JPWO2019021938A1 - Design information generating apparatus and design support system - Google Patents

Abstract

Necessary operation information (105) indicating an operation performed on the target part to reach the target state needs to be generated based on the product geometric information (102), assembly information (103), and work process information (101). Based on the operation information generation unit (21), the geometric information (102), the assembly information (103), and the work process information (101), at least one constraint condition of the position or the acting force of the target part is determined. A work constraint generation unit (22) for generating work constraint information (106), and necessary operation information (105) based on the required operation information (105), work constraint information (106), and work subject information (108). Selecting a work subject that satisfies both the necessary operation capability and the constraint condition of the work constraint information (106) to realize the process, and generating process design information (109) including information on the selected work subject That the working main selecting section (23) and the design information generating apparatus provided with (2).

Description

  The present invention relates to a design information generation apparatus and a design support system used for designing a production system.

  Patent Document 1 discloses an assembly sequence generation apparatus that automatically generates a highly workable procedure from a 3D CAD (3 Dimensional Computer Aided Design) model for the purpose of increasing the efficiency of a production system.

JP, 2015-171736, A

  However, according to the above-described conventional technique, only the assembly order and the assembly direction can be designed. Therefore, there is a problem that it is difficult to obtain a highly efficient production system as a whole.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to obtain a design information generation apparatus capable of obtaining a highly efficient production system including processes other than the assembly process.

  In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, the present invention is a design information generation apparatus that generates process design information of a production system that processes a target part to produce a product, the geometric information of the product A necessary operation information generating unit for generating necessary operation information indicating an operation performed on the target part to reach a target state based on assembly information and work process information, the geometric information, the assembly information, and the A work constraint generator for generating work constraint information by determining at least one constraint condition of the position or acting force of the target part based on the work process information; the necessary operation information; the work constraint information; Based on the entity information, a process entity including information on the selected entity is selected by selecting an entity that satisfies both the necessary operation capability and the constraint conditions for realizing the necessary operation information. Characterized in that it comprises a working entity selection unit for generating information.

  According to the present invention, there is an effect that a highly efficient production system including processes other than the assembly process can be obtained.

The figure which shows the structure of the design support system provided with the design information generation apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG. The figure which shows the 1st example of the working time at the time of performing an assembly process and an inspection process to work object in Embodiment 1. The figure which shows the 2nd example of the working time at the time of performing an assembly process and an inspection process to work object in Embodiment 1. The figure which shows the 3rd example of the working time at the time of performing an assembly process and an inspection process to work object in Embodiment 1. The figure which shows the structure of the design information generation apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG. The figure which shows the 1st structural example of the design information generation apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 2. FIG. The figure which shows the 2nd structural example of the design information generation apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 2. FIG. The figure which shows the standard work time production | generation part which produces | generates the standard work time information in Embodiment 2. The figure which shows an example of the information sharing model in Embodiment 2 The figure which shows the 1st structural example of the design information generation apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 3. FIG. The figure which shows the standard work time update part in Embodiment 3. The figure which shows the 2nd structural example of the design information generation apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 3. FIG.

  Hereinafter, a design information generation apparatus and a design support system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail based on the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a design support system including a design information generation apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. A design support system 10 illustrated in FIG. 1 includes a display device 1 and a design information generation device 2. Work information 101, geometric information 102, and assembly information 103, which are input information, are input to the design information generation apparatus 2. The design information generation apparatus 2 outputs design information 104 that is output information.

  The work process information 101 is information including target values related to operations necessary for target parts such as assembly and inspection and operation completion determination. The geometric information 102 is product design information indicating a geometric constraint condition and positional relationship between final parts. The assembly information 103 is transition information of the parts from which the relative positional relationship between the parts is defined and these are assembled to reach the final positional relation.

  Input information input to the design information generation device 2 is stored in an external database. And the design information generation apparatus 2 acquires input information from this external database as needed. The external database that stores the input information may be stored intensively in a storage device, or may be a cloud database that uses a cloud.

  The design information generation apparatus 2 selects a work subject from these pieces of input information based on pre-registered work subject information, and outputs design information 104. The display device 1 to which the design information 104 is input displays the selected work subject. The user who refers to the display device 1 can know the work subject selected in the design information generation device 2. Examples of the display device 1 include a monitor of a PC (Personal Computer) and a display unit of an FA (Factory Automation) device.

  In the design information generation apparatus 2, it is determined whether or not the work subject of each process in the work process information 101 can be executed, and a work subject suitable for each process is selected. Here, the work subject refers to a work execution means of each process of the work process information 101, and the work subject can be exemplified by a worker who is a human, a dedicated machine and a general-purpose machine which are mechanical devices. In the design information generating apparatus 2, the worker is treated as a person who is placed without being distinguished by the skill level. However, in designing each process of the work process information 101, if it is necessary to consider each worker's ability, whether or not each process can be executed is determined based on each worker's quantified ability. May be.

  Special purpose machines are individually designed for specific purposes, have specific dimensions to automate each process such as inspection process, transport process, processing process or screw tightening process, etc. This is a device that is difficult to divert. The general-purpose machine is a device that can be used for other purposes by exchanging an internal program or tooling. Examples of the general-purpose machine include an industrial robot or an NC (Numerical Control) processing machine.

  Here, as a premise of the present embodiment, problems in production system design and definitions of terms will be described. First, necessary design information in production system design will be described. When designing a product production system, the order and workability of assembly work, which are determined based on geometric information such as 3D CAD design information, are important for efficient production of products. The design of the entire production system is not determined only by the order and workability. The activities of the production facilities that make up the production system include work other than assembly. Unless work other than assembly is taken into consideration, an efficient production system cannot be designed. Have difficulty.

  In the production of products, work other than assembly includes finishing, surface treatment, soldering, inspection process, work in progress, and work in progress buffer. In designing the production system, these operations are arranged side by side in order to be resistant to production fluctuations and prevent a decrease in efficiency. According to JIS Z 8206, processes are classified into processing, inspection, transportation and stagnation. The processing includes processing such as component assembly, cutting and polishing, and assembly of components such as screws or connectors, and is a process in which added value is generated through the process. The inspection is a step of confirming whether or not the target performance and the target state are satisfied. The transportation is a process of changing the position and posture of the target part when moving from the previous process to the next process. Stagnation is a process in which time elapses without changing the state of the target part. Note that the buffer process, which is a process of allowing the target part to remain on the spot for a time intentionally designed as a work in progress and absorbing the entire variation, is an example of a stagnation. In addition, the state where the work in progress remains in the worker or the machine and cannot be transported to the next process is also included in the stagnation.

  In the following description, the work process is not limited to the assembly work, and the process belonging to the inspection, transportation, and stagnation of JIS Z 8206 is also included in the work process. Generally, in designing a production system, it is preferable to reduce processes other than processing, that is, inspection, transportation, and stagnation as much as possible.

  In addition, there is an accompanying work process that is not directly related to the operation of the target part or work-in-process, as similar to the work process. The accompanying work process includes an operation for preparing a tool such as tooling exchange and an input operation for recording necessary information. The accompanying work process is handled separately from the work process.

  Here, first, the case where the process is designed in consideration of only the assembly will be described. If it takes a lot of time to execute one assembly process, it should be considered to automate a plurality of repeated processes simultaneously. Specifically, if the screw tightening direction is the same and all the screw dimensions are the same, installation of a dedicated screw tightening machine that automatically executes a plurality of screw tightenings at a time should be considered. However, the installation of a dedicated screw tightening machine does not take into account the time required to put the parts that can be tightened with screws into the equipment and the time to remove the parts from the equipment. There is room for improvement to meet the specifications.

  Next, a case where designing is performed in consideration of work other than assembly will be described. When considering the assembly direction and workability of the assembly work, 3D CAD and CAE (Computer Aided) are used for the unification of the assembly direction and the feasibility of rotation and transportation based on the geometric relationship between the parts during assembly. Engineering). On the other hand, in a design that considers work other than assembly, consider the execution of inspection processes such as appearance inspection or performance evaluation inspection, transportation of parts to the execution environment of the inspection or the start position of the inspection device, transportation to the work in process box, etc. Then, a series of work processes necessary for product completion are examined, and necessary devices and jigs are designed.

  Next, a case will be described in which, after the design is completed, workers are assigned to work steps necessary for completing a series of products, and production is actually started. If there is almost no delay before and after in each work process and work in progress is produced from each process, it is possible to bring out the ideal production performance without stopping the operator's hand. However, in reality, the tact of each worker varies, and if the buffer design is not appropriate, a waiting time occurs in any process, and the production tact increases. Further, when attention is paid to each worker, when a delay occurs in the preceding and following processes, the operator's hand may temporarily stop. Thus, in an actual process, ideal production performance cannot be brought out, and production efficiency often decreases. Usually, a production engineer designs a process so that an operator's hands do not stop. However, if production is performed while frequently switching different varieties on the same production line, or a worker who shortens the required tact time. When production is performed by a production system in which human work is rationalized, production efficiency may not be stable depending on the concentration or physical condition of the human being who is the worker.

  Hereinafter, a specific example in which a waiting time occurs due to the relationship between the time of the work process and the preceding and following processes will be described. Before and after a long process, the work processes may be parallelized, or the work processes may be assigned to a plurality of individuals or parts to one work subject. That is, by preparing a plurality of work subjects in a long time process, for example, by preparing two work subjects, the work time is halved and the stagnation time is reduced. Assign and perform multiple steps at the same time. However, if the work cannot be immediately rounded up by performing another process while waiting for the completion of the long process, the stagnation time of the bottleneck process may be increased.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a first example of work time when performing an assembly process and an inspection process on a work target. In FIG. 2, the time related to the product A that is the work target is shown in the upper diagram, and the time related to the work subject is shown in the lower diagram. In FIG. 2, the inspection is performed after the assembly A, and then the assembly B is performed. However, a transfer operation corresponding to transportation is also included in the work time. Here, for the sake of simplicity, a case where the transfer operation occurs only between the assembly A and B and the inspection steps is illustrated. In FIG. 2, the first work subject is responsible for assembly A and B, and the second and third work subjects are responsible for the inspection, but the inspection process takes a long time, and this time is a bottleneck. Here, for example, it is assumed that the first work subject is a human worker and the second and third work subjects are dedicated machines. At this time, it should be aimed not to stagnate the work object as much as possible before and after the inspection process which is a bottleneck, but in FIG. 2, the first work subject who is an operator waits for the completion of the inspection process, The first worker who is the worker enters a state having a stagnation time.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a second example of work time when performing an assembly process and an inspection process on a work target. In FIG. 3, the first worker who is the worker performs assembly A continuously on the products A (1) to (3), which are the work objects, and therefore does not wait for the completion of the inspection process. The first work subject who is the worker has no stagnation time. However, in FIG. 3, although the inspection process for the product number (1) of the second work subject that is a dedicated machine has been completed, the work target with the product number (1) is the worker. Since the completion of the assembly A with respect to the product number (3) of the work subject of 1 is awaited, the work target having the product number (1) has a stagnation time. That is, since the inspection-completed product stagnates in the inspection apparatus, the stagnation time of the work object becomes long, and the tact time decreases.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a third example of the working time when performing the assembly process and the inspection process on the work target. As shown in FIG. 4, when the work target is sent to the next process along with the completion of the inspection process, which is a bottleneck, the state with the least waste of tact time can be achieved. Assembly A for the product number (3) once interrupted in the first work subject is resumed later. As shown in FIG. 4, in order to send the work object to the next process upon completion of the inspection process, it is necessary to share information about the completion of the inspection process. However, when the work subject is a worker, information sharing may not be effective depending on the ability of the work subject, and the work time may not be stable. Therefore, for example, it is preferable to carry out the transfer work for taking out the work object from the dedicated machine with the dedicated machine.

  As described above, in designing the work process, in order to make the entire work process efficient, it is effective to focus on the completion time of each process and design the work main process so as to eliminate waste. At this time, considering the fact that the characteristics of the work subject differ between the human worker and the machine, the work subject is selected so that not only the time of the work process itself but also waste before and after the work process does not occur. It is effective to do.

  By the way, in recent years, due to the diversification of consumer needs, the cell production method is often adopted for high-mix low-volume production. In this case, multiple processes are allocated to one worker. Cost. For this reason, the skill level of the worker is required, but since the skill level of each worker varies, the work time varies from worker to worker. Here, it may be possible to stabilize the working time by using two workers to cover the delay of the preceding and following workers by the other worker.

  As another method, the product design may be reviewed.For example, the tact time of the screw tightening work process may be shortened by reducing the number of screws. The purpose is to improve productivity through selection, and it is assumed that the product design has already been finalized.

  As explained above, the selection of the work subject is important. It is also important to evaluate the work efficiency of work processes composed of a plurality of processes by paying attention to the connection time before and after and the dead time generated. Therefore, in this embodiment, in order to improve the production process, the difference in the characteristics of the work subject in the production process is defined, and the improvement in efficiency by automation is evaluated. The selection of the work subject can improve the efficiency of the production process by evaluating the execution time of each work process as well as the information sharing ability of each work subject.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of the design information generation apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The design information generation apparatus 2 shown in FIG. 5 includes a necessary operation information generation unit 21, a work constraint generation unit 22, and a work subject selection unit 23, and processes a process design of a production system that processes a target part to produce a product. Information 109 is generated.

  The required operation information generation unit 21 receives work process information 101, product geometric information 102, and assembly information 103 indicating an assembly order obtained by analyzing the geometric information 102 so as to satisfy the interference condition. . Necessary operation information 105 is output from the necessary operation information generation unit 21. The work process information 101 may use, as an initial value, a result studied by the 3D CAD designer in order to realize the assembly order only by the worker. Further, the extraction of the work process information 101 may be performed by automatically measuring the operation of the work subject using a sensor such as motion capture, or may utilize a past database regarding similar products, or may be defined and described in advance. It may be defined by the user based on the work manual.

  The necessary operation information generation unit 21 generates necessary operation information 105 indicating an operation performed on the target part in order to reach the target state based on the product geometric information 102, the assembly information 103, and the work process information 101. First, the necessary operation information generation unit 21 extracts a target geometric relationship between parts or between parts and the surrounding environment from the geometric information 102. Further, the necessary operation information generation unit 21 extracts initial position and end position candidates for the parts to be assembled and the parts to be assembled using the target geometric relationship and the assembly order. That is, a standard of position and posture when assembling on the work table or when assembling in the air is determined, and the constraint condition is generally defined from this standard. A constraint condition to be satisfied in generating the necessary operation information 105 is defined by a position and posture at a certain time in the production cycle, or a trajectory obtained by continuous this time. In the necessary operation information 105, a necessary action force at a specific part or time T is defined for the work target in the work process.

  Specifically, the part to be assembled is placed on the work table, and the constraint condition that the work subject grasps and assembles the part to be assembled can be defined in advance as a positional relation constraint. What is necessary is just to determine from the database based on the past design data etc. about the numerical value of a specific positional relationship. Furthermore, using the work process information 101, information that should be satisfied at the minimum regarding operations required before and after assembly is also defined.

  Regarding the acting force, the necessary operation information 105 is defined as follows. First, the assembly direction is determined in accordance with the assembly order. However, when force is required for assembly, it must be placed on the work table and supported by the reaction force from the work table. Required. Further, the force required for assembly is specifically quantified in advance from the design tolerance shown in the geometric information 102 and the material of the part and the surrounding environment, and is defined in the necessary operation information 105.

  In the inspection process, a numerical value of a specific index corresponding to the inspection content and a detection target are defined as targets. Specifically, if the inspection process is a visual test, it is necessary to have the ability to detect a sample defect, so the color, shape, size, etc. of the defect must be specified and the sensing ability to detect these required operations It is defined as information 105. Alternatively, if the inspection process is an abnormal sound inspection, the ability to detect the normal sound frequency or waveform pattern and the expected abnormal sound frequency or waveform pattern is defined by numerical values, and is defined as necessary operation information 105. Is done. Thus, the necessary operation information 105 is defined for each work, and is output in association with each work process information 101.

  The work constraint generation unit 22 determines work constraint information 106 by determining at least one constraint condition of the position or the acting force of the target part based on the geometric information 102, the assembly information 103, and the work process information 101. In the work constraint generation unit 22, a constraint condition related to a trajectory or an operation force is defined as the work constraint information 106 based on a constraint determined by at least a position or a force.

  The difference between the work constraint information 106 and the necessary operation information 105 is that the work constraint information 106 is associated with the performance of the process of the work process information 101 and does not directly contribute to the work progress. The condition that must be satisfied for the realization of the process is defined. Specifically, the upper limit value of the position and force due to the interference with the surrounding objects and the upper limit value of the time that can be spent in each process of the work process information 101 are defined.

  Specifically, based on the work process information 101, the geometric information 102, and the assembly information 103, the constraint information for the necessary operation information 105 output from the necessary operation information generation unit 21 does not collide with devices installed in the vicinity. The position and / or the force for operating the robot are restricted. In the case where the work constraint information 106 restricts the position, it becomes information that defines the movable area of the work subject when contact and interference are impossible. For example, if the work subject is a robot arm, it is assumed that the elbow portion of the robot arm collides with the surrounding environment when attempting to reproduce the movement of the work subject specified in the necessary operation information 105. For this reason, for such a collision with a device installed in the vicinity, the movable area of the robot arm is defined as an area where the work subject should not interfere with the surrounding environment.

  Or, although contact and interference are allowed, if the applied force exceeds a certain upper limit value, the surrounding environment or the target part is destroyed, an upper limit value is set for the applied force. The upper limit value may be defined with respect to the work target by the assembling order and the force that can be applied to the direction of action in each of the geometric information 102. For the work subject or the surrounding environment, a value that is not damaged as defined in the specification may be set.

  In addition to using such constraint conditions, in order to improve workability, when a design in which a positioning jig is included in the geometric information 102 of the peripheral device corresponding to each process of the work process information 101 is a constraint. A constraint condition based on environmental cost information may be added in addition to the constraint condition of the acting force that is good as the position and posture and the upper limit. Environmental cost information is an estimate of the cost that needs to be invested in equipment or equipment to perform the work. The total environmental cost based on the environmental cost information is used for estimating the total cost in the work subject selection unit 23. Specifically, by adding geometric constraints to the work constraint information 106 so that the position and posture do not move, a simplified low-cost mechanical device is selected as the work subject, and as a result, the total cost is reduced. A configuration that satisfies the user's requirements is realized.

  In addition, the occupable area allowed by the work subject for each process of the work process information 101 is included in the work constraint information 106 as layout information.

  The work subject selection unit 23 selects a work subject from the work process information 101, necessary operation information 105, work constraint information 106, user information 107, and work subject information 108, and generates and outputs process design information 109. Here, the work subject information 108 includes information on a plurality of work subjects that can perform the work and satisfy the necessary operation information 105 and the work constraint information 106. Examples of the work subject include dedicated machines such as workers, general-purpose machines such as industrial robots or NC processing machines, or image processing apparatuses that perform specific inspections and test apparatuses that check normal operation. In addition, the work subject information 108 includes capability information of each work subject based on past results and the like.

  The work subject's ability included in the work subject information 108 includes the movable range indicated by the position and orientation, the acting force that the work subject can output to the object, the maximum speed and average speed during the work operation, the standard work time, and information. Examples include a common model, installation conditions including an occupied area, restrictions on power supply, and restrictions on wiring. Further, as the ability defined by the necessary operation information 105, the ability related to the inspection and the information on whether or not the work process information 101 is compatible with each process are also included in the work subject information 108.

  The work subject selection unit 23 fulfills both the necessary operation capability for realizing the necessary operation information 105 and the constraint condition of the work constraint information 106 based on the necessary operation information 105, the work constraint information 106, and the work subject information 108. A main body is selected, and process design information 109 including information on the selected main body of work is generated. Furthermore, the selected work subject and the process of the corresponding work process information 101 are output as process design information 109 in the order closest to the condition that satisfies the request of the user information 107.

  The user information 107 includes the allowable cost in the process included in the work process information 101, the processing time of each process included in the work process information 101, the processing time required for all processes, and resource information that can be input. . The resource information includes the capacity and number of workers and the capacity and number of machine devices. In particular, the cost condition satisfies the condition by comparing the total cost of the jigs specified in the work constraint information 106 and the cost of the work subject with the target cost set in the user information 107. It is confirmed whether or not.

  As described above, the necessary operation information for defining the necessary operation information 105 for the operation performed on the target part and the target value for the operation completion determination based on the geometric information 102, the assembly information 103, and the work process information 101 of the target part. A generation unit 21, a work constraint generation unit 22 that determines work constraint information 106 related to either position or force with respect to the target component based on the geometric information 102, assembly information 103, and work process information 101 regarding the target component; Based on the information 105, the work constraint information 106, and the work subject information 108, a work subject that can satisfy the necessary operation and the work constraint is extracted, and a work subject that can realize each process of the work process information 101 is output. The design information generation device 2 including the work subject selection unit 23 is realized.

  According to the present embodiment, for the work process information 101, it is possible to select the work subject according to the process characteristics of the plurality of work process information 101 as well as the assembly process. Therefore, when considering a design for improving efficiency, it is possible to automatically obtain candidate work subject information 108 as process design information 109 over all work processes. As a result, the process review time for designing the production system is greatly reduced, and the efficiency can be greatly improved.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a first configuration example of the design information generation apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. The design information generation apparatus 2A shown in FIG. 6 can be applied to the design support system 10 shown in FIG. A design information generation apparatus 2A shown in FIG. 6 is configured such that an evaluation unit 24 is added to the design information generation apparatus 2 shown in FIG. 5 and a work subject selection unit 23A is provided instead of the work subject selection unit 23. The evaluation unit 24 acquires the process design information 109 from the work subject selection unit 23A, and evaluates the time related to the target process based on the process design information 109, thereby evaluating the work subject in the target process. 110 is output. The work subject selection unit 23A re-selects the work subject based on the evaluation information 110 and the request of the user information 107. The process design information 109 is information indicating the work subject selected for each work process included in the work process information 101. Here, the time related to the target process includes at least one of the entire process time, the stagnation time, the transfer time, and the inspection time.

  The evaluation unit 24 evaluates the efficiency when each work subject actually performs the work in numerical form. This evaluation is performed using a simulation of each process of the work process information 101 given a plurality of patterns of variation factors. Here, the variation factor includes a variation in the standard work time of each process.

  The evaluation information 110 includes information that evaluates at least the time required for each work process. Here, in the time evaluation information, a tact time, an individual work time, and a stagnation time can be exemplified. The tact time and the individual work time are shown as differences with respect to the standard work time. The stagnation time indicates a difference with respect to 0. The work subject selection unit 23A, to which the evaluation information 110 is input, compares with the user information 107 and gives superiority or inferiority to the work subject selection information.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a second configuration example of the design information generation apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. 7 is different from FIG. 6 in that the work subject information 108 is shown as a specific one. That is, in FIG. 7, the inputs to the work subject selection unit 23A are movable range information 108a, work process availability information 108b, standard work time information 108c, and information sharing model 108d. Here, in the necessary operation information 105 regarding each process of the work process information 101, a standard work time for executing each process and a target time to be defined are defined. For these, values defined in advance in the work process information 101 are used. If the work process information 101 is not defined, the standard work time information 108c is defined and used. The standard work time information 108c may be generated based on the work process information 101 and the user input information 111. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating the standard work time generation unit 31 that generates the standard work time information 108c. The standard work time generation unit 31 illustrated in FIG. 8 is based on the work process information 101 and user input information 111 indicating the work time that is a guide for each process of the work process information 101 input by the user. Is generated. The standard work time generation unit 31 may be provided inside the design information generation apparatus 2A or may be provided outside the design information generation apparatus 2A. The user input information 111 is information that is input by the user operating the input device, and is information that indicates a work time that is a guide for each process of the work process information 101. Alternatively, instead of the user input information 111, a standard work time model may be generated by using a past production line information or statistical data corresponding to each process of the work process information 101 to generate a standard work time. Good.

  For example, a description will be given of a production design that examines an operation subject whose stagnation time is minimum for an inspection process and a transfer operation before and after the inspection process. The work subject selection unit 23A receives movable range information 108a, work process availability information 108b, which is a positioning capability necessary for the conveyance jig, and standard work time information 108c. An information sharing model 108d is defined.

  The information sharing model 108d cannot share information on the progress of other work subjects when the work subject is a person, or delays information sharing, and can share information without delay when the work subject is a mechanical device. Model. For example, it is defined that “workers must check the information on the machine equipment during the work by checking the display device and cannot share the work process information without delay from the information update”. On the other hand, when the machine is connected to a network that can share information between facilities, the machine can acquire information online, and even if communication delay is taken into consideration, it is not comparable to the operator. It is possible to obtain information as quickly as possible. Therefore, it can be defined that “current work process information including progress can be shared even during work”. Even for workers, it is possible to realize information sharing more efficiently than visual observation by using sound, but there is still a risk of missing or cognitive errors. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of an information sharing model. FIG. 9 shows one industrial robot, three mechanical equipments, one processing machine, and one worker. In FIG. 9, the industrial robot, the machine facility, and the processing machine are sharing information through the communication device, but since the operator visually confirms the information displayed on the display device, the information acquisition is intermittent. Yes, information is not shared.

  In this way, the purpose of defining the information sharing model is to evaluate the time delay between the selected work subjects and clarify whether each work subject is appropriate or inappropriate as the work subject in each work process. It is to do.

  When evaluating each work process in a lump, there is a delay caused by not grasping information on preceding and following processes. That is, in the inspection process and the transporting process before and after as described above, if the inspection process is the most time consuming process in the entire process, the processing time of the inspection process becomes dominant with respect to the tact time. If a stagnation occurs before and after the inspection process, it directly leads to a delay in tact time.

  Therefore, it is required to detect the completion of the inspection process as soon as possible and immediately insert the next assembly or work-in-process, but when assigning a human worker, the worker himself performs the inspection process. If it is transported as it is, there will be no time loss, but if the inspection process is complicated or performed by electrical input / output, the inspection process itself will be carried out by a dedicated machine, and the operator will put the object into the device and remove it from the device. It may be responsible only for taking out In such a case, since the worker cannot detect the completion of the inspection process, the worker is defined as inappropriate for the work process using the information sharing model. Since the operator “cannot share information during other work”, it is possible to design and evaluate the information sharing model if it is not suitable for extraction before and after the inspection process of the mechanical device.

  When the selection of the work subject for the work process is inappropriate, the processing time varies depending on the selection of the work subject, and therefore, the result of analysis of the stagnation time by simulation also differs. As described above, the evaluation unit 24 evaluates the stagnation time using the simulation, and outputs the evaluation information 110 including the stagnation time to the work subject selection unit 23A.

  Based on the information on the stagnation time included in the input evaluation information 110, the work subject selection unit 23A selects at least one of the cost and the size of the work area to be used included in the user's request. Select the work subject in consideration.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when evaluating the work time or efficiency of a plurality of processes in which the work subject is changed, the difference in performance between the work subjects that occurs depending on the work subject information 108. Becomes clear as the overall work time. That is, the degree of change in efficiency due to the change of each work subject selected by the work subject selecting unit 23A can be quantitatively compared or evaluated. Therefore, reworking of the production system design can be prevented and the efficiency of the production system design can be improved.

  In the present embodiment described above, the form for evaluating the stagnation time has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the entire process time, transfer time, inspection time, or assembly time may be evaluated. Good. The transfer time does not correspond to inspection and assembly, and is a time for changing the position and posture. Further, the assembly time is a time required for an operation in which a plurality of parts are combined to form one part.

Embodiment 3 FIG.
FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a first configuration example of the design information generation apparatus according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention. Note that the design information generating apparatus 2B shown in FIG. 10 is applicable to the design support system 10 shown in FIG. The design information generation apparatus 2B shown in FIG. 10 is configured such that the evaluation unit 24 outputs the evaluation information 110 to the process redesign unit 25. The process redesign unit 25 changes the process order of the work process information 101 based on the evaluation information 110, or parallelizes a part of the process of the work process information 101 to redesign the work process information, and performs the work after the redesign. The process information 101a is output. Then, the redesigned work process information 101a is input to the design information generating apparatus 2B instead of the work process information 101. The evaluation information 110 includes work time differences among a plurality of work subjects, that is, performance differences. This performance difference is calculated and generated based on the process design information 109 in the evaluation unit 24. The evaluation unit 24 calculates and compares the work time when each work subject is assigned to each process of the work process information 101. Note that, based on this performance difference, the user request by the user information 107 of the work process information 101 is severe, and a combination of the work subject that satisfies the user request and the work process information 101 may not be found. For example, with respect to the processing time for the entire work process, a case will be described in which there is no work subject that can complete the work within the time required by the user. Normally, the work time of the entire work process does not change by simply changing the order of the processes of the work process information 101 connected in series. On the other hand, it is possible to shorten the work time by parallelizing each process of the work process information 101 instead of serially. For example, the redesign of the work process information 101 such as starting the assembly work of the next part corresponds to parallelization when there is no work by the work subject during the stagnation time.

  By paralleling work processes, workers are selected for all the processes in the work process information 101, and the efficiency is improved by jigs intended to fix the work objects installed in the work environment of the workers or to improve the assemblability. It is also possible to make the design robust against a delay in an intermediate process using a buffer. As a worker, a human worker has an advantage that the degree of freedom of operation such as a change of posture is higher than that of a mechanical device, and is strong in realizing incidental operations and finely correcting processes. However, while a human operator can perform such a variety of operations, he / she waits in a lean manner in anticipation of the completion timing of the machine and actively activates the functional safety of the machine. There is a disadvantage that it cannot be operated. In addition, although a human worker can notify using a facility such as a button or a light curtain, it is difficult to operate the mechanical facility in the shortest time while ensuring safety.

  Generally, the tact is determined by a process having a long processing time among all processes. When it is desired to shorten the tact as much as possible, it is important for the process designer to perform process design that shortens the time taken before and after a long process that can become a bottleneck. At this time, there is a problem in the following points in the positive utilization of the worker with respect to the above-described operation of loading and unloading the object from the apparatus.

  First, if a dedicated worker is assigned to the operation of loading and unloading an object from the apparatus, the human cost of waiting for the inspection process is wasted. Further, when other work is performed during the time waiting for the inspection process, it is difficult for a human being to interrupt the work in a timely manner, so that the tact time is substantially reduced.

  If the timing for interrupting the work is periodic, it is normal to review the process of the work process information 101 and configure the work process information 101 so as to match the timing of loading and unloading the object from the apparatus. On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the timing at which the work is interrupted is often not accurately synchronized between this work and other work. In this case, if the worker is a human, the concentration may be reduced due to repeated interruptions, and as a result, the work efficiency may decrease. However, the efficiency increases when the mechanical device is charged with loading and unloading objects from the device. This is because it is possible to calculate the time to shift to the loading and unloading of the object so that there is no waste using the information on when the inspection process of the inspection device is completed, and to work reliably at that time. It is because it has the characteristic which can be interrupted.

  As shown in FIG. 10, such a problem can be solved by introducing a process redesign unit 25. If the expected work efficiency does not reach the target based on the evaluation information 110 output from the evaluation unit 24, the process redesign unit 25 increases the number of work subjects for a certain work process, for example. It is possible to redesign the production system design by parallelizing or changing the work process information 101 by changing the order of work processes or assigning processes to work subjects. At this time, in consideration of the cost, restrictions on the upper limit and the choice of the work subject may be provided for the increase of the work subject. In addition, if each process of the work process information 101 is changed by registering operations for processes that can be changed in advance and comprehensively searching for options that the user has permitted to operate, Good.

  Further, when the process redesign unit 25 is introduced, the standard work time information 108c that is a part of the work subject information 108 may be changed at the same time. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating the standard work time update unit 32. The standard work time update unit 32 illustrated in FIG. 11 updates the standard work time information 108c based on the work process information 101 and the work time database information 112, and generates updated standard work time information 108ca. The work time database information 112 includes the actual work time of each process, and may further include the number of errors when each process is executed. The updated standard work time information 108ca is input to the work subject selection unit 23B instead of the standard work time information 108c. As a result, it is possible to consider the risks associated with the actual work subject's stagnation time when changing the work subject's conditions. The accuracy of 110 can be improved.

  In addition, although the design information generation apparatus 2B of FIG. 10 improves the precision of the evaluation information 110 by repeating a search automatically inside, this Embodiment is not limited to this. The process redesign unit may output work process information after redesign based on user input.

  FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a second configuration example of the design information generation apparatus according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention. A design information generation device 2C illustrated in FIG. 12 includes a process redesign unit 25a instead of the process redesign unit 25 in the design information generation device 2B illustrated in FIG. The process redesign unit 25a outputs the evaluation information 110 to the display operation device 1a.

  The display operation device 1a has a configuration in which a display device and an input device are integrated, and is a device that displays information and inputs information based on a user operation. A touch panel can be illustrated as the display operation device 1a. However, in the display operation device 1a, a display device and an input device may be provided separately.

  The user of the design information generation device 2C performs an operation on the display operation device 1a while referring to the display contents based on the evaluation information 110 displayed on the display operation device 1a. Thus, for example, the user can set a part of a plurality of error items not to be used for evaluation at the time of redesigning the process.

  The display operation device 1a outputs user input information based on a user operation. User input information from the display operation device 1a is input to the process redesign unit 25a. The process redesign unit 25a combines user input information with the process of the process redesign unit 25, and outputs work process information 101a after redesign. According to the configuration shown in FIG. 12, the user's intention can be immediately reflected in the process redesign, and the user's intention can be reflected in the process after the redesign.

  According to the configuration of the present embodiment described above, when the desired work efficiency or cost cannot be achieved with the current work process and the number of work subjects assigned thereto, the design related to the number of work subjects for the work process is performed. By making changes, it is possible to find production system design candidates capable of achieving the target production efficiency more efficiently than before.

  The configuration described in the above embodiment shows an example of the content of the present invention, and can be combined with another known technique, and can be combined with other configurations within the scope of the present invention. It is also possible to omit or change the part.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Display apparatus, 1a Display operation apparatus, 2, 2A, 2B, 2C Design information generation apparatus, 10 Design support system, 21 Required operation information generation part, 22 Work constraint generation part, 23, 23A, 23B Work subject selection part, 24 Evaluation part, 25, 25a Process redesign part, 31 Standard work time generation part, 32 Standard work time update part, 101 Work process information, 102 Geometric information, 103 Assembly information, 104 Design information, 105 Necessary operation information, 106 Work restrictions Information 107 user information 108 work subject information 108a movable range information 108b work process availability information 108c standard work time information 108ca updated standard work time information 108d information sharing model 109 process design information 110 evaluation information 111 user input information, 112 work time database information.

In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, the present invention is a design information generation apparatus that generates process design information of a production system that processes a target part to produce a product, the geometric information of the product A necessary operation information generating unit for generating necessary operation information indicating an operation performed on the target part to reach a target state based on assembly information and work process information, the geometric information, the assembly information, and the A work constraint generator for generating work constraint information by determining at least one constraint condition of the position or acting force of the target part based on the work process information; the necessary operation information; the work constraint information; based on subject information, said selected plurality of work entities that satisfy both the required operating capacity and the constraint condition for realizing the required operation information selected by the said plurality of work entities A working entity selection unit for generating process design information including broadcast, based on the process design information, and an evaluation unit for outputting evaluation information with a superiority in time for the target process to said plurality of working mainly The work subject selection unit reselects a work subject based on the evaluation information and a request for user information .

Claims (7)

A design information generation device that generates process design information of a production system that processes a target part to produce a product,
A necessary operation information generating unit that generates necessary operation information indicating an operation performed on the target part to reach a target state based on the geometric information, assembly information, and work process information of the product;
Based on the geometric information, the assembly information, and the work process information, a work constraint generation unit that determines work constraint information by determining at least one constraint condition of the position or action force of the target part;
Based on the necessary operation information, the work constraint information, and the work subject information, a work subject that satisfies both the necessary operation capability and the constraint condition for realizing the necessary operation information is selected, and the selected work subject A design information generation apparatus comprising: a work subject selection unit that generates process design information including information. Based on the process design information, comprising an evaluation unit that outputs evaluation information that gives superiority or inferiority to the subject in the target process by evaluating the time related to the target process,
The design information generation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the work subject selection unit reselects a work subject based on the evaluation information and a request for user information.   The work subject information cannot share information on the progress of other work subjects when the work subject is a human, or delays information sharing, and can share information without delay when the work subject is a mechanical device. The design information generating apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising an information sharing model. The work subject information includes standard work time information that is a predefined time taken for work of the target process,
A standard work time generation unit that generates the standard work time information based on the work process information and user input information indicating a work time that is a guide for each process of the work process information input by a user is provided. The design information generating apparatus according to claim 3.   A process redesign unit that redesigns work process information by changing the process order of the work process information based on the evaluation information or by parallelizing a part of the process of the work process information. Item 5. The design information generation device according to Item 4.   The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a standard work time update unit that updates the standard work time information based on work time database information including actual work time of each process of the work process information and the work process information. 5. The design information generation device according to 5. The design information generation device according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
A design support system comprising: a display device on which information output from the design information generation device is displayed.

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