JP2004195581A - Tool information management device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To recognize urgency for replacing a tool at a glance by displaying only tool information in use when operated in a certain operation mode in a processing line including a plurality of machine tools. <P>SOLUTION: The whole tool information sent from control devices PC1 to PC3 is stored in the whole tool information storage areas Ta1 to Ta3. A selecting means 13 selects a using tool by referring to table data of tool designating tables Sta1 to Sta3 with respective machine tools M/C1 to M/C3 on the basis of a kind of work processed at present and an operation mode with respective machine tools M/C1 to M/C3. An extracting means 14 extracts information on the selected tool from the whole tool information storage areas Ta1 to Ta3. A rearranging means 15 rearranges the tools in the order of residual time, with one with shortest residual time as first, on the basis of residual service life data on the extracted tool information, and displays a result on a display device 16. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a tool information management device of a machining system including a plurality of machine tools each having a plurality of tools exchangeable.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, as a tool information management technology for a machining system composed of a large number of machining centers, Patent Document 1 discloses that tool information of a large number of machining centers is uploaded to an entire tool information storage area of a central tool information management device, Further, there is disclosed a tool that downloads tool information in an entire tool information storage area to a number of machining centers and selectively deletes, adds, or outputs information in the entire tool information storage area by an operator operation. A similar system is also described in US Pat. Also, in paragraphs 0053 to 0054 of Patent Document 2, there is disclosed a numerical control device for controlling a machine tool that searches for a “T command” of a machining program and displays a tool life or the like corresponding to the command. Have been.
Patent Literature 3 discloses a tool in which a display for each tool is prepared for displaying the life of a plurality of tools in a single machining center, and the display of the tool which is not used is stopped by an operation selection switch. is there.
Patent Document 4 describes that information on a tool used in a certain processing cell is displayed on a display device connected to a cell controller.
Patent Literature 5 discloses a technique in which when a failure machine occurs in a processing system, another machine is operated on behalf of the processing system so that the processing system is not stopped.
[0003]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-1-289648 [Patent Document 2]
JP-A-5-84631 [Patent Document 3]
JP-A-6-39348 [Patent Document 4]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 7-116945 [Patent Document 5]
JP-A-6-246599
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In order to improve the operation rate in a processing system including a plurality of machine tools (a so-called FMS line), another machine in the line takes over the processing schedule of the failed machine in the line as in Patent Document 5. Is done. Even during such substitute operation, management of tool information is indispensable, but as tools that must be managed, tools held by a failed machine will not be processed by the failed machine after it has failed. No need to manage. On the other hand, another machine tool acting as a substitute for the machining schedule of the failed machine uses the same tools as those of the failed machine in addition to the tools in the normal operation, so that it is necessary to manage these tools. At the time of such a substitute operation, if the processing of displaying the tool information of all the machine tools regardless of whether it is a faulty machine or not is performed, if there is too much tool information, the operator can determine which tool is truly It may cause confusion as to whether it is in the “management required” state. Therefore, at the time of the proxy operation as described above, the tool data from the failed machine is not displayed, and for the machine tool that is performing the proxy operation, information on a tool newly added by the proxy operation is displayed. In this case, only the tool information to be managed is displayed, and confusion of the operator is avoided.
[0005]
In the tool information management device described in Patent Literature 1, information on tools held by all machine tools is centrally managed. Regarding the information display, data in all tool information management means is operated by an operator, It is taken out and displayed. If the display processing of only the management-needed tool information as described above is to be performed in the configuration described in Patent Literature 1, the necessary information is displayed by the operator processing, and the operation is troublesome.
In Patent Document 2, since the tool information to be used is displayed by automatically analyzing the machining program, when the machine is operated in the above-described proxy operation, the machining tool for the proxy operation naturally substitutes the machine tool. Is set to, the same tool that is used in the failed machine is also displayed, and it is convenient that it is not displayed because it is stopped in the failed machine, but the processing becomes complicated, Further, since such display is performed for each numerical control device of each machine tool, it is not suitable for grasping tool information of the entire machining line.
[0006]
Patent Literature 3 also eliminates unnecessary tool information in a single machining center. However, since this is also processed by an operator operation, it requires time and effort for operation.
Patent Literature 4 collects tool information of a plurality of machining cells in a cell controller and displays tool information used in a certain machining cell along with a life span. Therefore, a tool that needs to be replaced by a life cycle in each machining cell is specified. However, if this display is not performed for all the machining cells included in the machining line, there is a problem that the urgency of tool replacement based on the life cannot be grasped.
The present invention displays only tool information used when operating in a certain operation mode in a machining line including a plurality of machine tools so that unnecessary tool information is not provided to an operator, and tool replacement is performed. It is intended to provide a tool management device capable of displaying the degree of urgency at a glance.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The tool information management device according to the present invention is a tool information management device that collects and displays tool information sent from the plurality of machine tools in a processing system including a plurality of machine tools each having a plurality of tools. Contains the remaining tool life data, is used for each machine tool, stores all tool information storage areas for each machine tool, and corresponds to the operation mode set for each machine tool A tool specification table that specifies the tool to be performed, and a selection unit that selects a used tool corresponding to the operation mode sent from the machine tool from the tool specification table, and in association with the operation mode of the machine tool. Extracting means for extracting only the tool information relating to the selected used tool from the tool information stored in the total tool information storage area, and extracting the tool information extracted by the extracting means with a short remaining life. And rearranging means for rearranging the order, characterized in that a display device for displaying the result sorted thereof.
[0008]
Further, the tool information management device of the present invention is a tool information management device that collects and displays tool information sent from the plurality of machine tools in a machining system including a plurality of machine tools each having a plurality of tools, The information includes the remaining tool life data, and is set in each machine tool for each machine tool in accordance with each machine tool, including an entire tool information storage area for storing all tool information provided in each machine tool and a predetermined work type. A tool specification table that specifies a tool to be used in accordance with the operation mode to be used, and a tool specification table that specifies a tool to be used that corresponds to the work type given in advance and the operation mode sent from the machine tool. From the tool information stored in the entire tool information storage area in relation to the selecting means for selecting from the above and the operation mode of the machine tool when machining the given work type. Extraction means for extracting only the tool information relating to the selected used tool, sorting means for sorting the tool information extracted by the extraction means in ascending order of remaining life, and a display device for displaying the sorted result It is characterized by having.
[0009]
According to these configurations, only a plurality of tool information used when a plurality of machine tools included in the processing system are operated in a certain operation mode are extracted and displayed in ascending order of remaining life. At a glance, it is possible to know a tool with a high urgency of tool replacement.
[0010]
As the operation modes, a normal operation mode in a normal machining schedule, a substitute operation mode that substitutes a work schedule of another machine tool, and a machine stop mode are set.
[0011]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
As shown in FIG. 1, the processing system 1 includes a plurality of (here, three) machine tools M / C1 to M / C3. Each of the machine tools M / C1 to M / C3 is a so-called machining center provided with a tool changing device having a tool magazine provided with a large number of tools that can be exchanged. The operation of each of the machine tools M / C1 to M / C3 is controlled by the control devices PC1 to PC3. Each of the control devices PC1 to PC3 includes, from an operation control device 2 that controls the operation of the entire processing system 1, a work type (here, two types of works a and b) to be processed by the processing system 1, and each machine tool. The operation mode designated for each of M / C1 to M / C3 is transmitted.
[0012]
As the operation mode, all the machine tools M / C1 to M / C3 included in the machining system 1 are problematic for each of the machine tools M / C1 to M / C3 in accordance with the type of the work. In the normal operation mode in which the machining system 1 operates normally, when one of the machine tools M / C1 to M / C3 constituting the machining system 1 fails, the machining schedule of the failed machine is also determined by the remaining two machines. Three operation modes are set: a substitute operation mode for performing the operation, and a suspension operation mode for the case of a failed machine. In the alternative operation mode, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, two types of modes are set for each machine in order to perform one of the other two alternatives. In the machine tool M / C1, The M / C2 proxy operation mode and the M / C3 proxy operation mode are set, the M / C1 proxy operation mode and the M / C3 proxy operation mode are set for the machine tool M / C2, and the M / C3 The C1 proxy operation mode and the M / C2 proxy operation mode are set.
[0013]
In the tool magazine of each of the machine tools M / C1 to M / C3, tools used for these operation modes are prepared in advance. The machine tool M / C1 has tools T1 to T5 used in the normal operation, tools T6 'and T7' used in the M / C2 proxy operation mode, and T11 'to T13' used in the M / C3 proxy operation mode. are doing. The machine tool M / C2 has tools T6 to T10 for normal operation, tools T1 'to T3' for M / C1 substitution, and tools T14 'and T15' for M / C3 substitution. The machine tool M / C3 has tools T11 to T15 for normal operation, tools T4 'and T5' for M / C1 substitution, and tools T8 'to T10' for M / C2 substitution. Note that the tool T1 'indicates the same tool as the tool T1, and the other tool symbols with "dashes" have the same meaning.
[0014]
In the control devices PC1 to PC3 for controlling the machine tools M / C1 to M / C3, a plurality of machining programs for machining the work a (b) in the designated operation mode are prepared in advance. When the work type and the operation mode are transmitted, the corresponding machining program is executed, and the machined work a (b) is machined in the designated operation mode. Further, the control devices PC1 to PC3 transmit the designated operation mode and all the held tool information to the tool information management device 10. The tool information includes the machine number of the tool, the magazine pot number, and the remaining tool life data. The remaining life data of the used tool is calculated each time the work machining is completed.
[0015]
In the tool information management device 10, all tool information storage areas Ta1, Ta2, and Ta3 for storing all the held tool information are secured in a predetermined memory area for each of the machine tools M / C1 to M / C3. ing. As shown in FIG. 2, the remaining tool information storage areas Ta1, Ta2, and Ta3 store the remaining life and the corresponding tool life for all the tools held by each machine tool M / C1 to M / C3. The magazine pot number, the processing location, and the workpiece to be processed are stored in association with each other by the tool information writing unit 11. In addition, as shown in FIG. 3, a tool specification that specifies a tool to be used in accordance with a combination of a work type and an operation mode set for each machine tool M / C1 to M / C3. Tables Sta1, Sta2, and Sta3 are provided.
[0016]
Further, the tool information management device 10 uses the table data of the tool designation tables Sta1, Sta2, and Sta3 to read the operation modes sent from the control devices PC1 to PC3, Based on the above, the display tool selection means 13 for selecting a tool to be used, the extraction means 14 for extracting information of the selected display tool from the total tool information storage areas Ta1 to Ta3, and the extraction means 14 A sorting unit 15 for sorting the tool information in ascending order of the remaining life included in the tool information and a display device 16 for displaying the sorted tool information are provided. The type of the work to be processed may be sent from the control device PC1.
[0017]
Now, it is assumed that the machine tool M / C2 is malfunctioning when processing the workpiece a. The operation control device transmits the work type a to each of the control devices PC1 to PC3, instructs the machine tools M / C1 and M / C3 to perform the M / C2 proxy operation mode, and suspends the operation of the machine tool M / C2. Command the mode. By this operation mode command, the machine tool M / C1 uses the tools T1 to T3, T6 ', T7', and the machine tool M / C3 uses the tools T11 to T13, T8 ', respectively, in addition to the original normal machining, The processing performed by the machine tool M / C2 is performed instead. Since the M / C 2 is in the sleep mode, it is not operated. The remaining life of the tool used during machining is calculated by subtracting the use time from the preset life time. When one work is completed, each of the control devices PC1 to PC3 transmits the current operation mode and all the held tool information (including the remaining life data) to the tool information management device 10. . At this time, the operation mode and all tool information are also transmitted from the machine tool M / C2 in the stop mode.
[0018]
On the tool information management device side, processing is performed according to the flowchart shown in FIG. That is, of the operation mode and the tool information received in step S1, in step S2, the tool information is stored in all the tool information storage areas Ta1 to Ta3 of the machine tools M / C1 to M / C3 by the tool information writing means 11. I do. Next, in step S3, based on the type of the work currently being processed (the work a in this case) and the operation mode for each of the machine tools M / C1 to M / C3, the selection unit 13 sets the respective machine tools M / C1 to M / C3. The tool data to be used is selected with reference to the table data of the tool specification tables Sta1 to Sta3 for each. Here, in the machine tool M / C1, the table data Sta1-2 is selected, and the tools to be used are the tools T1 to T3, T6 ', and T7'. Similarly, in the machine tool M / C3, the table data Sta3-3 is selected, and the tools to be used are the tools T11 to T13 and T8 '. In the machine tool M / C2 in the pause mode, the used tool column is blank, and there is no tool to be displayed.
[0019]
Next, when a tool to be displayed is selected in this way, the extraction means 14 extracts information of the selected tool from all the tool information storage areas Ta1 to Ta3 in step S4. Here, only the information on the tools T1 to T3, T6 ', T7', T11 to T13, T8 'is extracted, and the tool information of the machine tool M / C2 at rest is not extracted. Next, using the remaining tool life data of the extracted tool information as a key, sorting is performed by the sorting unit 15 in ascending order of remaining time in step S5. Then, the result rearranged in step S6 is displayed on the display device 16 (display). Now, the remaining life recorded in all the tool information storage areas Ta1 to Ta3 is time t2 for the tool T1, time t3 for T4, time t1 for T6 ', time t4 for T13, time t0 for T8', and time t0 < It is assumed that t1 <t2 <t3 <t4. Among them, the tool T4 is not selected as the current display target, so that information on the tool T4 is not extracted. Therefore, the results sorted by the remaining time are displayed in order from the tool T8 'having the shortest remaining life as shown in FIG. Thus, since the tool information is displayed on the screen of the display device 16 in the order of urgency to be changed, the operator can surely prepare the next tool to be changed by referring to this display. it can. Further, the tool information of the machine tool at rest, the other tool information not selected by the selection means 13 are not displayed, and only the tool information used in the current machining is displayed. It is also possible to prevent the operator from being confused.
[0020]
In this embodiment, a case is different in which a manufacturer constructing the machining system 1 including the control devices PC / 1 to PC3, the machine tools M / C1 to M / C3, and the operation control device 2 is different from a manufacturer constructing the tool information management device 10. In the above, since the tool information management device 10 can perform processing only by receiving tool information and operation mode information from the control devices PC1 to PC3 of the machining system 1, the maker constructing the tool information management device 10 There is an advantage that the operation of modifying the first control devices PC1 to PC3 is extremely reduced, and the operation can be performed relatively easily.
[0021]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, in the present application, only a plurality of tool information used when a plurality of machine tools included in the processing system are operated in a certain operation mode are automatically extracted and displayed in ascending order of remaining life. In addition, the wasteful tool information is eliminated so that the confusion of the operator can be reduced, and the operator can know at a glance a tool having a high urgency of tool change.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an overall block diagram of a tool information management device of the present application.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an entire tool information storage area.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a tool designation table.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing processing in the tool information management device.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display screen.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 Processing System 13 Selection Means 14 Extraction Means 15 Rearrangement Means 16 Display Device a / b Work Type M / C1 to M / C3 Machine Tool Sta1 to Sta3 Tool Specification Tables T1 to T15 and T1 'to T15' Tools Ta1 to Ta3 All Tool information storage area

Claims (3)

In a tool information management device that collects and displays tool information sent from the plurality of machine tools, in a machining system including a plurality of machine tools each having a plurality of tools, the tool information includes remaining tool life data. A tool that includes all tool information storage areas that store all tool information provided for each machine tool, and tools that are used in accordance with the operation mode set for each machine tool. A designation table, and a selection means for selecting a used tool corresponding to the operation mode sent from the machine tool from the tool designation table, and in association with the operation mode of the machine tool, all tool information storage areas Extracting means for extracting only the tool information relating to the selected used tool from the stored tool information; and reordering for rearranging the tool information extracted by the extracting means in ascending order of remaining life. Tool information managing apparatus characterized by comprising: a stage, and a display device for displaying the result sorted thereof. In a tool information management device that collects and displays tool information sent from the plurality of machine tools, in a machining system including a plurality of machine tools each having a plurality of tools, the tool information includes remaining tool life data. Includes all tool information storage areas that store all the tool information provided for each machine tool, corresponding to each machine tool, and operation modes set for each machine tool for each given work type. A tool specification table that specifies a tool to be performed, and a selection unit that selects a tool to be used corresponding to the work type given in advance and the operation mode sent from the machine tool from the tool specification table. In relation to the operation mode of the machine tool when machining the given workpiece type, the selected tool to be used is selected from the tool information stored in the entire tool information storage area. Extracting means for extracting only the tool information, sorting means for sorting the tool information extracted by the extracting means in ascending order of remaining life, and a display device for displaying the sorted result. Tool information management device. The operation mode is set to a normal operation mode in a normal machining schedule, a substitute operation mode that also substitutes a work schedule of another machine tool, and a machine stop mode. Tool information management device.

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