Injection molding machine management system

Abstract

Disclosed is an injection molding machine management system that improves the production efficiency of injection molding. The injection molding machine management system manages an injection molding unit that includes an injection molding machine and peripheral equipment that performs a pre-process or a post-process of a molding process. The injection molding machine management system includes a first display section that displays a first screen. The first screen displays the state of the molding process in the injection molding machine. The first screen includes a first screen area and a second screen area. In the first screen area, a first index related to whether or not the molding process in the injection molding machine is acceptable is displayed. In the second screen area, a second index related to whether or not the pre-process of the molding process or the post-process of the molding process is acceptable is displayed.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This disclosure relates to an injection molding machine management system. Background Technology

[0002] Regarding systems for managing injection molding machines, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technology that groups injection molding machines according to predetermined criteria and displays information such as the overall operating rate, power consumption, resin consumption, yield rate, defect rate, and operating time of each group of injection molding machines belonging to that group.

[0003] Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2018-94888

[0004] However, various types of defects exist in injection molding, such as defects related to the molding material, defects in the measured values ​​of the injection molding machine, defects in the appearance inspection after molding, and defects in the factory inspection. Therefore, if only the overall defect rate of the group is displayed as in Patent Document 1, it is difficult to determine which process, such as the material drying process, molding process, or inspection process, requires handling of the defects, which may result in reduced production efficiency. Summary of the Invention

[0005] According to a first aspect of this disclosure, an injection molding machine management system is provided to manage an injection molding unit, the injection molding unit comprising an injection molding machine and peripheral equipment for performing pre- or post-molding processes. The injection molding machine management system comprises: a first display unit displaying a first screen showing the status of the molding process in the injection molding machine; the first screen having a first screen area and a second screen area; the first screen area displaying a first indicator related to the pass / fail status of the molding process in the injection molding machine; and the second screen area displaying a second indicator related to the pass / fail status of the pre- or post-molding process in the molding process.

[0006] According to a second aspect of this disclosure, an injection molding machine management system is provided to manage an injection molding unit, the injection molding unit comprising an injection molding machine and peripheral equipment for performing pre- or post-molding processes. The injection molding machine management system includes an output unit that outputs a first indicator related to the pass / fail status of a molding process within the injection molding machine and a second indicator related to the pass / fail status of a pre- or post-molding process. Attached Figure Description

[0007] Figure 1 This is an explanatory diagram showing a simplified structure of the injection molding machine management system.

[0008] Figure 2 This is an example of the first screen.

[0009] Figure 3 This is an example of a second scene.

[0010] Figure 4 This is an illustration showing examples of other second-view images.

[0011] Figure 5 This is a diagram showing an overview of the content displayed on the display unit.

[0012] Explanation of reference numerals in the attached figures

[0013] 10…Injection molding machine management system; 100…Injection molding machine; 110…First control unit; 200…Material dryer; 210…Second control unit; 300…Inspection device; 310…Third control unit; 400…Terminal device; 450…Display unit; 451…First display unit; 452…Second display unit; 500…Management device; 501…Processing unit; 502…Storage unit; 510…Physical quantity acquisition unit; 520…Inspection information acquisition unit; 530…Output unit. Detailed Implementation

[0014] A. First implementation method:

[0015] Figure 1 This is an explanatory diagram showing a simplified structure of the injection molding machine management system 10 in the first embodiment. The injection molding machine management system 10 in this embodiment includes an injection molding machine 100, a material dryer 200, an inspection device 300, a terminal device 400, and a management device 500. The injection molding machine 100, the material dryer 200, and the inspection device 300 are disposed, for example, in the same housing or connected housings, and are integrated into an injection molding unit. The management device 500 is communicatively connected to the injection molding machine 100, the material dryer 200, the inspection device 300, and the terminal device 400. In this embodiment, the management device 500 is configured to communicate with these devices via a network NT. The network NT can be, for example, a LAN, a WAN, or the Internet.

[0016] In this embodiment, each injection molding unit is equipped with an injection molding machine 100, a material dryer 200, and an inspection device 300. For example, multiple injection molding units may be configured in a factory. The material dryer 200 and the inspection device 300 are peripheral equipment of the injection molding machine 100, serving as equipment for the preceding or following processes of the molding process performed by the injection molding machine 100. That is, an injection molding unit is a unit equipped with an injection molding machine 100 and peripheral equipment for the preceding or following processes of the molding process.

[0017] The injection molding machine 100 is an apparatus for performing injection molding. The molding process is carried out in the injection molding machine 100. The injection molding machine 100 includes a first control unit 110, an injection device (not shown), and a mold clamping device. A molding die with a cavity is installed in the mold clamping device. The molding die can be made of metal, ceramic, or resin. A metal molding die is called a metal mold. The first control unit 110 is configured as a computer, which includes one or more processors, a storage device, and an input / output interface for inputting and outputting signals to and from the outside. The first control unit 110 can also be configured as multiple computers. The second control unit 210 of the material dryer 200 and the third control unit 310 of the inspection device 300, described later, also have the same structure as the first control unit 110.

[0018] The first control unit 110 controls various parts of the injection molding machine 100 to perform injection molding, thereby forming a molded article. More specifically, the first control unit 110 controls the mold closing device to close the mold, and then controls the injection device to plasticize the material and inject it into the mold, thereby forming a molded article having a shape corresponding to the shape of the mold cavity provided in the mold. The molded article is then transported to the inspection device 300 by a take-out robot (not shown).

[0019] The first control unit 110 sends physical quantity information, representing physical quantities related to injection molding, to the management device 500. This physical quantity information includes measured values ​​from various sensors present in the injection molding machine 100, as well as various command values ​​related to injection molding. Command values ​​include, for example, values ​​set in the injection molding machine 100 such as injection filling time, injection pressure, and set temperature; the measured values ​​are obtained by measuring these actual values ​​through sensors.

[0020] The material dryer 200 is a device for drying the material supplied to the injection molding machine 100. The material dryer 200 performs a material drying process as a pre-molding step. The material dryer 200 includes a second control unit 210, a heater (not shown), and a drying hopper. The material dryer 200 removes moisture from the air using a desiccant, then heats the dried air using the heater and sends it into the drying hopper, thereby drying the material stored in the hopper. The dried material is then pumped into the injection molding machine 100 by a pump (not shown). The second control unit 210 controls the drying temperature of the heater and the airflow rate of the dried air fed into the heating hopper.

[0021] The inspection device 300 is an image inspection apparatus. In the inspection device 300, an image inspection process is performed as a post-molding process. The inspection device 300 consists of a third control unit 310, a camera, and a weight sensor. The third control unit 310 controls the camera to take pictures of the molded product and performs image analysis on the pictures to perform an appearance inspection of the molded product. Additionally, the third control unit 310 measures the weight of the molded product using the weight sensor. The third control unit 310 sends inspection information, indicating information related to the inspection results and weight of the molded product, to the management device 500. The inspection device 300 can inspect the molded product immediately after the molding process performed by the injection molding machine 100, or it can perform inspection before the molded product leaves the factory. The pre-shipment inspection can be a sampling inspection, rather than a full inspection. It should be noted that the weight of the molded product can also be measured by a device different from the inspection device 300 and sent to the management device 500.

[0022] The terminal device 400 is configured as a computer including a CPU, a storage device, and a display unit 450. For example, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, or a smartphone can be used as the terminal device 400. In this embodiment, the display unit 450 has a touch panel function. The display unit 450 displays various screens output from the management device 500. It should be noted that in other embodiments, the display unit 450 may also be provided in the management device 500. The display unit 450 in this embodiment is at least equivalent to a "first display unit" and / or a "second display unit".

[0023] The management unit 500 comprises a computer having a processing unit 501 and a storage unit 502. The processing unit 501 includes a CPU and main storage. The storage unit 502 includes auxiliary storage devices such as hard disk drives.

[0024] The processing unit 501 includes a physical quantity acquisition unit 510, an inspection information acquisition unit 520, and an output unit 530. The physical quantity acquisition unit 510, the inspection information acquisition unit 520, and the output unit 530 are implemented by the processing unit 501 executing a program stored in the storage unit 502. It should be noted that these can also be implemented using circuitry.

[0025] The physical quantity acquisition unit 510 acquires physical quantity information from the injection molding machine 100. The physical quantity acquisition unit 510 stores the acquired physical quantity information in the storage unit 502.

[0026] The inspection information acquisition unit 520 acquires inspection information from the inspection device 300. The inspection information acquisition unit 520 stores the acquired inspection information in the storage unit 502.

[0027] The processing unit 501 uses the information stored in the storage unit 502 by the physical quantity acquisition unit 510 and the inspection information acquisition unit 520 to perform various calculations and statistical processing, and stores these results in the storage unit 502. In this embodiment, the processing unit 501 calculates the defect rate, inspection defect rate, and material pass rate within the molding process. These values ​​are called factory management indicators (KPIs). The processing unit 501 calculates the factory management indicators for each unit.

[0028] The defect rate within the molding process refers to the proportion of defects in the molding process performed by the injection molding machine 100. For example, the processing unit 501 compares the command value and the measured value contained in the physical quantity information acquired by the physical quantity acquisition unit 510 for each injection. If the difference between the measured value and the command value is above a predetermined threshold, the molding in that injection is determined to be defective. The processing unit 501 calculates the defect rate within the molding process by determining the proportion of defects relative to the number of injections.

[0029] The inspection failure rate refers to the proportion of defects in the image inspection process performed by the inspection device 300. For example, the processing unit 501 extracts the pass / fail judgment result from the inspection information obtained by the inspection information acquisition unit 520, and calculates the inspection failure rate by calculating the proportion of defects relative to the number of inspections.

[0030] The material yield rate represents the proportion of qualified products in the material drying process performed by the material dryer 200. The processing unit 501 extracts the weights of qualified and unqualified products from the inspection information obtained by the inspection information acquisition unit 520, and calculates the material yield rate by finding the ratio of the weight of qualified products to the total weight of unqualified products. In other words, the material yield rate refers to the ratio of the weight of qualified products to the weight of the material fed into the material dryer 200. The material yield rate is also called the material finished product rate. The quality of the molded product is greatly affected by the drying state of the material. Therefore, in this embodiment, the material yield rate is used as an indicator of the quality of the material drying process.

[0031] When calculating the material yield rate, the processing unit 501 can also add the weight of material discarded from the start of the molding process until molding stabilizes, as well as the weight of scrapped molded products, to the total weight of qualified and unqualified products. Additionally, for example, the weight of spilled material, wetted material, excessively dried material, and other lost material can also be added. This improves the accuracy of the material yield rate calculation.

[0032] The output unit 530 outputs a first indicator related to the pass / fail status within the molding process and a second indicator related to the pass / fail status in the preceding or following processes of the molding process to the display unit 450 of the terminal device 400. In this embodiment, the first indicator is the defect rate within the molding process, and the second indicator is the inspection defect rate and the material pass rate. The output unit 530 outputs the first screen and / or the second screen, described below, to the display unit 450 in a switchable manner. It should be noted that the output unit 530 only needs to be able to output at least the first screen, and may not need to output the second screen.

[0033] Figure 2 This diagram illustrates an example of the first screen SC1 displayed on the display unit 450. The first screen SC1 is primarily used to display the status of the molding process. The first screen SC1 has a first screen area AR1 and a second screen area AR2. The output unit 530 displays the defect rate within the molding process as a first indicator in the first screen area AR1. Additionally, the output unit 530 displays the inspection defect rate and material pass rate as second indicators in the second screen area AR2. The output unit 530 may also display instruction values ​​and measurement values ​​obtained from the injection molding machine 100 as information related to the molding process in other areas of the first screen SC1.

[0034] Figure 3 This diagram illustrates an example of the second screen SC2 displayed on the display unit 450. The second screen SC2 is primarily used to display the status of the material drying process. The second screen SC2 has a third screen area AR3 and a fourth screen area AR4. The output unit 530 displays the material yield rate as a second indicator in the fourth screen area AR4. Additionally, the output unit 530 displays the defect rate during the molding process as a first indicator in the third screen area AR3, and also displays the inspection failure rate as a second indicator in the third screen area AR3. The output unit 530 may also display information such as drying temperature and airflow as information related to the material drying process in other areas of the second screen SC2.

[0035] Figure 4 This diagram shows an example of another second screen SC2b displayed on the display unit 450. Figure 4The second screen SC2b shown is primarily used to display the status of the image inspection process. The second screen SC2b has a third screen area AR3b and a fourth screen area AR4b. The output unit 530 displays the inspection rejection rate as a second indicator in the fourth screen area AR4b. Additionally, the output unit 530 displays the rejection rate within the molding process as a first indicator in the third screen area AR3b, and also displays the material pass rate as a second indicator in the third screen area AR3b. The output unit 530 may also display the quantity of pass and reject products as information related to the image inspection process in other areas of the second screen SC2b.

[0036] Figure 5 This is a diagram showing an overview of the display content of the display unit 450. Figure 5 The diagram illustrates the correspondence between the indicators displayed in the first screen SC1 and the second screen SC2, and their displayed values. Additionally, Figure 5 The diagram illustrates the tasks an operator can perform based on the values ​​of the indicators on each screen. For example, if the operator confirms a decrease in the material yield in the first screen SC1, the operator can restore the material yield by changing drying conditions such as airflow and drying temperature in the material dryer 200. It should be noted that... Figure 5 The example shown demonstrates how various tasks can be performed based on the values ​​of different indicators.

[0037] According to the injection molding machine management system 10 of the first embodiment described above, in the first screen area AR1 of the first screen SC1 displaying the status of the molding process, a first indicator related to the pass / fail status within the molding process of the injection molding machine 100 is displayed, and in the second screen area AR2, a second indicator related to the pass / fail status in the preceding or following process of the molding process is displayed. Therefore, by simply checking the first screen SC1, the operator can not only confirm the pass / fail status within the molding process, but also confirm the pass / fail status in the material drying process (as a preceding process) or the image inspection process (as a following process). Thus, it is easy to determine in which process a non-conformity needs to be addressed. As a result, production efficiency can be improved.

[0038] Furthermore, in this embodiment, in the first screen area AR1 of the second screen SC2 displaying the status of the preceding or following process of the molding process, a first indicator related to the pass / fail status within the molding process is displayed. In the second screen area AR2, a second indicator related to the pass / fail status of the preceding or following process of the molding process is displayed. Therefore, by simply checking the second screen SC2, the operator can confirm not only the pass / fail status of the preceding or following process of the molding process, but also the pass / fail status of the molding process itself. This makes it easy to determine in which process a defect needs to be addressed, thereby improving production efficiency.

[0039] B. Other implementation methods:

[0040] (B1) In the above embodiment, the processing unit 501 calculates the defect rate, inspection defect rate, and material pass rate in the molding process as the first indicator and the second indicator. In contrast, the processing unit 501 may also calculate the pass rate, inspection pass rate, and material defect rate in the molding process. Alternatively, it may calculate the number of pass products and the number of defective products, but not the pass rate and the defect rate.

[0041] (B2) In the above embodiment, the preceding process of the molding process is a material drying process, and the following process is an inspection process. However, the preceding and following processes of the molding process are not limited to these processes. For example, the preceding process of the molding process may also be a material conveying process or a sorting process. In addition, the following process of the molding process may also be a cleaning process or a packaging process of the molded product.

[0042] (B3) In the above embodiment, the first screen area AR1 and the second screen area AR2 are simultaneously displayed within the first screen SC1. Conversely, the first screen area AR1 and the second screen area AR2 can also be switched between display within the first screen SC1 at predetermined time intervals. Furthermore, the first screen area AR1 and the second screen area AR2 can also be displayed in different windows within the first screen SC1. Alternatively, the first screen area AR1 and the second screen area AR2 can be displayed on multiple display devices, with these multiple display devices constituting a single first screen SC1. These variations can also be applied to the second screen SC2 displaying the third screen area AR3 and the fourth screen area AR4.

[0043] (B4) In the above embodiment, the subsequent process is an image inspection process, but it may also include an assembly process, a packaging process, etc. The defect rate in the assembly process is calculated based on, for example, the number of defects caused by the breakage of the mounting claw of the molded product during the assembly process of installing the lid, which is a molded product, onto the container. Furthermore, the defect rate in the packaging process is calculated based on, for example, the number of molded products that fall due to robot errors in picking them up.

[0044] (B5) In the above embodiment, the preceding process is a material drying process, but it may also include an insert component production process in tape forming or insert forming, a first molded product production process in multi-color forming, etc. The defect rate of the insert component production process in tape forming or insert forming can be calculated based on the effective value of the stamping machine or machine tool used to produce the insert component, or based on the results of an inspection performed before inserting the insert component into the forming machine. The defect rate of the first molded product production process in multi-color forming can be calculated based on the effective value of the forming machine when forming the first molded product, or based on the results of an inspection performed before inserting the first molded product into the metal mold of the second molded product and closing the mold.

[0045] C. Other methods

[0046] This disclosure is not limited to the embodiments described above, and can be implemented in various structures without departing from its spirit. For example, the technical features of the embodiments corresponding to the technical features in the various methods described below can be appropriately replaced or combined to solve some or all of the above-described technical problems, or to achieve some or all of the above-described effects. In addition, any technical features that are not described as essential technical features in this specification can be appropriately deleted.

[0047] (1) According to a first aspect of this disclosure, an injection molding machine management system is provided to manage an injection molding unit, the injection molding unit comprising an injection molding machine and peripheral equipment for performing a pre-process or post-process of the molding process. The injection molding machine management system comprises: a first display unit displaying a first screen, the first screen displaying the status of the molding process in the injection molding machine, the first screen having a first screen area and a second screen area, the first screen area displaying a first indicator related to the pass / fail status of the molding process in the injection molding machine, and the second screen area displaying a second indicator related to the pass / fail status of the pre-process or post-process of the molding process.

[0048] By using this method, and by checking the first indicator displayed in the first screen area of ​​the first screen and the second indicator displayed in the second screen area, it is possible to confirm not only the pass / fail status of the molding process, but also the pass / fail status of its preceding or subsequent processes. Therefore, it is easy to determine in which process a defect needs to be addressed. As a result, production efficiency can be improved.

[0049] (2) Alternatively, the above method may further include: a second display unit displaying a second screen, the second screen displaying the status of the preceding process or the following process of the molding process in the injection molding machine, the second screen having a third screen area and a fourth screen area, the first indicator being displayed in the third screen area and the second indicator being displayed in the fourth screen area. According to this method, since the first and second indicators are displayed not only on the first display unit but also on the second display unit, it is possible to confirm the pass / fail status of the molding process, its preceding process, or its following process from different locations.

[0050] (3) Alternatively, in the above method, the second indicator is an indicator related to the pass / fail status of the material drying process, which is a preceding process to the molding process. If this is the case, it is possible to confirm not only the pass / fail status of the molding process but also the pass / fail status of the material drying process.

[0051] (4) Alternatively, in the above method, the second indicator is an indicator related to the pass / fail status of the image inspection process, which is a subsequent process after the molding process. If this is the case, it is possible to confirm not only the pass / fail status of the molding process but also the pass / fail status of the image inspection process.

[0052] (5) According to a second aspect of this disclosure, an injection molding machine management system is provided to manage an injection molding unit, the injection molding unit comprising an injection molding machine and peripheral equipment for performing a pre-process or post-process of the molding process. The injection molding machine management system comprises: an output unit that outputs a first indicator related to the pass / fail status of the molding process of the injection molding machine and a second indicator related to the pass / fail status of the pre-process or post-process of the molding process.

Claims

1. An injection molding machine management system, characterized by, A management injection molding unit that manages an injection molding machine and peripheral devices that implement a pre-process and a post-process of a molding process, the peripheral devices including a drying device that implements a drying process as the pre-process of the molding process and an inspection device that implements an inspection process as the post-process of the molding process, the injection molding machine management system including: a first display section that displays a first screen that displays a state of a molding process in an injection molding machine, the first screen has a first screen area and a second screen area, in the first screen area, a first index related to pass / fail in the molding process of the injection molding machine is displayed, in the second screen area, a second index related to pass / fail in the drying process or the inspection process is displayed, the inspection device includes a camera that photographs a molded product molded in the molding process and a weight sensor that measures a weight of the molded product molded in the molding process, the injection molding machine management system includes a processing section and a storage section, the processing section including a physical quantity acquisition section and an inspection information acquisition section, the physical quantity acquisition section acquires physical quantity information indicating physical quantities related to injection molding from the injection molding machine and stores the physical quantity information in the storage section, the physical quantity information including measured values measured by various sensors included in the injection molding machine and various command values related to the injection molding, the inspection information acquisition section acquires inspection information indicating information related to inspection results and a weight of the molded product from the inspection device and stores the inspection information in the storage section, the processing section compares the command values and the measured values included in the physical quantity information acquired by the physical quantity acquisition section for each shot, and determines that molding in the shot is not passed when a difference between the measured value and the command value is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value, pass / fail in the drying process is determined based on the weight of the molded product measured by the weight sensor, pass / fail in the inspection process is determined based on a photographing result of the molded product photographed by the camera, the processing section extracts a determination result of pass / fail from the inspection information acquired by the inspection information acquisition section, and calculates an inspection failure rate by calculating a proportion of failures with respect to the number of inspections, the processing section extracts a weight of a passed product and a weight of a failed product from the inspection information acquired by the inspection information acquisition section, and calculates a material passed product rate in the drying process by calculating a proportion of the weight of the passed product with respect to a total of the weight of the passed product and the weight of the failed product, in calculating the material passed product rate, the processing section adds a weight of material discarded from when the molding process starts until molding is stabilized or a weight of a molded product that is discarded to a total weight of the weight of the passed product and the weight of the failed product.

2. The management system for an injection molding machine according to claim 1, wherein includes: a second display section that displays a second screen that displays a state of a pre-process of the molding process or a post-process of the molding process in the injection molding machine, The second screen has a third screen area and a fourth screen area, In the third screen area, the first index is displayed, and in the fourth screen area, the second index is displayed.

3. The management system for an injection molding machine according to claim 1, wherein Further provided are: an output unit that outputs a first index related to whether or not a molding process of an injection molding machine is acceptable and a second index related to whether or not a preceding process of the molding process or a subsequent process of the molding process is acceptable.

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