JPH0661678B2 - Production control information transmission device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a production management information transmitting device used for production management of articles on a production line.

(Prior Art) As a conventional production management information transmitting apparatus as described above, for example, there is one disclosed by the present applicant in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-108080, as shown in FIG. 6, for example. It is used for car body painting lines.

In the vehicle body painting line here, a vehicle body 2 of an automobile conveyed by a conveyor 1 is painted by a robot 5 which is installed at a work station 3 and whose operation is controlled by a robot control device 4. Two
In the work station 3, an optical sensor 7 for detecting the arrival of the vehicle body 2, an antenna 8 as fixed communication means, and a fixed communication device 9 are installed. , A production control information transmission device.

Here, the mobile communication device 6 receives the radio wave, takes out the signal contained therein, and if the signal contains the reception start signal, the mobile communication device 6 preliminarily relates to the painting specifications of the vehicle body 2 moving to one place. Transmit radio waves including the stored information.

Further, in the fixed communication device 9, when the optical sensor 7 arrives at the vehicle body 2 at the work station 3, and thus the mobile communication device 6,
When the arrival in the communicable range is detected, a radio wave including a reception start signal is transmitted via the antenna 8, and when the mobile communication device 6 transmits the radio wave as described above, the radio wave is received, The information regarding the painting specifications of the vehicle body 2 extracted from there is transmitted to the robot controller 4.

Therefore, according to this production management information transmitting device, it is possible to transmit the painting specifications regarding the vehicle body arriving there to each work station of the painting line and manage the work contents at those work stations.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the above-mentioned conventional production management information transmitting device, when the optical sensor is applied to a production line in which an operator also works, such as a vehicle body mounting line. Due to the configuration that the arrival of the vehicle body at the work station is detected and the reception start timing of the fixed communication device is taken, the fixed communication device may malfunction when the worker crosses in front of the optical sensor. As a result, the information may be duplicated or may not be taken out sufficiently, and the information to be transmitted to the robot controller and the operator may be misaligned and overlapped, or the beginning and end parts of the information may be overlapped. There was a problem that was missing or inaccurate.

The present invention provides an apparatus that advantageously solves such problems.

(Means for Solving Problems) As shown in FIG. 1, the production management information transmitting apparatus according to the present invention moves together with the above-mentioned articles on a production line that mixes and produces many kinds of articles 51 and receives them. Mobile communication means 52 for transmitting a wave including production control information regarding the article based on reception of a wave including a start signal, and transmission of a wave including the reception start signal provided at a predetermined position of the production line. A fixed communication means 53 for receiving a wave including the production control information and performing an operation for extracting the production control information from the wave, and examining the production control information extracted by the fixed communication means. Has a take-out determination unit that determines whether or not the production control information has been accurately taken out, and outputs a take-out completion signal when the take-out determination unit determines that the correct take-out has been completed. A detecting means 54, to the fixed communication means, causes executed sequentially repeating the operation for the receiving and unloading and the transmission,
Based on the take-out completion signal, the communication control means 55 that outputs the production management information that has been accurately taken out to the fixed communication means, and starts timekeeping based on the take-out completion signal, and the article arrives at the predetermined position. Arrival detection means for outputting an article arrival signal when the passage of a predetermined time corresponding to the interval is detected.
56, repeating the transmission of the fixed communication means and the operation for receiving and taking out the communication control means based on the article arrival signal, and to the communication control means based on the takeout completion signal. The communication start / stop means 57 for stopping is provided.

(Operation) In such an apparatus, when the article arrival detection means 56 starts timekeeping based on the take-out completion signal and detects the passage of a predetermined time corresponding to the interval at which the article arrives at the predetermined position, the article arrival signal is output. Based on the article arrival signal, the communication start / stop means 57 causes the communication control means 55 to start repeating the operation for transmitting and receiving and taking out the fixed communication means, whereby the communication control means 55 is fixed. In the communication means 53,
"Sequentially repeat" the transmission of the wave including the reception start signal, the reception of the wave including the production control information and the operation for taking out the production control information from the wave, and the article 51 approaches during that time. Then, when the mobile communication means 52 receives the wave including the reception start signal and correspondingly transmits the wave including the production control information, the fixed communication means 53 repeating the above procedure receives the wave and The above-mentioned production control information is taken out from the
When the take-out determination unit determines that the "exact take-out" is completed and the take-out completion detecting means 54 outputs the take-out completion signal, the communication control means 55 gives the fixed communication means 53 the production management information indicating that the take-out is completed. Output.

Therefore, according to the production management information transmitting apparatus of the present invention,
The fixed communication means 53 is then used particularly by directly detecting the approach of the mobile communication means 52 to the fixed communication means 53.
Even if you do not take the timing to start receiving
It is possible to complete accurate extraction of the production control information contained in the vibration from 52 and output the production control information for which accurate extraction has been completed, so double extraction or partial extraction is not performed accurately. It is possible to bring a remarkable effect that various production management information can be transmitted to a predetermined position of a production line, for example, a work station.

Moreover, in the production control information transmitting apparatus of the present invention, the communication start / stop means 57 stops the repetition of the transmission and reception of the fixed communication means to the communication control means 55 based on the takeout completion signal and the operation for taking out. Thereafter, the article arrival detection means 56 starts timing based on the take-out completion signal, communicates until an article arrival signal is output by detecting the elapse of a predetermined time corresponding to the interval at which the article arrives at a predetermined position. The start / stop means 57 does not cause the communication control means 55 to start repeating the operations for transmitting and receiving and taking out the fixed communication means.

Therefore, according to the production management information transmitting apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to reliably prevent double extraction of production management information, and two articles having the same production management information (type, specification, format, standard, etc.) continue. In that case, the situation can be correctly determined, and the operating power of the fixed communication means, which is advantageous in implementing the device, can be saved.

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment in which the production management information transmitting device of the present invention is applied to a vehicle body outfitting line.
Reference numeral 11 is a conveyor laid on the outfitting line, 12 is a vehicle body as an article 51 that is transported by the conveyor 11 on the outfitting line and moves, and 13 is a work station for outfitting the vehicle body.

In the work station 13 here, a robot controller 14 and a robot 15 whose operation is controlled by the robot controller 14 are installed, and an operator (not shown) is arranged.

In such an outfitting line, the mobile communication device 16 as the mobile communication means 52 is attached to the vehicle body 12 while the conveyor 11 is provided with an encoder 17 for outputting a pulse each time the vehicle body 12 moves a predetermined distance, and a work station 13 In addition, the antenna 18 and the fixed communication device 19 as the fixed communication means 53.
Is installed to configure a production management information transmission device. Further, here, a specification display device 20 for displaying the equipment specifications of the vehicle body 12 to the worker is further installed in the work station 13.

The mobile communication device 16 here is a receiving circuit having an antenna, an amplification circuit and a demodulation circuit, as in the conventional one,
It comprises a storage circuit having a write / read memory (RAM), a read circuit having an address counter, a transmission circuit having an oscillation circuit, a modulation circuit and an amplification circuit, and a reception start signal detection circuit having a counter, where: , The receiving circuit extracts the digital signal contained therein from the radio wave captured by the antenna by the amplifying circuit and the demodulating circuit, and the reception start signal detecting circuit detects that the reception start signal is contained in the digital signal. Is detected by a predetermined counting state of the counter to output an information read signal, and the read circuit preliminarily written in the memory circuit based on the information read signal. The information regarding the outfitting specifications of the vehicle body 12 as the production control information regarding Uses an oscillating circuit and a modulating circuit to modulate a digital signal of the information into high-frequency vibrations having two different frequencies, and transmits the high-frequency vibration as an electric wave through an amplifier circuit and an antenna shared with a receiving unit (for details, see the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI-KOKAI). See Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho 61-108080).

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the fixed communication device 19 here includes a receiving circuit 21 having an amplifying circuit and a demodulating circuit and a transmitting circuit 22 having an oscillating circuit, a modulating circuit and an amplifying circuit.
An information output circuit 23 having a buffer, a storage circuit 24 having a RAM and a read only memory (ROM), a processor 25 having a central processing unit (CPU) and an interface (I / 0), and a counter. The encoder pulse counting circuit 26 having the above and a vehicle body arrival determination circuit 27 are provided.

Here, the receiving circuit 21 extracts the digital signal contained in the radio wave from the radio wave captured by the antenna 18 by the amplifying circuit and the demodulating circuit and outputs it, and the transmitting circuit 22 outputs the input digital signal to the oscillating circuit. And a modulation circuit to modulate high frequency vibration of two different frequencies and then amplified by an amplifier circuit and output as a radio wave from an antenna 18, and an information output circuit 23 temporarily stores information described later in the form of an input digital signal. Information in the buffer,
For example, the data is output to the robot controller 14 and the specification display device 20 based on a predetermined transmission method such as RS-232.

Further, the encoder pulse count circuit 26 starts counting the number of pulses output by the encoder 17 based on the reset signal and continues counting the number of pulses by the counter. When the number of pulses is equal to the predetermined number of pulses output during the time when the conveyor 11 moves by the interval of the vehicle body 12,
Output the vehicle arrival signal. Therefore, these circuits 26, 27
Corresponds to the article arrival detection means.

Then, the processor 25 performs the following processing according to the processing program shown in FIG. 4 which is written in advance in the ROM of the storage circuit 24.

Here, first, in step 101, a predetermined reception start signal, for example, a digital signal consisting of a 15-bit continuous "1" signal is input to the transmission circuit 22 to cause the transmission circuit 22 to transmit a radio wave including the reception start signal. , Then steps 102 and 10
In step 3, the receiving circuit 21 receives the radio wave and extracts the information contained in the radio wave, and inputs the information to the CPU. Then, in step 104, it is judged whether or not the accurate extraction of the information is completed. The determination here is, for example, by repeating steps 101 to 103, receiving radio waves three times, comparing the information extracted therefrom, and determining whether all three pieces of information match. Then, if all three pieces of information match, it is judged that the correct extraction has been completed, but if none of them match, the above steps 101 to 103 are repeated until they all match.

According to these steps 101 to 104, the mobile communication device 16 attached to the vehicle body 12 enters the communicable range, and the radio waves transmitted by the fixed communication device 19 reach the mobile communication device 16 sufficiently. The device 16 receives the reception start signal, transmits a radio wave including information about the outfitting specifications of the vehicle body 12, and the fixed communication device 19 receives the radio wave and obtains accurate information from the radio wave, that is, the extraction of information. Until completion, it is possible to transmit a radio wave including a reception start signal, receive the radio wave, and take out the information contained in the radio wave.

Information on the outfitting specifications of the vehicle body 12, which has been correctly taken out in this way, is stored in the RO of the memory circuit 24 in step 105.
Stored in M, then in step 106, a reset signal is sent to the encoder pulse count circuit 26. Thus, here, when the vehicle body 12 enters the communicable range, the encoder pulse count circuit 26 can start counting the output palace of the encoder 17.

And here, in step 107, the information output circuit 23,
Information indicating that the accurate taking out of the outfitting specifications of the vehicle body 12 has been completed is output to the robot control device 14 and the specification display device 20, and thereafter, in step 108, the vehicle body arrival determination circuit 27 outputs a vehicle body arrival signal. Check whether or not,
The process waits until the vehicle body arrival signal is output, and if there is an output, the process returns to step 101.

As described above, steps 101 to 105 and 107 correspond to the take-out completion detecting means 54 and the communication control means 55, and particularly step 104 corresponds to the take-out determination section. The communication device 16 completes the accurate extraction of the information transmitted from the mobile communication device 16 without providing a means for detecting the approach to the antenna 18, and can output it, and arrives at the work station 13. Car body
Accurate information on 12 outfit specifications for workstation 13
Can be transmitted to.

Further, the steps 104, 106 and 108 described above correspond to communication start / stop means, and according to these steps,
After the completion of the information extraction from the radio waves transmitted from the mobile communication device 16 attached to the vehicle body 12,
Until the mobile communication device 16 attached to the mobile communication device 16 arrives within the communicable range, the above-described transmission, reception and extraction operations by the transmission circuit 22 and the reception circuit 21 of the fixed communication device 19 can be stopped. Therefore, the power required to operate the fixed communication device 19 can be saved.

FIG. 5 shows a processing program used in another embodiment of the present invention. In this example, the encoder 17 is removed from the configuration of the above-described embodiment and the encoder pulse count circuit in the fixed communication device 19 is shown. 26 and the vehicle body arrival determination circuit 27, instead of the fixed communication device 19, a timer is added to the processor 25, and steps 106 to 108 in the processing program shown in FIG. Run the replaced program.

That is, in this example, in step 105, after the information that the extraction is completed is stored in the ROM of the memory circuit 24,
Go to 9 and find the interval T _p seconds until the next operation by multiplying the difference between the current take-out completion time T ₀ seconds and the previous take-out completion time T ₁ second based on the clock in the CPU by a constant k. . This constant k is multiplied in preparation for the case where the conveying speed of the conveyor 11 becomes faster, and is, for example, the reciprocal of the maximum value of the increasing rate of the conveying speed (1 / 1.1 if the maximum increase is 10%).
As a general rule,

In the next step 110, the take-out completion time T _{0 of} this time is set as the previous take-out completion time T ₁ second in preparation for the next execution, and in the following step 111, the timer for measuring T _p is reset, and then the step At 107, information is output as in the previous embodiment.

Then, in step 112, and checks whether the timer has T _p seconds counting, and waits until the elapsed T _p seconds,
When T _p seconds have passed, the process returns to step 101.

The above steps 109 to 112 also correspond to the communication start / stop means, and according to these steps, the learning effect
The time from the completion of information retrieval to the arrival of the next mobile communication device within the communicable range can be determined.

Therefore, according to the latter embodiment, in addition to the effect of the previous embodiment, the effect that the encoder 17 and the like are unnecessary and the equipment cost can be reduced can be obtained.

Although the present invention has been described above based on the illustrated example, the present invention is not limited to the above-described example. For example, the article may be something other than the vehicle body, and the mobile communication means and the fixed communication means are not radio waves but ultra waves. Waves such as sound waves and light may be transmitted and received, and the mobile communication means may be fixed to the carrying means instead of the article. Then, the fixed communication means may be provided in the carry-out station of the production line in addition to the work station.
The information can be surely transmitted to the next production line.

(Effect of the invention) Thus, according to the production control information transmitting apparatus of the present invention, the means for directly detecting the approach of the mobile communication means to the fixed communication means is used in particular to determine the reception start timing of the fixed communication means. Even if you do not take it, you can complete the accurate extraction of the production control information included in the vibration from the mobile communication means and output the production control information that has completed this accurate extraction. With this, it is possible to transmit accurate production control information to a predetermined position on the production line.

Further, according to the production management information transmitting device of the present invention, the communication start / stop means, the communication control means, and the fixed communication means of the fixed communication means based on the takeout completion signal from the takeout completion detecting means and the article arrival signal from the article arrival detecting means. Since it is possible to repeat the operation of sending, receiving, and taking out for as long as necessary, it is possible to reliably prevent double taking-out of production control information, and at the same time, to produce the same production control information (type, specification, format). The situation can be correctly determined even when two articles having a standard, etc.) continue, and the operating power of the fixed communication means, which is advantageous in implementing the device, can be saved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing a production management information transmitting apparatus of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 shows the apparatus shown in FIG. 2 in more detail. FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram, FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing program executed by the processor of the apparatus shown in FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing program executed by the processor in another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a conventional device. 12 …… Car body, 13 …… Work station 16 …… Mobile communication device, 17 …… Encoder 18 …… Antenna, 19 …… Fixed communication device

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A wave that includes production management information about the article is transmitted based on the reception of a wave including a reception start signal by moving together with the article on a production line that mixes and produces various kinds of articles (51). A mobile communication means (52) for performing the transmission of a wave including the reception start signal, which is provided at a predetermined position of the production line, and receives a wave including the production control information, and transmits the production control information to the wave. In the production control information transmitting device comprising fixed communication means (53) for performing an operation for taking out the production control information from the fixed communication means, the production control information taken out by the fixed communication means is examined to accurately obtain the production control information. A removal completion detecting unit (54) that has a removal determination unit that determines whether or not the removal is completed, and outputs a removal completion signal when the removal determination unit determines that accurate removal is completed, and the fixed communication unit. To Together to execute the operation for the serial transmission and the reception and unloading are sequentially repeated,
Based on the take-out completion signal, the communication control means (55) for outputting the production management information that the accurate take-out is completed to the fixed communication means, start timing based on the take-out completion signal, and the article is at the predetermined position. Arrival detection means for outputting an article arrival signal when the passage of a predetermined time corresponding to the arrival interval is detected
(56), while repeating the transmission of the fixed communication means and the operation for receiving and removing the communication control means based on the article arrival signal, the communication control based on the removal completion signal A production control information transmitting device, comprising: a communication start / stop means (57) for stopping the means.