JP2003340866A - Operation state display method for molding machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To facilitate the distinguishment of divided screens for individual molding machines in an operating state display screen displayed by a display device in a more-than-one molding machine control system for collectively controlling a plurality of the molding machines. <P>SOLUTION: The operation state of each molding machine is displayed on a screen of the display device provided in the control device in a more-than-one molding machine control system for controlling a plurality of the molding machines. The display device can display an operation state display screen which can collectively display the operation states of all of a plurality of molding machines at a time in a screen division system. In the operation state display screen, a desirably variable icon image for easily distinguishing the displays for the machines from one another is displayed in a divided screen for each machine. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an operation status display method suitable for display in a plurality of molding machines, for example, a multiple machine management system for collectively managing a plurality of injection molding machines.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a multiple-unit management system for managing a plurality of injection molding machines installed at the same location, for example, a group management system for managing the productivity is provided. In this type of multiple-unit management system, for example, a personal computer with a display device is provided as a management device connected to a plurality of injection molding machines. The management device is
Receives various information from various sensors installed in the injection molding machine, processes the received information based on the built-in management program, saves the processed result in the built-in memory, and displays it on the display device as a management screen. . Of course,
Depending on the type of information, the received raw information may be stored in the memory as it is.

[0003]

By the way, the operation of displaying the operating statuses of a plurality of injection molding machines in a screen-divided format on all display machines in a display device in a conventional multi-device management system. Some are designed to be displayed on the status screen. In this operation status screen, the split screens for each unit are displayed separately.
In addition to the machine number, at least the image of the injection molding machine is displayed as an icon image.

However, this icon image is fixed,
If the types of injection molding machines managed are the same, all the icon images displayed on the split screen are the same.
For this reason, when the operator of the management device sees the operation status screen, it is difficult to distinguish the injection molding machine of a specific machine from the injection molding machine of another machine only by looking at the machine number. There is.

Further, in general, in a plural-unit management system for an injection molding machine, since the screen of the display device has a uniform display form, the numerical values of the divided screens of the adjacent machines and the divided screens of the upper and lower machines are calculated. Not only is it possible to misread the numbers of the existing units, but if they are misread, it may hinder the production process. For this reason, it is required that the operating status of the injection molding machine can be accurately determined in a short time at the production site.

An object of the present invention is to make it easy to identify a divided screen for each machine in an operation status screen displayed on a display device of a plural-machine management system for collectively managing a plurality of molding machines, especially an injection molding machine. It is in.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a display method for displaying the operating status of each molding machine on the screen of a display device provided in a management device in a multi-unit management system for managing a plurality of molding machines, The display device can display an operation status screen that collectively displays the operation statuses of the plurality of molding machines in a screen-splitting format for all machines, and each of the operation status screens is displayed separately. It is characterized in that an icon image that can be arbitrarily changed is displayed on each of the split screens of the number machine so as to make it easy to distinguish from another number machine.

In the operating status display method according to the present invention, the icon image is an image of a molding machine of a corresponding machine, an image of a molded product being molded, a face image of a person in charge of the corresponding machine, and the like. It is input and saved in advance through the management device.

The split screen may display molding machine information in addition to the icon image.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Before describing the embodiments of the present invention, referring to FIGS. 1 to 6, the operation of an injection molding machine proposed by the present applicant (Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-193234) will be described. The status display method will be described. The operation status display method proposed above is applied to a system for managing a plurality of injection molding machines as shown in FIG. In FIG. 1, a plurality of injection molding machines 10-1 to 10-n are installed in the same place, and these are collectively managed by a management device 20 with a display device. That is, the management device 20 is connected to the respective control devices in the injection molding machines 10-1 to 10-n, and various control signals from various sensors installed in the injection molding machines 10-1 to 10-n are used. Information is received via each control device, the received information is processed for each injection molding machine based on a built-in management program, and the processed result is stored in a built-in memory and displayed on a display device as a management screen. Depending on the type of information, the received raw information is stored in the memory as it is.

Next, there are a plurality of types of management screens displayed on the display device in order to represent the operating status of each injection molding machine in the management device 20 described above, and four examples will be described.

FIG. 2 is an operation status screen for displaying the operation status of a plurality of injection molding machines in real time. On this operation status screen, the operation status of a plurality of injection molding machines is displayed in real time on a single screen in a screen-divided format for all machines (here, machines 1 to 30). For example, referring to FIG. 3 which is an enlarged view of the No. 9 machine, the number of the No. machine is shown at the upper left, the count value C1 (17 here) of the molding condition change counter is shown at the upper right, and 2 is shown on the right side.
4-hour operation status graph, number of shots on the lower side (529)
And the cycle time (14.9 sec) are displayed. Here, the molding condition change counter is a counter that counts how many times the molding conditions have been changed from the start of molding to the present. This counter is managed by the management device 20.
Be prepared for. The control device in each injection molding machine is provided with a means for detecting a change in molding conditions, and the management device 20 counts each in response to the detection result from each control device and displays the count result for each machine on the display device. Let The management device 20 can reset this display value as needed.

Further, the 24-hour operating status graph is one in which the operating status of the injection molding machine from the present time to the past 24 hours is color-coded and displayed by one first bar graph B1. The operating status is defined by four types: operating, normal stop (during standby), stop due to an abnormality, and power off. The four types of status are displayed in different colors according to the elapsed time from 24 hours ago to the present time. To be done. Here, the operation is shown in blue, the normal stop is shown in yellow, the stop due to an abnormality is shown in red, and the power is turned off in gray.
Blue is shown with thin hatching to the right, yellow is vertical hatching, red is thick hatching to the right, and gray is thicker hatching to the left. Also, the first bar graph B
The lowest end of 1 indicates 24 hours ago, and the highest end indicates the present time. For example, if the normal stop is from the past 24 hours to 12 hours, and the operation is from the past 12 hours to the present time, the first In the bar graph B1, the lower half is displayed in yellow and the upper half is displayed in blue.

Further, in the above-mentioned proposal, the appearance of the injection molding machine is displayed as an icon image in the split screen of each machine, and the background thereof is the operation, the normal stop, the The four types of stop due to an abnormality and the power-off are displayed in the same corresponding color relationship as the color classification in the first bar graph B1. That is, assuming the same as the above example, the background color is blue.

By looking at such an operation status screen, the operator or the administrator can know at a glance which machine was in what kind of operation status in the past 24 hours. The value of 24 hours is usually a fixed value, but may be variable.

By the way, the management device 20 can display a general graph screen showing in detail the operating conditions of only the relevant car by clicking a specific part in the divided screen of each car in the above operating condition screen on the display device. ing.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a general graph screen. In this general graph screen, 2 for each machine (here, machine 10).
The change status of the quality data for four hours, the presence / absence of an abnormality, and the presence / absence of a setting change are displayed on one screen with time as the horizontal axis. In FIG. 4, the uppermost graph is a line graph showing the change in the cumulative value of the number of shots, and a plurality of vertically arranged lines, for example, the line L1 has a molding interruption (abnormal occurrence) around 18:00. Indicates that. The "state" of L2 is the same as the display of the operating status described above, and is defined by four types of operation, normal stop (during standby), stop due to an abnormality, and power off, for 24 hours. The state is displayed in different colors according to the time. The "condition name" of L3 is a graph showing the time when the color is changed when the molding condition is changed, that is, the condition name of each molded product is changed. In other words, this is changed when the molded product changes and is displayed in different colors, but the color itself does not have meaning, and the time when the color changes has meaning. On the other hand, the "item" of L4 is a graph that changes the color when the condition item in the molding condition is changed and displays the change with time. For example, the color is changed when the injection condition, the mold opening condition, and the like are changed, and this is also the time when the color is changed, rather than the color itself. Therefore, the colors of “condition name” and “item” are different from “state”, and four or more colors are prepared.

Further, the graph of the first stage of L5 is the "filling time" of the display item shown in the display item selection column on the lower side of FIG.
2 shows the passage of time, and the second stage similarly shows the passage of time of the "minimum cushion position". The graph in the third row shows the "holding pressure completion position", and the fourth and fifth steps show the elapsed time of the "V / P switching position" and the "pre-filling position", respectively.

In the above-mentioned proposal, further, on the right side of the summary graph screen, the operation status of the relevant machine in the past 24 hours is further described.
At the operating rate of 0 to 100%, the second bar graph B2 is displayed in the same color as the first bar graph B1 together with the numerical value indicating 24 hours. In FIG. 4, it is shown that the operating rate for the past 24 hours is 28%, and the operating rate calculation is based on the “time display” portion shown in the display item selection column on the lower side of FIG. Is displayed. The numbers in the "time display" column can be changed arbitrarily. In other words, the "date and time" and "time display" shown in the display item selection column can be set arbitrarily, and here the numerical value of 24 hours from 10:00 on September 4, 2000 is set. As shown at the top of FIG. 4, 24 hours from 10:00 on September 4, 2000 to 10:00 on September 5, 2000 are displayed. If the number 12 is entered in the "time display", the operating rate for the past 12 hours based on 12 hours is displayed on the second bar graph B2. In this case, 1 in FIG.
The graphs or items in the 8th to 8th rows are also shown for the past 12 hours. According to such a second bar graph B2, it is possible to display the operation rate from an arbitrary time and an arbitrary time.

FIG. 5 is an example of a setting history screen. In this setting history screen, the history of setting changes is classified by machine number (here, machine number 10), the changed item, the set value before and after the change, and the change value. It is displayed on one screen together with the date and time.

FIG. 6 shows an example of an abnormality history screen. In this abnormality history screen, the history of abnormality occurrence is classified into 1 by machine number (here, No. 10) together with the abnormality item, occurrence date and time, and cancellation date and time.
Displayed on the screen.

As described above, the summary graph screen of FIG. 4 is linked to the operation status screen of FIG. 2 and is displayed by clicking a specific part (icon) of each unit on the operation status screen of FIG. It is supposed to be done. Also, FIG.
The setting history screen of and the abnormality history screen of FIG. 6 are respectively linked to the general graph screen of FIG. 4, and an arbitrary screen is directly displayed by clicking a specific part (icon) of the general graph screen of FIG. It is like this.

Now, the operation status display method according to the present invention is as follows.
The display for each unit displayed on the operation status screen as shown in FIG. 2 is made easier to identify.
The embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 8 as well. That is, the present invention can be applied to the multiple-unit management system as described with reference to FIG. 1, and thus can display the general graph screen, setting history screen, and abnormality history screen as shown in FIGS. 4 to 6. Is.

FIG. 7 is an operation status screen for displaying the operation status of a plurality of injection molding machines in real time according to the embodiment of the present invention. Similar to Fig. 2, on this operating status screen, the operating status of multiple injection molding machines is displayed in real time on a single screen in a screen-divided format for all units (here, Units 1 to 30). It For example,
FIG. 8 showing an enlarged view of Unit 16 (No. 16)
Explaining also with reference to (a), the number of the machine is shown in the upper left, the count value C1 (0 here) of the molding condition change counter is shown in the upper right, and the first bar graph B shows the operating condition for 24 hours on the right side.
1, the number of shots on the lower side, cycle time, molding condition name,
Two items of each molding information such as a mold name can be selected and displayed. Here, the number of shots (4157) and the cycle time (5.2 sec) are displayed. The display form as described above is exactly the same as that described with reference to FIG.

In this embodiment, in particular, in order to easily distinguish the image of the injection molding machine displayed in the split screen of each machine from the images of other machines, not only the injection molding machine but also other images are displayed. The feature is that it can be selectively displayed as an icon image. That is, although the icon image of the injection molding machine is displayed on the split screen shown in FIG.
On the split screen of the No. 25 machine (No. 25) shown in FIG. 8B, the icon image of the molded product molded by the injection molding machine of the No. 25 machine is displayed. As a result, the operator of the management device viewing the split screen of the No. 25 machine can clearly identify the molded product molded by the injection molding machine of the No. 25 machine. Of course, the background of these split screens is, in order to show the current operating status, as described in FIG.
The four types of normal stop, stop due to an abnormality, and power-off are displayed in the same corresponding color relationship as the color classification in the first bar graph B1. That is, if the same as the example of FIG. 3, the background color is blue.

The icon image displayed on the split screen is
In addition to the image of the injection molding machine and the image of the molded product, any image may be used as long as it is an image for facilitating identification with other machines, such as a face image of a person in charge of each machine.

For such an icon image, image data to be displayed is prepared in advance for each divided screen and saved in the memory of the management device, and which icon image is displayed when a specific part of the icon image area is clicked. The display and the display change can be realized by designating. That is, the input and storage of the image data to be displayed can be performed at the time of installing the management system or at any time after the installation.

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described by being applied to the injection molding machine, the present invention is not limited to the injection molding machine and can be applied to other molding machines such as an extrusion molding machine.

[0029]

As described above, according to the operation status display method of the present invention, the icon image can be changed to an arbitrary image in order to easily identify the machine in the split screen displayed by the operation status screen for each machine. By doing so, it becomes possible to display a state closer to the production site, and it becomes easier to grasp the operating status for each machine in a short time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration of a multi-injection molding machine management system proposed by the present applicant and to which the present invention can also be applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a driving status screen as an example of a management screen displayed on the display device of the management device shown in FIG. 1 according to the proposal by the applicant.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of one of the split screens shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a general graph screen as another example of the management screen displayed on the display device of the management device shown in FIG. 1 according to the proposal by the applicant.

5 is a diagram showing an example of a setting history screen as another example of the management screen displayed on the display device of the management device shown in FIG. 1 according to the proposal by the applicant.

6 is a diagram showing an example of an abnormality history screen as another example of the management screen displayed on the display device of the management device shown in FIG. 1 according to the proposal by the applicant.

7 is a diagram showing an example of a driving situation screen as an example of a management screen displayed on the display device of the management device shown in FIG. 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of two of the split screens shown in FIG. 7.

[Explanation of symbols]

10-1 to 10-n injection molding machine 20 Management device B1 First bar graph B2 Second bar graph

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A display method for displaying an operating status of each molding machine on a screen of a display device provided in a management device in a multi-unit management system for managing a plurality of molding machines, wherein the display device is the plurality of molding machines. It is possible to display an operating status screen that displays the operating status of each molding machine in a screen split format for all machines at the same time.In the operating status screen, the split screen of each machine is displayed separately. A method for displaying the operating status of a molding machine, wherein an icon image that can be changed arbitrarily for easy identification with the No. machine is displayed. 2. The operation status display method according to claim 1, wherein the icon image is an image of a molding machine of a corresponding number machine, an image of a molded product that has been molded, a face image of a person in charge of the corresponding number machine, and the like. The method for displaying the operating status of a molding machine, wherein the method is input and stored in advance through a management device. 3. The operating status display method according to claim 1, wherein the split screen displays molding machine information in addition to the icon image.