Terminal crimping machine with a terminal feed alignment aid

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9548581-B2
Application number	US-201313888995-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 7, 2013
Priority date	May 7, 2013
Publication date	Jan 17, 2017
Grant date	Jan 17, 2017

Abstract

A terminal crimping machine includes an applicator having a movable ram and an anvil. The anvil is located in a crimping zone and configured to receive a terminal thereon. The ram has crimp tooling that is configured to crimp the terminal on the anvil to a wire during a crimp stroke of the ram. An image acquisition device is positioned to acquire at least one image of the crimping zone. A display device is configured to display the at least one acquired image.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A terminal crimping machine comprising:
an applicator including a movable ram and an anvil, the anvil located in a crimping zone and configured to receive a terminal thereon, the ram having crimp tooling configured to crimp the terminal on the anvil to a wire during a crimp stroke of the ram;
an image acquisition device positioned to acquire at least one image of the crimping zone;
a display device configured to display the at least one acquired image;
an alignment module superimposing an alignment line of the anvil and an alignment line of the terminal on a displayed image on the display device, wherein the alignment line of the anvil and the alignment line of the terminal are respective centerlines of the anvil and the terminal, the alignment module further configured to superimpose a left edge alignment line and a right edge alignment line on an image of the terminal displayed on the display device, locations of the left and right edge alignment lines determined based on a distance between the respective centerlines of the anvil and the terminal, the left and right edge alignment lines indicating desired positions of a left edge and a right edge, respectively, of the terminal to align the terminal with the anvil; and
a feeder device configured to feed the terminal to a feed position on the anvil within the crimping zone for crimping to the wire, the feeder device configured to adjust the feed position of the terminal relative to the anvil based on relative locations of the respective alignment lines of the anvil and the terminal on the displayed image in order to align the terminal with the anvil.

2. The terminal crimping machine of claim 1 , wherein the alignment line of the anvil comprises a centerline of the anvil, the centerline of the anvil calculated based on user-selected first and opposite second edges of the anvil in a first displayed image on the display device, and wherein the alignment line of the terminal comprises a centerline of the terminal, the centerline of the terminal calculated based on user-selected first and opposite second edges of the terminal in a second displayed image.

3. The terminal crimping machine of claim 1 , wherein the alignment line of the anvil comprises a centerline of the anvil, the centerline of the anvil calculated automatically using image analysis of the anvil in a displayed image, and wherein the alignment line of the terminal comprises a centerline of the terminal, the centerline of the terminal calculated automatically using image analysis of the anvil in a displayed image.

4. The terminal crimping machine of claim 1 , wherein the image acquisition device acquires a first image of the anvil without the terminal thereon, and the image acquisition device acquires a second image of the anvil with the terminal thereon.

5. The terminal crimping machine of claim 4 , wherein the alignment module determines the location of the alignment line of the anvil based on the first image, the alignment module determines the location of the alignment line of the terminal based on the second image, and the alignment module superimposes both of the alignment lines on the displayed second image.

6. The terminal crimping machine of claim 1 , wherein a field of view of the image acquisition device is calibrated, and a distance between the relative locations of the alignment line of the anvil and the alignment line of the terminal in the displayed image is represented by a quantified value.

7. The terminal crimping machine of claim 6 , wherein the feeder device is configured to automatically adjust the feed position of the feeder device based on the quantified value to change the position of the terminal relative to the anvil within the crimping zone for crimping to the wire.

8. The terminal crimping machine of claim 1 , wherein the feed position of the terminal is adjusted based on the acquired image.

9. The terminal crimping machine of claim 1 , wherein the image acquisition device has a macro capability, and the at least one acquired image is magnified when displayed on the display device.

10. The terminal crimping machine of claim 1 , wherein the image acquisition device includes a mounting fixture that is magnetically attached to the applicator.

11. The terminal crimping machine of claim 1 , wherein the image acquisition device is positioned in line with a longitudinal axis of the anvil.

12. The terminal crimping machine of claim 1 , wherein the display device includes a user interface configured to receive user inputs selecting edges of at least one of the anvil and terminal, the positions of the selected edges being used by the alignment module to calculate the alignment line of at least one of the anvil and the terminal.

13. A terminal crimping machine comprising:
an applicator including a movable ram and an anvil, the anvil located in a crimping zone and configured to receive a terminal thereon, the ram having crimp tooling configured to crimp the terminal on the anvil to a wire during a crimp stroke of the ram;
an image acquisition device positioned to acquire at least one image of the crimping zone, the image acquisition device including a mounting fixture removably mounted to the applicator, the mounting fixture keyed to the applicator in a single orientation for repeatable alignment of the image acquisition device;
display device configured to display the at least one acquired image;
an alignment module superimposing an alignment line of the anvil and an alignment line of the terminal on a displayed image on the display device; and
a feeder device configured to feed the terminal to a feed position on the anvil within the crimping zone for crimping to the wire, the feeder device configured to adjust the feed position of the terminal relative to the anvil based on relative locations of the respective alignment lines of the anvil and the terminal on the displayed image in order to align the terminal with the anvil.

14. The terminal crimping machine of claim 13 , wherein the alignment line of the anvil and the alignment line of the terminal are respective centerlines of the anvil and the terminal.

15. The terminal crimping machine of claim 14 , wherein the alignment module is configured to superimpose a left edge alignment line and a right edge alignment line on an image of the terminal displayed on the display device, locations of the left and right edge alignment lines determined based on the distance between the respective centerlines of the anvil and the terminal, the left and right edge alignment lines indicating desired positions of the left edge and the right edge, respectively, of the terminal to align the terminal with the anvil.

16. A terminal crimping machine comprising:
an applicator including a movable ram and an anvil, the anvil located in a crimping zone and configured to receive a terminal thereon, the ram having crimp tooling configured to crimp the terminal on the anvil to a wire during a crimp stroke of the ram, the terminal having a left edge and an opposite right edge;
an image acquisition device positioned to acquire at least one image of the crimping zone;
a display device configured to display the at least one acquired image, the display device further displaying a first line associated with the left edge of the terminal and a second line associated with the right edge; and
an alignment module configured to determine a centerline of the terminal based on locations of the first and second lines associated with the left and right edges of the terminal on the display device, the alignment module further configured to super

Assignees

• Tyco Electronics Corp

Inventors

• Nicholas Keith Lynn
• Snyder Jay Alan

Classifications

• Y10T29/53235

  Means to fasten by deformation · CPC title

• H01R43/048

  Crimping apparatus or processes (H01R43/042 takes precedence) · CPC title

• Y10T29/49185

  of terminal · CPC title

• H01R43/058 Primary

  Crimping mandrels · CPC title

• H01R43/055 Primary

  with contact member feeding mechanism · CPC title