JP2004031429A - Environmental-load evaluation system and method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an environmental-load evaluation system and method whereby the environmental load of a component mounting board can be assessed automatically in a short time. <P>SOLUTION: The environmental-load evaluation system includes an image acquiring unit for fetching the image data of a photographed component mounting board of an evaluation object, a component data base including collation data and environmental-load data relative to a plurality of components, and a recognizing and collating unit for so specifying the respective components of the component mounting board of the evaluating object by collating the image data with the collation data of the component data base as to seek the environmental-load data of the component mounting board of the evaluating object by extracting from the component data base the environment protecting data of the specified components. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally relates to a system and a method for evaluating an environmental load of an electric product, and more particularly, to a system and a method for evaluating the environmental load of a substrate on which electronic components are mounted.
[Prior art]
Conventionally, the life cycle from product manufacturing to disposal is divided into raw material collection and transportation, material manufacturing, parts manufacturing, product manufacturing and transportation, use, recycling, and disposal. The process of determining the amount of consumption and the type and amount of emissions, and quantitatively evaluating the impact on the environment by integrating them is called life cycle assessment. As the prior art related to the life cycle assessment, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 7-31760 discloses an environmental load evaluation method, and 2000-553 discloses an environmental load evaluation method and apparatus.
[0002]
Further, as in the environmental load evaluation method and the environmental load evaluation device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-198719, the relationship between the types and dimensions of the components and the environmental load is checked in advance and stored in a database, so that the component mounting board can be obtained. Attempts have been made to reduce the time and effort required to evaluate the environmental load of a company. However, in an actual component mounting board, even if information on the circuit configuration at the design stage is known, it is usually not possible to know what components were actually mounted when the circuit board was manufactured. . Therefore, the components mounted on each board are specified by visual inspection, document inspection, or the like, and the types and numbers of the components manually specified in this manner are used for calculating the environmental load.
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In such manual work, in some cases, in order to evaluate information such as the type and dimensions of the components on the board, it is necessary to remove the soldered components from the board and inspect or measure the size. May be necessary. In electrical products, as the circuit becomes more complicated, the number of components mounted on a substrate is increasing at an accelerating rate. Therefore, it is troublesome and time-consuming to manually evaluate the environmental load of a huge number of components up to the manufacturing stage.
[0003]
In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide an environmental load evaluation system and an environmental load evaluation method that can automatically evaluate the environmental load of a component mounting board in a short time.
[Means for Solving the Problems]
An environmental load evaluation system according to the present invention includes an image acquisition unit that captures image data of an image of a component mounting board to be evaluated, a component database including collation data and environmental load data for a plurality of components, the image data and the components. Each component of the component mounting board to be evaluated is identified by collating with the collation data in the database, and the environmental protection data of the identified component is extracted from the component database to extract the component to be evaluated. It is characterized by including a recognition collation unit for obtaining environmental load data of the mounting board.
[0004]
According to another aspect of the present invention, the environmental load evaluation system includes a weight data acquisition unit that captures weight data of the component mounting board to be evaluated, and verification data and environmental load data for a plurality of component mounting boards. A board identification database, wherein the recognition and collation unit identifies the component mounting board to be evaluated as a whole by collating the image data and the weight data with the collation data of the board identification database. A collation process is executed, and when the first collation process fails to specify, a second collation process for specifying each component of the component board to be evaluated is executed.
[0005]
According to the environmental load evaluation system of the present invention, the component mounting board or the component on the board is recognized by referring to the board determination database or the component database based on the image data captured by the camera and the measured weight data. Then, the environmental load of the component mounting board can be obtained. Therefore, it becomes possible to evaluate the environmental load of a component mounting board of an electric product, which has conventionally been performed manually for a long time, without human intervention and in a short time, and to save labor and cost in the life cycle assessment. Down can be realized.
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0006]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an environmental load evaluation system for a component posting board according to the present invention.
[0007]
The environmental load evaluation system 10 of FIG. 1 includes a control device 11 including a computer, a hard disk drive 12, a camera 13, an X-ray camera 14, a scale 15, and a database 16.
[0008]
The control device 11 operates based on a program stored in the hard disk drive 12, controls the operations of the camera 13 and the X-ray camera 14, and acquires the visible area image data and the X-ray image data of the component mounting board CB. Further, data on the weight of the component mounting board CB is obtained from the scale 15 on which the component mounting board CB is mounted. The control device 11 recognizes and specifies the component mounting board CB based on the acquired data, and if it cannot be specified, recognizes and specifies each component on the component mounting board CB. The environmental load is calculated based on the specified data. In the process of recognizing the component mounting board CB or components and the process of calculating the environmental load, various data stored in the database 16 are used.
[0009]
In order to realize the above recognition processing, the present invention evaluates the type, size, and weight of the component mounting board CB or a number of components on the board based on a recognition program mainly including image information. The camera 13 is freely operated up, down, left, and right under the control of the control device 11, and is required to recognize the component mounting board CB or each component by three-dimensionally scanning around the component mounting board CB including the rotation operation. To obtain image data. Since there is a part that cannot be recognized as an image from the outside, such as a multilayer board or a contact point under a component, information about a hidden part is obtained by using the X-ray camera 14.
[0010]
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the control device 11.
[0011]
As shown in FIG. 2, the environmental load evaluation of the substrate is realized by the control device 11, for example, a computer such as a personal computer and an engineering workstation. The control device 11 includes a computer 510, a display device 520 connected to the computer 510, a control communication device 523, and an input device. The input device includes, for example, a keyboard 521 and a mouse 522. The computer 510 includes a CPU 511, a RAM 512, a ROM 513, a secondary storage device 514 such as a hard disk, a replaceable medium storage device 515, and an interface 516.
[0012]
The keyboard 521 and the mouse 522 provide an interface with the user, and input various commands for operating the computer 510, a user response to requested data, and the like. The display device 520 displays a result processed by the computer 510 and the like, and performs various data displays to enable a dialogue with a user when operating the computer 510. The control communication device 523 communicates with the drive device of the camera 13, the drive device of the X-ray camera 14, and the scale 15 to control them and acquire necessary image data and weight data.
[0013]
The environmental load evaluation method according to the present invention is provided as a computer program that can be executed by the computer 510. This computer program is stored in a storage medium M that can be mounted on the exchangeable medium storage device 515, and is loaded from the storage medium M to the RAM 512 or the secondary storage device 514 via the exchangeable medium storage device 515. Alternatively, the computer program is stored in a storage medium (not shown) at a remote location, and is loaded from the storage medium into the RAM 512 or the secondary storage device 514 via the interface 516, for example.
[0014]
When there is a program execution instruction from the user via the keyboard 521 and / or the mouse 522, the CPU 511 loads the program from the storage medium M or the secondary storage device 514 to the RAM 512. The CPU 511 uses the free storage space of the RAM 512 as a work area, executes the program loaded in the RAM 512, and proceeds with the process while appropriately interacting with the user. The ROM 513 stores a control program for controlling the basic operation of the computer 510.
[0015]
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing functional modules of a program of the environmental load evaluation method.
[0016]
The program 20 of the environmental load evaluation method shown in FIG. 3 includes an image recognition module 21, a camera control module 22, a scanning module 23, a matching module 24, a tabulation / form module 25, an allocation module 26, a graphing module 27, and weight data. An acquisition module 28 is included.
[0017]
The image recognition module 21 analyzes images captured from the camera 13 and the X-ray camera 14. The camera control module 22 controls the camera 13 and the X-ray camera 14 to adjust the zoom, focus, imaging position, and the like, and causes the component mounting board CB to be imaged. The scanning module 23 captures the image data captured by the camera 13 and the X-ray camera 14 into a memory in the computer. The weight data acquisition module 28 loads the weight data from the scale 15 into a memory in the computer. The matching module 24 specifies the component mounting board CB or the component on the board by comparing the image data with the information in the board determination database or the component database based on the result of the image recognition.
[0018]
The tabulation / form module 25 collectively tabulates the environmental load data of each specified component based on the result of the image recognition / target specification. The allocation module 26 allocates environmental load data to the components of the component mounting board CB to be evaluated, which cannot be recognized and specified, with reference to the data of the recognized and specified portion. The graphing module 27 displays data on the environmental load calculated for the component mounting board CB as a graph.
[0019]
The above modules are functional modules of a program executed by the computer of the control device 11 and operate as functional units of the control device 11 at the time of execution. In this case, for example, the camera control module 22 and the scanning module 23 may constitute a functional unit for acquiring an image. Further, the image recognition module 21 and the matching module 24 may constitute a functional unit for recognition and collation processing.
[0020]
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the processing of the environmental load evaluation method according to the present invention. This processing is executed by the computer of the control device 11.
[0021]
In step ST1, the accuracy of the matching process in the environmental load evaluation is determined. This is to set conditions for matching determination by setting the number of parameters to be matched and the parameter range for determining matching when matching the captured image data with board data or component data.
[0022]
In step ST2, a measurement instruction is sent from the camera control module 22 to the camera 13, and the scanning module 23 captures image data capable of grasping the entire layout of the component mounting board CB.
[0023]
In step ST3, the image recognition module 21 executes image recognition processing on the captured image data of the component mounting board CB.
[0024]
In step ST4, the weight data acquisition module 28 acquires data on the weight of the component mounting board CB from the scale 15.
[0025]
In step ST5, the matching module 24 compares the image analysis result and the weight data of the component mounting board CB with the data in the board determination database to determine whether the component mounting board CB matches the board data in the board determination database. Is determined.
[0026]
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the board determination database. As shown in FIG. 5, for each substrate, weight, length, width, thickness, pattern, manufacturer name, and the like are stored as data. In FIG. 5, the data in the shaded portion is the data used for the matching process. Other data, that is, electric power, copper, calorific value, CO ₂ , NOx, etc., are environmental load data, and indicate the amount of energy and resources used to create each substrate, the amount of waste released at the time of creation, and the like. Data.
[0027]
If it is determined in step ST5 that the component mounting board CB, which is the board to be evaluated, is registered in the database, the process proceeds to step ST15, where the environmental load data is displayed and the process ends.
[0028]
If it is determined in step ST5 that the component mounting board CB is not registered in the database, the process proceeds to step ST6. At this time, even if the recognition of the component mounting board CB has failed, since the data such as the size of the board is known, the weight of the board itself excluding the mounted components and the environmental load data can be obtained. I can do it.
[0029]
In step ST6, the camera control module 22 controls the movement of the camera 13 and the operation of the X-ray camera 14.
[0030]
In step ST7, if necessary, the camera control module 22 scans the position of the camera 13 around the component mounting board CB (XYZ direction, θ direction) while scanning the individual components mounted on the board by the scanning module 23. Image data is acquired one by one in order. This is realized by, for example, an operation of first scanning in the horizontal direction from a corner serving as a starting point on the component mounting board CB, and repeating horizontal scanning while sequentially moving in the vertical direction each time each horizontal scanning ends. Further, the X-ray camera 14 acquires image data relating to hidden terminals and the like of the component mounting board CB, and uses information relating to the terminal arrangement for recognition. In these image data acquisition processes, image information relating to the amount of solder on the board that adheres to the terminals and the like of each component is also acquired.
[0031]
In step ST8, it is determined whether the scanning operation has reached the end point. If not, the process proceeds to step ST9.
[0032]
In step ST9, the image data of the fetched part is compared with the data of the part database 31, and the fetched part is specified. Also, the amount of solder is analyzed and estimated from the image data of the solder. When specifying a component by collation, an image analysis process by the image recognition module 21 and a collation process by the matching module 24 are executed.
[0033]
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of the component database. As shown in FIG. 6, for each component, a pattern including a nameplate, a color, a terminal arrangement, and the like, a length, a height, a width, a mass, and the like are stored as data. In FIG. 6, the data in the shaded portion is the data used for the matching process. Other data, that is, electric power, copper, calorific value, CO ₂ , NOx, etc. are environmental load data, and indicate the amount of energy and resources used to create each part, the amount of waste released at the time of creation, and the like. Data.
[0034]
If it is determined in step ST9 that the component to be evaluated is registered in the database, the process returns to step ST7, and the process from step ST7 is performed on the next component. If the component to be evaluated is not registered in the database, it is recorded as the unrecognizable component data 32 in step ST9, and the process returns to step ST7 to execute the processing from step ST7 on for the next component.
[0035]
If it is determined in step ST8 that the scanning operation has reached the end point, the process proceeds to step ST10, in which the environmental load data of the identified components is totaled, and a report of the environmental load is created. This processing is executed by the tabulation / form module 25.
[0036]
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a form. Each column 41 of the form corresponds to each component mounted on the component mounting board CB to be evaluated and specified. Each row of the form shows the amount of resources consumed and the amount of waste discharged in the manufacturing process of each part. For example, the component Logic2 specified by the component mounting board CB consumes 1.352 × 10 ⁻¹ kg of crude oil as a fuel and 4.653 × 10 ⁻³ kg of copper ore as a raw material in its manufacturing process, and discharges it. it can be seen that the CO ₂ and 6.815 x 10 ^-1 kg released as objects. CO ₂ emissions for all components on the component mounting board CB (substrate and the solder also be included) if total identifies the amount of CO ₂ discharged when manufacturing the component mounting board CB, the CO ₂ of The environmental load can be determined.
[0037]
After the form is created, it is determined in step ST11 of FIG. 4 whether the recognition rate is smaller than a predetermined recognition rate, for example, 0.9. Here, the recognition rate can be determined based on, for example, the mass. The weight of the entire component mounting board CB is obtained from the scale 15, and the mass of each recognized and specified component is known from the component database. Therefore, the weight ratio of the recognized portion is determined by the sum of the mass of the recognized and specified component, the sum of the total weight of the solder, and the weight of the board itself, and the ratio of the measured weight of the entire component mounting board CB. You can ask. If this ratio is, for example, 0.9 or less, the process proceeds to step ST12.
[0038]
In step ST12, the recognition accuracy is reset. This aims to increase the recognition rate by using looser determination conditions by changing the match determination conditions such as the number of recognition parameters set in step ST1 and the parameter range for determining a match. For example, six parameters of nameplate, color, pattern, length, height, and width are used as recognition parameters for the matching process, but are reduced to four parameters of color, pattern, length, and width. For example, the parameters such as length, height, and width may be reset such that ± 3% is set as the allowable range of the match determination, but the range of the match is set to ± 5%. Even if the recognition accuracy is reduced in this way, the effect on the overall recognition accuracy is small, because the recognition accuracy is simply reduced for the remaining portion after the matching determination has already been performed with high recognition accuracy.
[0039]
After resetting the recognition accuracy, in step ST13, the process (process A) from step ST7 to step ST10 is performed on the unrecognizable component data 32. As a result, the newly recognized component is added to the form 40 already created by the tabulation / form module 25.
[0040]
Next, in step ST14, the allocation module 26 performs an allocation process. In the allocation process, among the components of the component mounting board CB to be evaluated, environmental load data is assigned to a part that could not be recognized and specified by referring to data of the part that could be recognized and specified. This processing is equivalent to estimating that the unknown part that cannot be recognized will have the same environmental load data as the recognized part.
[0041]
FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the allocation processing.
[0042]
In the table shown in FIG. 8, the component column 51 lists components mounted on the component mounting board CB and recognized and specified by the matching process. The left column 52 shows the environmental load of each component before allocation, and the right column 53 shows the environmental load of each component after allocation. The recognition column 54 indicates the sum of the respective environmental load amounts for all the recognized components listed in the component column 51. In the unrecognized column 55, the difference between the weight A in the recognition column 54 and the actual measured weight is shown as an unrecognized weight B. In the example shown in the figure, the weight A of the recognized portion is 150 grams, the weight B of the unrecognized portion is 16 grams, and the measured weight is 166 grams.
[0043]
In the allocation processing, the environmental load of each component is increased by (1 + B / A) times so that the environmental load of the unrecognized part is assigned to each component. That is, for example, in the case of the part Memory1, the weight is 3.1 g and the CO ₂ emission amount is 8.6 g. Respectively (1 + 16/150) by multiplying ≒ 1.106, weight of about 3.43 grams after the allocation, CO ₂ emissions is 9.52 grams. Since the total mass A also becomes (1 + B / A) times, after the allocation, the total mass becomes A + B grams, which matches the measured weight.
[0044]
By the above allocation processing, the environmental load has been determined for all the parts of the measured actual weight.
[0045]
After the allocation process is performed in this manner, the obtained environmental load is displayed as an evaluation result in step ST15 of FIG. At this time, each environmental holding amount can be displayed as a graph that can be easily visually recognized by the graphing module 27. Thus, the process ends.
[0046]
As described above, according to the environmental load evaluation method of the present invention, the component mounting board CB or the board is referred to by referring to the board determination database or the component database based on the image data captured by the camera and the measured weight data. The above components can be recognized and specified, and the environmental load of the component mounting board CB can be obtained.
[0047]
As described above, the present invention has been described based on the embodiments. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the claims.
【The invention's effect】
According to the environmental load evaluation system of the present invention, the component mounting board CB or the component on the board is recognized by referring to the board determination database or the component database based on the image data captured by the camera and the measured weight data. To determine the environmental load of the component mounting board CB. Therefore, it is possible to evaluate the environmental load of a component mounting board of an electric product, which has been conventionally performed manually for a long time, without human intervention and in a short time. Down can be realized.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an environmental load evaluation system for a component posting board according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a control device.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing functional modules of a program of an environmental load evaluation method.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a process of an environmental load evaluation method according to the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a board determination database.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a component database.
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a form.
FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining allocation processing.
[Explanation of symbols]
Reference Signs List 10 Environmental load evaluation system 11 Computer control device 12 Hard disk drive 13 Camera 14 X-ray camera 15 Scale 16 Database

Claims (10)

An image acquisition unit that captures image data of the component mounting board to be evaluated;
A parts database including collation data and environmental load data for a plurality of parts,
Identifying each component of the component mounting board to be evaluated by collating the image data with the collation data in the component database, and extracting the environmental protection data of the identified component from the component database. An environmental load evaluation system comprising: a recognition / collation unit for obtaining environmental load data of the component mounting board to be evaluated. A weight data acquisition unit that captures weight data of the component mounting board to be evaluated;
The apparatus further includes a board determination database including matching data and environmental load data for the plurality of component mounting boards, and the recognition matching unit compares the image data and the weight data with the matching data of the board determination database. A first matching process for specifying the component mounting board to be evaluated as a whole is performed, and a second component for specifying each component of the component mounting board to be evaluated when the first matching process fails to specify. The environmental load evaluation system according to claim 1, wherein a collation process is executed. The image data captured by the image acquisition unit includes X-ray image data obtained by imaging the component mounting board to be evaluated with an X-ray camera. The environmental load system according to claim 1, wherein: A camera for capturing the image data,
The environmental load system according to claim 2, further comprising a scale for acquiring the weight data, wherein the system is realized by the image acquisition unit, the weight data acquisition unit, the database, and the recognition and collation unit. The environmental load system according to claim 4, further comprising a unit that freely controls a position of the camera. Import image data of the component mounting board to be evaluated,
Each component of the component mounting board to be evaluated is identified by referring to a component database including data for comparison and environmental load data for a plurality of components, and comparing the image data with the data for comparison in the component database. Execute the collation identification process,
An environmental load evaluation method, comprising the steps of: extracting the environmental load data of each of the specified components from the component database; and compiling a form relating to the environmental load data of the component mounting board to be evaluated. . Import the weight data of the component mounting board to be evaluated,
The component to be evaluated is referred to by referring to a board determination database including collation data and environmental load data for a plurality of component mounting boards, and comparing the image data and the weight data with the collation data in the board determination database. Executes the matching process to identify the mounting board as a whole,
When the collation processing succeeds in specifying the component mounting board to be evaluated, the method further includes each step of extracting the environmental load data of the specified component mounting board from the board determination database. 7. The environmental load evaluation method according to claim 6, wherein the collation processing is executed when the identification of the component mounting board to be evaluated has failed. Determine the recognition rate based on the ratio of the total weight of each specified part and the weight of the weight data,
8. The environmental load evaluation method according to claim 7, further comprising: when the recognition rate is lower than a predetermined value, resetting a matching condition in the matching process and repeating the matching process. . Identify the component mounting board to be evaluated,
8. The environmental load evaluation method according to claim 7, further comprising the step of specifying an amount of solder for connecting each of the components on the component mounting board to be evaluated. 7. The environmental load evaluation method according to claim 6, wherein in the step of capturing the image data, the components of the component mounting board to be evaluated are sequentially scanned and captured as the image data.

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