JP2020182973A - Welding control apparatus, welding condition generator, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a welding control apparatus capable of generating welding conditions of each weld zone from drawing data.SOLUTION: Drawing data on processing objects including one or more weld zones are received to be stored in a drawing storage part. A weld zone extraction part extracts the type of a member to be welded and the type of a base material, in each of the one or more weld zones from the drawing data. A welding condition generation part determines welding conditions corresponding to a combination of the type of the member to be welded and the type of the base material, which are read by the weld zone extraction part, with reference to information stored in a welding condition database, in each of the one or more weld zones.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to a control device for controlling a welding machine used for joining a plurality of sheet metal parts, and more particularly to a control device for a resistance welding machine.

Resistance welding is a typical technique for joining a plurality of sheet metal parts. In resistance welding, for example, spot welding, a plurality of members to be joined are superposed and energized, and the members are partially melted and joined by Joule heat generated by the energization.

In such resistance welding, the welding conditions greatly affect the finish of processing. Welding conditions include pressing force, welding current, and energization time. Since these conditions differ depending on the shape, material, combination, etc. of the parts to be machined, the work conditions according to the combination of the parts to be machined are registered in advance in the storage unit of the condition setting device of the resistance welder. It is common to call and set the registered pattern according to the processing target each time.

However, in this method, the working conditions are manually selected according to the parts to be machined, so that a selection error may occur. In addition, since it is necessary to confirm work instructions such as drawings, it takes time to make a selection.

To solve this problem, for example, the apparatus described in Patent Document 1 captures processing specification data for each processing process from a user, and working conditions (pressurizing pressure, applied current, energization time, etc.) corresponding to the imported processing specifications. Is read from a database showing working conditions for each machining specification that has been set in advance, and is set.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2010-105000

However, in the apparatus described in Patent Document 1, the processing specifications need to be predetermined for each processing process, and manpower is required to determine the processing specifications. The work of manually determining the processing specifications is the work of selecting 3D CAD data based on the paper drawing, reading the drawing of the processing part, and determining the processing specifications from the material and positional relationship of the parts. Become. Therefore, the ability to read drawings and determine machining specifications is required, and there is a possibility of human error such as misreading of drawings and mistakes in determining machining specifications. There is also a problem that it takes time to determine the processing specifications.

Further, the apparatus described in Patent Document 1 can set welding conditions for the resistance welder by referring to the database, but an answer as to whether or not the welding conditions are accurately registered in the resistance welder. There is no back function. Therefore, if the setting is not made accurately due to, for example, a communication abnormality or an abnormality of the resistance welding machine, it becomes a cause of failure. In addition, from the viewpoint of work record recording, the conditions at the time of welding condition setting are only recorded in the record database or left by handwriting, and the pressing force, welding current, and energization time at the moment of actual work are set. There is no function to confirm whether the implementation was carried out according to the above conditions.

In addition, even if the work is carried out under the correct welding conditions, there is a possibility that the proper current may not flow due to shunting, etc., resulting in incomplete welding, and these events cannot be discovered immediately after the work. It is difficult, and it is discovered only when a defect such as peeling occurs in a post-process or a few years later. For this reason, there has been a demand for a function of confirming whether or not the welding work as set is being performed at the time of welding.

An object of the present invention is to provide a welding control device capable of generating welding conditions for each welding site from drawing data in consideration of the above problems.

In order to achieve the above object, the welding control device of the present invention includes a drawing storage unit that receives and stores drawing data of a work target including one or more welded parts, a plurality of types of members to be welded, and a plurality of types of base materials. It has a welding condition database that stores welding conditions obtained in advance for each combination of the above, a welding portion extraction unit, and a welding condition generation unit. The drawing data of the drawing storage unit includes the type of the member to be welded and the type of the base material constituting the welded portion to be processed. The welded portion extraction unit extracts the type of the member to be welded and the type of the base metal for each one or more welded portions from the drawing data. For each one or more welded parts, the welding condition generating part refers to the welding conditions corresponding to the combination of the type of the member to be welded and the type of the base material read out by the welded part extraction part, and the information stored in the welding condition database. Obtain by doing.

According to the present invention, the type of the member to be welded and the type of the base metal of the welded portion can be extracted from the drawing data, and welding conditions suitable for the combination can be generated. Therefore, welding is performed from the drawing data without human intervention. Conditions can be generated.

It is a block diagram of the structure of the welding control device of this embodiment. (A) is a perspective view of an example of the processing target 100 of the embodiment, and (b) is an explanatory view showing an example of the structure of drawing data. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the data structure of the welding condition database 5 of the welding control apparatus of embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the structure of the welded part data extracted by the welded part extraction part 51 of embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the data structure of the welding condition generated by the welding condition generation part 52 of embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of the screen which is displayed on the display device of embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the operation of the welding control apparatus of embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the operation of the welding control apparatus of embodiment.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the resistance welding machine of the present invention and an electronic drawing for giving a work instruction thereof will be described with reference to the drawings. The same reference numerals are given to the common data and members in each figure.

First, the structure of the welding control device of this embodiment will be described.

As shown in FIG. 1, the welding control device of the present embodiment is a device connected to a resistance welding machine 12 to control welding, and includes a storage unit 30 and a calculation unit 50.

The storage unit 30 includes a drawing storage unit 2, a welding unit data storage unit 4, a welding condition database 5, a generated welding condition storage unit 3, and a work record storage unit 6. The calculation unit 50 includes a welding unit extraction unit 51, a welding condition generation unit 52, and a performance acquisition unit 54.

The drawing storage unit 2 receives and stores drawing data such as 3D CAD data 1. As shown in FIG. 2A, the drawing data is data of 100 to be processed including one or more welded portions 21, 22, 23, and constitutes one or more welded portions 21, 22, 23, respectively. Data indicating the type of the member 90 to be welded and data indicating the type of the base metal 80 are included. The data indicating the types of the member to be welded 90 and the base material 80 refer to, for example, the plate thickness and material of the member to be welded 90 and the base material 80.

FIG. 2B shows the data structure of the welded portions 21, 22, and 23 when the drawing data is three-dimensional CAD data. The CAD data includes data on the plate thickness and material of the joint portions 21, 22, and 23 as property data, and information on the position of the welding point (dotting point) 91.
The welding condition database 5 stores welding conditions obtained in advance for each combination of a plurality of types of members 90 to be welded and a plurality of types of base materials 80. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, there are three types of plate thicknesses 1, 2, and 3 for each of the materials A, B, and C of the member 90 to be welded, and each of the materials D, E, and F of the plurality of base materials 80. When there are three types of plate thicknesses 4, 5 and 6, welding conditions (energization current value, energization time, energization time,) have been verified to obtain sufficient joint strength by conducting tests, etc. in advance for each combination of these. Pressurization) is stored.

From the drawing data stored in the drawing storage unit 2, the welded portion extraction unit 51 determines the type of the member to be welded 90 (plate thickness, material) and the type of the base material 80 for each of one or more welded portions 21, 22, 23. (Plate thickness, material) and the dot position information of the member 90 to be welded are extracted and used as welded portion data (see FIG. 4). Further, the welded portion extraction unit 51 also extracts the shape data of the members to be welded 90 and the base material 80 of the welded portions 21, 22 and 23 from the drawing data and stores them in the welded portion data storage unit 4. ..

The welded portion extraction unit 51 sets the plate thickness and material of the extracted member 90 to be welded, the plate thickness and material of the extracted base material 80, and the spot position for welding together with the shapes of the member 90 to be welded and the base material 80. , May be displayed on the connected display device 10 (see FIG. 6). At the time of display, the welded portion extraction unit 51 may highlight the member located on the upper side of the member to be welded 90 and the base metal 80.

In the welding condition generation unit 52, the type (plate thickness, material) of the member 90 to be welded and the type (plate thickness, material) of the base material 80 read out by the welded portion extraction unit 51 for each of one or more welded portions 21, 22, 23. Welding conditions (energization current, energization time, pressing force) corresponding to the combination of materials) are obtained by referring to the information stored in the welding condition database 5. As a result, the welding condition generation unit 52 can generate welding conditions that have been verified to obtain sufficient joint strength for each of the welding portions 21, 22, and 23, as shown in FIG.

The welding condition generation unit 52 stores the generated welding condition of FIG. 5 in the storage unit 3 and outputs it to the operation control unit 11 of the connected welding machine 12 to set the welding condition.

Here, the structure of the welding machine 12 will be described. The welding machine 12 is a resistance welding machine, and as shown in FIG. 1, a cover arranged so as to be superposed by a pair of electrodes 73 and 74, a power supply 71 energizing between the electrodes 73 and 74, and electrodes 73 and 74. It includes a pressurizing unit 72 that sandwiches and pressurizes the welding member 90 and the base metal, and an operation control unit 11. The operation control unit 11 includes a control unit 63 that controls the energizing current of the power supply 71 and the pressing force of the pressurizing unit 72, a welding condition storage unit 64, and a performance storage unit 62.

The welding condition generation unit 52 sets the generated welding conditions (energization current value, energization time, pressing force) in the welding machine 12 by storing them in the welding condition storage unit 64 of the operation control unit 11.

The control unit 63 reads the welding conditions (energization current value, energization time, pressing force) stored in the welding condition storage unit 64, and controls the power supply 71 and the pressurizing unit 72. On the other hand, the control unit 63 takes in the actually flowing current value, energization time, and pressing force from the sensors built in the power supply 71 and the pressurizing unit 72 and stores them in the performance storage unit 62.

In the present embodiment, the welding condition generation unit 52 includes a condition collation unit 53, and the condition collation unit 53 takes in the welding conditions stored in the welding condition storage unit 64 at the time of setting the welding conditions from the welding condition storage unit 64. Check with the set welding conditions. As a result, the condition collating unit 53 confirms whether or not the welding conditions are surely set in the welding machine 12.

Further, the actual result import unit 54 acquires the actual data of the welding work from the actual result storage unit 62 of the welding machine 12 and stores it in the work result storage unit 6. The result importing unit 54 verifies whether the result data matches the welding conditions stored in the welding condition database 5, and if not, issues a warning to the user (worker). Is also possible. As a result, the possibility of defective products can be immediately warned at the time of welding, and defective products can be prevented from being put on the market.

Hereinafter, the operation of the calculation unit 50 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flows of FIGS. 7 and 8.

Here, the calculation unit 50 is composed of a CPU and a memory, and the CPU executes a program stored in the memory in advance to perform the functions of the welding unit extraction unit 51, the welding condition generation unit 52, and the actual result acquisition unit 54. The configuration realized by the software will be described. However, it is also possible to realize a part or all of the calculation unit 50 by hardware. When realized by hardware, a custom IC such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) or a programmable IC such as an FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) is used, and the weld extraction unit 51, the welding condition generation unit 52, The circuit may be designed so as to at least realize the operation of the performance acquisition unit 54.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the design information of the processing target 100 to be subjected to resistance welding is stored in the drawing storage unit 2 as drawing data (hereinafter referred to as 3D CAD data) 1 created by 3D CAD software. It has been captured and saved.

In step 701, the welded portion extraction unit 51 selects the three-dimensional CAD data 1 to be processed from the data in the drawing storage unit 2 in order to create the welded portion data.

In step 702, the welded portion extraction unit 51 obtains the material and plate thickness of the welded members 90 and the base material 80 of the welded portions 21, 22, and 23, and the position information of the striking point 91 (hereinafter,, from the three-dimensional CAD data). (Also referred to as hitting point information) is extracted, and welded portion data as shown in FIG. 4 is generated. The hitting point information is information given only to the member 90 to be welded. In many cases, the welding conditions of the plurality of welded portions 21, 22, 23 in resistance welding differ depending on the relationship between the member to be welded 90 and the base metal 80. The dot position information is important information for clearly distinguishing a plurality of welded portions 21, 22, and 23.

In step 703, the welded portion extraction unit 51 creates a work instruction display image 16 that three-dimensionally displays the shape, positional relationship, etc. between the welded member 90 of the welded portions 21, 22, and 23 and the base metal 80. Specifically, the welded portion extraction unit 51 adjusts the position and angle of the three-dimensional CAD data 1 to be processed to a predetermined position and angle that are easy to see between the member 90 to be welded and the base metal 80, and then provides dot information. The member 90 to be welded is selected depending on whether or not the member 90 is included, and an image 16 (see FIG. 6) highlighting (for example, highlighting) the member 90 to be welded is generated.

Further, the welded portion extraction unit 51 also generates an image 15 displaying the plate thickness and material of the member 90 to be welded and the base metal 80 together with the work instruction display image 16. The welded portion extraction unit 51 displays the work instruction display images 15 and 16 on the display device 10. The process of step 703 makes it easier for the operator to visually grasp the members 90 and 80 to be welded.

In step 704, when the operator looks at the work instruction display image 16 and determines that the correction is necessary, the operator instructs the correction from the console 10a. In response to this, the weld extraction unit 51 corrects the drawing (step 705).

In step 706, the welded portion extraction unit 51 stores the welded portion data as shown in FIG. 4 in the welded portion data storage unit 4. The completed welded portion data is registered in the welded portion database 4.

When the drawing data of a plurality of processing targets 100 are stored in the drawing storage unit 2, steps 701 to 706 are performed for each of the plurality of processing targets 100, and the welded portion data of each processing target 100 is welded. Register in advance in the department database 4.

In step 801, at the time of performing the resistance welding work, the worker attaches the work guidance sheet 8 and the worker tag 9 on which the information for specifying the processing target 100 to be resistance welded is written to the RFID (radio frequency identifier) reader 7. Read by (or barcode, etc.).

In step 802, the welding condition generation unit 52 receives the information for specifying the machining target 100 read in step 801 and reads the welding section data (FIG. 4) of the machining target 100 from the welding section database 4. Then, the welding condition generation unit 52 reads out the material / plate thickness of the member 90 to be welded and the material / plate thickness of the base material 80 for each of the welded portions 21, 22 and 23, and the welding conditions (additional addition) suitable for the combination thereof. Pressure, welding current, energization time, etc.) are obtained from the welding condition database 5 (FIG. 3). As a result, welding conditions (FIG. 5) for each of the welded portions 21, 22, and 23 included in the processing target 100 are generated.

In step 803, the welding condition generation unit 52 sets the welding condition of each welding portion generated in step 802 to the welding machine 12 by transmitting and storing the welding condition to the welding condition storage unit 64 of the resistance welding machine 12. At the same time, the welding condition generation unit 52 also displays the welding condition on the work instruction display image 15 of FIG. Further, the welding condition generation unit 52 also stores the welding conditions in the welding condition storage unit 3. The condition collation unit 53 reads out the welding conditions stored in the welding condition storage unit 64 (answerback).

In step 804, the condition collating unit 53 compares the answer-backed set value with the welding condition transmitted to the welding condition storage unit 64 or the welding condition stored in the welding condition database 5, and determines whether or not they match. To do.

If they do not match, the process proceeds to step 805, and the condition collation unit 53 displays an error on the display device 10, and in step 806, the condition collation unit 53 confirms the equipment failure or communication failure and gives an instruction for repair. As a result, it is possible to prevent the transmission of welding conditions from being mistakenly performed without being correctly written (not set) in the welding condition storage unit 3 of the resistance welding machine 12 due to equipment failure, communication failure, or the like. be able to.

If they match, the process proceeds to step 807, and the condition collation unit 53 tells the operator the members 90 to be welded and the base metal 80 of the work target 100 so that they are in the directions and positions displayed in the work instruction display images 15 and 16. A display prompting the user to step on the foot pedal by setting the resistance welding machine 12 is displayed on the display unit 10.

As a result, when the operator sets the member to be welded 90 and the base metal 80 in the resistance welder 12 and steps on the foot pedal, the control unit 63 of the resistance welder 12 joins in the welding condition storage unit 64. The conditions (energization current value, energization time, pressing force) are read, and the power supply 71 and the pressurizing portion 72 are controlled so as to meet these joining conditions to realize resistance welding.

Further, the control unit 63 takes in the energizing current value, the energizing time, and the pressing force that actually flowed during the resistance welding from the sensors in the power supply 71 and the pressurizing unit 72, and records the actual working value in the actual storage unit 62. Store in.

In step 808, the actual result acquisition unit 54 acquires the work actual value from the actual result storage unit 62.

In step 809, it is determined whether or not the captured work record values (pressurizing pressure, welding current, energization time, etc.) deviate from the range of appropriate setting conditions stored in the welding condition database 5. If it does not deviate, the process proceeds to step 810, and the result importing unit 54 writes the actual value, the date and time, and the worker information acquired from the worker tag 9 in the work result storage unit 6.

If the welding conditions deviate from the appropriate welding condition range in step 809, the process proceeds to step 811 to display an error on the display device 10 and write the actual value, date and time, and worker information as defect information in the work record storage unit 6. Further, a display instructing the operator to confirm the member and to redo the work is displayed on the display device 10. As a result, it is possible to prevent overlooking defective products.

As described above, according to the welding control device of the present embodiment, it is possible to extract the type of the member to be welded and the type of the base metal of the welded portion from the drawing data and generate welding conditions suitable for the combination. Therefore, welding conditions can be generated from the drawing data without human intervention.

Further, since it is possible to confirm on the spot whether or not the generated welding conditions are surely set in the resistance welding machine, defective products can be reduced.

Furthermore, since it is possible to check on the spot whether or not the actual welding conditions (work record) deviate from the appropriate range, defective products can be reduced.

In the above-described embodiment, the welding control device is arranged adjacent to the resistance welding machine 12, but the welding control device is arranged at a remote value to communicate signals and data exchanges with the resistance welding machine 12. It may be done via a line (including the Internet). As a result, a control service for controlling the user's resistance welding machine 12 can be realized by so-called cloud computing.

1: 3D CAD data 2: Drawing storage unit 3: Generated welding condition storage unit 4: Welding unit data storage unit 5: Welding condition database 6: Work record storage unit 7: RFID reader 8: Work guidance sheet 9: Worker Tag 10: Electronic drawing display PC
11: Operation control unit 12: Resistance welding machine 15: Welding condition display unit 16: Work instruction display unit 17: Resistance welding spot information 80: Base metal 90: Welded member 91: Spot

Claims (11)

A drawing storage unit that receives and stores drawing data of a machining target including one or more welded parts,
A welding condition database that stores welding conditions obtained in advance for each combination of multiple types of members to be welded and multiple types of base metal,
Welded part extractor and
It has a welding condition generator and
The drawing data of the drawing storage unit includes data indicating the type of the member to be welded constituting the welded portion to be processed and data indicating the type of the base material.
The welded portion extraction unit extracts data indicating the type of the member to be welded and data indicating the type of the base metal for each one or more of the welded portions from the drawing data.
The welding condition generating unit stores in the welding condition database the welding conditions corresponding to the combination of the type of the member to be welded and the type of the base material read out by the welding portion extraction unit for each of the one or more welding portions. A welding control device characterized in that it is obtained by referring to the information obtained. In the welding control device according to claim 1, the data indicating the type of the member to be welded is at least one of the plate thickness and the material of the member to be welded, and the data indicating the type of the base material is , A welding control device characterized in that it is at least one of the plate thickness and the material of the base material. The welding control device according to claim 1, wherein the welding condition generation unit outputs the generated welding conditions to a connected welding machine to set the welding conditions, and from the welding machine, Welding control characterized in that the welding conditions set in the welding machine are taken in, collated with the set welding conditions or the welding conditions in the welding condition database, and if they do not match, an error is displayed on the display device. apparatus. The welding control device according to claim 2, wherein the welded portion extracting portion obtains position data for welding from the drawing data and shape data of the welded member and the base metal of the welded portion in the drawing data. A welding control device characterized by further extraction from. The welding control device according to claim 4, wherein the welded portion extracting portion extracts at least one of the extracted plate thickness and material of the member to be welded and at least one of the extracted plate thickness and material of the base material. A welding control device characterized in that the information to be shown is displayed on a connected display device together with a position at which welding is performed and the shapes of the member to be welded and the base metal of the welded portion. The welding control device according to claim 5, wherein the welded portion extracting portion includes the welded member and the welded portion when displaying the shapes of the welded member and the base metal of the welded portion on the display device. A welding control device characterized by highlighting a member located above the base metal. The welding control device according to claim 1, further comprising a work record storage unit and a performance capture unit that captures welding work record data from a connected welding machine and stores it in the work record storage section. Welding control device as a feature. The welding control device according to claim 7, wherein the actual result acquisition unit collates the imported actual data with the set welding conditions or the welding conditions in the welding condition database, and if they do not match. , A welding control device characterized by displaying an error display on a display device. The welding control device according to claim 1, wherein the welding conditions are a pressing force, an energizing current, and an energizing time, which are conditions for resistance welding. A drawing storage unit that receives and stores drawing data of a processing target including one or more welded parts from a user through a communication line.
A welding condition database that stores welding conditions obtained in advance for each combination of multiple types of members to be welded and multiple types of base metal,
Welded part extractor and
It has a welding condition generator and
The drawing data of the drawing storage unit includes the type of the member to be welded and the type of the base material constituting the welded portion to be processed.
The welded portion extraction unit extracts the type of the member to be welded and the type of the base material for each one or more of the welded portions from the drawing data.
The welding condition generating unit stores in the welding condition database the welding conditions corresponding to the combination of the type of the member to be welded and the type of the base material read out by the welding portion extraction unit for each of the one or more welding portions. A welding condition generator characterized in that it is obtained by referring to the information obtained and output to the user through a communication line. Computer,
A drawing storage means that receives drawing data of a processing target including one or more welded portions from a user and stores the drawing data in the connected storage unit.
A welded portion extracting means for extracting the type of the member to be welded and the type of the base metal for each one or more welded portions from the drawing data.
For each one or more of the welded portions, the welding conditions corresponding to the combination of the type of the welded member and the type of the base material read out by the welded portion extracting means are set to a plurality of types of the welded member and a plurality of types of base materials. A program to obtain by referring to the welding condition database that stores the welding conditions obtained in advance for each combination of, and to function as a welding condition generating means to be set in the connected welding machine.

Images