JP2007172735A - Mechanism and method for maintaining tape library device, and tape library device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a tape library device, more specifically in the active replacement of the robot of the tape library device, for detecting a robot retreated to a garage due to an obstacle and cutting off power to open the door of a maintenance cover, and to provide a mechanism and method for maintaining the library device. <P>SOLUTION: A control section receives a signal showing the retreat of a robot from a retreat sensor, cuts off the power of the retreated robot, and sends an unlocking control signal to a lock mechanism for locking a maintenance cover. Upon reception of the unlocking control signal, the lock mechanism unlocks the lock, and the door of a maintenance cover is opened by a hinge incorporating a twist coil. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a tape library apparatus, and more particularly to a maintenance mechanism for a tape library apparatus that performs active replacement of a robot, a tape library apparatus, and a maintenance method for a tape library apparatus.

  In recent years, the amount of data has increased with the progress of IT, and it has become natural to take backups in case of data loss. Many magnetic tape library devices (herein simply referred to as tape library devices) are used for data backup.

  The tape library device stores a magnetic tape stored in a cartridge in a storage shelf called a cell, and takes out the magnetic tape from the cell by a robot (also referred to as an accessor) and mounts it on a drive that performs recording / reproduction. In addition, the magnetic tape is removed from the drive and conveyed, and stored in the original cell. One tape library apparatus accommodates several to several hundred magnetic tapes, and includes one or more drives, one or two robots.

  When two robots are provided, one robot is activated and the other robot is placed in a standby state. When a failure occurs in the active robot, the standby robot is operated to replace the failed robot. At this time, it is not necessary to stop the tape library apparatus, and the robot is replaced while the tape library apparatus is operating (referred to as active replacement). In the case of one robot, it is necessary to stop the tape library device for replacement when a failure occurs in the robot, and the redundancy is greatly improved by using two robots.

  An example of robot replacement in a conventional tape library apparatus having two robots will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 8A shows an example of the external appearance of the tape library apparatus 100, in which a cell containing a cartridge type magnetic tape, a drive for recording / reproducing on the magnetic tape, and a robot are housed in a housing. . The front surface of the tape library apparatus 100 shown in FIG. FIG. 8B shows a state in which the front cover 10 is opened. The inner cover 11, the maintenance cover A12, and the maintenance cover B12 (the maintenance cover A and the maintenance cover B are the same because only the mounting positions are different). The same applies to the robot 140 and the garage 13 described later). Inside the inner cover 11 are the above-described cell 16, drive, and robot 140. When the maintenance cover A12 and the maintenance cover B12 are removed, the robot 140 becomes the garage 13 where the robot 140 is retracted when a failure occurs. The garage 13 includes a garage A13 and a garage B13 corresponding to two robots (robot A and robot B).

  FIG. 9 shows an example in which the robot A140 withdrawn in the garage A13 is pulled out by unscrewing the maintenance cover A12 for robot replacement. Since the extracted robot A140 is a robot in which a failure has occurred, it is replaced with a new robot.

  FIG. 10 shows a flow of conventional robot replacement. The robot constantly checks the rotational speed and positioning of the motor to be driven, and if it is determined that there is an obstacle, the robot automatically retracts the robot to the garage (in this case, the robot A140 has an obstacle). If the robot B140 is faulty, it is retreated to the garage A13. Then, the retraction sensor installed in the garage 13 detects that the robot has been retreated, and performs blinking of the lamp and buzzer. The flow in FIG. 10 starts from such a state. In the flow of FIG. 10, the dotted line is the operator's work, and the solid line is the work automatically performed by the control unit of the tape library apparatus 100.

  In FIG. 10, the operator first instructs the maintenance mode from the operation console (the operation console is connected to the host computer having the tape library apparatus 100 via the LAN). In response to the maintenance mode instruction, the control unit of the tape library apparatus turns off the power of the robot that has been retreated to the garage, and subsequently displays the disconnection on the operation console (S110 to S130).

  The operator confirms the power-off indication on the operation console and removes the maintenance cover screw. Then, the robot retracted to the garage is pulled out and replaced with a new robot. When the replacement is complete, tighten the maintenance cover screw and instruct the operation mode from the operation console. In response to the “operation mode” instruction, the control unit turns on power to the garage robot (S140 to S190).

  As shown in FIG. 10, the manual work (work indicated by the dotted line) in exchanging robots requires a lot of time.

As a conventional technique related to the present invention, a method for automatically locking a maintenance door of a library apparatus has been proposed. This method is a proposal that monitors the rotation of the accessor and the motor that moves the accessor by detecting a pulse signal, and locks the maintenance door when these motors are operating. By this proposal, when the maintenance person opens the maintenance door, the accessor that performs high-speed operation cannot be stopped immediately due to inertia, and the safety problem is solved (for example, Patent Document 1).
Patent No. 3093738

  As described above, the active exchange of the robot of the tape library apparatus having two robots requires a lot of manual work and takes a lot of work time. In addition, since there is no consideration for automatically turning off the power to the robot to be replaced, there is a risk of touching the energized robot, which is a safety problem.

  The proposed method detects that the robot is in operation and locks the door, and even if the door is opened carelessly, safety measures are taken. It will be. However, this is not intended for the robot replacement intended by the present invention (that is, it does not raise safety issues for energization of the robot to be replaced and efficiency of the replacement time).

  An object of the present invention is to provide a maintenance mechanism and a maintenance method for a tape library device that can improve the efficiency of robot replacement while ensuring the safety of an operator (maintenance staff).

The maintenance mechanism and maintenance method of the tape library apparatus of the present invention are configured as follows.
(1) First invention In the first invention, in the robot exchange of a tape library device having two robots, the robot retracted in the garage is detected, the robot is turned off, and the maintenance cover is automatically opened. It is a maintenance mechanism that performs automatically.

  The components of the first invention include a control unit that performs maintenance control, a garage corresponding to each of the two robots, a retraction sensor that detects that the robot has retreated to the garage and outputs a retraction signal, and a torsion It consists of a maintenance cover that opens the garage doorway with a hinge with a built-in coil, and a lock mechanism that controls the unlocking of the maintenance cover with an unlocking control signal. The robot power is turned off, the unlock control signal is sent to the lock mechanism on the robot side, and the lock mechanism that receives the unlock control signal unlocks the lock on the maintenance cover. The door is opened by the action.

  That is, the component of the present invention is composed of one control unit, two robots, a garage, a retraction sensor, a maintenance cover, and a lock mechanism, and the control unit retreats based on a retraction signal from the retraction sensor. The power is turned off, the lock is released by controlling the lock mechanism on the retract side, and the maintenance cover on the retract side is opened.

  1 and 2 show components in the tape library apparatus 100 shown above. FIGS. 1A and 1B show the tape library device 100 as viewed from the front and side, respectively, as a garage corresponding to a control unit 110 and two robots, and garage A10 and garage B10, and maintenance of the garage. The covers are the maintenance cover A12 and the maintenance cover B12. FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the garage A10. FIGS. 2A and 2B are views of the garage A viewed from the top and side, respectively, and the retract sensor 150, the hinge 14, and the lock mechanism 170 are arranged. It shows the state being done. In garage A10, the retracted robot is stored. Although not shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the controller 110 and the robot 140, the retraction sensor 150, and the lock mechanism 170 are electrically connected.

FIG. 2 illustrates the retract sensor 150, the hinge 14, and the lock mechanism 170 with respect to the garage A, but these are similarly disposed for the garage B.
(2) Second invention In addition to the components of the first invention, the second invention includes an open / close sensor that detects the opening / closing of the maintenance cover and outputs an open / close signal. In addition to the operation of the control unit of the first invention, the tape library apparatus is in the maintenance mode upon receipt of an open / close signal that the control unit detects that the robot maintenance cover retracted from the open / close sensor is opened. Inform. For example, the operation console is displayed in the operation mode or a buzzer is sounded to notify the operator of the robot replacement.
(3) Third invention The third invention is a tape library device comprising two robots, wherein the robot retracted into the garage due to a failure is detected, the power of the robot is turned off, and the maintenance cover is opened. It is a tape library device. Since the configuration of the tape library apparatus of the third invention is the same as that of the first invention, a description thereof will be omitted.
(4) Fourth invention The fourth invention is the maintenance method of the first invention.
(5) Fifth Invention The fifth invention is the maintenance method of the second invention.

  According to the first invention, when the robot retreats to the garage due to a failure, the operation from the power-off of the robot to the opening of the maintenance cover is automatically performed, so that it is possible to provide a maintenance mechanism that improves the safety for the operator's work. . In addition, it is possible to provide a maintenance mechanism that can shorten the operator's work time and improve efficiency.

  According to the second invention, since the robot replacement is notified, the operator can concentrate on other work.

  According to the third aspect of the invention, when the robot is retracted to the garage due to a failure, the operation from the power-off of the robot to the opening of the maintenance cover is automatically performed. It is possible to provide a tape library apparatus that is shortened and can be made more efficient.

  According to the fourth to fifth inventions, it is possible to provide a maintenance method that exhibits the same effects as those of the first and second inventions.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  First, an overall configuration example will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 3, the tape library apparatus 100 is coupled to a host computer 300 through a channel 200, and is connected to an operation console 500 via a LAN (Local Area Network) 400. The operation console 500 is, for example, a PC (Personal Computer), and an operator inputs a command from here to give an instruction or display when a failure occurs.

  FIG. 4 shows a configuration example of the tape library apparatus 100 of FIG. 3, and information on the control unit 110 that performs control including control of maintenance of the tape library apparatus 100, information on the host computer 300 and the robot 140 via the channel 200. Channel IF (Interface) 120 for exchanging data, a drive 130 for recording / reproducing magnetic tape, a robot 140 for handling cartridge-type magnetic tape, and storage of a garage due to retraction of a robot installed in the garage 13 A retraction sensor 150, an open / close sensor 160 that detects opening / closing of the maintenance cover 12, a locking solenoid 171 that is a part of a lock mechanism 170 that locks the maintenance cover 12, and a communication control unit for communicating with the operation console via the LAN. Contains 180 and cartridge-type magnetic tape It consists of Roussel 16. Among the components shown in FIG. 4, those mainly related to the maintenance mechanism of the present invention are components excluding the channel IF 120, the drive 130, and the cell 16.

  Next, a specific arrangement example of the maintenance mechanism around the maintenance cover will be described with reference to FIGS.

  5 is the same appearance as the tape library apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 8A, and the maintenance covers A and B attached to the upper and lower garages A and B are arranged in the same manner as shown in FIG. 8B. is doing. The lower part of FIG. 5 shows an example of attachment of the hinge 14 that opens the maintenance cover A12. The hinge 14 incorporates a torsion coil and fixes the housing and the maintenance cover 12. If the maintenance cover 12 is not locked, the maintenance cover 12 is opened by the action of the torsion coil.

  FIG. 6 illustrates a state in which the maintenance cover A12 and the inner cover 11 are opened, and illustrates an example in which the lock mechanism 170 and the open / close sensor 160 are attached. The lock mechanism 170 includes a lock solenoid 171 attached to the inner cover 11 side and a lock hook 172 attached to the maintenance cover A12. The lock solenoid 171 has a hook-shaped metal fitting. When the lock hook 172 is pushed into the metal fitting, the hook is caught by the metal fitting and locked. When the lock is released, the metal fitting is released from the lock hook 172 by the movement of the lock solenoid 171 by the unlock control signal, and is unlocked.

  In this example, the open / close sensor 160 and the open / close sensor flag 161 are attached to the inner cover 11 and the maintenance cover A12 in the same manner as the locking solenoid 171, respectively. The open / close sensor 160 used here is a pair of a light emitting part and a light receiving part, and detects the opening and closing of the door by detecting the interruption of the optical path between them. The open / close sensor flag 161 is a shielding plate that blocks light. The open / close sensor flag 161 is inserted from a window opened in the inner cover 11 so as to cut off the optical path between the light emitting unit and the light receiving unit of the open / close sensor 160. .

  In addition, although the hinge 14, the locking mechanism 170, and the opening / closing sensor 160 shown above were demonstrated in the example of the garage A, these things are similarly attached to the garage B.

  Next, the flow of robot replacement according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Again, this flow describes the flow from the state where the robot 140 is retracted to the garage. First, the retraction sensor 150 detects the robot 140 that has retreated to the garage 13 and the power of the robot 140 is turned off. Precisely, the control unit 110 receives a signal (retraction signal described above) detected from the retraction sensor 150, and performs control to turn off the power of the robot 140 based on this signal (S310, S320).

  Subsequently, the control unit 110 sends an unlocking control signal to the locking solenoid 171, and the locking solenoid 171 unlocks based on the unlocking control signal. The maintenance cover 12 unlocked is opened by the action of the torsion coil. The control unit 110 further instructs the operation console 500 to display the maintenance mode. As a result, the operation console 500 displays the “maintenance mode” (S330-S350).

  Since the maintenance cover 12 is open, the operator pulls out the robot 140 from the garage 13 and replaces it with a new one. After the replacement, the maintenance cover 12 is closed (S360, S370).

  When the open / close sensor 160 detects that the maintenance cover 12 is closed, the control unit 110 receives the signal (open / close signal) from the open / close sensor 160 and turns on the new robot 140 that has been replaced. Next, the operation console is instructed to cancel the maintenance mode.

  As described above, when the operator touches the robot 140 to be replaced, the power is turned off. When the operator closes the maintenance cover 12 after replacing the robot, the robot 140 is automatically turned on. Will disappear. In addition, since manual operations such as maintenance mode instructions and maintenance cover removal are automated, work efficiency can be improved.

It is a principle figure (the 1) of an invention. It is a principle figure (part 2) of the invention. It is an example of the whole configuration. It is an example of a structure of a tape library apparatus. There is an example of hinge attachment of the maintenance cover. It is an example of attachment of an open / close sensor and a lock mechanism. It is an example of the flow of the robot replacement | exchange by this invention. It is an example of the conventional tape library apparatus. It is an example of the drawer from the garage of a robot. It is a conventional robot replacement example.

Explanation of symbols

10 Front cover 11 Inner cover 12 Maintenance cover, Maintenance cover A, Maintenance cover B
13 Garage, Garage A, Garage B
14 Hinge 15 Robot drawer rail 16 Cell 100 Tape library device 110 Control unit 120 Channel IF
130 Drive 140 Robot, Robot A, Robot B
150 Retraction Sensor 160 Open / Close Sensor 161 Open / Close Sensor Flag 170 Lock Mechanism 171 Lock Solenoid 172 Lock Hook 200 Channel 300 Host Computer 400 LAN
500 Operation console

Claims (5)

A maintenance mechanism for a tape library device comprising a robot for handling a cartridge type magnetic tape medium while one of the two units is active while the other is on standby,
The maintenance mechanism is:
A control unit for performing maintenance control;
A garage that is a retreat area for each of the two robots;
A retraction sensor that detects that the robot has retreated to the garage and outputs a retraction signal;
A maintenance cover that opens the doorway of the garage with a hinge incorporating a torsion coil; and
A lock mechanism that receives the unlock control signal and controls the unlocking of the maintenance cover;
With
The controller receives the retract signal from the retract sensor, disconnects the power of the retracted robot, and sends the unlock control signal to the retracted robot side lock mechanism,
The lock mechanism that has received the unlock control signal unlocks the lock,
By the unlocking, the maintenance cover is opened by the action of the torsion coil of the hinge.
A maintenance mechanism for a tape library device. The maintenance mechanism of the tape library device further includes an opening / closing sensor that detects opening / closing of the maintenance cover and outputs an opening / closing signal,
The control unit receives an open / close signal detected from the open / close sensor to open the retracted robot side maintenance cover, and notifies that the tape library apparatus is in a maintenance mode.
2. The maintenance mechanism for a tape library apparatus according to claim 1, wherein A tape library device comprising a robot for handling a cartridge type magnetic tape medium while one of the two units is active and the other is in standby,
A control unit for performing maintenance control;
A garage that is a retreat area for each of the two robots;
A retraction sensor that detects that the robot has retreated to the garage and outputs a retraction signal;
A maintenance cover that opens the doorway of the garage with a hinge incorporating a torsion coil; and
A lock mechanism that receives the unlock control signal and controls the unlocking of the maintenance cover;
With
The controller receives the retract signal from the retract sensor, disconnects the power of the retracted robot, and sends the unlock control signal to the retracted robot side lock mechanism,
The lock mechanism that has received the unlock control signal unlocks the lock,
By the unlocking, the maintenance cover is opened by the action of the torsion coil of the hinge.
A tape library device characterized by that. A robot that handles a cartridge type magnetic tape medium while one of the two units is active while standing by, a control unit that performs maintenance control, a garage that is a retreat area for each of the robots, and the garage A tape library device that includes a retraction sensor that detects that the robot has retreated and outputs a retraction signal, and a maintenance cover that opens a doorway of the garage with a hinge that incorporates a torsion coil, and performs active replacement of the robot Maintenance method,
The controller receives the retract signal from the retract sensor, disconnects the power of the retracted robot, and sends the unlock control signal to the retracted robot side lock mechanism,
The lock mechanism that has received the unlock control signal unlocks the lock,
By the unlocking, the maintenance cover is opened by the action of the torsion coil of the hinge.
A maintenance method for a tape library device. The maintenance method of the tape library apparatus further includes: an opening / closing signal that detects that the retracted maintenance cover on the robot side is opened from an opening / closing sensor that detects opening / closing of the maintenance cover and outputs an opening / closing signal; And informing that the tape library device is in the maintenance mode.
5. The maintenance method for a tape library apparatus according to claim 4, wherein

Images