JPH06110899A - Production management device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To momently display data in real time. CONSTITUTION:Data for display of a block on a display device 6 is stored in a picture constituting data storage part 20. Variable various element data used to give an identifier like a name to the signal inputted from a programmable logic controller 1 through a communication processing part 3 is stored in a variable various element data storage part 21. Matrix various element data generated based on both data is stored in a matrix various element data storage part 22. The communication processing part takes data as the input from the programmable logic controller 1 based on matrix various element data, and a picture control part 4 momently displays this inputted data on the display device 6 in real time.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a production control device capable of displaying the operating conditions of a production line on the screen in real time.

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a production line is often equipped with a display device which allows the operating conditions of each production line to be seen at a glance. Such a need arises because it is possible to easily recognize the operating conditions of a line at one place for production control, etc., and to make a breakdown in the line to improve the operating rate of the line. This is because it is possible to quickly respond to. A conventional production control device having such a function is configured as shown in FIG. A programmable logic controller 1 in the figure is a sequencer that controls the operation of a robot or machine tool arranged on a production line. The programmable logic controller 1 is connected to the production control device 2. In the figure, one programmable logic controller 1 is illustrated as being connected to the production control device 2, but in reality, all programmable logic controllers 1 provided in the line are connected. The production control device 2 may be provided for each production line, or may be provided for each production plant. How many and how many of these are to be provided are appropriately determined according to the purpose of use of the production management apparatus. This programmable logic controller 1
And the production control device 2 are connected via the communication processing unit 3 provided therein. The communication processing unit 3 controls bidirectional communication between the programmable logic controller 1 and a screen control unit 4 described later. The screen control data storage unit 5 stores various data related to screen creation to be displayed on the display device 6, and specifically, data related to screen display, data related to screen rewriting procedure, and data related to screen switching. Etc. are stored. The image component data storage unit 7 is a storage device that stores all display components (switches, indicators, etc.) arranged on the display device 6. In the screen control data, based on various data output from the programmable logic controller 1, an appropriate one is selected from the data stored in the image component storage unit 7 and the component is displayed on the display device. It also includes the settings to display. Further, according to the operation of the touch panel 9 arranged on the screen, the designated bit of the programmable logic controller 1 is turned on, another menu is opened to prompt the next input, and the data corresponding to the input result is set to the programmable logic controller. It also includes operating procedures such as outputting to 1. Further, the arrangement control data storage unit 8 serves as an operation element such as a switch arranged on the display device 4 based on various data stored in the image component data storage unit 7 and the screen control data storage unit 5 described above. Correspondingly, an arrangement for setting a portion to function as a switch in the area of the displayed switch so that a command is actually output to the programmable logic controller 1 only by touching the switch displayed on the screen. It stores data. In other words, the touch panel 9 corresponding to the parts arranged on the screen of the display device 4 by this arrangement data.
Will be formed. Further, as the input device of the production control device 2, in addition to the touch panel 9, a mouse 10, a keyboard (not shown) and the like are provided. The screen control unit 4 displays a screen for production management on the display device 6 based on the data in the screen control data storage unit 5 and the screen component data storage unit 7, and a touch panel formed on the screen. Command data is output to the programmable logic controller 1 by operating an input device such as 9 or a new screen is formed in response to this operation, or conversely, the data is moved according to the data output from the programmable logic controller 1. This is a part having a function of displaying the situation by changing the display color of the parts displayed on the screen. In the conventional production management device 2 configured as described above, the screen display and the formation of the touch panel 9 in the screen control unit 4 are performed in the following order according to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. First, the screen control unit 4 inputs various screen control data stored in the screen control data storage unit 5 (S1), and forms a predetermined screen on the screen of the display device 6 according to the data. To do. At this time, various image components stored in the image component data storage unit 7 are arranged at predetermined positions based on the above data (S2). When the formation of this image is completed, various data output from the programmable logic controller via the communication processing unit 3 is analyzed, and the display of the screen currently displayed is changed based on the analysis result. For example, if the power of a programmable logic controller trips,
The arrangement color of the part for displaying the state of the power trip is changed from green to red (S3, S
4). When a command for switching the current screen is not output in the data output from the input device or from the programmable logic controller 1, the above steps S3 and S4 are repeatedly processed. That is, an appropriate screen is formed on the display device 6 according to the input conditions given by the input device or the communication processing unit 3. On the other hand, if there is output to switch the screen,
Returning to step 1, the processes of S1 to S4 are repeated according to the data for forming a new screen (S5). The procedure for forming the touch panel 9 on the screen is performed as shown in the flowchart of FIG. The screen control unit 4 selectively inputs the layout data corresponding to the screen currently displayed on the screen from the layout data stored in the layout control data storage unit 8,
The touch panel 9 is formed on the screen according to the data. The touch panel 9 is formed by setting a portion functioning as a switch in an arbitrary area of the screen (S
10, S11). When the portion functioning as a switch set on the screen in this way is pressed, the screen control unit 4
Then, which area is pressed is recognized, and a signal corresponding to the switch is output to the programmable logic controller 1 or in the screen control unit 4. The programmable logic controller 1 or the image control unit 4 controls the operation or switches the screen based on this signal (S12, S1).
3).

In such a conventional production control apparatus as described above, the display of the parts or the like to be displayed on the display device is performed on the basis of individual independent data. However, since these displays are not related to each other at all, the set amount of items and the number of times of communication increase, which causes a problem that display responsiveness deteriorates. That is, there is a problem in that the change status of various signals output from the programmable logic controller 1 cannot be instantaneously displayed in real time. This is because processes such as creation of a graphic on the screen and setting of characters to be displayed in the graphic are sequentially performed in sequence. The present invention has been made to solve the above conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a production control apparatus capable of instantaneously displaying input information in real time.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a control means for controlling the operation of various production machines, and signals transmitted and received between the control means and the various production machines. Alternatively, in a production management device having a display means for outputting a display corresponding to a signal individually generated by the control means and the various production machines on the same screen, data regarding matrix elements to be displayed on the display means is stored. Screen configuration data storage means, a variable specification data storage means for storing data relating to the relation between the variables handled in the production control device and the control device and display according to the state of the variables, and the screen configuration data For displaying a matrix on the display means based on the data respectively stored in the storage means and the variable specification data storage means To generate a matrix specification data,
Image output means for outputting an image to the display means based on the matrix specification data.

According to the present invention having the above-described structure, the image output means includes the data relating to the matrix elements stored in the screen configuration data storage means and the variable specification data stored in the variable specification data storage means. The matrix specification data for displaying the matrix on the display means is generated based on the respective data. Since this matrix specification data is data that is displayed on the screen and is related to each other, the time required for communication processing for displaying can be short, and thus real-time instantaneous display is possible.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the positioning of the production control device according to the present invention. A production management device according to the present invention includes a programmable logic controller group A for controlling the operation of production equipment such as robots arranged in a line, and a host computer for centrally managing and controlling these programmable logic controller groups. That is, it is connected to an intermediate position of a line production instruction device (not shown). The information of the line production instruction device is once input to a computer called a cell controller B, and the information input here is reorganized into an information form that can be actually used by the programmable logic controller group A. . The information of the cell controller B can be directly accessed by a host computer such as a BCR, an EWS, a personal computer or a notebook personal computer through a LAN in the factory. Further, the cell controller B has a function of storing various events (abnormality information, work delay, etc.) occurring in the line together with the time when the event occurred. The production control device 2 of the present invention is connected to the cell controller B. The production control device 2 displays the event information stored in the cell controller B and the occurrence of a new event in real time. It also has the function of giving appropriate instructions for this event. That is, as shown in the figure, the production control device 2 can be used as a line main operation panel. Therefore, by looking at the display screen of this production control device, you can see what kind of vehicle is flowing in the line, what kind of car is flowing in the line, how the work is going on at each stage, and the line stop. If a problem occurs, it is possible to search in detail for the cause of the problem, for example, whether it is due to a failure of the programmable logic controller itself or due to a short circuit of the limit switch. become. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control system of the production control device according to the present invention. A programmable logic controller 1 in the figure is a sequencer for controlling the operation of a robot or a machine tool arranged on a production line, and has exactly the same function as a conventional one. The programmable logic controller 1 is connected to the production control device 2. In the figure, one programmable logic controller 1 is illustrated as being connected to the production control device 2. However, actually, as shown in FIG. 1, the programmable logic controller group A provided in the line is connected. Has been done. The connection between the programmable logic controller 1 and the production control device 2 is performed via a communication processing unit 3 provided inside thereof. The communication processing unit 3 controls bidirectional communication between the programmable logic controller 1 and a screen control 4 described later. The screen configuration data storage unit 20 stores the screen configuration data configured as shown in FIG. 3, for example. When displaying based on this data,
The display is as shown in FIG. Of this data, "BO
The part related to "X" is the data for displaying the title of the screen. This data draws a rectangle of width 150 and length 20 with the position of coordinates (100, 5) as the origin, and the A line operation is inside it. It has the meaning of writing the situation. In addition, the portion related to "table" below is data for performing the display drawn below the title, and the number of horizontal items is 4 and the number of vertical items is 7, with the position of coordinates (10, 30) as the origin. With respect to emergency stop, operation mode, abnormality, and hydraulic pressure, it means to display the lines consisting of stations # 10 to # 70.When a screen is created based on this data, these lines of each line are displayed. The information is output as a table as shown in Fig. 4. Since this data is a series of data necessary for screen creation, this processing is performed much faster than in the conventional case. The variable specification data storage unit 21 stores variable specification data for giving a unique identifier such as a name to a signal obtained via the communication processing unit 3 and treating it as a variable. The variable specification data is provided for each A line consisting of stations # 10 to # 70, as shown in FIG. 5, for example, as shown in FIG. It is as if a file corresponding to each variable is stored in the box of .. More specifically, the data as shown in Fig. 7 is written in the file. A PLC address corresponding to, a bit required for the signal, and a display message.This variable specification data is integrated with the above-mentioned screen configuration data to generate data for one screen configuration. Matrix specification data is generated based on the screen configuration data and the variable specification data of and is stored in the matrix specification data storage unit 22. The trick specification data is data in which the data related to display on the display device 6 and the data input from the programmable logic controller 1 are integrated together, and the communication processing unit 3 converts the matrix specification data from the programmable logic controller 1 into data. The input data is applied and sent to the image control unit 4. The image control unit 4 creates a screen as shown in Fig. 4 based on the sent data and causes the display device 6 to display the screen. 8 is
It shows a more detailed configuration of the production management apparatus according to the present invention. In this figure, the same members as those in FIG. 2 are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted. The touch panel 9 is set on the screen of the display device 6, and the mouse 10
Is the same as that used in a normal computer or the like. The first communication processing unit 25 is a unit that controls signal exchange between the communication processing unit 3 and a matrix generation unit 26 described below. The second communication processing unit 27 is for performing mutual communication between the programmable logic controller 1 and a matrix element state refresh processing unit 27 described later. The matrix generation processing unit 26 is a unit that calculates information for displaying a matrix on the display device 6. The matrix element state refresh processing unit 27
This is a part for refreshing the character elements set (written) in the matrix displayed on the screen based on the signal input from the program controller 1 and outputting this to the first communication processing section 25. The matrix element data storage unit 30 stores character elements to be written in the matrix displayed on the display device 6. The production control apparatus of the present invention configured as described above operates as shown in the flowchart of FIG. First, the screen control unit 4 inputs screen configuration data suitable for a display request from the screen configuration data storage unit 20 (S1), and changes the variable specification data related to the input screen configuration data to the variable specification data storage unit. Search from 21 (S2). The searched data is applied to the screen configuration data to form a series of data, which is stored in the matrix data storage unit 22. The communication processing unit 3 reads the matrix specification data stored in the matrix specification data storage unit 22 at regular time intervals, reads necessary data from the program controller 1, and stores this data in the matrix specification data. Store (S3). Then, the screen control unit 4 displays the screen shown in FIG. 4 on the display device 6 based on the matrix specification data (S4). In this way, since the data related to the screen to be displayed is given as a series of data called matrix specification data, the screen display only needs to be processed in accordance with the data, and thus real-time instantaneous display is possible. Therefore, it is not necessary to perform processing one by one in order to update and display one data as in the conventional case. By adopting the configuration shown in FIG. 8, the amount of information to be held on the side of the terminal on which the screen control unit 4 is provided can be extremely small and the communication load can be reduced. For this reason, since the terminal side can be realized by an inexpensive device, the cost can be reduced when it is desired to display the facility information in a matrix at a plurality of places.

As described above, according to the present invention, since the screen is displayed based on one series of data, the facility information can be displayed in real time and instantly. In addition, when displaying, it is only necessary to set the items that you want to display, so the setting man-hours for displaying them are small, and it is easy to change the display items and the matrix layout. Can be dealt with.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the positioning of a production control device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a control system of the production management device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of screen configuration data of the production control device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a display mode of the production control device according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a line configuration of an example.

FIG. 6 is an image diagram of variable specification data of the production control device according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of variable specification data of the production control device according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a more detailed block diagram of the production control device according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation of the production control device according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a control system of a conventional production management device.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart for creating a display screen of the device shown in FIG.

12 is a flowchart for creating a display screen of the apparatus shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Programmable logic controller 2 ... Production management device 3 ... Communication processing unit 4 ... Screen control unit 5 ... Screen control data storage unit 6 ... Display device 7 ... Screen component data storage unit 8 ... Arrangement control data storage unit 9 ... Touch panel 10 ... Mouse 20 ... Screen configuration data storage unit 21 ... Variable specification data storage unit 22 ... Matrix specification data storage unit

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A control means for controlling the operation of various production machines, and a signal transmitted / received between the control means and the various production machines or individually generated by the control means and the various production machines. A production control device having a display means for outputting a display corresponding to a signal on the same screen, and a screen configuration data storage means for storing data relating to matrix elements to be displayed on the display means, and handling in the production control device. Stored in the screen configuration data storage means and the variable specification data storage means, respectively, the variable specification data storage means for storing the data relating to the relation between the variable and the control device and the display according to the state of the variable. The matrix data for displaying the matrix on the display means based on the existing data, Production control apparatus characterized by comprising an image output means for outputting an image on the display means based on the specification data.