JPH11224113A - Control program preparation method and device therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make easily preparable a control program by defining a mark on an image, setting the state of the input/output point corresponding to respective control steps and storing the result corresponding to the respective control steps. SOLUTION: A step information preparation part 11 inputs the states for the respective control steps of a controlled system and prepares a step information table 50. A control program preparation part 9 prepares the control program 55 based on the step information table 50. The image formation part 1 of this control program preparation device 10 forms the image for indicating a manufacture line, an input/output point display part 3 arranges the mark for indicating the input/output point on the image formed in the image formation part 1 and a mark definition part 6 defines the mark on the image. An input/ output condition setting part 7 sets the state of the input/output point corresponding to respective manufacture steps to the image where the mark is arranged and a table preparation part 8 stores the set result corresponding to the respective manufacture steps and prepares the step information table.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention is used for creating a control program. In particular, the present invention relates to a technique suitable for easily creating a control program for a sequence controller.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a method of programming a sequence controller, a method of replacing a circuit diagram (referred to as a ladder chart) of a control panel including a relay, a timer, a counter, and the like with a control program as it is, and a process as a flow chart for programming There is a way.

[0003]

Such a method of creating a control program requires a certain knowledge and experience.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a control program creation method and apparatus which can easily create a control program even by a person who does not have knowledge and experience for creating a control program including programming of a sequence controller. And It is another object of the present invention to provide a control program creation method and apparatus capable of creating a control program in the course of designing a control target.

[0005]

According to the present invention, a mark indicating an input / output point is arranged on a displayed image representing a control object,
By defining the mark on this image, setting the state of this input / output point corresponding to each control step, and recording the set result corresponding to each control step, the state change of the control object It is possible to create a control program while following the process.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The control program creation device 10 includes a step information creation unit 11 that creates a step information table 50 by inputting a state of each control step to be controlled by a method described later, and a control program based on the step information table 50. The control program creating section 9 for creating 55
It is composed of In the present embodiment, the control target is a manufacturing line, and has a plurality of input / output points (sensors, switches, timers, motors, solenoid valves, and the like). The control program creation device 10 includes: an image forming unit 1 for creating an image representing a production line; an input / output point display unit 3 for arranging a mark indicating an input / output point on the image created by the image forming unit 1;
A mark definition unit 6 for defining a mark on the image, and an input / output condition setting unit for setting the state of the input / output point in the image on which the mark is arranged in accordance with each manufacturing step. 7 and a table creation unit 8 which records the result set by the input / output condition setting unit 7 in correspondence with each manufacturing step and creates a step information table.

A display unit 2 for displaying various images is provided.
And a keyboard 4 for the operator to make various inputs.
Input means 4 comprising a and a mouse 4b is provided.

The input / output condition setting section 7 can specify two or more different input / output states in the same step, and specify a manufacturing step to which a transition is made for each of the two or more states.

The control program creating apparatus 10 installs the contents of a machine-readable recording medium in which software is recorded in the personal computer apparatus so that the personal computer apparatus corresponds to the control program creating apparatus of the present invention. This can be achieved by performing

The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. When the operator gives an instruction to the image forming unit 1 shown in FIG. 1 by the input unit 4, the configuration of the manufacturing line is created as a combination of images of the respective constituent elements as shown in FIG. You. Here, the name of each part to be controlled and the comment on the operation are simultaneously displayed as characters so that the operator can input information for each step.

In the present embodiment, the image representing the control object is created by using the image forming unit 1 using a CAD (computer-aided design) program. However, various images such as image data captured by a scanner or a digital camera are used. And can be created by combining them.

An input / output point display and a mark are arranged on the image representing the control object displayed on the display unit 2. FIG. 3 shows an example of the arrangement. The arrangement of the marks is performed by the input / output point display unit 3 and the mark definition unit 6 according to the operation input from the input unit 4. Here, the mark OUT1 is marked on the first conveyor 20,
Mark OUT2 on second conveyor 22, second conveyor 2
Mark T as a mark for the timer that controls the rotation time
M2 was placed. Mark OUT3 on distribution cylinder 21
Is provided with a mark TM1 as a mark of a timer for controlling the output time of the distribution cylinder 21. The mark OUT4 was arranged on the solenoid valve 23. A mark SEN1 is arranged on the sensor 30 of the bottle identifying device, and a mark TM3 is arranged as a timer mark for measuring the time required for the bottle to move from the position of the sensor 30 of the bottle identifying device to the position of the distribution cylinder 21. did. The mark SEN2 was arranged on the level sensor 32 for detecting the filling liquid level of the bottle. The mark SEN3 was arranged on the sensor 31 for detecting the filling position of the bottle. Further, a mark PB1 was arranged as a mark of a start switch of the production line.

When the mark arrangement for inputting the definition of the mark on the screen shown in FIG. 4 is performed on the screen, the mark name is accordingly displayed on the display unit 2 as a separate window as shown in FIG. Will be displayed. The mark definition unit 6 shown in FIG. 1 performs this display, and each mark is defined by an input from the keyboard 4a. A set time is added to each of the timer marks TM1 to TM3. When the definition of all the marks is completed, the screen moves to the input / output condition setting screen of the step. In the present embodiment, the numbers are set in the order in which the mark definition units are arranged according to the rule that the mark type is indicated by a predetermined alphabetical character and the number in the same type is indicated by a numeral.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the input / output condition setting in step 1. Step 1 waits until a start switch for starting the production line is turned on.

By moving the mouse cursor (arrow) to the start switch mark PB1 to be turned on and pressing the button on the mouse 4b, the condition for moving to the next step is PB1.
Specifies that it depends on the state of. The condition that PB1 is turned on is indicated by encircling the mark PB1 on the image. When it is off, it is enclosed by ◎. A cursor (arrow) is displayed near PB1 as before designation. Pressing a button on the mouse 4b switches between three conditions: on, off, and independent.

The transition destination when the transition condition of step 1 is satisfied is entered in the next step field below the screen. When transitioning to the step next to the current step, no input is required because the step is displayed in advance. Otherwise, enter the destination step. When the input means 4 indicates that the input of the transition condition and the transition destination in step 1 is completed, the step information table is rewritten, and the process proceeds to the next step.

When the completion of the input of the step is input by the keyboard 4a or the mouse 5, if the same step exists in the step information table, the data is updated. If the same step does not exist, the data of the step is newly added. Is done. At this time, the step information table is sorted in the order of the step numbers. As will be described later, when there are a plurality of transition conditions in the same step, it is divided into sub-steps. In addition and sorting here, different sub-steps are treated separately.

FIG. 9 shows a step information table. The step information table has a configuration shown in FIG. This step information table is stored in a storage unit (not shown) of the control program creation device 10. The internal structure of the “step information table” in the present invention does not need to be in a continuous area in which all the data are provided as long as the step information table can be substantially reconstructed. It can be provided discontinuously using a pointer, an index, or the like.

FIG. 6 shows input / output condition settings. Step 2
Then, the first conveyor 20 operates, and the sensor 30 of the bottle identification device identifies the bottle.

In step 2, in order to identify the bottle,
There are two types of transition conditions. When there are a plurality of transition conditions, they are distinguished by a substep number. FIG. 6 shows sub-step 1
Is shown. There are bottles and bottles on the production line. The sensor 30 is turned on for a bottle and turned off for a bottle, and takes an intermediate state that is neither on nor off when no bottle is present. In FIG. 6, the case where the mark SEN1 indicating the sensor 30 is turned on, that is, the case of a bottle is set.

The ON state of OUT1 is an output to the first conveyor 20. That is, it means that the first conveyor is driven in step 2. This is one of the transition conditions. If OUT1 is on and SEN1 is on, the input / output condition is satisfied, and the process proceeds to step 3.

FIG. 7 shows the input / output condition setting in substep 2 of step 2. Step 10 when the transition condition is satisfied
Transitions to. It has been shown that one of the transition conditions is that the sensor 30 is turned off by surrounding the mark SEN1 with で.

FIG. 8 shows input / output condition settings. Step 1
At 1, the distributing cylinder 21 drives the bottle for a timer (5 seconds) set by the mark TM1 and pushes it out to the second conveyor 22. Mark OUT of distribution cylinder 21
3 and the timer mark TM1 are set as transition conditions in step 11. Mark OUT3 and mark TM1
Are circled to indicate that these are the transition conditions of step 11. TM is a timer for measuring the time from the start of the step, and the condition is satisfied when the time entered in the mark definition section is reached. When the transition condition is satisfied, the process proceeds to step S12.

As described above, the input / output condition setting section 7 sets input / output conditions and transition conditions for each step. The setting result is edited by the table creation unit 8 as a step information table 50 shown in FIG. Step information table 5
0 is converted into the control program 55 of the sequence controller 60 by the control program creation unit 9.

FIG. 10 is an example of a flowchart in the case where the control device performs the step transition operation directly by the step information table 50. The control device reads the input / output conditions sequentially from step 1 in the initial state with reference to the step information table 50 (S1). Output is performed according to the input / output conditions, and the transition conditions are satisfied (S2). In the example of the step information table 50, the OR condition is set in step 2. The OR condition indicates whether or not a plurality of conditions are set for the same step, and the transition destination step differs depending on the input / output condition. The input / output conditions are determined for all the sub-steps, and the step recorded in the next step corresponding to the sub-step in which the input / output conditions match is transited as a subsequent step (S3). In this example, the number of transition conditions is limited to two. By programming the control device in this way, it is possible to directly control by the table.

The control program creating device 10 of the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 is a recording medium for a personal computer device having predetermined hardware and predetermined basic software installed in the hardware. This can be realized by further installing software recorded on a certain CD-ROM 19.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the setting conditions of the input / output conditions are displayed by enclosing the marks with circles or circles. However, the display unit 2 is actually a display device capable of color display.
By changing the color of the mark, the setting status of the input / output conditions is represented. In the present embodiment, the input / output state is displayed by changing the color of the mark, but the input / output state can be displayed by other methods such as the shape of the mark.

With the above-described apparatus, as a final stage of designing a manufacturing line using CAD, a control program can be created on the screen as it is. That is, a step information table serving as a basis for a control program of the sequence controller can be created with reference to the entire configuration of the manufacturing line displayed on the screen. Therefore, a control program for the sequence controller can be created without creating a ladder chart or a flowchart. Further, since work can be performed visually on the screen, efficient work with few errors can be performed.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Even a person who does not have predetermined knowledge and experience for programming a sequence controller can easily create a sequence controller control program.
In addition, a control program for the sequence controller can be created in the course of designing the control target. Furthermore, a control program for the sequence controller can be visually created while referring to the configuration of the control target displayed as an image.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a control program creation device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a production line and components.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example in which marks are arranged on each component.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a definition of a mark.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing input / output condition settings in step 1;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing input / output condition settings in step 2;

FIG. 7 is a view showing another input / output condition setting in step 2;

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing input / output condition settings in step 11;

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a step information table.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a step transition operation of the sequence controller.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 image forming unit 2 display unit 3 input / output point display unit 4 input means 4a keyboard 4b mouse 6 mark definition unit 7 input / output condition setting unit 8 table creation unit 9 control program creation unit 10 control program creation device 11 step information creation unit 19 Recording medium 20 First conveyor 21 Distribution cylinder 22 Second conveyor 23 Solenoid valve 30-32 Sensor 50 Step information table 55 Control program 60 Sequence controller

Claims (5)

[Claims] A display means for displaying an image representing a control object, a means for arranging a mark indicating an input / output point on the image representing the control object displayed by the display means, a definition of a mark on the image Control program, comprising: means for setting the state of the input / output point corresponding to each operation step; and means for recording the result set by the setting means in accordance with each operation step. Creating device. 2. The setting means designates two or more different input / output states in the same step, and designates an operation step to be a transition destination according to the designation of the two or more states. 2. The control program creation device according to claim 1, further comprising: 3. An apparatus corresponding to the control program creating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said computer apparatus is installed in a computer apparatus having predetermined hardware and predetermined basic software installed in said hardware. A machine-readable recording medium on which software is recorded. 4. An image representing a control object is displayed, a mark indicating an input / output point is arranged on the displayed image representing the control object, a mark on the image is defined, and each operation step is performed. A method for creating a control program in which the state of the input / output points is set correspondingly and the set result is recorded in correspondence with each operation step. 5. The control program creation according to claim 4, wherein two or more different input / output states are specified in the same step, and an operation step to be a transition destination according to the specification of the two or more states is specified. Method.