enable detection of said profile when the toolholder is in a measuring operational position.

3. Machining module according to claim 2 , wherein said optical system includes a first image capture system that is configured so that its image focal plane is able to intersect the end portion of the tool in said measuring operational position.

4. Machining module according to claim 1 , wherein said optical system has an optical axis (O) orthogonal to the direction of the axis X of the toolholder.

5. Machining module according to claim 1 , wherein the optical system is part of a measuring optical device that is configured to enable determination by a single step of image capture by the optical system determination of the three-dimensional relative position between the support of the part to be machined and the toolholder.

6. Machining module according to claim 5 , wherein said measuring optical device is configured also to enable by a single step of image capture of the end portion of the tool mounted on the toolholder by the optical system determination of the profile of the end portion of the tool mounted on the toolholder.

7. Machining module according to claim 5 , wherein said measuring optical device further includes a front light source oriented parallel to the optical axis (O) of the optical system and in the direction of the toolholder.

8. Machining module according to claim 5 , wherein said measuring optical device further includes a rear light source oriented in the direction of the optical system.

9. Machining module according to claim 1 , wherein said measuring optical device further includes a light source oriented in the direction of the toolholder, said light source being disposed so as to provide lateral illumination of the three-dimensional target.

10. Machining module according to claim 1 ,

wherein the optical system comprises a first image capture system and a second image capture system,

wherein the depth of field of the first image capture system is at least ten times greater than the depth of field of the second image capture system, and

wherein the optical system is arranged so that the optical path of the first image capture system and the optical path of the second image capture system have a common section placed on the optical axis (O) of the optical system and including the image focal plane of the first image capture system and the image focal plane of the second image capture system.

11. Machining module according to claim 1 ,

wherein the optical system further comprises a second image capture system,

wherein the depth of field of the first image capture system is at least ten times greater than the depth of field of the second image capture system,

wherein the optical system is arranged so that the optical path of the first image capture system and the optical path of the second image capture system have a common section placed on the optical axis (O) of the optical system and including the image focal plane of the first image capture system and the image focal plane of the second image capture system,

wherein the first image capture system is configured so that its image focal plane is able to correspond to the reference plane of the first structure, and

wherein the second image capture system is configured so that its image focal plane is able to intersect the inclined face of the three-dimensional target.

12. Machining module according to claim 1 , wherein the optical device further includes a third image capture system disposed on the toolholder and configured to identify the angular orientation of the toolholder about its axis (X).

13. Machine tool including a machining module according to claim 1 , said machine tool further including a unit for tracking the wear of the tool that is able to calculate the deviation of the profile of the tool from information supplied by said detection unit.

14. Machine tool according to claim 13 , wherein said unit for tracking the wear of the tool enables, when said deviation of the profile of the tool exceeds a predetermined deviation, use of the modified profile of said end portion of the tool mounted on the toolholder, detected by said detection unit, to recalculate the machining parameters, said machining parameters including information for the movement of the toolholder that is transmitted to said control unit of the toolholder.

Assignments (2)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (23)