JPH10206304A - Remote command system of material testing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To carryout the failure diagnosis from a remote place by transmitting the diagnosis signal from a command device to a control device of a testing machine in a remote place, and performing the diagnosis of various circuits of the control device based thereon. SOLUTION: A command is given to a controller 12 from a command device 30 through a network 40 in a condition where a material testing machine body is stopped, and the load cell dummy signal is outputted from CPU 12e to a diagnosis bus 12f. An amplifier 12a amplifies the applied dummy signal and outputs it to the CPU 12e. The CPU 12e compares this signal with the voltage value of the outputted dummy signal to judge whether the amplifier 12a is normal or failed. Similarly, a servo amplifier 12d and an A/D converter 12b also diagnose the failure. A pulse counter 12c compares the pulse number, and similarly diagnoses the failure. Various programs in a hard disk 12k of the controller 12 can be re-written from a device 30, and the workability is remarkably improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a remote command system for a material testing machine having a communication device for controlling the material testing machine from a remote place such as a remote place.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When a plurality of material testing machines are installed in a factory to perform various tests, a skilled worker must be assigned to each material testing machine. Arrangement of personnel is complicated, and it is necessary to have many workers. Alternatively, a manufacturer of a material testing machine is forced to go to a user every time a specification change or a version upgrade of a material testing machine once sold is required to re-install software of a computer. Alternatively, even when the sold material testing machine breaks down, it is necessary for the worker to visit the user every time to diagnose the failure of the material testing machine.

[0003] An object of the present invention is to provide a remote command system for a material testing machine that can access the material testing machine from a remote place.

[0004]

The present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 1 showing an embodiment. A remote command system according to the first aspect of the present invention comprises a material tester main body 11 and the material tester main body 11. A material testing machine 10 having a control device 12 for controlling, a command device 30 provided at a location distant from the material testing device 10, a command device 30 and a control device 1
The above object is achieved by providing communication devices 13 and 32 provided on the material tester side and the command device side, respectively, for transmitting and receiving various signals to and from the device 2 via the network 40. According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the system of the first aspect, the diagnostic signal is transmitted from the command device 30 to the control device 12.
And a diagnosing unit 12e that receives a diagnostic output signal sent from various circuits and devices of the control device 12 based on the diagnostic signal and diagnoses the circuit and device.
(FIG. 2), 31 are provided.

In the section of the means for solving the above problems, the present invention has been described with reference to the drawings of the embodiments, but the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which a material testing machine installed on a user side is accessed from a manufacturer side to diagnose a failure will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG.

In FIG. 1, a material tester 10 sets a tester main body 11 and conditions for various tests performed by the tester main body 11, and provides feedback so that a load applied to a test piece becomes a target value. It has a controller (control device) 12 for controlling. The controller 12 has a modem 13 for communicating between the command device 3 on the maker side and the controller 12 via a network 40 such as a public line network.
Is attached.

As shown in FIG. 2, the tester main body 11 includes a load cell 11a for detecting the load on the test piece, a rotary encoder 11b for detecting the amount of rotation of the screw rod, and a motor 11c for driving the screw rod. The material testing machine 10 grips both ends of the test piece with a gripper (not shown), and
The test piece is loaded by rotating the screw rod to raise and lower the crosshead. Other types of material testing machines may be used.

As shown in FIG. 2, the controller 12 includes an amplifier 12a for amplifying the load signal of the load cell 11a,
An A / D converter 12b for converting an analog signal from the amplifier 12a into a digital signal;
Pulse counter 12c for counting the output pulse of 1b
A servo amplifier 12d for controlling the motor 11c;
PU12e.

The controller 12 is provided with a diagnostic bus 12f for performing failure diagnosis of each part of the material testing machine 10 based on an instruction from a command device 30 installed on the manufacturer side.
A D / A converter 12g for converting a digital dummy signal for diagnosis output from the CPU 12e into an analog signal in order to apply a dummy signal from the diagnostic bus 12f to the amplifier 12a, and an A / D converter 1 from the diagnostic bus 12f.
A D / A converter 12h for converting a digital dummy signal for diagnosis output from the CPU 12e into an analog signal in order to apply a dummy signal to 2b, and a pulse signal for diagnosis from the diagnostic bus 12f to the pulse counter 12c. And a CPU for applying a dummy signal from the diagnostic bus 12f to the servo amplifier 12d.
And a D / A converter 12j that converts a digital dummy signal for diagnosis output from 12e into an analog signal, and has a built-in modem 13. Furthermore, CP
A hard disk 12k in which various application programs (various test programs) are installed, a ROM 121, and a RAM 12m are connected to U12e. R for exchanging various data with the external robot controller 21 or sequencer
An S communication port 12o is also provided. Controller 1
A monitor 22 for displaying test machine conditions and test results is also connected to 2.

A command device 30 installed on the maker side
Is composed of a computer 31 and a modem 32 for communicating with a user-side material testing machine via a network 40. The modems 13 and 32 are connected via a network 40. The network 40 uses a public telephone network, a regional network, or the Internet.

The operation of the remote command system configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 in the case where a fault is diagnosed from a command device installed at the manufacturer.
In order to diagnose the failure of the amplifier 12a, a command is issued from the command device 30 to the controller 12 via the network 40 while the driving of the material tester main body 11 is stopped, and C
The load cell dummy signal is sent from the PU 12e to the diagnostic bus 12f.
Output to The load cell dummy signal is converted into an analog signal by the D / A converter 12g and applied to the amplifier 12a. The amplifier 12a amplifies the applied dummy signal and outputs a dummy amplified signal. The CPU 12e takes in the dummy amplified signal, compares it with a predetermined voltage value corresponding to the output load cell dummy signal, and compares it with the amplifier 12a.
Is determined to be normal or faulty. Similarly, the fault diagnosis can be performed for the servo amplifier 12d and the A / D converter 12b.

In order to diagnose the failure of the pulse counter 12c, the driving of the material tester main body 11 is stopped while
The command device 30 issues a command to the controller 12 via the network 40, and the CPU 12e outputs a dummy pulse signal to the diagnostic bus 12f. The dummy pulse signal is applied to the pulse counter 12c via the pulse I / O 12i, and the pulse counter 12c counts the applied dummy pulse signal and outputs a dummy count signal. CP
U12e takes in the dummy count signal, compares it with a predetermined number of pulses corresponding to the output dummy pulse signal, and determines whether the pulse counter 12c is normal or faulty.

As described above, if the modem 13 is attached to the controller 12 on the user side so that a failure diagnosis of each part of the material testing machine 10 can be performed from the command device 30 on the manufacturer side via the network 40, the failure can be prevented. Since the failure diagnosis can be performed from the manufacturer side without going to the user side each time, after-sales service can be efficiently performed. In addition, the rewriting of various programs stored in the hard disk 12k of the controller 12, etc.
0 can be performed via the network 40,
Also in this case, the efficiency of the after-sales service can be improved, and unauthorized copying of the program can be prevented.

In the above, the diagnosis result is judged on the material testing machine side, and the judgment result is sent to the command device side. However, a diagnosis result signal such as a dummy amplified signal is transmitted from the material testing machine side to the command device side. And the command device may determine the diagnosis result. Further, the dummy signal itself may be generated by the command device 30 and transmitted to the material testing machine 10. In this case, a function of generating the dummy signal is added to the CPU 12e provided in the controller 12 of the material testing machine 10 in advance. There is no need to keep this in mind, and an arbitrary dummy signal can be sent from the manufacturer's command device 30 in response to a failure, and a highly versatile system can be provided.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the remote command system according to the present invention. The remote command system according to this embodiment uses, for example, a factory LAN,
A plurality of material testing machines 51, 5
The operations 2 and 53 are monitored and controlled. Therefore, the controller 51 of the plurality of material testing machines 51 to 53
LAN boards 512 to 532 are respectively provided for 1 to 531.
The command center command device 50 is also provided with a LAN board 51, and the command center command device 50 and controllers 511 to 531 are connected to a network 6 such as a LAN.
0 is connected. Robots 513 to 53 are mounted on each of the material testing machines 51 to 53 in order to automatically mount test pieces.
3 are provided, and the robots 513 to 533 are controlled by signals transmitted from the respective RS communication ports of the controllers 511 to 531 to the robot controllers 514 to 534.

In the command system according to the second embodiment, one skilled worker is arranged at a command center, and a plurality of material testing machines 51 to 53 are operated by signals from the command device 50 to perform a test. Can be performed, skilled personnel can be reduced, and it is possible to prevent workers from performing various tests. In particular, in tension and compression tests, depending on the material and shape of the test specimen, it is often necessary to have experience in setting the test conditions, so by setting the test conditions according to the instructions of a skilled operator at the command center,
A highly reliable test can be performed.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, a fully automatic machine for operating a material testing machine by a robot has been described. However, one worker is assigned to each material testing machine to manually attach and detach a test piece. It may be performed. Alternatively, a command device may be installed on the maker side, and a plurality of material testing machines and one command device may be connected via a public line or the Internet as in the case of FIG. In this case, the manufacturer can operate all test machines and give instructions,
The number of test personnel to be secured by the user can be further reduced.

[0019]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, the control device and the command device of the material testing machine can communicate with each other via a network such as a public line network or a local area network. It is possible to diagnose the failure of the material testing machine on the user side or rewrite the program from the commanding device on the user side, thereby greatly improving the workability. In addition, a plurality of material testing machines can be operated by one worker, which greatly contributes to labor saving.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of an embodiment of a remote command system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of a remote command system according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of another embodiment of the remote command system according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Material testing machine 11, 51-53 Material testing machine main body 12 Controller 12e CPU 13, 32 Modem 30, 50 Command device 512-532 LAN board

Claims (2)

[Claims] A material testing machine having a material testing machine main body and a control device for controlling the material testing machine main body; a commanding device provided at a location remote from the material testing machine; and a commanding device and the control device. A remote command system for a material testing machine, comprising: a communication device provided on each of the material testing machine side and the command device side for transmitting and receiving various signals via a network between the material testing machine and the commanding device. 2. A system according to claim 1, wherein said command device sends a diagnostic signal to said control device.
A remote command system for a material testing machine, comprising: a diagnostic unit that receives a diagnostic output signal sent from various circuits or devices of the control device based on the diagnostic signal and diagnoses the circuit or device.