KR20190078341A - Apparatus and method for designing layout of process line based on vertual equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

According to one embodiment of the present invention, provided is a process line layout design apparatus based on a virtual facility comprises: a user input device receiving a user parameter from a user; a unit facility parametric setting device representing a unit facility feature as a formula using the user parameter; a unit facility parametric application device calculating the formula and determining a feature of unit facilities; and a unit facility layout adjustment device checking the interference between the unit facility and the other unit facility based on the feature of the unit facilities and adjusting the layout of the unit facilities.

Description

[0001] APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR DESIGNING LAYOUT OF PROCESS LINE BASED ON VERTUAL EQUIPMENT [0002]

The technical idea of the present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for designing a layout of a process line based on a virtual facility.

The CEM (Compact Endless Cast & Rolling Mill) process is a process that can continuously mass-produce various high-quality hot-rolled products by directly connecting the performance process with the hot-rolling process, Through this process, all the processes are continuously performed without cutting or stagnation until the hot rolled product produced by melting the iron ore in the blast furnace and FINEX process, which is the front end process, is continuously made, so the product quality is very homogeneous, It is possible to mass-produce extremely thin hot-rolled products that were difficult to produce by conventional hot-rolling.

As such, there is a great demand from outside companies, especially overseas steel makers, to build the CEM process. However, due to the nature of the CEM process, if one unit fails, the entire CEM process may stop. Therefore, it is necessary to design a precise layout for CEM plant construction in order to prevent such problems in advance and to achieve stabilized operation early. For this new layout design, product specification and process time to be produced in the factory are defined, and the specifications such as the size and power of the individual facilities are determined and the distance between the equipments is adjusted.

Conventionally, in order to design such a new layout, a layout design work is mainly performed to adjust the size and position of a facility figure placed in a previously-designed two-dimensional (2D) drawing. The layout thus designed can not confirm the shape of the actual equipment and can not confirm whether the new layout on the drawing reflects the actual design intent. For this reason, problems of layout design are found in the process of manufacturing actual facilities and constructing factories, resulting in a lot of time and money loss, such as reprocessing facilities and correcting layouts.

Korean Registered Patent No. 1786212

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and a method for designing a layout of a process line based on a virtual facility. Existing 2D Layout drawings are provided in two types of top view and side view, which are simply the appearance of the equipment and the distance between them. As a result, there is a problem that it is impossible to confirm details of the external appearance of the apparatus, the relative positions of the internal parts, the driving unit connection state, the driving range and the timing, etc., for the new layout design.

Even if the new layout design is finished, it is not possible to investigate the problems that may occur when the operation is performed according to the design. Traditionally, this was theoretically handled by expert discussions based on documents and processed during the normalization test period when the actual factory was built. As a result, the problem that is not found in the layout design has to be confirmed and corrected after the completion of the construction of the factory, which has a problem that it takes a lot of cost and time.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve such problems and it is an object of the present invention to provide a 3D layout designing apparatus and method in which interference kinematics, facility appearance, and equipment interference adjustment are performed only by numerical control such as facility specification, .

In order to solve the above-described problems, an apparatus for designing a virtual facility-based process line layout according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a user input device for receiving user parameters from a user, And a unit parameter parametric setting unit. The virtual facility-based process line layout designing apparatus includes a unit facility parametric applying apparatus for calculating the formula to determine the characteristics of the unit facility, and a controller for checking the interference between the unit facility and another unit facility based on the characteristics of the unit facility And a unit facility layout adjusting device for adjusting the layout of the unit facilities.

The virtual facility-based process line layout designing method according to an embodiment of the present invention includes inputting user parameters from a user and expressing the characteristics of a unit facility using the user parameters. Wherein the virtual facility-based process line layout designing method comprises the steps of determining the characteristics of the unit facility by calculating the formula and checking interference between the unit facility and other unit facilities based on the characteristics of the unit facility, And adjusting the layout.

The apparatus and method for designing a virtual facility-based process line layout according to the technical idea of the present invention can be realized by simply changing the specification of the equipment for numerical feedback, and the layout, internal parts status, layout can be reflected quickly, and it is possible to examine not only the outline of the equipment but also the inside of equipment and kinematics compared with the 2D drawings.

In addition to changing the specifications of the unit facilities, it is possible to design the entire layout such as interval adjustment, interference check, arrangement order adjustment, etc., and to save / load them in real time. And history management.

Furthermore, it is possible to see how the facilities can operate at the timing during the operation by applying actual operation driving plan to the completed three-dimensional (3D) layout. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the time for reviewing the operation plan and the improvement cost after the factory is built.

The embodiment according to the technical idea of the present invention can be applied not only to the CEM process but also to the layout design of a similar process such as a performance process, a hot rolling process, a thick plate process, and a wire rod process, thereby shortening the layout design time of the process.

FIG. 1 shows a virtual facility-based process line layout designing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a virtual facility-based process line layout designing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a computer screen shot showing a parametric design method according to one embodiment of the technical idea of the present invention.
4 is a computer screen shot showing an example of a three-dimensional model for parametric design according to an embodiment of the technical idea of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of weight reduction of a three-dimensional model performed after parametric design according to an embodiment of the technical idea of the present invention.
6 is a view showing another example of weight reduction of a three-dimensional model performed after parametric design according to an embodiment of the technical idea of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a result of weight reduction of a three-dimensional model according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a computer apparatus capable of implementing an apparatus-based process line layout designing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The embodiments of the present invention are described in order to more fully explain the present invention to those skilled in the art, and the following embodiments may be modified into various other forms, The present invention is not limited to the embodiment. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be more thorough and complete, and will fully convey the concept of the invention to those skilled in the art. In the drawings, the thickness and size of each layer are exaggerated for convenience and clarity of explanation.

Throughout the specification, the same reference numerals refer to the same elements. As used herein, the term "and / or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed items.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" include singular forms unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Also, " comprise "and / or" comprising "when used herein should be interpreted as specifying the presence of stated shapes, numbers, steps, operations, elements, elements, and / And does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, operations, elements, elements, and / or groups.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings schematically showing ideal embodiments of the present invention.

The virtual facility-based process line layout designing apparatus and method described below may have various configurations, and only necessary configurations are exemplarily shown here, and the contents of the present invention are not limited thereto.

One embodiment according to the technical idea of the present invention is a three-dimensional (3D) layout designing method of a CEM (Conpact Endless Cast & Rolling Mill) process in which a layout design accuracy and detail can be reviewed, Provide related devices. In particular, it provides a virtual facility-based layout design and configuration method that can quickly and accurately reflect changes in plant and equipment specifications when designing new layouts for overseas construction of the CEM process and review them. The apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention can provide kinematics information such as a driving unit connection state and a driving range of individual virtual equipments of a CEM process and external information such as specification and hierarchical structure for each part, Designation or modification of the equipment specification by linking with the final equipment specification and formula includes parametric modeling in which kinematics and appearance of the virtual equipment are automatically corrected. (Graphical User Interface) environment and GPU (Graphical Processing Unit) programming that can easily modify parameters of individual virtual facilities as well as provide layout automation of modified facilities to enable accurate and quick CEM process layout design.

Publication No. KR10-2011-0047025 as a related document provides a control method of a driving education system of a steelworks facility. Users who save the simulation data of the operation of the steelworks facility in the database (DB) and access to the DB with the expert authority generate education cases based on the data stored in the DB, and conclusions and conditions according to each rule are generated, DB is built. On the other hand, the user who accesses with the non-expert authority includes inputting the conclusions of the education case and receiving feedback from inference comparison between the conclusion entered by the user from the system and the conclusion of the already established DB. This document has a common point with the present invention in that it is based on a virtual facility, but differs from the present invention in that it uses an existing layout simply.

Other related documents, Publication No. 2011-0068544, provide a variable platform device and method for a virtual reality-based training simulator. The present invention is related to the development of a platform capable of variably configuring a virtual reality scenario, but differs from the present invention in which education on equipment operation and operation is targeted, which is limited to the education of a single device.

FIG. 1 shows a virtual facility-based process line layout designing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. A virtual facility-based process line layout designing apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a user input device 11, a user input processing device 12, a unit facility parametric setting device 13, a unit facility parametric application An apparatus 14, a unit facility layout adjusting apparatus 15, an image processing apparatus 16, and a video output apparatus 17.

The user input device 11 receives parameters such as specifications of virtual facilities or distances between equipments from the user and constraint conditions such as total layout width / length. The input parameters may be the specification of the entire process, for example the overall process speed, and may be the specification of the product to be produced, for example the width of the product. The user can input the above parameters or constraint conditions through a GUI or the like provided by the user input device 11. [ The GUI is merely an example of a user interface through which a user can input parameters or constraints, and the user can input parameters or constraints through other types of user interfaces. For example, the user can input parameters or constraint conditions through the command line interface.

The user input processing unit 12 transfers the user input to a core apparatus for designing a unit facility and an entire layout in a virtual environment. The virtual facility-based process line layout designing apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a plurality of core apparatuses. A plurality of core devices may perform parallel operations for unit facilities and overall layout design.

The unit facility parametric setting device 13 sets the parameters inputted from the user to the internal parametric formula of the parameters of each unit facility. The parameters of the unit facility can be in the form of a unit facility. For example, it may be a part-by-part specification of a unit facility and may relate to a hierarchical structure of the unit facility. Further, the parameters of the unit facility may be related to kinematics. For example, the driving unit may be connected to the driving unit of the unit facility, the driving range, or the like. By setting the user parameters in the parametric formulas of the parameters of the unit facilities, the parameters of the unit facilities can be changed when the user parameters are changed as the parameters of the unit facilities and the user parameters are changed. The unit facility parametric setting device 13 can also convert the parametric formula of the parameter of the unit facility into a matrix which is a processing unit of the GPU (graphical processing unit).

The unit facility parametric applying apparatus 14 calculates the formula matrix using the GPU to calculate the external appearance, internal component size and relative position of the unit facility, the size of the drive unit, and the drive radius. The unit facility parametric applying apparatus 14 can determine the final form of the unit facility based on the calculation result. The final form of the unit facility may be related to the appearance of the unit facility or may relate to the kinematics of the unit facility.

The unit facility layout adjustment device 15 checks the distance and interference between the unit facilities based on the parameter application result of the unit facility. The unit facility layout adjusting device 15 can configure the entire layout in consideration of the layout constraints inputted by the user.

The image processing apparatus 16 generates an output image so that the entire layout adjusted by the unit facility layout adjusting apparatus 15 can be displayed to the user and the image output apparatus 17 outputs the image to the user.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a virtual facility-based process line layout designing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The user can input constraints such as the parameters of the virtual facility or the distance between equipments and the total layout width / length (21). The parameters input from the user are set in an internal parametric formula of the parameter of each unit facility (22). The parameter inputted by the user and the parameter of the unit facility are connected and the parameter of the unit facility can be changed by changing the user parameter. Compute the parametric equations to calculate the geometry, internal component size, and relative position of the unit, the size of the drive and the drive radius (23). The final form of the unit facility can be determined based on the calculation result. Based on the parameter application result of the unit facility, the overall layout is constructed by taking into consideration the distance and interference between the unit facilities and the layout constraint inputted by the user (24)

FIG. 3 is a computer screen shot showing a parametric design method according to an embodiment of the present invention. In an embodiment of the present invention, the parametric design method can be implemented by the unit facility parametric setting apparatus and the unit facility parametric applying apparatus shown in FIG.

The parametric design method first defines the main specifications, ie, parameters, of each unit facility. When the defined parameters are changed, the state change of the unit facility is expressed by the equation based on physics and kinematics. The conditions to be considered at this time include not only the external appearance of the facility, but also internal drive parts, parts, and motors. Figure 3 (a) shows the definition of the parameters of the roller. For example, the width of the roller can be defined as a parameter. (b) shows the implementation of a formula that can represent the roller. You can derive a formula that changes the width of the body and spindles of the virtual facility roller with a parameter called roller width as a factor. (c) shows changing the value of the set parameter. For example, when the width of the rollers is changed, the width of the cylindrical body of the roller and the spindle, which is the driving portion, are affected by the kinematic characteristics.

On the other hand, this type of work is performed on all the virtual facilities. To solve them at once, a huge computation time is required. To reduce this computation time, GPUs are used in parallel, and the equations are converted into matrix form that can be used for GPU. Accordingly, when the parameters are finally modified, the GPU determines the shape and relative position of each of the driving parts and internal parts of the unit facilities through the matrix parallel calculation, and also calculates the driving range.

4 is a computer screen shot showing an example of three-dimensional modeling using a parametric design method according to one embodiment of the technical idea of the present invention. For 3D modeling, 3D model definition, parametric modeling, and lightening of 3D model are performed.

1. 3D model definition

To do parametric modeling, the basic model is grouped around the driving unit. Parametric modeling and data weighting will be carried out in the future, centering on the corresponding driving unit. At this time, the driving unit can be defined around a control I / O connection portion controlled by a programmable logic controller (PLC) like an actual field. Table 1 below shows an example of defining the driving part of the Ladle Turret of the casting line.

Example: Casting Line - Ladle Turret
- Cylinder driven I / O
- Ladle Cover Drive I / O
- Ladle Turret axis rotation I / O

Each driving unit can be grouped and stored in one unit. That is, bolts, nuts, cylinders, and the like included in the drive unit can be stored as a lump to reduce the weight of the model. Thereafter, each drive is connected to each other to define the overall motion of the installation. The letter next to the left gear wheel icon in FIG. 4 (a) represents each driver, and the command at the bottom of 'Mechanism' defines a linking method and a linking method between them.

In this way, we define the equations related to the operation relations of equipments and then proceed with parametric modeling. That is, if the specification of one facility is changed using the corresponding formula, it can be confirmed what kind of interference occurs with the other facility and the operation radius is changed, so that the change of the detailed driving units according to the main parameter change of the facilities can be realized . In order to do this, not only the mechanism formula but also equipment appearance information such as equipment length, height, and width are also implemented by formulas. Therefore, if the specific variables are changed in the equipment formula, the appearance of the equipment is changed.

The main parameters for each plant can be derived by consulting the plant manufacturer and the plant maintainers to determine what parts of the plant are altered during new layout or rationalization. Then, it is possible to implement the change of the driving unit by setting the corresponding parameter as the variable of the mechanism and external formulas of each detailed driving unit of the facility.

5 is a diagram showing an example of weight reduction of a three-dimensional model performed after parametric modeling according to an embodiment of the technical idea of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 5, it is possible to perform weight reduction by the BOM (Bill of Material) reconstruction for the kinematics configuration. For example, as shown in (a), we apply the kinematics by reconstructing the BOM to match the data structure of the data structure. Through this process, the tree structure of 5-10 steps can be structured and lightened with a one-step tree structure, which can shorten data loading and access time. (b) can be configured with a limited standardized model from the PLC control viewpoint by eliminating piping and hydraulic equipment that can not be represented by kinematics, thereby making the equipment lighter.

6 is a view showing another example of weight reduction of a three-dimensional model performed after parametric design according to an embodiment of the technical idea of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 6, the three-dimensional model can be lightened by the structure simplification work according to the parametric application. In order to apply the parametric, it is possible to simplify the system to apply various parametric by maintaining the main outline size and dimensions of the facility, simplifying the unnecessary internal structure, and integrating the part structure.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a result of weight reduction of a three-dimensional model according to an embodiment of the present invention. Parametric application significantly reduced the number of parts, resulting in increased data loading speed and access speed. When the weight reduction of the three-dimensional model of the casting line was applied, the loading time was reduced from 10 minutes to 10 seconds based on the entire casting line. Also, it can be confirmed that the graphical load is reduced by decreasing the number of triangles.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a computer apparatus capable of implementing an apparatus-based process line layout designing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. A computer device 80 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention may include a processor 81, a memory 82, an input device 83, and an output device 84. The memory 82 may include a program for parametric setting of unit facilities, a program for parametric application of unit facilities, and a program for layout adjustment of unit facilities. The processor 81 may perform the parametric modeling by performing a program stored in the memory. The processor 81 may perform three-dimensional (3D) modeling for performing parametric modeling, and may also lighten a three-dimensional (3D) model after parametric modeling. The input device 83 may provide a GUI so that the user can input parameters of the unit facility. The output device 84 can display the layout adjustment result of the unit facility to the user.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. .

Therefore, the embodiments disclosed in the present invention are not intended to limit the technical spirit of the present invention, but are intended to illustrate and not limit the scope of the technical spirit of the present invention. The scope of protection of the present invention should be construed according to the following claims, and all technical ideas which are within the scope of the same should be interpreted as being included in the scope of the present invention.

10 Process Line Layout Design Device
11 User input device
12 User input processing device
13 unit facility parametric setting device
14 Unit facility Parametric application unit
15 unit facility layout adjustment device
16 image processing device
17 Video output device

Claims (12)

A user input device for receiving user parameters from a user;
A unit facility parametric setting unit for expressing a characteristic of the unit facility by using the user parameter;
A unit facility parametric applying unit for calculating the formula to determine a characteristic of the unit facility; And
And a unit facility layout adjustment device for checking the interference between the unit facility and another unit facility based on the characteristics of the unit facility and adjusting the layout of the unit facilities. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the user parameter includes a specification of the unit facility. The method of claim 2,
Wherein the characteristic of the unit facility includes at least one of equipment width information and product production speed information of the unit facility. The method of claim 3,
Wherein the characteristics of the unit facility include kinematics information and outline information of the unit facility. The method of claim 4,
Wherein the kinematics information of the unit facility includes drive unit connection state information and a drive range of the unit facility. The method of claim 4,
Wherein the outline information of the unit facility includes part-by-part specifications and hierarchical structure information of the unit facility. Receiving a user parameter from a user;
Expressing a characteristic of the unit facility by using the user parameter;
Calculating the formula to determine a characteristic of the unit facility; And
And checking the interference between the unit facility and another unit facility based on the characteristics of the unit facility, and adjusting the layout of the unit facilities. The method of claim 7,
Wherein said user parameter comprises a specification of said unit facility. The method of claim 8,
Wherein the specification of the unit facility includes at least one of equipment width information and product production speed information of the unit facility. The method of claim 7,
Wherein the characteristic of the unit facility includes at least one of kinematics information and appearance information of the unit facility. The method of claim 10,
Wherein the kinematics information of the unit facility includes driving unit connection state information and driving range information of the unit facility. The method of claim 10,
Wherein the outline information of the unit facility includes information on a specification and a hierarchical structure of the unit facility.

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