CN114945878A

CN114945878A - Maintenance system

Info

Publication number: CN114945878A
Application number: CN202080092777.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 高桥佑典
Original assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corp
Current assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corp
Priority date: 2020-01-17
Filing date: 2020-01-17
Publication date: 2022-08-26
Also published as: JP6758550B1; WO2021144986A1; JPWO2021144986A1

Abstract

Provided is a maintenance system which reduces the interruption time of work related to the maintenance of equipment connected to a programmable display. A maintenance system (100) is provided with programmable displays (1A, 1B) each having a communication function, and a control device (3) capable of communicating with the programmable displays, wherein the programmable displays have a display unit (11) for displaying a 1 st maintenance window used for maintenance of a connected device, and the control device transmits data of an object to be added to the programmable displays when the object needs to be added to the 1 st maintenance window.

Description

Maintenance system

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a maintenance system for performing maintenance of a device connected to a programmable display.

Background

For example, patent literature 1 discloses a technique in which, if a storage medium storing data for maintenance or a program for maintenance is connected to a programmable display, a control screen based on the data or the program stored in the storage medium is displayed and confirmed by a user, thereby making it possible to easily maintain the state of the programmable display.

Patent document 1: japanese patent laid-open publication No. 2006-318361

Disclosure of Invention

When maintenance is performed on a device connected to the programmable display, the programmable display displays a maintenance screen. In general, data of the maintenance screen is created in advance and written in a storage device inside the programmable display, similarly to data of other screens. Here, the device connected to the programmable display is not fixed, and may be changed. Therefore, when the connected device is changed, for example, the maintenance screen data needs to be corrected or newly created and written again to the programmable display, which takes time and a large burden on the operator.

In the technique described in patent document 1, since maintenance data and the like are stored in an external storage medium, when the maintenance data is changed, the data stored in the storage medium is changed, and the operation of rewriting the changed data into the programmable display does not occur. However, in the technique described in patent document 1, since data is exchanged via an external storage medium, an interruption of the job occurs.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a maintenance system that reduces the time required for interrupting a work related to the maintenance of a device connected to a programmable display.

In order to solve the above problems, a maintenance system according to the present invention includes programmable displays each having a communication function, and a control device capable of communicating with the programmable displays. The programmable display device has a 1 st display unit, and the 1 st display unit displays a 1 st maintenance window used for maintenance of a connected device. When the object needs to be added to the 1 st maintenance window, the control device transmits data of the object that needs to be added to the programmable display.

ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECTS OF INVENTION

According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the time required to interrupt the maintenance of the device connected to the programmable display.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a maintenance system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the programmable display.

Fig. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of data stored in the storage unit of the programmable display.

Fig. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of software for realizing a programmable display.

Fig. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the slave unit of the programmable display.

Fig. 6 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the overall operation of the maintenance system according to the embodiment.

Fig. 7 is a flowchart 1 showing an example of the operation of the programmable display.

Fig. 8 is a flow chart 2 showing an example of the operation of the programmable display.

Fig. 9 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the slave unit of the programmable display.

Fig. 10 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the control device.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, a maintenance system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The present invention is not limited to the present embodiment.

Description of the preferred embodiment

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a maintenance system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 1, the maintenance system 100 according to the present embodiment includes: a programmable display 1A to which the device 4A is connected; a programmable display 1B to which the device 4B is connected; a slave unit 2 of the programmable display 1B; and a control device 3 to which the programmable displays 1A and 1B are connected. In the present embodiment, the maintenance system 100 has a configuration including 2 programmable displays 1A and 1B, but the number of programmable displays included in the maintenance system 100 may be 1, or 3 or more. Further, although 1 device is connected to each programmable display, a configuration may be adopted in which 1 programmable display is connected to 2 or more devices. In fig. 1, only the slave unit 2 of the programmable display 1B is shown, but there may be a slave unit 2 of the programmable display 1A.

The programmable displays 1A and 1B and the devices 4A and 4B are installed in a production line or the like of a factory. The slave unit 2 is a device that can be carried to a work site by an operator who performs maintenance of the device 4B, and is, for example, a smartphone, a tablet PC (personal computer), a notebook PC, or the like. The device 4A is a target device to be operated and monitored by the programmable display 1A, and is, for example, a programmable logic controller, a servo amplifier, or the like. The device 4B is also the same. The programmable display 1B and the slave unit 2 are connected via a wireless network. The programmable displays 1A and 1B and the control device 3 are connected via a wired network or a wireless network.

The control device 3 is installed in an office remote from the site where the programmable displays 1A and 1B are installed. The control device 3 is, for example, a personal computer, and is made available by engineering tools for creating and editing data of a screen (hereinafter, referred to as screen data) displayed on the display unit by the programmable displays 1A and 1B and the slave unit 2. The engineering tool has, in addition to a function of creating and editing screen data: a function of remotely monitoring programmable displays and slave units (in the example shown in fig. 1, programmable displays 1A, 1B, and slave unit 2) on a network connected to the control device 3; a function of receiving a request message from a monitoring target (programmable display, slave unit) via a network; a function of editing the contents of the maintenance windows displayed on the designated programmable display and the designated slave unit; and a function of transmitting the change information of the maintenance window obtained by the editing to the monitoring object as a maintenance packet. The maintenance window is a window in which the programmable displays 1A and 1B and the slave unit 2 are displayed on the display unit when the operator performs maintenance of the devices 4A and 4B. The maintenance windows displayed on the programmable displays 1A and 1B are the 1 st maintenance window, and the maintenance window displayed on the slave unit 2 is the 2 nd maintenance window.

Fig. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration example of the programmable displays 1A and 1B. In the following description, when it is not necessary to distinguish the programmable display 1A from the programmable display 1B shown in fig. 1, they will be described as the programmable display 1. Similarly, in the case where it is not necessary to distinguish the device 4A from the device 4B, they are described as the device 4.

The programmable display 1 has: a display unit 11 that displays various screens; a control unit 12 including a data acquisition unit 121, a screen data generation unit 122, and a slave unit data generation unit 123; a storage unit 13 that stores various data; an operation receiving unit 14 that receives an operation from an operator; and a communication unit 15 that communicates with another device such as the control device 3. The display unit 11 corresponds to the 1 st display unit that displays the 1 st maintenance window.

When data necessary for creating screen data, which is data of a screen displayed on the display unit 11, is insufficient, the data acquisition unit 121 acquires the insufficient data from the control device 3. The screen data generation unit 122 generates screen data of a screen to be displayed on the display unit 11. The slave unit data generating unit 123 generates data of a screen to be displayed by the slave unit 2, and transmits the generated data to the slave unit 2.

Fig. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of data stored in the storage unit 13 of the programmable display 1. As shown in fig. 3, the storage unit 13 stores various kinds of layered data, specifically, data such as resource data, screen data, maintenance packets, H/W (hardware) unique information, system setting information, system applications, fonts, communication drivers, and basic software. The resource data includes image data, various log files, and the like. The image data is, for example, image data of an object constituting a screen displayed by the programmable display 1 or the slave unit 2. Examples of objects are switches, lights, graphic display boxes, numerical display boxes, text display boxes, numerical input boxes, text input boxes, and the like. Objects are also sometimes referred to as display components, display elements, and the like. The maintenance packet is configured to include data of a maintenance window displayed on the programmable display 1 and the slave unit 2 when the device 4 is maintained. The screen data is data related to a screen displayed by the programmable display 1 or the slave unit 2, and includes information of objects constituting the screen, arrangement information of each object, and the like. The H/W specific information is specific information of the programmable display 1. The system setting information is information necessary for the operation of the programmable display 1, and includes communication setting information and the like with the connected device 4 and the control apparatus 3. The system application includes various application software for realizing each function of the programmable display 1. The base software is the operating system.

Fig. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of software for realizing the programmable display 1. The software that implements the programmable display 1 includes basic software, basic system applications that run on the basic software, and extended system applications that run on the basic system applications. The basic software mainly performs H/W control, and the basic system application mainly performs middleware layer processing. The processes performed by the basic system application include screen data reading, maintenance packet reading, and object rendering. And the expansion system application carries out processing of an application layer. Extended system applications include GUI (graphical User interface) applications. The GUI application includes a maintenance mode GUI application (shown as "maintenance mode GUI" in fig. 4) that realizes a GUI used by the programmable display 1 or the slave unit 2 when performing maintenance of the device 4. In the following description, the GUI implemented by the maintenance mode GUI application is referred to as a maintenance window.

Fig. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration example of the slave unit 2 of the programmable display 1. The slave unit 2 includes: a display unit 21 that displays various screens; a control unit 22 including a data acquisition unit 221; a storage unit 23 that stores various data including operation parameters and unique information of the slave unit 2, communication setting information with the programmable display 1 as the master unit, and the like; an operation receiving unit 24 that receives an operation from an operator; and a communication unit 25 that communicates with the programmable display 1 as a host. The data acquisition unit 221 acquires screen data and the like of a screen created by the programmable display 1 as a host from the programmable display 1. The data acquisition unit 221 acquires data necessary for the display unit 21 to display the maintenance window from the programmable display 1 as a host computer using a web browser. The display unit 21 corresponds to a 2 nd display unit that displays a 2 nd maintenance window.

Next, the overall operation of the maintenance system 100 will be described with reference to fig. 6. Fig. 6 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the overall operation of the maintenance system 100 according to the embodiment. In the present embodiment, the operation of the programmable display 1B, the slave unit 2, and the control device 3 will be described as an example in which the monitor and maintenance screen data of the device 4B and the screen data for the slave unit 2 are stored in advance in the storage unit 13 of the programmable display 1B, but objects not included in the screen data for the slave unit 2 stored in advance are necessary for the maintenance of the device 4B.

First, the operator who performs maintenance of the device 4B using the slave unit 2 performs an operation for displaying the maintenance window on the slave unit 2 with respect to the slave unit 2. The slave unit 2 having received the operation transmits a maintenance window activation request to the programmable display 1B (step S11). Upon receiving the maintenance window activation request, the programmable display 1B activates the maintenance mode GUI application shown in fig. 4, switches to the maintenance mode, generates and transmits display screen data for the maintenance window of the slave unit 2 (step S12). At this time, the maintenance mode GUI application generates display screen data for the maintenance window of the slave unit 2 using the data included in the maintenance packet stored in the storage unit 13. The maintenance packet includes data of objects constituting a maintenance window created in advance. The maintenance window designed in advance is a maintenance window created using a construction tool mounted on the control device 3.

When the slave unit 2 receives the display screen data transmitted from the programmable display 1B in step S12, it shifts to the maintenance mode and displays the maintenance window based on the received display screen data (step S13). When an object not included in the maintenance window is required, the slave unit 2 receives an object addition operation for adding a deficient object to the maintenance window from the operator (step S14). In addition, in the object addition operation, it is possible to perform addition specification of a plurality of objects. Then, the slave unit 2 transmits an object request to the programmable display 1B in order to request addition of the object designated by the object addition operation (step S15). The programmable display 1B, upon receiving the object request from the slave unit 2, transmits the object request to the control device 3.

Upon receiving the object request, the control device 3 adds the requested object to the existing maintenance window, updates the design of the maintenance window, and creates a maintenance packet for displaying the updated maintenance window (step S16). The conventional maintenance window is the maintenance window displayed on the sub-machine 2 in step S13 described above. The maintenance packet created by the control device 3 in step S16 is obtained by adding data for displaying the object requested by the object request to the maintenance packet used for generating the display screen data of the existing maintenance window. In the present embodiment, the addition to the object of the existing maintenance window is performed by the operator of the control device 3 using a construction tool. Further, the object may not be manually added by the operator of the control device 3, but may be automatically added by the engineering tool.

The control device 3 transmits the created maintenance packet to the programmable display 1B (step S17). The programmable display 1B updates the display screen data of the maintenance window facing the slave unit 2 using the data included in the received maintenance packet (step S18), and transmits the updated display screen data to the slave unit 2 (step S19). Further, the update of the display screen data is performed by the maintenance mode GUI application. The slave unit 2, upon receiving the updated display screen data, updates the display (step S20). That is, the slave unit 2 displays the maintenance window including the object specified by the object addition operation received in step S14.

The operator performs the maintenance operation using the slave unit 2 on which the updated maintenance window is displayed.

In this way, in the maintenance system 100, when there is no object necessary for the maintenance window, the slave unit 2 requests the control device 3 via the programmable display 1B to add a deficient object. The control device 3 creates a maintenance packet based on the content of the request and transmits the packet to the programmable display 1B. When receiving a maintenance packet including data for displaying an object requested by the slave unit 2, the programmable display 1B updates the display screen data of the maintenance window directed to the slave unit 2 using the received maintenance packet and transmits the updated display screen data to the slave unit 2, and the slave unit 2 updates the display of the maintenance window using the received display screen data.

Next, the operation of the programmable display 1B, the slave unit 2, and the control device 3 of the maintenance system 100 will be described.

Fig. 7 is a flowchart 1 showing an example of the operation of the programmable display 1B. The flowchart 1 shows an operation example in the case where the data acquisition unit 121 of the programmable display 1B receives the changed maintenance packet from the control device 3. The operation shown in fig. 7 is started when the programmable display 1B transmits the object request received from the slave unit 2 to the control device 3.

The data acquisition unit 121 checks whether or not a packet change notification indicating that the maintenance packet has been changed has been received from the control device 3 (step S31), and if the packet change notification has not been received (step S32: No), repeats the checking process described in step S31. When the data acquisition unit 121 receives the packet change notification (Yes in step S32), the maintenance packet is downloaded from the control device 3 in the background without changing the display on the display unit 11 (step S33). The downloaded maintenance packet is stored in the storage unit 13. When the download of the changed maintenance packet is completed, the data acquisition unit 121 notifies the slave unit data generation unit 123 of the update of the maintenance window in order to update the display of the maintenance window for the slave unit 2 (step S34). After executing step S34, the data acquisition unit 121 returns to step S31 and continues the operation.

Fig. 8 is a flow chart 2 showing an example of the operation of the programmable display 1B. The flowchart of fig. 2 shows an operation example in the case where the slave unit data generating unit 123 of the programmable display 1B updates the screen data of the maintenance window displayed on the slave unit 2. The operation shown in fig. 8 is started when the operator performing the maintenance of the device 4B performs an operation to display the maintenance window on the slave unit 2 and is notified from the slave unit 2 that the operation has been received. That is, the operation shown in fig. 8 is started when the programmable display 1B receives the above-described maintenance window activation request.

The slave unit data generating unit 123 generates display screen data for a maintenance window of the slave unit 2, notifies the slave unit 2 of the fact that the data has been generated by a pop-up notification, and downloads the display screen data from the slave unit 2 (step S41). In the slave unit 2 that has downloaded the display screen data, the display of the maintenance window is started.

The child device data generation unit 123 then checks whether or not the maintenance window is updated (step S42). That is, the slave unit data generation unit 123 checks whether or not the update notification of the maintenance window is received from the data acquisition unit 121. If the maintenance window is not updated (No in step S43), the confirmation process described in step S42 is repeated.

When the maintenance window is updated (Yes in step S43), the slave unit data generating unit 123 updates the display screen data of the maintenance window for the slave unit 2 using the maintenance packet stored in the storage unit 13 (step S44). The slave unit data generation unit 123 then notifies the slave unit 2 of the update of the maintenance window (step S45). The slave unit 2 that has received the notification downloads the updated display screen data, and updates the display of the maintenance window based on the updated display screen data. After step S45, the slave unit data generating unit 123 returns to step S42 to continue the operation. The slave unit data generating unit 123 may generate display screen data for notifying the worker that the maintenance window is updated, transmit the display screen data to the slave unit 2, and the slave unit 2 may notify the worker of the update of the maintenance window through a notification dialog.

Fig. 9 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the slave unit 2 of the programmable display 1B, and shows the operation of displaying the maintenance window. The operation shown in fig. 9 is started when the operator performing the maintenance of the device 4B performs an operation to display the maintenance window on the slave unit 2.

The slave unit 2 acquires the display screen data of the maintenance window from the programmable display 1B and displays the maintenance window (step S51). The slave unit 2 then checks whether or not there is a shortage of objects, that is, whether or not the object adding operation is performed by the operator, and if there is No shortage of objects (No in step S52), the operation is terminated.

When there is a shortage of objects (Yes in step S52), the slave unit 2 transmits an object request to request data of the shortage of objects (step S53). Then, the slave unit 2 receives the display screen data to which the requested data of the object is added (step S54), updates the display, and displays the maintenance window to which the insufficient data of the object is added (step S55). After the request is made in step S53, the slave unit 2 waits for a notification (notification that the display screen data has been updated) of the completion of the creation of the display screen data to which the requested object data has been added to be transmitted from the programmable display 1B in step S54, and downloads the updated display screen data to which the requested object data has been added from the programmable display 1B if the notification arrives.

Fig. 10 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the control device 3, and shows an example of the transmission operation of the maintenance packet used for displaying the maintenance window for the slave unit 2.

The control device 3 checks whether or not there is a request for an object, that is, whether or not an object request is received (step S61), and if there is No request (step S61: No), repeats the checking process. In addition, when there is a request for an object (step S61: Yes), a maintenance packet containing data of the requested object is generated (step S62) and transmitted to the programmable display 1B as the request source (step S63). The transmission of the maintenance packet from the control device 3 to the programmable display 1B is performed by notifying the programmable display 1B that the maintenance packet has been changed by the control device 3, and the programmable display 1B that has received the notification downloads the maintenance packet from the control device 3. After executing step S63, the control device 3 returns to step S61 to continue the operation.

In the present embodiment, an example of the operation of adding an object when there is a shortage of objects in the maintenance window displayed on the slave unit 2 has been described, but an object can be added by the same operation also when there is a shortage of objects in the maintenance window displayed on the programmable display 1B. When the object is insufficient in the 1 st maintenance window displayed on the programmable display 1B, the maintenance packet created by the control device 3 is the 1 st maintenance packet, and when the object is insufficient in the 2 nd maintenance window displayed on the slave device 2, the maintenance packet created by the control device 3 is the 2 nd maintenance packet.

In the maintenance system 100 according to the present embodiment, when it is necessary to add an object to the 1 st maintenance window displayed on the programmable display 1 and the 2 nd maintenance window displayed on the slave unit 2, the programmable display 1 and the slave unit 2 acquire data of the added object from the control device 3 via the network. Therefore, when it is necessary to add an object to the maintenance window displayed on the display unit during the maintenance operation, the programmable display 1 and the slave unit 2 do not need to acquire data of the added object via an external storage medium, and can reduce the interruption time of the operation related to the maintenance.

The programmable display 1 stores data of a maintenance window displayed when a maintenance operation of the device 4 is performed as a maintenance packet, and stores data of a window displayed when a normal operation in which the maintenance operation is not performed as a packet (screen data shown in fig. 3) different from the maintenance packet. Therefore, the maintenance package can be updated, that is, the object to be added to the maintenance window can be added while the window other than the maintenance window is continuously displayed. In addition, the maintenance packet can be updated without interrupting the normal control of the device 4.

The configuration shown in the above embodiment is an example of the contents of the present invention, and may be combined with other known techniques, and a part of the configuration may be omitted or modified without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Description of the reference numerals

1A, 1B programmable display, 2 submachine, 3 control device, 4A, 4B equipment, 11, 21 display part, 12, 22 control part, 13, 23 storage part, 14, 24 operation receiving part, 15, 25 communication part, 100 maintenance system, 121, 221 data acquisition part, 122 screen data generation part, 123 submachine data generation part.

Claims

1. A maintenance system characterized by having programmable displays each having a communication function, and control means capable of effecting communication with the programmable displays,

the programmable display device has a 1 st display unit for displaying a 1 st maintenance window used for maintenance of a connected device,

when an object needs to be added to the 1 st maintenance window, the control device transmits data of the object that needs to be added to the programmable display.

2. The maintenance system according to claim 1,

the programmable display requests the control device for data of an object to be added when the object needs to be added to the 1 st maintenance window,

when data of an object is requested from the programmable display, the control device transmits the requested data of the object to the programmable display.

3. Maintenance system according to claim 1 or 2,

the control device has the following functions: remotely monitoring the programmable display via a network, receiving an append request for an object from the monitored programmable display; editing the content of the 1 st maintenance window based on the content of the received addition request; and creating a 1 st maintenance packet including data for displaying the 1 st maintenance window changed by the editing and transmitting the 1 st maintenance packet to the programmable display, the 1 st maintenance packet including data of an object displayed in the 1 st maintenance window.

4. Maintenance system according to any of claims 1 to 3,

the programmable display, if receiving the data of the object from the control device, updates the display of the 1 st maintenance window based on the received data of the object.

5. Maintenance system according to any of claims 1 to 4,

when the display of the 1 st maintenance window is updated, the programmable display notifies the worker that the display is updated.

6. The maintenance system according to any one of claims 1 to 5,

a slave unit having the programmable display, the slave unit having a 2 nd display unit for displaying a 2 nd maintenance window used for maintenance of the device,

when an object needs to be added to the 2 nd maintenance window, the control device transmits data of the object that needs to be added to the programmable display.

7. The maintenance system according to claim 6,

the slave unit requests the control device via the programmable display for data of an object to be added when the object needs to be added to the 2 nd maintenance window,

when data of an object is requested from the slave unit, the control device transmits the requested data of the object to the slave unit via the programmable display.

8. Maintenance system according to claim 6 or 7,

the control device has the following functions: remotely monitoring the slave unit via a network, and receiving an addition request for an object from the monitored slave unit; editing the content of the 2 nd maintenance window based on the content of the received addition request; and creating a 2 nd maintenance packet including data for displaying the 2 nd maintenance window changed by the editing, the 2 nd maintenance packet including data of an object displayed in the 2 nd maintenance window, and transmitting the 2 nd maintenance packet to the programmable display.

9. Maintenance system according to any of claims 6 to 8,

if the slave unit needs to display the 2 nd maintenance window, sending a starting request of the 2 nd maintenance window to the programmable display,

the programmable display generates display screen data of the 2 nd maintenance window and transmits the display screen data to the slave unit, if the start request is received from the slave unit.

10. The maintenance system according to claim 9,

the slave unit acquires display screen data of the 2 nd maintenance window from the programmable display using a web browser, and displays the 2 nd maintenance window using the acquired display screen data.

11. Maintenance system according to any of claims 6 to 10,

when the display of the 2 nd maintenance window is updated, the slave unit notifies the worker that the display is updated.