JP2738029B2 - Control device - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a control device, and more particularly, to a control device including a programmable controller and a device that operates while being connected to the programmable controller.

[Prior art] Conventionally, this type of control device has a system composed of a programmable controller (hereinafter, referred to as a PC) and a plurality of devices each connected to the PC. Each device operates by exchanging signals (on / off signals) with the device. FIG. 3 shows an example of a configuration in which such a control device is used, for example, in a production facility of a factory.
The PC 100 includes a display panel 101, an operation panel 102, an ID card reader 1
03, robot controller 104, 105, measurement controller
The image processing device 107 and the image processing device 107 are connected one-to-one. Each of these devices operates based on an operation command signal from the PC 100, and sends an operation completion signal to the PC 100 when the operation is completed. The control device operates in accordance with a program input to the PC 100 by the ladder programmer 108 based on signals exchanged between the PC 100 and each device.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the control device configured as described above, it takes a considerable amount of time to determine the cause when a trouble occurs due to a poor operation timing between the devices. This is because, although the cause of the malfunction in each device can be investigated in that device, since each device is independently connected to the PC, if a malfunction occurs in the operation timing between the devices, a trouble occurs. Unless an inspection device is separately prepared after the occurrence of the error and its operation is reproduced, the cause of the trouble cannot be determined. In addition, if the trouble is reproducible, the trouble is reduced. However, in reality, there are few reproducible problems, and it is extremely difficult to find the cause.

In addition, the position and control state (instruction speed, operation speed, etc.) of devices such as robots, signals from various sensors, and the like are processed only inside individual control devices or measurement devices connected thereto. It has also been very difficult to adjust the operation timing between the devices and to determine the optimum operation conditions of the entire system.

The present invention, in a control device including a programmable controller and a plurality of devices connected to the programmable controller, facilitate the elucidation of the cause of the trouble,
It is another object of the present invention to adjust the operation timing between the devices and easily obtain the optimum operation conditions of the entire system.

Configuration of the Invention The configuration of the present invention that achieves the above object will be described below.

[Means for Solving the Problems] A control device according to the present invention includes a programmable controller and a plurality of devices connected to the programmable controller that operate by exchanging operation information including at least an operation instruction signal and / or an operation completion signal. A communication line that connects the programmable controller and the plurality of devices to each other and communicates the operation information, wherein the communication line connects the plurality of devices to each other; The device is configured to output internal information used for processing inside each of the devices to the communication line, and connected to the communication line to acquire the operation information and the internal information from the communication line, The information is stored and held in the ring memory in association with the time information, and the operation information and the An information input / output device for outputting the unit information together with the corresponding time information as needed, and a storage update stopping means for stopping the storage update of the ring memory when an abnormality is detected.

[Operation] In the control device of the present invention having the above configuration, the programmable controller and the plurality of devices are connected to each other by a communication line, and the plurality of devices are also connected to each other by a communication line.

Each device operates by exchanging at least operation information including an operation instruction signal and / or an operation completion signal with a programmable controller via a communication line, and transmits internal information used for processing inside each of the communication lines. Output to That is, the communication line carries operation information and internal information.

The information input / output device connected to the communication line acquires operation information and internal information from the communication line, stores the information in the ring memory in association with the time information, and stores the operation information stored in the ring memory. The information and the internal information are output at any time together with the corresponding time information.

Since the operation timing and the internal information output together with the time information allow the operation timing between the respective devices to be grasped,
For example, even if a trouble occurs due to a poor operation timing between the devices, the operation information and internal information for one cycle of the ring memory can be confirmed on the same time axis, and the cause of the trouble can be easily investigated. In addition, it is possible to easily determine the optimum operation conditions of the entire system by adjusting the operation timing between the devices.

Embodiment In order to further clarify the configuration and operation of the present invention described above, a preferred embodiment of a control device of the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a control device as one embodiment. This control device is used as a production facility in a factory, and includes a programmable controller (hereinafter, referred to as a PC) 10 for performing sequence control, robot controllers 20 and 30 for controlling a multi-axis robot, a displacement amount of a work, A measurement controller 40 for measuring the phase, an image processing device 50 for determining the shape of the work, an operation panel 60 for giving an operation instruction for the entire control device, and a main controller 70 for inputting operation information of the entire control device and performing various controls And an inter-device data line 90 as a communication line for exchanging information of each device.

The PC 10 includes a ladder information interface 11 for outputting information of the sequence ladder circuit (information of each coil and the like), and input / output information interfaces 12 and 13 for outputting an operation instruction signal and the like and inputting an operation completion signal and the like. The operation instruction signal, the operation completion signal, and the like are hereinafter collectively referred to as an instruction / completion signal.

The robot controller 20 outputs state information indicating the operation position, the instruction speed, the operation speed, and the like of the robot at regular intervals, and outputs instructions and information exchanged with the PC 10.
A status information interface 21 for inputting and outputting a completion signal is provided. Further, a ring memory 22 for storing the instruction / completion signal and the status information, and a maintenance tool interface 23 as a circuit for outputting data stored in the ring memory 22 are provided. The ring memory 22 stores an instruction / completion signal, and sequentially stores state information as data in a time-series manner at a constant sampling interval. When data to be stored exceeds the memory capacity, the oldest previously stored data is stored. This is a memory for sequentially updating data from data to new data.

The maintenance tool 80 is connected to the maintenance tool interface 23 as needed. The maintenance tool 80 refers to the instruction / completion signal and status information stored in the ring memory 22 with the previously input pattern data to perform a failure diagnosis or the like, and displays the status in the form of a timing chart or the like. Or to investigate the transition of

The robot controller 30 has a status information interface
31, ring memory 32, maintenance tool interface 33
And their functions are the same as those of the robot controller 20.

The measurement controller 40 includes a measurement information interface 41 that outputs measurement information obtained from various sensors (stroke sensors, encoders, and the like), and that inputs and outputs instruction and completion signals exchanged with the PC 10. Memory 42 and maintenance tool interface 43
(The same as the ring memory 22 and the maintenance tool interface 23 of the robot controller 20).

The image processing device 50 outputs image information obtained from the captured image, and inputs and outputs an instruction / completion signal exchanged with the PC 10.
51, a ring memory 52, and a maintenance tool interface 53 (the ring memory 22,
Maintenance tool interface 23).

The main controller 70 includes the above-mentioned instruction / completion signals to be input / output to / from the PC 10, status information, measurement information, and image information to be output from each of the robot controllers 20, 30, the measurement controller 40, and the image processing device 50, It is provided with an all information interface 71 for inputting ladder information and outputting an abnormality detection signal. The state information, the measurement information, and the image information are collectively referred to as internal information, and the internal information, the instruction / completion signal, and the sequence ladder information are collectively referred to as all information. All information entered is stored in the ring memory
72 are sequentially stored in chronological order. This ring memory
72, like the above-described ring memory 22, when the data to be stored exceeds the memory capacity, the oldest data previously stored is updated sequentially with new data. Further, it has a security tool interface 73 for outputting data stored in the ring memory 72 to the security tool 80, and an external device interface 74 for inputting and outputting to and from other peripheral devices.

The display unit 81 and the external storage device 82 are connected to the external device interface 74. The display unit 81 displays an instruction / completion signal and sequence ladder information in a timing chart format, a sequence ladder diagram format, and the like, and displays various measurement results and internal information. The work in the factory is proceeding while checking the information displayed on the display section 81.

The external storage device 82 stores program data such as interlock conditions between the robot controllers 20 and 30, the measurement controller 40, and the image processing device 50 (hereinafter, these are referred to as devices).

The inter-device data line 90 is a line for connecting such devices and communicating an instruction / completion signal, internal information, and the like.
Are the input / output interface 12 of the PC 10, the entire information interface 71 of the main controller 70, the state information interfaces 21 and 31 of the robot controllers 20 and 30, the measurement information interface 41 of the measurement controller 40, and the image of the image processing device 50. The information interface 51 and the operation panel 60 are mutually connected. On the other hand, a ladder data line 91 is provided between the ladder information interface 11 of the PC 10 and the entire information interface 71 of the main controller 70, and
It is used to exchange ladder data from 10 to the main controller 70.

When a system is constructed by using a large number of control devices of this type, a general PC 15 is provided to exchange signals between the control devices. This signal is communicated via an input / output information interface 16 provided in the general PC 15, an input / output information interface 13 of the PC 10, and an inter-PC data line 17 connecting other control devices.

Next, the operation of the control device configured as described above will be described.

The start signal of the control device is output from the general PC 15 to the PC 10 via the data line 17 between the PCs. With this start signal
The PC 10 is activated and outputs an operation instruction signal from the input / output information interface 12 to the inter-device data line 90 according to a preset program. Each device starts operation in response to an operation instruction signal corresponding thereto, and upon completion of the operation, outputs an operation completion signal to the inter-device data line 90 via the interfaces 21, 31, 41, 51. The PC 10 inputs this operation completion signal via the input / output interface 12, and similarly outputs the next operation instruction signal to the inter-device data line 90.

In each device, each internal information is stored in the ring memories 22, 32, 42, 52 in a time series at a fixed sampling interval, and an instruction / completion signal exchanged with the PC 10. Is also stored. Further, the internal information of each device is sequentially output from each of the interfaces 21, 31, 41, 51 to the inter-device data line 90 at regular intervals. The cycle at which this internal information is output depends on the ring memories 22, 32, 42, and 52.
Is set to be longer than the sampling interval stored in. Therefore, rough data of the internal information is output to the inter-device data line 90. In addition, the stored internal information is stored in the maintenance tool interface 23, 33, 43, 5 as necessary.
3 to the maintenance tool 80. This conservation tool 8
Using 0, failure diagnosis, operation timing detection, and the like are performed.

On the other hand, the main controller 70 outputs an instruction / completion signal and internal information output to the inter-device data line 90,
Sequence ladder information output to the ladder data line 91, that is, all information is sequentially input via the all information interface 71, and stored in the ring memory 72.

Next, the manner in which all information is stored in the ring memory 72 will be described with reference to FIG.

In the ring memory 72, a memory map as shown
75 are configured. One line of the memory map 75 includes an information collection time T1, an instruction / completion signal R1S of the robot controller 20.
1, status information R1D of the robot controller 20, instruction / completion signal R2S1 of the robot controller 30, status information R2D of the robot controller 30, instruction / completion signal KS of the measurement controller 40, measurement information KD of the measurement controller 40, image processing device 50 Instruction / completion signal GS1, image information of image processing device 50
The storage area A1 stores the GD1 as a set of data. Further, there are n (n = 1200 in this embodiment) storage areas for storing this set of data at regular intervals (50 ms in this embodiment) in chronological order. Then, when the number of data to be stored exceeds n sets, the data in the storage area A1, which is the oldest data, is sequentially updated to new data. Note that the sequence ladder information from the PC 10 is also stored in a storage area (not shown) at the information collection time of each device. All stored information is output to the maintenance tool 80 via the maintenance tool interface 73,
Failure diagnosis and operation timing of each device are detected.

The control device configured as described above performs the following processing when an operation timing failure occurs between the devices. This operation timing failure is detected by referring to the instruction / completion signal fetched from the inter-device data line 90 as the interlock condition between the devices input from the external storage device 82. For example, if the operation instruction signal is output to the robot controller 20 and the operation is started, but the operation completion signal is not output after the set time set as the interlock condition by the external storage device 82, the operation timing is determined to be defective. You. In this case, a device (for example, the robot controller 30) that starts operation based on the operation completion signal cannot operate at a predetermined timing. Hereinafter, the description will be continued assuming that the operation timing failure has occurred in the robot controller 20.

When the operation timing failure is detected, the main controller 70 stops updating the data in the ring memory 72 and outputs an abnormality detection signal to the inter-device data line 90. The PC 10 outputs a data update stop command of the ring memory 22 to the robot controller 20 based on the abnormality detection signal. Therefore, the ring memory 72 of the main controller 70 stores all the information up to immediately before the operation timing failure is detected in chronological order, and the ring memory 22 of the robot controller 20 also stores the internal information until the failure detection. Information and the received instruction / completion signal are stored.

All information stored in the ring memory 72 of the main controller 70 can be confirmed on the same time axis by the maintenance tool 80. Therefore, not only an instruction / completion signal exchanged between the PC 10 and each device, but also internal information of each device and ladder information of the PC 10 can be confirmed on the same time axis.

On the other hand, in the ring memory 22 of the robot controller 20, since detailed internal information immediately before the detection of the operation timing failure is stored, the maintenance tool interface 23
If the maintenance tool 80 is connected to the computer, various diagnoses can be performed from the stored internal information.

When detecting an operation timing failure, in addition to the above-described operation, a stop signal for stopping a device such as a robot is output from the PC 10 as necessary according to a program.

In the control device of the present embodiment described above, the instruction / completion signal and the internal information are communicated to the inter-device data line 90 and stored in the ring memory 72 of the main controller 70 connected to the data line 90. By detecting the operation timing failure occurring in the control device and expressing desired information at that time on the same time axis,
The cause of the operation timing failure can be easily determined. In each device, since detailed internal information is stored in the ring memories 23, 33, 43, and 53, the maintenance tool 80
To easily find the cause of a failure in each device.

Further, conditions and settings at the time of initial adjustment of the equipment in the control device can be easily performed based on various kinds of information expressed on the same time axis.

In addition, since the output period of the internal information of each device is set longer than the sampling interval stored in each ring memory, the memory capacity of the ring memory 72 of the main controller 70 can be saved. In addition, ring memories 23, 33, 43, 53
Is sufficient as long as information for one cycle of the operation of each device can be stored.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to such embodiments at all. For example,
A configuration in which the internal information of each device is not stored, or a configuration in which updating of each ring memory is stopped after a predetermined period of time in which an operation timing failure is detected, may be performed in various modes without departing from the gist of the present invention. Of course, it can be implemented.

Effects of the Invention As described in detail above, according to the control device of the present invention, the operation information of each of the plurality of devices connected to the programmable controller and the internal information of each device are stored and held in association with the time information, Since the stored operation information and internal information are output at any time together with the corresponding time information, the operation timing between the devices can be grasped at any time.
Therefore, even if a trouble occurs due to a poor operation timing between the devices, the cause can be easily investigated. Further, by adjusting the operation timing between the devices, it is also possible to obtain the optimum operation conditions of the entire system.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a control device as an embodiment, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a memory map configured in a ring memory, and FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a control device as a conventional technique. 10 Programmable controller (PC) 20, 30 Robot controller 40 Measurement controller 50 Image processing device 70 Main controller 22, 32, 42, 52, 72 Ring memory 75 Memory map 80 …… Maintenance tools

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-59-221132 (JP, A) JP-A-61-224635 (JP, A) JP-A-57-39495 (JP, A) JP-A-59-226998 (JP) , A)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A programmable controller; a plurality of devices connected to the programmable controller that operate by exchanging operation information including at least an operation instruction signal and / or an operation completion signal; and the programmable controller and the plurality of devices. And a communication line through which the operation information is communicated with each other, wherein the plurality of devices are interconnected by the communication line, and each of the devices is used for internal processing. The internal information is output to the communication line, and the operation information and the internal information are connected to the communication line, the operation information and the internal information are acquired from the communication line, and the information is stored in the ring memory in correspondence with the time information. And stores the stored operation information and internal information together with the corresponding time information as needed. An information input-output device for the control device being characterized in that a storage update stopping means for stopping the storage updating of the ring memory when the abnormality is detected.