Sewing Machine Laser Positioning via Intermittent Illumination
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Solution Overview
Problem
Sewing machines struggle to accurately identify the position of a pattern on a sewing workpiece with colors or designs, as the projection light may overlap with the workpiece's color or design, leading to incorrect pattern recognition.
Innovation Solution
A sewing machine design that includes a bed, an irradiating portion for intermittent laser light, an image capturing portion, a processor, and memory, which captures images synchronized with laser light emission to identify irradiated coordinates based on captured data, allowing for stable pattern recognition regardless of the workpiece's color or design.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If projection light is used to project patterns onto the sewing workpiece, then the pattern can be visualized for positioning, but the pattern may overlap with the color or design of the workpiece, making it difficult to identify the pattern position accurately
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses laser light with a specific wavelength (red laser, approximately 650nm) that is absorbed by the imaging device's phototransistor, causing the laser-irradiated area to appear dark in the captured image. This color/brightness change creates high contrast between the irradiated position and the surrounding workpiece surface, enabling accurate position identification regardless of the workpiece's original color or design patterns.
Solution Approach 2:
The imaging device performs intermittent imaging in synchronization with the intermittent laser irradiation. By capturing images only during or immediately after laser irradiation moments, the system isolates the laser-irradiated position from continuous ambient lighting and workpiece surface variations, thereby improving position identification accuracy while reducing the influence of workpiece color and design interference.
2Reliability
If the image capturing portion continuously captures images to ensure accurate position identification, then the pattern position can be identified reliably, but the influence of workpiece color and design on image quality increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system employs periodic, intermittent imaging synchronized with periodic laser irradiation rather than continuous imaging. This timing synchronization ensures that each captured image contains the laser-irradiated position information with high contrast, maintaining identification reliability while minimizing the cumulative effect of workpiece color and design variations on image quality.
Solution Approach 2:
By utilizing the distinct brightness change caused by laser absorption in the imaging device, the system creates a reliable positional marker that stands out against the workpiece surface. This color/brightness contrast mechanism ensures consistent position identification across different workpiece colors and designs, improving reliability without being affected by the workpiece's visual characteristics.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables stable identification of the laser-irradiated position on the sewing workpiece, effectively overcoming the issue of pattern overlap and ensuring accurate thickness calculation.
Implementation Method 1
an imaging device (35) including a phototransistor
Data Source
AI summary
A sewing machine includes a bed, an irradiating portion configured to irradiate laser light onto a specific position on the bed, an image capturing portion configured to capture an image of an area including the specific position and to generate captured image data, a processor, and a memory configured to store computer-readable instructions. The computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the sewing machine to perform processes that include causing the irradiating portion to intermittently irradiate the laser light onto the specific position, acquiring the captured image data by causing the image capturing portion to capture an image of the area in synchronization with irradiation on the specific position, and identifying irradiated coordinates based on the captured image data. The irradiated coordinates are coordinates, in the captured image, of an irradiated position. The irradiated position is a position, in the area, onto which the laser light is irradiated.