JP2004348452A - Assembly order verification method and device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an assembly order verification method and device that can verify whether assembly order temporarily decided upon a partial change or the like is adequate or not and easily create permissible assembly order. <P>SOLUTION: An assembly order verification part 10 verifies the adequacy of assembly order in an assembly process of assembling a plurality of parts. A data part 20 stores part form data 21, part assembly locus data 22, assembly order data 23 and work constraint data 24. The assembly order verification part 10 has a constraint determination part 13 and an interference determination part 14. The constraint determination part 13 determines whether there is a work constraint violation or not, and the interference determination part 14 determines whether there is an interference or not. If the constraint determination part 13 determines that there is a constraint violation or the interference determination part 14 determines that there is an interference, an alarm display part 15 displays an alarm display. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an assembling order verification method and apparatus for verifying an assembling order for assembling a plurality of components into a product or an intermediate product. More specifically, the present invention relates to an assembling order verification method and apparatus for verifying whether a provisionally determined assembling order is permissible in light of various circumstances.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, devices and methods have been devised for automatically determining, using a computer or the like, an assembling order for assembling a plurality of components with each other to form a product (for example, see Patent Documents 1 and 2). ). The assembling order creation device described in Patent Literature 1 creates an assembly order of a product designed by a three-dimensional CAD system using three-dimensional CAD data. In particular, at the design stage, a part group to be a subassembly is set, and hierarchical part data is created. Then, the sub-assemblies are combined into one unit to create an assembling sequence incorporating a procedure for attaching the sub-assemblies to another part or sub-assembly.
[0003]
Further, according to the assembling order extraction method described in Patent Document 2, an assembling order including a plurality of assembling orders can be obtained. In other words, the order relation which may be the first order is distinguished from the order relation uniquely determined due to interference or the like, and the assembly order in a form including both order relations is extracted. In any of the above techniques, interference between parts and sub-assemblies at the time of assembling is checked to prevent the assembly order from being impossible.
[0004]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-8-297693 (pages 5-7)
[Patent Document 2]
JP-A-10-240324 (pages 4-6, FIG. 8)
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, each of the conventional techniques described above has the following problems. Each of these techniques is for correctly determining the entire assembling order, and does not correspond to a partial change. That is, if it is necessary to partially change the created assembly order for some reason, it cannot be verified whether or not the change is permitted.
[0006]
On the other hand, in the design of a production line of an automobile, etc., it is common to change a part of the assembly order of an existing line to make an assembly order for another line. For example, when creating an assembling order for a new model, it may be created by changing a part of the line with reference to an existing similar model. In addition, for each factory, there are individual immovable conditions such as the location of the component entrance and the position of the large component mounting equipment, and there are cases where it is desired to partially change the assembly order even for the same vehicle type. Alternatively, there may be a case where it is desired to partially change the assembling order so that a plurality of vehicle types are alternately manufactured on a single line.
[0007]
Of course, it is possible for the prior art to change the part and create all the assembling orders from the beginning. However, in a product such as an automobile, which is constructed by assembling a large number of parts, it takes a considerable amount of time and effort to create an assembling sequence. For this reason, it is not desirable to re-create the entire assembly order from the beginning for a partial change, because it takes time and costs. Therefore, there has been a demand for a simple method for making the assembling order temporarily created by the partial change acceptable.
[0008]
The present invention has been made in order to solve the problems of the above-described conventional technology. That is, the task is to verify whether the provisional order determined by partial changes is appropriate, and to easily create an acceptable assembly order. An object of the present invention is to provide an order verification method and an apparatus therefor.
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
An assembling order verifying method according to the present invention, which has been made to solve this problem, is an assembling order verifying method for verifying the validity of an assembling order in an assembling process for assembling a plurality of parts, and is used in the assembling process. The information of the assembling trajectory of each part and the information of the assembling order are input to the computer, and for at least one part, the assembling trajectory and the end point of the assembling trajectory of an already assembled part whose assembling order is earlier than the part are determined. This causes the computer to determine whether or not there is interference, and if it is determined that there is interference, causes the computer to notify that fact.
[0010]
According to the present invention, the information of the assembling trajectory and the assembling order of each component to be assembled is input to the computer, and the computer determines whether there is interference between the assembling trajectory of the component and the already assembled component. Here, the already-assembled part is another part that has already been assembled and is at the end point of the assembly locus. Therefore, the validity of the assembling order in terms of the interference between the component assembling trajectory and the already assembled components is verified. Further, when it is determined that there is interference, a notice to that effect is given, so that the validity of the assembling order is verified, and an index for creating a valid assembling order is obtained. be able to.
[0011]
Further, in the present invention, it is desirable that the computer also displays information on the already assembled components that are the object of the interference when notifying that it is determined that there is interference.
In this way, an index for considering a method of avoiding the interference can be obtained.
[0012]
Further, the assembling order verifying method of the present invention is an assembling order verifying method for verifying the validity of an assembling order in an assembling process of assembling a plurality of parts, and includes an assembling order verifying method for each component used in the assembling process. The information is input to the computer, the information on the work constraints in the assembly line is input to the computer, and the computer determines whether or not there is a work constraint violation in the assembly order. The notification may be performed by a computer.
In such a case, the validity of the work order of the assembly order of each component is verified even when the assembly order is restricted due to the specific circumstances of each assembly line. Further, when it is determined that there is a work constraint violation, a notice to that effect is given, so that an index for creating an assembly order in consideration of the constraint can be obtained.
[0013]
Further, in the present invention, it is desirable that the change of the assembling order by the operator is permitted, and the computer determines whether or not there is interference or whether or not there is a work constraint violation in the changed assembling order.
In this way, it is easy to partially change the assembling order, and the judgment of the operator can be reflected in the assembling order.
[0014]
Further, the present invention relates to an assembling sequence verifying apparatus for verifying the validity of an assembling sequence in an assembling process for assembling a plurality of components. Part information acquiring means for acquiring information on work constraints, constraint information acquiring means for acquiring information on work constraints in an assembling line, order change input means for allowing an operator to change an assembling order, and before or after the change. As to the assembling order, there is a validity judging means for judging whether or not there is interference between the trajectory at the time of assembling each part and the already assembled parts group, and whether or not there is a work constraint violation in the assembling order, and there is interference. And a display unit for displaying the site of the interference when the determination is made.
[0015]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The present embodiment is an apparatus that is mounted on a computer system and verifies an assembly order provisionally created for a production line of an automobile.
[0016]
As shown in FIG. 1, the assembling order verification unit 10 of the present embodiment is provided in a computer 1 such as a CAD system together with an assembling order creation unit 11. The assembling order creating unit 11 is a unit that creates an assembling order of each component for manufacturing an automobile. The method of creating the assembling order creating section 11 may be a known method such as the above-described conventional technique.
[0017]
The assembling order verifying unit 10 is a component that verifies the temporarily determined assembling order, and includes an assembling order changing unit 12, a constraint determining unit 13, an interference determining unit 14, and a warning display unit 15. Further, the computer 1 has a data section 20 for storing various data used in the assembling order verification section 10 and the assembling order creation section 11 and the like, an input section 31 to which an instruction from an operator is input, and an assembling section for notifying the operator. A display unit 32 for displaying an attachment order, a warning, and the like is provided. In addition, as data stored in the data unit 20, FIG. 1 shows component shape data 21, component assembling trajectory data 22, assembling order data 23, and work constraint data 24.
[0018]
Each part of the assembly order verification unit 10 will be described. The assembling order changing unit 12 performs a process of changing a part of the assembling order data 23 according to an instruction of the operator. The constraint determining unit 13 is a part that determines whether there is a work constraint violation. The work constraint is a constraint on an assembling order determined according to a specific situation of each production line. For example, this is a situation that cannot be changed due to the position of the component entrance, the arrangement of peripheral equipment, and the like. The interference determination unit 14 determines whether there is physical interference with the already mounted components or subassemblies when assembling the components or mounting the subassemblies. The warning display unit 15 displays a warning on the display unit 32 when the restriction determining unit 13 and the interference determining unit 14 determine that there is an inappropriate portion. Here, the assembling order verifying unit 10 displays an assembling order verifying device, the assembling order changing unit 12 displays an order change input unit, the constraint determining unit 13 and the interference determining unit 14 display a validity determining unit, and further displays a warning. The unit 15 corresponds to a display unit.
[0019]
Next, each data stored in the data section 20 will be described. The part shape data 21 is data in which the names or codes of the parts and subassemblies are associated with their three-dimensional shapes. The component assembling trajectory data 22 is data of a trajectory to be drawn when each component and the subassembly are assembled. If there is another part or the like already assembled on this trajectory, interference will occur. The component shape data 21 and the component assembling trajectory data 22 may be general data created by a CAD system or the like.
[0020]
The assembly order data 23 is data of the assembly order created by the assembly order creation unit 11 and the like. As shown in FIG. 2, the assembling order data 23 stores the assembling order for each procedure for assembling each component or subassembly. FIG. 2 shows that an “instrument” is installed at the N-th position, a “seat” at the M-th position, and a “door” at the L-th position. Here, it is assumed that N <M <L. Therefore, the assembling order of these subassemblies shall be such that the “seat” assembly is after the “instrument panel” assembly, and the “door” assembly is after the “seat” assembly. Is shown.
[0021]
The work constraint data 24 is obtained by converting work constraints into data. As shown in FIG. 3, the work constraint data 24 indicates that the constraint on the assembling order between each two parts or subassemblies is the constraint number. The data is listed in order. In the example shown in FIG. As one, it indicates that the assembly of the "seat" must be performed before the assembly of the "door". Reversing this order does not make the installation impossible, but it is required by the circumstances of the production line to keep this order. Some of these restrictions are common to all models and all lines, but some are different for each model and line. Here, the component assembling trajectory data 22 corresponds to information of an assembling trajectory, the assembling order data 23 corresponds to information of an assembling order, and the work constraint data 24 corresponds to information of a work constraint. Here, since the data unit 20 is provided in the computer 1, the data unit 20 corresponds to each of the component information obtaining unit and the constraint information obtaining unit.
[0022]
Next, the operation of the assembly order verification unit 10 will be described. The operation of the assembling order verification unit 10 is performed, for example, by changing a part of the part shape data 21 and the part assembling trajectory data 22 on the basis of the existing assembling order of the similar vehicle type, so that the assembling order data 23 is changed. Executed after being created. Alternatively, the verification may be performed by the mounting order verification unit 10 using the mounting order of the same vehicle type in another factory. Depending on the result, it is executed even after part of the part assembling trajectory data 22, the work constraint data 24 and the assembling order data 23 are changed. When the operation of the assembling order verification unit 10 is executed, first, each procedure is animated along the assembling order data 23 and displayed on the display unit 32. The operator confirms the temporarily determined assembly order by looking at this display.
[0023]
As a result, when the operator determines that the assembly order needs to be changed, a part of the assembly order data 23 can be changed using the assembly order change unit 12. Further, the constraint judging unit 13 verifies whether there is a constraint violation in a different order from the work constraint data 24. In addition, the interference determination unit 14 verifies the presence or absence of interference between the assembly trajectory of each component and other assembled components based on the component assembly trajectory data 22. As a result of these verifications, if it is determined that there is a constraint violation or interference, a warning display is displayed on the display unit 32 by the warning display unit 15.
[0024]
An example in which the order of assembling “instrument panel”, “seat”, and “door” shown in FIG. 2 will be described. For example, the assembling of the "seat" that was earlier than the assembling of the "door" is set as the Pth (P> L ') after the "door". In this case, as shown in FIG. 4, the assembling order of "sheet" after "instrument" and "door" after that is "door" after "instrument" and "seat" after that. In that order. In this order, the constraint determining unit 13 and the interference determining unit 14 determine whether there is a constraint violation or interference. Then, the constraint determination unit 13 determines that the assembly of the “seat” is earlier than the assembly of the “door”. 1 is determined to be in violation. Therefore, a warning as shown in FIG. 5 is displayed on the display unit 32 by the warning display unit 15.
[0025]
Alternatively, FIG. 6 shows another example in which the assembling order of “instrument panel”, “seat”, and “door” is changed. In this example, the assembly of the "instrument panel" that is ahead of the "seat" is changed to the Qth (Q> L ') after the "door". The "instrument" is attached to the front of the cabin, and cannot be put into the cabin if the "door" is assembled first. Therefore, the interference determination unit 14 determines that the attachment of the “instrument” has interference with the “door”. Therefore, a warning as shown in FIG. 7 is displayed on the display unit 32 by the warning display unit 15.
[0026]
Here, even if there is a constraint violation or interference, the assembly order is not automatically or forcibly changed. This is because, for example, in the case of a flexible component such as a harness, even if it interferes with data, it may be avoided by bending.
Therefore, whether to change the assembling order is left to the operator's judgment.
In some cases, the assembly order may be determined while the interference state remains.
[0027]
Alternatively, the assembling order may be automatically changed by the computer 1. For example, when there is interference in assembling a part, the assembling order of the part may be changed immediately before assembling of the interference partner. Alternatively, whether or not to automatically change the order may be selected and set in advance. Further, even when the order is automatically changed, further change by the operator may be allowed.
[0028]
Next, the operation of the assembly order verification unit 10 will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. In the operation of the assembling order verification unit 10, first, a main routine shown in FIG. 8 is executed. Then, according to the assembling order data 23, one kind of assembling procedure is displayed as an animation on the display unit 32 (S101). The operator examines whether or not the order is appropriate for each procedure while viewing the information (S102). This is because the final determination of the assembly order is made by a person (operator) as described above.
[0029]
If it is not necessary to change the order of the procedures (S103: No), it is determined whether the examination of all procedures has been completed (S104). Here, the order in which the procedures are considered may be performed in accordance with the assembling order, but is not necessarily required.
It does not matter from where the operator is concerned. When the examination of all the procedures is completed (S104: Yes), the assembling order is determined (S105), and this processing ends.
[0030]
Alternatively, when it is determined that the assembling order needs to be changed (S103: Yes), the assembling order of the part is changed and displayed on the display unit 32 again (S106). The display in this case does not need to be performed throughout, and may be performed only before or after the procedure whose order has been changed. Next, for the portion affected by this change, the presence or absence of a constraint violation is verified by the constraint determination unit 13 (S107). If it is determined that there is a constraint violation (S107: Yes), a warning is displayed (S109). This warning display will be described later. If the constraint is not violated (S107: No), the interference determination unit 14 verifies the presence or absence of interference with other components or the like (S108). Here, also when it is determined that there is interference (S108: Yes), a warning display is performed (S109).
[0031]
If there is no constraint violation and no interference (S107: No and S108: No), there is no problem with this change, so that another procedure is examined (S102). Also, when there is a constraint violation or interference, after the warning display processing, the assembling order is continuously examined (S102). In this case, the same procedure or before and after the procedure must be reconsidered. Changes and examinations are repeated until it is determined that there is no problem for all procedures (S104: Yes).
[0032]
Next, a warning display routine will be described with reference to FIG. Here, not only the display but also a process of avoiding the interference to some extent by changing the assembly trajectory is performed. First, it is determined whether or not the reason for calling the warning display routine is a constraint violation (S201). If the constraint is violated (S201: Yes), there is no room for avoidance since the assembly order itself is a problem. Therefore, as illustrated in FIG. At the same time, a warning is displayed (S202), and this routine ends.
[0033]
Alternatively, if the constraint is not violated (S201: No), the cause is interference. Therefore, as illustrated in FIG. 7, a warning display is performed by the warning display unit 15 together with the name of the component that is the interference partner (S203). The operator looks at this display and determines whether or not this interference can be avoided by changing the assembly trajectory (S204). As shown in FIG. 10, if the part shape is displayed three-dimensionally, not only the part name of the interference partner but also the part that is interfering can be determined, so that it is more necessary to determine whether this interference can be avoided. It will be easier. Then, if it is determined that the change cannot be avoided only by changing the trajectory (S204: No), it is necessary to change the assembling order itself, and this routine ends.
[0034]
Alternatively, when it is determined that the interference can be avoided only by changing the trajectory (S204: Yes), first, the assembling trajectory of the component causing the interference is corrected (S205). For example, there is a case where the user does not enter from the side but enters from behind, or a case where the component is inserted by tilting and inserting. Next, the presence or absence of interference is determined again by the interference determination unit 14 with respect to the corrected trajectory (S206). As a result, when it is determined that the interference has disappeared (S206: No), the warning display is deleted (S207), and this routine ends.
[0035]
On the other hand, when it is determined that there is also interference in the corrected trajectory (S206: Yes), the warning display unit 15 displays a warning regarding the interference (S203). In response to this, the operator determines whether or not to change the trajectory further (S204). The correction of the locus and the determination of the interference are repeated until it is determined that further change of the locus is impossible (S204: No) or the interference is eliminated (S206: No) (S203 to S206).
[0036]
As described above in detail, according to the assembling order verifying unit 10 of the present embodiment, the constraint judging unit 13 and the interference judging unit 14 perform the constraint violation and the interference judging for the provisionally determined assembling order. Is determined. Therefore, it is possible to verify whether the provisionally determined assembly order is allowed due to a partial change or the like. Further, if it is determined by this verification that there is a constraint violation or interference, a warning display is displayed on the display unit 32 by the warning display unit 15 together with the name of the component that is the partner of the violation or interference. Therefore, a part that is not permitted can be easily grasped, and a part to be corrected can be easily determined. Further, since the assembling order can be partially changed by the assembling order changing unit 12, an allowable assembling order can be easily created. As a result, it is possible to verify whether or not the temporarily determined assembling order is allowed due to a partial change or the like, and to easily create an allowable assembling order.
[0037]
Note that the present embodiment is merely an example, and does not limit the present invention in any way. Therefore, naturally, the present invention can be variously modified and modified without departing from the gist thereof.
For example, in the above embodiment, the same computer 1 is provided with all of the assembly order verification unit 10, the assembly order creation unit 11, and the data unit 20. It may be provided in a server or the like. By transmitting and receiving data as needed, it can be implemented in the same manner as described above.
Also, for example, in the above embodiment, the assembling order data 23 is created in the assembling order creating unit 11, but in the present invention, the assembling order data 23 only needs to be prepared in advance, and the creating method is as follows. Not limited to this.
[0038]
【The invention's effect】
As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, it is verified whether or not the temporarily determined mounting order is appropriate by a partial change or the like, and an allowable mounting order is easily created. And a device for verifying an assembling order are provided.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an assembly order verification unit according to the present embodiment.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of assembly order data.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of work constraint data.
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of changing an assembling order.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a warning display.
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of changing an assembling order.
FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a warning display.
FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of an assembly order verification unit.
FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of an assembly order verification unit.
FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a warning display.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 Computer 10 Assembly Order Verification Unit (Assembly Order Verification Device)
12 Assembling order change unit (order change input means)
13 Constraint judgment part (validity judgment means)
14 Interference judgment unit (validity judgment means)
15 Warning display part (display means)
20 Data part (part information acquisition means, constraint information acquisition means)
22 Parts assembly locus data (assembly locus information)
23 Assembly order data (Assembly order information)
24 Work constraint data (work constraint information)

Claims (5)

In an assembly order verification method for verifying the validity of an assembly order in an assembly process of assembling a plurality of parts,
The information of the assembling trajectory of each part used in the assembling process and the information of the assembling order are input to the computer,
For at least one part, the computer determines whether or not there is interference between the assembling trajectory and the end point of the assembling trajectory of an already assembled part whose assembling order is earlier than the part.
An assembling order verification method, characterized in that when it is determined that there is interference, the computer is notified of the interference. The assembly order verification method according to claim 1,
An assembling sequence verifying method, characterized by causing a computer to also display information on an already assembled component that is subject to interference upon notification when it is determined that there is interference. In an assembly order verification method for verifying the validity of an assembly order in an assembly process of assembling a plurality of parts,
Information on the assembly order of each part used in the assembly process is input to the computer,
Input the information of work constraints on the assembly line to the computer,
Let the computer determine whether there is a work constraint violation in the assembly order,
An assembling order verification method, characterized in that when it is determined that there is a work constraint violation, the computer is notified of the fact. In the assembling order verification method according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
Allow the operator to change the assembly order,
An assembling order verification method characterized by causing a computer to determine the presence or absence of an interference or a violation of a work constraint with respect to the changed assembling order. In an assembling order verification device for verifying the validity of an assembling order in an assembling process for assembling a plurality of parts,
A part information acquiring means for acquiring information of an assembling trajectory and information of an assembling order for each part used in the assembling process;
A constraint information acquisition means for acquiring information on work constraints in the assembly line;
Order change input means for the operator to change the assembly order;
For the assembly order before or after the change, validity judgment to judge whether there is interference between the trajectory at the time of assembling each part and the assembled parts group and whether there is a work constraint violation in the assembly order Means,
Display means for displaying a site of the interference when it is determined that there is interference, the assembling order verification device comprising:

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