JP2008176579A - Controller of machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reliably record information on a high-importance alarm for a long period of time. <P>SOLUTION: Importance are set for each alarm. Also, areas 12a, 12b, and 12c for sampling and storing alarm data associated with alarms for each of alarm importance A, B, and C are provided. The higher the importance, the larger the capacity of the storage area. When the alarm is issued, the alarm data are sampled and are stored in place of the oldest data stored in a corresponding storage area on the basis of the importance set with respect to the alarm. Since the alarm data are stored according to each of their importance, history data of an alarm of higher importance are not deleted by history data of an alarm of lower importance. The history data of higher importance can be stored for a long period of time. When a fault occurs, the stored alarm history is displayed and used for investigating a cause of the fault. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a control device that controls machine tools and various industrial machines, and more particularly, to a control device that stores an alarm history generated in a machine.

  In a control device that controls a machine tool or various industrial machines, an alarm may be generated due to a malfunction of the control device or a human error, and the machine may stop. In order to make it easier to identify the cause of the occurrence of an alarm, the operation signal and alarm signal for the control device are recorded together with the time of occurrence and displayed on the display device, making it easy to identify the cause of the failure caused by the occurrence of the alarm. Such a method is proposed in Patent Document 1 and the like.

  Data relating to these operations and alarms are stored in the memory without any special need. However, the memory is not infinite, so it will eventually reach the limit of memory capacity and no more data can be recorded. As a countermeasure against this, the invention described in Patent Document 1 is configured so that the oldest data is erased by a ring buffer and new data is stored.

  However, these data include important data that must be saved (highly important data) at least until the cause of the failure is investigated, and data that can be deleted after a certain period of time ( Data with low importance). Highly important data is, for example, an alarm that may have damaged a machine such as an abnormal load, and a history of operations related to the alarm. In this case, it is possible to determine whether or not a situation related to the phenomenon has occurred in the past by searching the stored data in the case where a processing accuracy failure occurs.

On the other hand, data with low importance is not an alarm that causes a serious malfunction to the machine. For example, an overtravel alarm is an alarm with low importance.
Thus, Patent Document 2 discloses an invention in which alarm data can be selected and saved so that alarm history of low importance is not stored. This invention can be used when all alarm data, including alarms that occur instantaneously during steady operation such as when the power is turned on or when the mode key is switched, is stored in memory. Since there are no remaining alarms and it is necessary to increase the memory capacity for storing the alarm data, the storage of the alarm data can be selected.

  In addition, regarding the plant monitoring control device, there is also an invention in which the importance of an alarm event is set in advance for each type, the importance is judged when an alarm is generated, and the presentation according to the importance is performed. Are known.

Japanese Patent No. 3476484 JP-A-5-241635 JP 2001-195124 A

  When storing alarm history and investigating when a failure occurs, when referring to this alarm history, the alarm data with high importance and low alarm data are stored together as alarm history in the memory. This increases the capacity of the memory for storing the alarm history. Also, even if this memory is stored in a ring buffer shape and stored in a circular fashion, a large amount of low-priority alarm data is stored in the memory and high-priority alarm data is not stored. There is a case where only the information is stored, and there is a case where it is not helpful for investigation at the time of the failure.

  If the alarm data is selected and stored as in the invention described in Patent Document 2, this problem can be solved, but the operator needs to determine the selection of the alarm data. In addition to troublesome operation, there is a possibility that problems such as important alarm information not being saved due to an operation error may occur. Further, Patent Document 3 describes an invention that changes the presentation method according to the alarm importance, but this invention does not have the concept of storing an alarm history and using it for investigation when a failure occurs.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a machine control device capable of reliably recording information related to alarms having high alarm importance for a long time.

  Each invention of the present application is a control device for controlling a machine in which data relating to alarm contents and machine status is recorded in a storage device when an alarm occurs. The invention according to claim 1 sets the importance for each alarm. Importance level setting means, determination means for determining the importance level of the alarm based on the importance level set in the importance level setting means when an alarm occurs, and means for collecting data of a predetermined item accompanying the alarm when the alarm occurs A means for storing the collected data in an area corresponding to the determined importance in a storage area for each alarm importance provided in the storage means, and displaying the collected data stored in the storage means Display means. The invention according to claim 2 enables the importance setting for the alarm to be changed by the importance setting means only when a password is input.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is further provided a stored data setting means for setting a data type item associated with the alarm to be stored in the storage device for each importance of the alarm, and means for collecting the data The data of the type item set by the storage data setting unit is collected and stored in accordance with the importance of the determination result by the unit. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect of the invention, the stored data setting means cannot change the setting of the data type item stored for the alarm having the highest importance level. In the invention according to claim 5, only when a password is input, the importance level setting means and the saved data setting means change the setting of the importance level for the alarm and the type item of data to be saved. The setting can be changed.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in each of the above-mentioned inventions, a storage area for each alarm importance level provided in the storage device has a higher period of data storage than an alarm having a lower importance level for an alarm having a higher importance level. The capacity of the area is determined so as to be long, the oldest data in each storage area is rewritten with the latest data, and the data is circulated and stored in a predetermined amount. In the invention according to claim 7, in each of the above inventions, the display means displays data collected and stored for each alarm importance. According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, the display means displays the collected data stored in the storage means in the order of occurrence of alarms. In the invention according to claim 9, in each of the inventions, the display means displays data in different colors according to importance. Furthermore, the invention according to claim 10 is such that, in each of the above inventions, after the alarm having the highest importance level initially set, the importance level setting means cannot change the importance level thereafter. is there.

  The alarm data with high importance is stored for a long time without being removed by the alarm data with low importance, so that it is easy to investigate the cause when a failure occurs.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
The present invention is applied to control devices for various industrial machines such as machine tools, electric discharge machines, robots, and injection molding machines. In one embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1, the machine tools are controlled. An example of a control device (numerical control device) is shown. FIG. 1 shows only the main part of the numerical controller.
The control device (numerical control device) 10 includes a processor (CPU) 11, a memory 12 composed of a ROM, a RAM, a nonvolatile RAM, and the like connected to the processor 11 and a bus 19, a liquid crystal, a CRT, and the like. Controls a display motor 13, an input device 14 for inputting data and commands such as a keyboard, a communication interface 15 for communicating with a host control device such as a management computer, and a servo motor for driving each movable shaft of the machine body 20. Each axis servo control device 16 is composed of a spindle control device 17 for controlling the spindle motor, an input / output circuit 18 and the like.

  The ROM in the memory 12 stores a system program. The nonvolatile RAM has a control program for controlling the machine (machine tool) body, and an importance level for setting the importance level of an alarm in relation to the present invention. Stored are a setting processing program, a saved data setting processing program for selectively setting saved data for each alarm importance, an alarm data saving processing program, an alarm data display processing, and the like. Further, as will be described later, a memory area for storing alarm data according to its importance is also provided in the nonvolatile RAM.

  Each axis servo control device 16 performs position / speed feedback control based on a movement command to each axis commanded from the processor 11 and a position / speed feedback from a position / speed detector (not shown), Furthermore, current feedback control is performed to drive and control the servo motor of each axis, and the position and speed of each axis are controlled. The spindle control device 17 performs speed feedback control based on a speed command from the processor 11 and speed feedback from a position coder (not shown) to drive and control the spindle of the machine (machine tool) body 20.

  The input / output circuit 18 is connected to various actuators and various sensors provided in the machine (machine tool) body.

  The configuration of the control device described above is the same as the configuration of the conventional numerical control device, and the differences are the setting of the importance of the alarm, the setting of the alarm data to be stored, the alarm data storage processing, the alarm history display The only difference is that it has a processing function.

First, the setting of the importance for each alarm will be described.
The importance for each alarm is, for example, A, B, and C in descending order. When the machine is shipped, one of the importance levels A, B, and C is stored in advance in the nonvolatile RAM of the memory 12 as initial setting data and as initial setting data for each alarm. .

And in this embodiment, it is comprised so that a user can change the setting of the importance for every alarm. For example, the alarm “Communication error” is caused by an error in communication from an external device connected to the control unit via a serial interface, etc., or in a simple operation error such as a communication speed setting error. Also occurs. This alarm is a simple operation in the temporary use method where the data in the control device (for example, machining program) is saved to an external device or the data saved in the external device is restored to the control device. It is considered that the alarm is generated by an error, and the alarm is eliminated by the operator correcting the error. Therefore, the importance of the alarm is not high. On the other hand, when there is constant communication between the control device and an external device, some abnormality has occurred in the communication data due to a lack of part of the data being communicated, etc. This alarm is important in such usage. As described above, since the case where the importance level of the alarm is changed depending on the usage method of the user or the like is assumed, the importance level can be set according to the user.
However, for the alarm whose initial setting is high, the user cannot change the importance in order to save the data with certainty.

FIG. 2 is an example of an alarm importance setting screen displayed on the screen of the display device 13. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an algorithm of the importance setting processing for each alarm.
When the operator operates the input device 14 of the control device 10 and selects the importance setting mode for each alarm, the processor 11 of the control device 10 starts the process shown in FIG. Is displayed on the display device 13 (step 101).
The password is entered, and the entered password is compared with the set password (step 102). If they do not match, the process is terminated. If they match, the alarm-specific alarm as shown in FIG. The importance setting screen is displayed on the drawing of the display device 13 (step 103). When a machine is shipped and the importance setting screen for each alarm is first called, the importance for each alarm number initially set by the machine manufacturer is displayed.

  On the importance setting screen for each alarm, a message to be displayed on the screen of the display device 13 when the alarm is generated is displayed for each alarm number, and the set importance levels A, B, and C are displayed. The In addition, soft keys 30a and 30b for up / down displaying pages, soft keys 30c for searching for alarm numbers, and soft keys 30d, 30e and 30f for inputting importance levels A, B and C are displayed.

  The operator operates the soft keys 30a to 30c to select an alarm number whose setting is to be changed, and operates the soft keys 30d to 30f to input the importance for the selected alarm number (step 104).

  When the processor 11 detects the input of the importance (step 105), the processor 11 determines whether or not the importance A of the initial setting with respect to the selected alarm number to which the importance is input is the highest importance (step 106). If the value is importance A, the importance change setting is not performed, and the process proceeds to step 110. On the other hand, if the initial setting importance of the selected alarm number is not A, it is determined whether the initial setting importance of the selected alarm number is C having the lowest importance (step 107). It is determined whether the input importance is B or C (step 108). When the input importance is A and not B or C, the process proceeds to step 110 and the setting is not changed to the input importance A. That is, the alarm with the initial importance C is not changed to the highest importance A. This is to prevent the number of alarm types set to the highest importance A from increasing unnecessarily. Therefore, the alarm whose initial importance level is set to C is selected so as not to be set to the highest importance level A.

On the other hand, when NO is determined in step 107 and the initial setting of the importance level of the selected alarm is B, and when the input importance level is B or C in step 108, the input importance level is set (step 109). In other words, for alarms with an initial importance level of B, it is possible to set both the highest importance level A and the lowest C level. The degree can be set only to B or C.
Until the end command is input (step 110), the above-described processing of step 104 to step 110 is repeatedly executed, the importance for each alarm is set, and stored in the nonvolatile RAM of the memory 12. .

  As described above, the setting change of the importance level for the alarm is allowed only when the password is inputted, and B and C having the low importance level are set for the alarm having the highest importance level A in the initial setting. The alarm data that is initially set to the importance level A is securely held for a long time. Also, for alarms that are set to importance B in the initial setting, the setting can be changed to A with increasing importance or to C with decreasing importance, and for alarms with initial setting C It is configured so that the setting can be changed only to the importance level B or C, and the alarm of the importance level A is prevented from being accidentally increased due to an error or the like.

  Next, description will be made regarding the setting of items associated with data to be saved, that is, alarm data, for each importance level. FIG. 4 is an example of a saved data setting screen for each importance level, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an algorithm of processing for setting items of alarm data to be saved for each importance level.

  The items of alarm data to be stored for each importance are also preset in advance when the machine is shipped. Further, in this embodiment, the setting of data items to be stored for the highest importance level A is not allowed to be changed, and the setting of stored alarm data can be changed only for the importance levels B and C. Yes. In addition, a password or the like is also provided for changing the setting of the data item stored for each importance level, and only a person with a certain authority can display this dedicated screen and change the setting.

When the operator operates the input device 14 of the control device 10 and selects the saved data setting mode for each importance level, the processor 11 of the control device 10 starts the process shown in FIG. The display is displayed on the display device 13 (step 201).
The password is input, and the input password is compared with the set password (step 202). If they do not match, the processing is terminated as it is, and if they match, according to the importance as shown in FIG. Is displayed on the drawing of the display device 13 (step 203). When the importance setting screen for each alarm is called for the first time after the machine is shipped, the storage (ON) / non-storage (OFF) of each data item for each importance set by the machine manufacturer is displayed. It will be.

  As saved data (alarm data) for each importance level, for example, for an alarm of importance level A, the date and time of occurrence, alarm number, message, program, alarm occurrence position on program, modal information, current position, remaining movement The amount, tool correction amount, coordinate system set value, tool number, immediately preceding operation, and immediately preceding axis load data are saved. For importance B, a part of the saved data of importance A is excluded, and for importance C, only the date and time of occurrence and alarm number are saved, so the saved data is further reduced, and saved by importance. On the data setting screen, the above-mentioned items of saved data are displayed for the importance levels A, B, and C, and ON / OFF of whether to save (ON) or not save (OFF) for this item. It is configured to set OFF.

  In FIG. 4, soft keys 30g and 30h are page keys for moving the display page in the horizontal direction, soft key 30c is a key for selecting an item of stored data for importance, and soft keys 30i and 30j are This is a key for setting and inputting save (ON) / non-save (OFF) for the save data item.

The operator operates the soft keys 30g, 30h, and 30c to select the items of the saved data whose importance is to be changed, and operates the soft keys 30i and 30j to store the selected items ( ON) or non-save (OFF) is input (step 204).
When saving (ON) or non-saving (OFF) is input (step 205), the processor 11 determines whether the input item is an item for the importance level A (step 206). If there is, the process proceeds to step 208 without changing the setting. On the other hand, if save (ON) or non-save (OFF) is input to the items for the importance levels B and C, the input save (ON) or non-save (OFF) is input to the selected item. The setting is made (step 207), and the process proceeds to step 208. In step 208, it is determined whether an end command has been input. If not, the process returns to step 204, and the processing in steps 204 to 208 is repeatedly executed to set data to be stored for the alarms of importance B and C. To do. Then, when an end command is input, this processing ends, and the storage (ON) or non-storage (OFF) of the set storage data classified by importance is stored in the nonvolatile RAM of the memory 12. .

  Note that the data items stored as alarm data may be all the same data regardless of the importance of the alarm, and in this case, the storage data setting screen for each importance shown in FIG. The processing for setting the items of data to be saved is not necessary.

  FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a memory area for storing alarm history data provided in the nonvolatile RAM of the memory 12. The more important alarms, the more data items to store for the alarms, and the more important alarms, the longer the data needs to be stored, the higher the alarm data. Many memory areas for storing alarm history data to be stored are taken. In this embodiment, the memory area 12a for storing alarm data of importance level A is the largest, followed by the memory area 12b for storing alarm data of importance level B, and memory for storing alarm data of importance level C. The region 12c is the smallest. In addition, since the frequency of occurrence of alarms with higher importance is lower, considering the frequency of occurrence, a memory area is provided for storing the alarm data for each importance. The higher the importance, the longer the alarm. Configured to be saved for hours. The memory area for each importance is configured in a ring buffer format, alarm data is stored at the position indicated by the pointer, the pointer is updated sequentially, and when the alarm data is stored to the end of the memory area, the pointer is The alarm data is returned to the initial position of the memory area and the pointer is updated again from that position, and the alarm data is circularly stored.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an algorithm of alarm data storage processing when an alarm is generated during operation of the machine.
When an alarm occurs, the processor 11 of the control device 10 reads the alarm number message and the importance level stored in the nonvolatile RAM as the alarm importance level setting data, and displays the message on the screen of the display device 13 (step 301) and reading the stored alarm data item corresponding to the importance level from the stored alarm data by importance level stored in the non-volatile RAM, obtaining the corresponding item data, and depending on the importance level of the alarm Then, the data is stored in the position indicated by the pointer in the memory area for storing the alarm history storage data at the corresponding importance (step 302). For example, when an alarm with the alarm number “000” is generated, the message “Please turn off the power” is displayed in the example shown in FIG. Read degree B. For this importance level B, an item set as saved alarm data for each importance level (item set as ON) is determined. For example, in the example shown in FIG. Since the “occurrence date / time”, “alarm number”, “message”, and “modal information” are set, the data of these items is acquired, and the pointer of the area of the importance B memory 12b in the nonvolatile RAM of the memory 12 indicates The acquired data of these items is stored in the position as alarm data. Thereafter, the pointer is updated (step 303), and the alarm data saving process ends.

  Hereinafter, every time an alarm is generated, the processing shown in FIG. 7 is executed, and the importance level of the generated alarm is determined based on the setting data of the importance level for each alarm, and the stored data for each level of importance is stored. The data of the set item is acquired, and the acquired item data is stored in the memory area corresponding to the importance as alarm history data.

As shown in FIG. 6, the memory area for storing the alarm data has a large capacity of the memory area 12a for the importance A, and then the memory area 12b of the importance B. The importance C has the smallest capacity. The memory area 12c is used. For this reason, the alarm history data with the importance level C is stored in a shorter period than the other data, and the rewriting speed is faster than the alarm history data with the other importance levels. Further, since the capacity of the memory area for importance A is the largest, the rewriting speed of the data is slow, and the period for storing the alarm history data of importance A is long. Further, the storage period of the alarm history data of importance B is intermediate between the storage periods of importance A and importance C.
Thereby, it is possible to prevent the alarm history data with high importance from being erased by the alarm history data with low importance.

  Therefore, when a failure or the like occurs, the alarm history data to be stored is displayed on the screen of the display device, so that alarms that have occurred in the past and related data can be confirmed. As the alarm history display method, only alarm history data of a specific designated importance level is displayed in order of occurrence time series, or alarm history data of all importance levels are mixed and displayed in order of occurrence time series. In this embodiment, a street method can be selected. In the former case, that is, by displaying only alarm history data of a specific importance level, it is possible to extract and display the history required by the user, and it is also necessary for the manufacturer's service person to investigate the failure The history can also be extracted and displayed. In the latter case, in order to make it easier to see, colors are displayed according to importance.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an algorithm of alarm history display processing. FIG. 9 is an example of an alarm history display displayed on the screen of the display device 13.

  In the example shown in FIG. 9, the alarm occurrence date, alarm number, message, and importance are displayed in a table format as alarm history data displayed on the display screen as an alarm history. The soft keys 30a and 30b are keys for page up / down, and the soft key 30c is a key for searching and selecting an alarm. The soft key 30k is a key for displaying detailed alarm data of the selected alarm. The soft key 30l is a command key for outputting alarm history data to an external storage device or the like via the communication interface 15.

  When the alarm history display command is input, the processor 11 of the control device 10 starts the processing shown in FIG. 8 and displays whether all alarm history data is displayed or alarm history data of the selected importance is displayed. Is displayed (step 401). When a command to display all alarm history data is input (step 402), the memory areas 12a to 12c for each importance level for storing the alarm history data are searched, and the alarm history data is arranged in the order of time of occurrence of the alarm. The date and time of occurrence, alarm number, message, and importance in the alarm history data are displayed (step 403). In this case, by changing the display color for each importance, the importance of the alarm is easily understood. The example shown in FIG. 9 shows an example in which a part of the alarm history data is displayed in response to a command for displaying the data of all the alarm histories.

  In addition, when an alarm history display command is input by designating the importance level, the alarm data at the current pointer position is sequentially read out from the memory area storing the alarm history data of the selected importance level (pointer The alarm history data stored at the position indicated by is the oldest alarm data), and the alarm history data is displayed in the order of occurrence date and time (step 404). After reading the data of the last position in the memory area of the importance level, it returns to the first position, and the alarm history data immediately before the position indicated by the pointer is read and displayed, so that the selected importance level is displayed. All alarm history data is displayed in chronological order. In this case as well, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 9, the date and time of occurrence, alarm number, message, and importance of each alarm history data are displayed on the display screen. In this case, the display color may be changed according to the importance.

The operator operates the page keys 30a and 30b of the soft keys to sequentially display the alarm history data, and selects the alarm by the search key 30c and operates the soft key 30k to display the alarm data in detail. When the alarm history data is output to an external storage device or the like, the soft key 30l is operated (step 405).
The processor 11 determines whether or not the soft keys 30k and 30l are operated and whether an end command is input (steps 406, 407, and 408). When the soft key 30k for detailed display is operated (step 406), All the alarm data of the selected alarm is displayed in the lower column of the table format (step 409). When the soft key 30l for outputting the alarm history data to the external storage device is operated (step 407), the alarm history data is output to the external storage device via the communication interface 15 (step 410). Until the end command is input (step 408), the processing from step 405 onward is repeatedly executed.

It is a principal part block diagram of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the importance setting screen classified by alarm in the embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the algorithm of the importance setting process classified by alarm in the embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the preservation | save data setting screen according to importance in the same embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the algorithm of the process which sets the alarm data preserve | saved according to the importance in the embodiment. It is explanatory drawing of the memory area for alarm history data preservation | save in the embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the algorithm of the alarm data preservation | save process in the embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the algorithm of the alarm history display process in the embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the alarm history display in the same embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

10 Control device (Numerical control device)
30a-30l soft key

Claims (10)

In a control device for controlling a machine that records data on alarm contents and machine status in a storage device when an alarm occurs,
Importance setting means to set the importance for each alarm,
Determination means for determining the importance of the alarm based on the importance set in the importance setting means when an alarm occurs;
Means for collecting data of a predetermined item accompanying the alarm when the alarm occurs;
Means for storing the collected data in an area corresponding to the determined importance in a storage area for each alarm importance provided in the storage means;
Display means for displaying the data collected and stored in the storage means;
A machine control device characterized by comprising:   2. The machine control device according to claim 1, wherein the importance setting means can change the importance setting for the alarm only when a password is input. 3. In a control device for controlling a machine that records data on alarm contents and machine status in a storage device when an alarm occurs,
Importance setting means to set the importance for each alarm,
Saved data setting means for setting a data type item associated with the alarm to be stored in the storage device for each alarm importance,
Determination means for determining the importance of the alarm based on the importance set in the importance setting means when an alarm occurs;
Means for collecting data of the type item set by the stored data setting means in correspondence with the importance of the determination result by the determination means;
Means for storing the collected data in an area corresponding to the determined importance in a storage area for each alarm importance provided in the storage means;
Display means for displaying the data collected and stored in the storage means;
A machine control device characterized by comprising:   The machine control device according to claim 3, wherein the type of data to be stored for an alarm set with the highest importance cannot be changed by the stored data setting means.   5. Only when a password is input, the importance setting means and the saved data setting means can change the setting of the importance for the alarm and the setting of the type of data to be saved. A control device for the machine according to 1.   The storage area for each alarm importance level provided in the storage device is such that the capacity of the area is determined such that the period for storing data is longer for alarms with higher importance than for alarms with lower importance, 6. The machine control device according to claim 1, wherein the oldest data in each storage area is rewritten to the latest data, and the data is circulated and stored in a predetermined amount.   The machine control device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the display means displays data collected and stored for each alarm importance.   The machine control device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the display means displays the collected data stored in the storage means in the order of occurrence of alarms.   The machine control device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the display means displays data in different colors according to importance.   The alarm according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein an alarm whose highest importance level is initially set cannot be changed by the importance level setting means. Control device.

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