JP4512903B2 - Cable connection management system and auxiliary device for cable connection management system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention utilizes IC tags in factory facilities such as power plants, steelworks, chemical plants, and in wiring work to connect various powers and sensors that operate equipment in transportation and large buildings and sensors and control panels. And a cable connection management system.

  Patent Document 1 describes that an IC tag is attached to a terminal or an intermediate part of a cable to facilitate recognition.

  In Patent Document 2, a cable embedded in a floor or wall of a building is composed of a cable body and connectors attached to both ends of the cable, IC tags are attached to both ends of the cable body, and the IC tag information is read. In other words, it is also described that the cable at the other end is connected to the cable even if it is embedded in a wall.

JP 2003-203527 A JP 2005-228689 A

In recent years, the aging of on-site workers and the increase in workers with little experience have become problems. Particularly in the wiring work, the core wire number attached to the cable is small, and the burden on the elderly worker whose visual acuity has decreased has increased. In addition, it is becoming difficult for workers with little experience to work accurately according to drawing instructions by short-term education or the like. In order to make up for this handicap, IT technology utilization is desired in field work.

In the wiring work for connecting various powers and sensors for operating equipment in the factory to the control panel 18 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a core wire 7 in which a plurality of wires are coated in one cable. A multi-core cable 11 having the following is used. Since this core wire 7 must be connected to a predetermined position terminal of each counterpart device, each core wire 7 needs to have a core wire number . It sets the current core wire line number correctly, and require more time to correct the cable connected to the terminal base 6 in the control panel 17.

  In addition, it is very important to manage the progress of work by accurately grasping how many tens of thousands of cable connections are completed in the entire wiring work. However, the wiring work has a wide work range, and there are many detailed work compared with mechanical equipment installation, civil engineering, and construction work, etc., so it is very difficult to grasp the accurate work progress visually.

  In the present invention, many devices are arranged in a wide site, and in the work away from the devices, wiring work between the control panel and the devices has a work navigation function for accurately connecting the cables, The purpose is to grasp the cable connection work in a timely manner.

The object can be solved by the following means.
A tube or tag that attaches the IC tag to the core wire in wiring connection work in which IC tags having unique ID information are arranged at both ends of the core wire constituting the multi-core cable and the electrical devices are connected by the multi-core cable. The cable information printing work on the surface and the work of associating the unique ID information of the IC tag with the cable information are performed almost simultaneously, and can be energized with one reference core wire and the newly added one core wire. In this way, when a loop is formed between the core wires and energization confirmation is performed, the unique ID information of the IC tag attached to both ends of the newly added core wire and the energization confirmation time are stored together. The IC tag that was confirmed to be energized at the time was configured so that it could be determined that it was placed at both ends of one core wire .

A tube or tag for attaching an IC tag to the core wire in wiring connection work in which IC tags capable of writing information are arranged at both ends of the core wire constituting the multi-core cable and the electrical devices are connected by the multi-core cable. The core wire is such that the cable information on the drawing is printed on the surface and the cable information is written on the IC tag almost simultaneously, and one reference core wire and the newly added core wire can be energized. When a power supply check is performed, the cable information of the IC tag attached to both ends of the newly added core wire and the power supply check time are stored together, and the power supply is turned on at the same time. The confirmed IC tag is configured so that it can be determined that the IC tag is arranged at both ends of one core wire .

According to the configuration of the present invention, a large number of devices are arranged in a wide site, and are attached to both ends of the core wire constituting the multi-core cable in the control panel and the inter-device wiring work located away from the device. Thus, it is possible to perform the work of associating the unique information of the IC tag with the cable information and the printing of the cable information on the tag to which the IC tag is attached at the same time, and the operator can confirm the cable information visually. Furthermore, by recording the conduction confirmation time to the core wire, it becomes easy to specify the IC tags attached to both ends of the long core wire. This is an effective means for greatly improving the accuracy of wiring connection work.

According to the configuration of the present invention, a large number of devices are arranged in a wide site, and are attached to both ends of the core wire constituting the multi-core cable in the control panel and the inter-device wiring work located away from the device. The cable information can be written to the IC tag and the cable information can be printed on the tag to which the IC tag is attached at the same time, so that the operator can confirm the cable information visually. Furthermore, by recording the conduction confirmation time to the core wire, it becomes easy to specify the IC tags attached to both ends of the long core wire. This is an effective means for greatly improving the accuracy of wiring connection work.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a control panel 17 is generally used for supplying power to equipment such as a factory and transmitting a control signal. The control panel 17 has a large number of terminal blocks 6 for connection to the cable 11. A terminal block number for recognizing the location of the terminal block 6 indicated in the drawing is attached to the terminal block 6.

  Next, a large number of cables 11 connected from devices such as power devices and sensors installed in each place such as a factory are wired to the control panel 17 and the like. Since these power units and the control panel 17 are usually installed at locations that are considerably separated and cannot be seen from each other, it is difficult to perform the connection work while simultaneously checking both ends of the cable 11. Further, in order to reduce wiring work as much as possible, the connection is often made with a multicore cable 11 having a large number of core wires 7 in one cable 11.

  In general, a number corresponding to the number of core wires is printed on the surface of the core wire 7 so that a plurality of wires included in the multi-core cable 11 are correctly connected to the target terminal block 6. Alternatively, the surface of the core wire 7 is color-coded.

In order to perform the connection work, the worker usually prepares a drawing called a connection diagram.
In this drawing, a core wire number is further displayed for each core wire 7, and an instruction as to where to connect to the terminal block number and the terminal block 6 is given. Until now, based on the color of the cable surface of the core wire 7 or the printed number and drawing, a thin plastic tube for displaying the core wire number has been inserted into the core wire 7. This tube is commonly referred to as the mark tube 10. As shown in FIG. 1, numeric characters or alphabets for displaying the core wire numbers are printed on the surface of the mark tube 10.

In the present invention, not only the characters on the surface of the mark tube 10 but also the IC tag is used to store the core wire number information to be used for the wiring work and its management.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the IC tag 2 is continuously attached to the surface of the mark tube 10 that is not printed at an arbitrary pitch. The pasting operation is generally performed by an apparatus that can be pasted automatically.

Next, the core wire number related to the location to be used is printed on the mark tube 10 to which the IC tag 2 is attached. At the time of printing on the mark tube 10, the function of the IC tag 2 attached to the mark tube 10 is effectively utilized to convert the core wire number into electronic information.

There are two types of IC tags 2 depending on their functions. One type has a function of only reading the unique ID already written in the IC tag 2 and cannot write new information.
The other type has a space for storing new information in the IC tag 2 and can write information such as a core wire number .

First, the case of the IC tag 2 having a function of only reading the unique ID already written in the IC tag 2 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 4, the tube marker 1 printed on the mark tube 10 includes an IC tag reader / writer 1-2, a tube drum 1-6 that winds the mark tube 10 around the drum, and a flat mark tube 10 that is fixed. A pinch roller 15 for applying tension, a printing drum 11 in which numbers and characters for printing are embedded, a press stand 1-4 for pressing the mark tube 10 against the printing drum 11, a keyboard 1-3 for driving data to be printed, The memory 1-7 stores the unique ID data of the IC tag 2.

Since the mark tube 10 unwound from the tube drum 1-6 performs the desired printing, the printing drum 11 is rotated, the printing characters are aligned with the printing place, and the printing tube 11 is moved by the push stand 1-4. Press to print. In order to align the position of the IC tag reader / writer 1-2 and the IC tag 2, the mark tube 10 is sent by the pinch roller 1-5, and the unique ID written in the IC tag 2 by the IC tag reader / writer 1-2. Read information. The unique ID information is associated with the core wire number input from the keyboard 1-3 for printing, and is stored in the memory 1-7.

Next, a type that has a space for storing new information in the IC tag 2 and can write information such as a core wire number will be described.
The basic configuration of the tube marker 1 is the same. The difference from the previous method is that the core wire number input from the keyboard 1-3 is directly stored in the IC tag 2 from the IC tag reader / writer 1-2 for printing on the mark tube 10.

  The printing on the mark tube 10 and the writing / reading method on the IC tag 2 have been described above, but the printing means on the mark tube 10 is not limited to this embodiment.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5, the core wire number is printed on the core wire 7, and the connection terminal 4 is firmly fastened to the mark tube 10 to which the IC tag 2 is attached with the conductor in the core wire 7 and a crimping tool.
As shown in FIG. 17, after connecting the terminal block 6 to the connection terminal 4, the center-to-center distance between the adjacent core wire 7 and the IC tag 2 is about 10 millimeters. In some thin core wires 7 having a conductor cross-sectional area of 1.25 square millimeters, the distance between the IC tags 2 may be about 6 millimeters.

  In order to avoid erroneously reading the radio wave from the IC tag 2 of the adjacent core wire 7, the IC tag 2 having a short-distance radio wave transmission capability and capable of transmitting information is attached to the surface of the mark tube 10 without using a power source. It is desirable. There are various types of IC tag 2 depending on the communication frequency, but it is desirable that the communication distance is short and the directivity is strong, so the IC tag 2 that can communicate at a communication frequency of 2.45 GHz or 13.56 MHz is used. Is desirable.

  Further, the possible communication distance from the IC tag 2 to the antenna section 3-1 of the IC tag reader / writer 3 must be within 10 millimeters in order to avoid interference with the IC tag 2 of the adjacent core wire 7. Within millimeters are preferred. In addition, since the diameter of the mark tube 10 is as thin as 3 to 6 millimeters, the IC tag 2 is required to have an outer dimension with a width within 2 to 3 millimeters in order to be applied to the outer periphery thereof.

  The size of the antenna section 3-1 of the IC tag reader / writer 3 is also small because the unique ID information of a plurality of IC tags 2 is not read at the same time because the interval between the IC tags 2 is narrow. As shown in FIG. 17, it is desirable that the antenna unit 3-1 has a thin pen shape so that the position of the IC tag 2 can be reliably captured and reading and writing operations can be performed accurately. The operator can easily visually check which IC tag 2 and the antenna unit 3-1 of the IC tag reader / writer 3 are communicating information, or if the antenna unit 3-1 is a thin pen-shaped shape. I can do it.

The above has been described with respect to the case where the IC tag 2 is attached to the surface of the mark tube 10. In this case, the unique ID information or the core wire number information written in the IC tag 2 can be used effectively in order to obtain the wiring connection information even after the operation of the equipment.

However, since the disadvantage of the above method is that the IC tags 2 are attached to all the core wires 7, the cost of the IC tag 2 is increased when the number of cables 11 to be laid is large until the cost of the IC tag 2 is greatly reduced. Becomes larger. As a method for improving this, the core wire number information written in the IC tag 2 is used effectively only during the construction and test operation of the equipment, and the core wire 7 is connected to the terminal block 6 before entering the main operation. In this method, the IC tag 2 can be removed. The method for enabling the IC tag 2 to be reused any number of times and reducing the necessary cost of the present system will be described below.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the block 8 with the IC tube 2 attached and the mark tube 10 to which the IC tag 2 is not attached is attached to the end of the core wire 7, and then the connection terminal 4 is attached by crimping.

  The block 8 to which the IC tag 2 is attached has a dice shape made of a rubber material as shown in FIG. 7, and the IC tag 2 is attached to one surface thereof. A hole through which the core wire 7 passes is formed at the center of the block 8, and a slit is formed on one side from the hole to the outside. When the block 8 is set, the core wire 7 is held by the elastic force of the block 8.

  When pulling out the block 8 from the core wire 7, if the block 8 is pulled to the opposite slit side, the slit of the block 8 made of a rubber material opens widely as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. The cable 7 that is housed in the hole can be easily removed. After the block 8 is removed from the core wire 7, it can be returned to the initial dice shape and can be reused.

Since the block 8 and the mark tube 10 are separate bodies, printing on the mark tube 10 and writing of core wire number information on the IC tag 2 cannot be performed simultaneously. Therefore, first, the core wire number is printed on the mark tube 10 to which the IC tag 2 is not attached with a normal tube marker. Next, the same core wire number information printed on the mark tube 10 is written to the IC tag 2 attached on the block 8.

At that time, it is necessary to ensure that the mark tube 10 and the block 8 written to the IC tag 2 are incorporated together in the core wire 7. For this purpose, the printed mark tube 10 is attached to the surface of the tape 16 having a weak adhesive force in the order of attachment to the core wire 7 as shown in FIG. 9, and the block 8 is attached to the side. Then, the IC tag 2 attached on the surface of the block 8, with the IC tag reader / writer 3, to write the same line number information and printed on core wire line number to mark the tube 10.

  After the block 8, the mark tube 10 and the connection terminal 4 are integrated with the core wire 7 as shown in FIG. 6, it can be handled in the same manner as the mark tube 10 with the IC tag 2 of FIG. After the trial run is completed, the IC tag 2 is extracted from the core wire 7 together with the block 8 so that only the mark tube 10 printed on the core wire 7 remains. Since this is not different from the current wiring management method, there is no particular problem in terms of equipment maintenance.

Although the case where a new cable 11 is connected to the control panel 17 has been described, the control panel 17 may be replaced with a new product while the cable 11 remains unchanged. Even in that case, the block 8 can be attached to the side of the mark tube 10 without removing the connection terminal 4 to the core wire 7 removed from the terminal block 6.
In that case, after attaching the block 8 with the IC tag 2, the cable number of the existing mark tube 10 can be written into the IC tag 2 and used for the confirmation work when the new control panel 17 is connected to the wiring.

  The mark tube 10 is attached to the core wire 7, but the cable number needs to be displayed on the cable 11. As shown in FIG. 14, the mark tube 13 is attached to the surface of the cable 11, and the IC tag 12 is attached to the surface. Thus, the cable number can be written on the mark tube 13 and the same numbers and symbols as the cable number written on the IC tag 12 can be written. Instead of the mark tube 13, the IC tag 12 may be attached to a plate 15 as shown in FIG.

  As another method, as shown in FIG. 11, a plate 15 on which a cable number and a bar code representing the cable number are written is attached to the surface of the cable 11. Since the terminal block 6 has a narrow interval between adjacent core wires 7, it is difficult to attach the plate 15 along with the bar code indicating the cable number, but the cable 11 can secure a space for reading the bar code. So it is a feasible method.

  In addition, in the thick cable 11 such as the power cable, the number of the core wires 7 is small, and the core wires 7 are often directly connected to the equipment instead of the terminal block 6. wide. In the core wire 7 having a thick conductor, a plate 16 on which a barcode is written can be attached to the surface of the core wire 7 as shown in FIG.

After attaching the connection terminal 4, the mark tube 10 and the block 8 to the core wire 7, it is necessary to confirm that the core wire numbers printed on the mark tube 10 at the end of the same core wire 7 at an invisible distance match the drawing. There is.

  An energization tester 9 is used for this confirmation work. As shown in FIG. 15, the energization tester 9 includes a power source 9-2 that passes a weak current, an ammeter 9-1 that senses energization, a switch 9-3 that turns on and off energization, and the time of energization in FIG. It is basically composed of a clock 9-4 that accurately stores the timepiece.

  If the connection terminal 4 attached to at least two or more core wires 7 is sandwiched in the current tester 9 as shown in FIG. 13 and a weak current is passed from the power source 9-2, the two core wires 7 are correctly connected. The energization can be confirmed with an ammeter 9-1. If it is not possible, it indicates that the core wire 7 set in the current-inspection tester 9 is different at both ends.

As shown in FIG. 15, one of the two core wires 7 is a reference cable 7-1. The reference cable 7-1 is not removed until energization of all the core wires 7 in the cable is confirmed.
After confirming the energization of the core wire 7-2, the core wire 7-2 is replaced with another core wire 7 to confirm energization of all the core wires 7. In order to prevent noise to the cable 11, a ground wire or the like may be used for the reference cable 7-1 in order to prevent noise to the cable 11.

After confirming the energization with the energization tester 9, the IC tag reader / writer 3 is used from the IC tag 2 attached to the core wire 7 as shown in FIG. Read the core wire number information. At the same time, the time at which both energization testers 9 are energized is sent from the clock 9-4 to the IC tag reader / writer 3 as information.

Further, energization confirmation of all the core wires 7 of the cable 11 is performed by the energization tester 9, and the result information is transmitted to a data center not shown in the figure using a communication means such as a mobile phone system or a wireless run. At the data center, the information of the drawing and the information sent from the both energization tester 9 are matched. The core wire number information confirmed to be energized at the same time is present at both ends of the same core wire 7. If one of the wire numbers is different from the wire number shown in the figure, it is understood that the wrong mark tube 10 is attached. In this way, it is confirmed that the correct mark tube 10 is attached to the core wire 7. In this inspection, it was confirmed that the mark tube 10 indicated in the drawing was attached to both ends of one core wire 7.

Next, the connection terminal 4 attached to the core wire 7 is fastened to the predetermined terminal block 6 with a screw by printing the mark tube 10 of the core wire 7 in accordance with the illustrated instructions. Print on the mark tube 10 with the tube marker 1, write the core wire number on the IC tag, attach the mark tube 10 with IC tag and the connection terminal 4 to the core wire 7, check the energization, and fasten the connection terminal 4 to the terminal block 6 The work flow up to this will be described with reference to FIG.
Next, a mounting block 8 and mark the tube 10 to the core wire 7, writes the wire line number to IC tags 2, check the current, illustrating the workflow until fastening the connection terminal 4 to the terminal block 6 in FIG. 18 .

A navigation function for connection work for obtaining connection position information of the terminal block 6 without confirming the drawing every time the connection terminal 4 is fastened will be described. As shown in FIG. 12, before the connection terminal 4 is fastened, the core wire number information of the IC tag 2 attached to the mark tube 10 or the block 8 is read by the IC tag reader / writer 3. Based on the read information of the IC tag 2, the information stored in the IC tag reader / writer 3 is compared, the position on the terminal block 6 to be attached or the position from the left side, the headphone 14 or the like to the worker. Use it so that you can give instructions by voice.

  The position from the top or the left side of the terminal block 6 to be connected to the liquid crystal display screen of the IC tag reader / writer 3 may be indicated without using sound. In the terminal block 6 having a large number of connection locations, as shown in FIG. 12, if the position display tape 6-1 is attached to the surface of the terminal block 6 to indicate the connection position, the connection terminals 4 are more easily fastened. You can check the location. By using the information of the IC tag 2, the operator can perform an accurate operation without using a drawing.

After the connection of one terminal block 6 is completed, the terminal block number of the terminal block 6 is input to the IC tag reader / writer 3 in order to confirm the cable connection state of the terminal block 6. Next, as shown in FIG. 16, the core wire number information is read from the IC tag 2 by using the IC tag reader / writer 3, and it is determined whether or not the connection is instructed in the drawing. If it is confirmed that the same connection as in the drawing is made, information that the connection of the terminal block 6 is completed to the data center is transmitted together with the terminal block number and the ID number of the confirmer.
By this transmission, it becomes possible to accurately record who performed what work on which terminal block 6 and when.

When the IC tag reader / writer 3 does not have the drawing information, the core wire number information read by the IC tag reader / writer 3 from the determined direction is transmitted to the data center. Butt connection data of the read core line number information and drawings with the IC tag reader / writer 3 in the data center, to determine the acceptability of the connection work.

  In this way, connection information for each terminal block 6 is left in the data center and can be used as data for grasping the work progress of the entire wiring work. The work progress management of the wiring work can be roughly divided into work for extending the cable 11 and work for connecting the wiring (connection work). It is possible to grasp the work progress fairly accurately from the amount of digestion of the cable 11, etc., but the wire connection work is very difficult to grasp because the work contents are fine and the work places are scattered. is there.

It can be grasped that the connection terminals 4 and the mark tube 10 at both ends of the core wire 7 have been attached by the work data of the energization confirmation in FIG. Furthermore, the connection completion status for each terminal block 6 can be grasped by checking the core wire number information of the terminal block 6 in FIG.

  At the design stage, the total number of wiring operations can be calculated from a wiring diagram or the like. Utilizing the IC tag 2, it becomes possible to obtain information for each cable 11 and terminal block 6 such as the connection terminal 4 attached to the core wire 7 and the connection completion date to the terminal block 6. As a result, it is possible to accurately grasp the progress of daily wiring work and the degree of construction completion determined from the total work amount.

  Further, the daily work digestion ability and results of the individual worker can also grasp the number of connection completions of the connection terminals 4 and the number of connections to the terminal block 6 as detailed data from the read information of the IC tag 2. If a problem related to cable connection occurs during the test run, it is possible to instantly know who performed the work that caused the problem. It can be estimated from the work history.

The figure which shows an example of the inside of a control panel etc., a terminal block, and the connection state of a cable Figure showing an example of cable connection to a terminal block according to the prior art The figure which shows an example which stuck the IC tag on the mark tube surface Diagram showing tube markers that can be printed and read / written to IC tags The figure which shows an example of the cable which stuck the IC tag on the mark tube surface The figure which shows an example of the cable with the block which pasted the mark tube and IC tag Diagram showing an example of attaching a block to a cable The figure explaining the state which pulls out a block from a cable The figure explaining the state which writes a cable number in the block which stuck the IC tag The figure which shows an example which attached the plate with a barcode to the cable The figure which shows an example which attached the plate with a barcode to the multicore cable The figure which shows an example which reads IC tag data and utilizes for connection instruction The figure which shows an example which confirms electricity supply of a cable with an electricity tester AA arrow view of FIG. Device configuration diagram for checking cable energization The figure which shows an example of the connection check after attaching a cable to a terminal block Work flow chart of cable connection work using IC tag attached to mark tube surface Work flow chart of cable connection work using IC tag attached to block surface

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Tube marker 1-1 ... Printing drum 1-2 ... IC tag reader / writer 1-3 ... Keyboard 1-5 ... Pinch roller 1-7 ... Memory 2 ... IC tag 3 ... IC tag reader / writer 3-1 ... Antenna 4 ... Connection terminal 6 ... Terminal block 7 ... Core wire 8... Block 9... Energization tester 9-1. Ammeter 9-2. Power supply 9-4. Multi-core cable 14 ... Headphone 15 ... Plate 16 ... Adhesive tape 17 ... Control panel

Claims (2)

A tube or tag that attaches the IC tag to the core wire in wiring connection work in which IC tags having unique ID information are arranged at both ends of the core wire constituting the multi-core cable and the electrical devices are connected by the multi-core cable. The cable information printing work on the surface and the work of associating the unique ID information of the IC tag with the cable information are performed almost simultaneously, and can be energized with one reference core wire and the newly added one core wire. In this way, when a loop is formed between the core wires and energization is confirmed, the unique ID information of the IC tag attached to both ends of the newly added core wire and the energization confirmation time are stored together. A cable connection management system characterized in that it is possible to determine that the IC tags that have been energized at the time are arranged at both ends of one core wire. A tube or tag for attaching an IC tag to the core wire in wiring connection work in which IC tags capable of writing information are arranged at both ends of the core wire constituting the multi-core cable and the electrical devices are connected by the multi-core cable. The core wire is such that the cable information on the drawing is printed on the surface and the cable information is written on the IC tag almost simultaneously, and one reference core wire and the newly added core wire can be energized. When a power supply check is performed, the cable information of the IC tag attached to both ends of the newly added core wire and the power supply check time are stored together, and the power supply is turned on at the same time. A cable connection management system characterized in that it can be determined that the confirmed IC tag is arranged at both ends of one core wire.