Scrap management system

Abstract

To provide a scrap management system capable of controlling the quality of scrap at a high level.SOLUTION: A scrap management system comprises: a storage unit for storing composition information related to the composition of material to be pressed and reference identification information related to a scrap generated by pressing the material in association with each other in advance; a recognition unit for recognizing identification information related to the scrap generated by pressing; and an identification processing unit for identifying the composition of the scrap generated by pressing based on the composition information associated with the reference identification information by comparing the identification information recognized by the recognition unit with the reference identification information.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE An embodiment of the present invention relates to a scrap management system. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, there has been known a conveyor discharge chute which comprises a chute platform which receives the transported objects discharged from the conveyor, a support pillar which supports the chute platform so that it can swing freely to the right or left, and a switching mechanism which switches the inclination direction of the chute platform to the right or left, in which the support pillar is rotated by a swivel mechanism.

[0003] In the conveyor discharge chute, the support pillar can be rotated using a swivel mechanism to change the position at which the transported objects fall into the receiving box, so that the transported objects are spread evenly inside the receiving box and stored in a flat state. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] JP 2001-130725 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] In the conventional configuration, it is possible to efficiently collect and discharge scrap generated during, for example, press working, which is transported by a conveyor, but metals of various compositions contained in the scrap may be discharged in a mixed state. Therefore, in the conventional configuration, there is room for consideration in terms of highly controlling the quality of the wide variety of scrap metals discharged during press working.

[0006] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a scrap management system capable of controlling the quality of scrap at a high level. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The scrap management system of the embodiment includes a memory unit that pre-stores composition information regarding the composition of the material to be pressed and standard identification information regarding the scrap generated by pressing the material in correspondence with each other, a recognition unit that recognizes the identification information regarding the scrap generated by the press processing, and an identification processing unit that identifies the composition of the scrap generated by the press processing based on the composition information associated with the standard identification information by comparing the identification information recognized by the recognition unit with the standard identification information. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a scrap management system according to an embodiment. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of an electrical configuration of a scrap management system according to an embodiment. [Diagram 3] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of composition information and reference identification information stored in a storage unit for a scrap management system according to an embodiment. [Figure 4] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of distribution information for a scrap management system according to an embodiment. [Diagram 5] A flowchart showing an example of a control flow of a scrap management system according to an embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] An embodiment will be described below with reference to the drawings. The scrap management system 1 shown in FIG. 1 is a system for managing the quality of scrap metals such as iron, aluminum, and copper. The scrap management system 1 can be applied to a circular economy related to the recycling of scrap metals. In the following description, the scrap management system 1 may be simply referred to as the system 1. Scrap has various shapes and compositions depending on the parts manufactured by press processing, and includes high-quality scrap such as new scrap generated by press processing of steel plates, and low-quality scrap such as waste generated by the renewal or disposal of steel structures. In this embodiment, a case will be described in which the scrap to be managed is so-called iron scrap containing iron components.

[0010] The system 1 includes a conveyor 2, a discharge box 3, a recognition unit 10, a robot 20, and a control device 30. In this embodiment, the conveyor 2, the discharge box 3, the recognition unit 10, the robot 20, and the control device 30 are provided, for example, in a metal scrap intermediate processing company 91. In the metal scrap intermediate processing company 91, intermediate processing such as sorting is performed on a scrap group S0 discharged from, for example, a press processing manufacturer 92. The conveyor 2 is for transporting, for example, each of the scraps S included in the scrap group S0 to a predetermined location where the discharge box 3 is provided.

[0011] The discharge box 3 stores the scrap S transported by the conveyor 2. A plurality of discharge boxes 3 are provided. The scrap S stored in the discharge boxes 3 is supplied to a material supply manufacturer 93, such as a steel manufacturer, and recycled as a recycled product. The recycled product is supplied to a press processing manufacturer 92 and subjected to press processing. The conveyor 2, the discharge box 3, the recognition unit 10, the robot 20, and the control device 30 may be configured to be provided within the premises or facilities of the press processing manufacturer 92 or the material supply manufacturer 93.

[0012] The recognition unit 10 recognizes identification information related to each scrap S transported by the conveyor 2. The identification information includes information related to the shape of the scrap S generated by press processing. The recognition unit 10 can be configured, for example, by a camera or a ToF sensor. In this embodiment, the recognition unit 10 is configured, for example, by a camera capable of capturing visible images such as digital images. In this case, the recognition unit 10 recognizes the shape of the scrap S by capturing the visible images. The recognition unit 10 outputs the identification information related to the recognized scrap S to the control device 30. The recognition unit 10 may be one or more.

[0013] The identification information may include information on the weight of the scrap S in addition to information on the shape of the scrap S. In this case, the recognition unit 10 may be configured to include, in addition to the camera, a weight scale (not shown) for acquiring the weight of each scrap S moving on the conveyor 2, for example.

[0014] The robot 20 is, for example, a vertical articulated robot having a multi-joint arm. The robot 20 is not limited to a vertical articulated robot, and may be other robots such as a horizontal articulated robot or a parallel link robot. The robot 20 may be fixed to a fixed base (not shown), or may be mounted on an unmanned transport vehicle capable of autonomous travel, a so-called AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle). The robot 20 has a holding unit (not shown), and the holding unit holds the scrap S whose identification information has been recognized by the recognition unit 10, and inserts the scrap S into the discharge box 3.

[0015] The control device 30 is configured with a computer such as a personal computer or a server. As shown in Fig. 2, the control device 30 has a control unit 31 and a storage unit 32. The control unit 31 is mainly configured with a microcomputer having a storage area such as a CPU, ROM, RAM, and a rewritable flash memory (not shown). The control device 30 controls the system 1 by executing a program stored in the storage area. The recognition unit 10, the robot 20, and the storage unit 32 are each electrically connected to the control unit 31.

[0016] The storage unit 32 can be configured with a well-known storage medium such as a ROM, a HDD, a semiconductor memory, and a magnetic disk. As shown in Fig. 3, the storage unit 32 stores composition information 321 related to the composition of the material to be pressed and reference identification information 322 related to the scrap S generated by pressing the material in advance in association with each other. The composition information 321 and the reference identification information 322 are generated based on information provided by the press processing manufacturer 92, for example. The composition information 321 and the reference identification information 322 may be generated by, for example, performing composition analysis and shape analysis on a sample of the scrap S.

[0017] The composition information 321 can be generated based on, for example, information on the manganese content in the material to be pressed, information on the chromium content in the material, etc. The reference identification information 322 can be generated based on information on the shape of the scrap S generated by pressing, information on the surface treatment of the scrap S, etc. The information on the surface treatment of the scrap S may include, for example, information on the type of surface treatment, such as zinc plating or electroplating, in addition to information on the presence or absence of surface treatment. The information on the surface treatment of the scrap S may be configured to be included in the composition information 321. The reference identification information 322 may also include other information, such as the degree of oxidation of the material to be pressed.

[0018] In the example shown in Fig. 3, in registration No. 1, composition information 321 indicated by "X1" is stored in association with reference identification information 322 including information "P001" on the shape of the scrap S and information "present" on the surface treatment of the scrap S. In addition, in registration No. 2, composition information 321 indicated by "X2" is stored in association with reference identification information 322 including information "P002" on the shape of the scrap S and information "present" on the surface treatment of the scrap S.

[0019] The storage unit 32 also stores distribution information 323 related to the distribution of the scrap S generated by the press processing. As shown in Fig. 4, the distribution information 323 includes, for example, scrap discharge information 323a and scrap supply information 323b. The scrap discharge information 323a is information related to the discharge of the scrap S from the press processing manufacturer 92, and can include, for example, the company name of the press processing manufacturer 92 that discharged the scrap S and the discharge amount of the scrap S accepted by the metal scrap intermediate processing company 91.

[0020] The scrap supply information 323b is information regarding the supply of scrap S to the material supply manufacturer 93, and may include, for example, the company name of the material supply manufacturer 93 to which the scrap S was supplied from the metal scrap intermediate processing company 91 and the supply amount of scrap S supplied to the material supply manufacturer 93. In the example shown in Fig. 4, scrap discharge information 323a is shown, which includes the company name "AAA" of the press processing manufacturer 92 that discharged the scrap S and the discharge amount of scrap S "XXX", and the company name "X Company" of the material supply manufacturer 93 to which the scrap S was supplied and the supply amount of scrap S "YYY" are shown.

[0021] 2, the control unit 31 is provided with various functional units such as an acquisition processing unit 41, a specific processing unit 42, a sorting processing unit 43, and a storage processing unit 44. In this embodiment, each functional unit is realized by software by executing a program in the control unit 31, but it can also be realized by hardware. The acquisition processing unit 41 includes a process of capturing an image of the appearance of the scrap S transported by the conveyor 2 using the recognition unit 10 and acquiring identification information of the scrap S, i.e., the shape of the scrap S, by performing image processing on the visible image of the scrap S.

[0022] The identification processing unit 42 includes a process of identifying the composition of the scrap S generated by press processing based on the composition information 321 associated with the reference identification information 322 by comparing the identification information recognized by the recognition unit 10 with the reference identification information 322 stored in the memory unit 32.

[0023] Specifically, for example, when the shape of the scrap S acquired by image processing of the visible image of the scrap S captured by the recognition unit 10 is "P001", the identification processing unit 42 identifies the composition of the scrap S based on the composition information 321 "X1" corresponding to the information "P001" on the shape of the scrap S shown in FIG. 3 by comparing it with the reference identification information 322. In other words, the identification processing unit 42 identifies the composition of the scrap S actually discharged by comparing the shape of the scrap S actually discharged recognized by the recognition unit 10 with the design shape of the scrap S stored in advance in the storage unit 32.

[0024] The sorting processing section 43 includes a process of sorting the scrap S into distribution units using the robot 20 based on the composition of the scrap S identified by the identification processing section 42. In this case, the sorting processing section 43 sorts the scrap S into the discharge boxes 3 for each distribution unit of the scrap S. The distribution unit means the unit in which the sorted scrap S is distributed. The distribution unit may be set, for example, according to the material supply manufacturer 93 to which the sorted scrap S is supplied, or may be set according to the composition of each scrap S.

[0025] The memory processing unit 44 includes a process of correlating the composition of the scrap S identified by the identification processing unit 42 with distribution information 323 regarding the distribution of the scrap S for each scrap S or distribution unit and storing them in the memory unit 32.

[0026] Next, an example of the control contents of the scrap management system 1 will be described with reference to Fig. 5. In the following description, it is assumed that all the processes performed in the processing units 41-44 are mainly performed by the control unit 31. As shown in Fig. 5, when the process is started (START), the process is performed in the order of an acquisition process (steps S11-S12), a specification process (step S13), a sorting process (step S14), and a storage process (step S15).

[0027] First, in step S11, the control unit 31 drives the recognition unit 10 to capture a visible image of the scrap S transported by the conveyor 2. Next, in step S12, the control unit 31 performs image processing on the visible image of the scrap S captured by the recognition unit 10 to obtain the shape of the scrap S.

[0028] In step S13, the control unit 31 compares the shape of the scrap S obtained by image processing with the reference identification information 322 stored in the memory unit 32, and identifies the composition of the scrap S generated by press processing based on the composition information 321 associated with the reference identification information 322.

[0029] Next, in step S14, the control unit 31 uses the robot 20 to separate the scrap S into distribution units based on the identified composition of the scrap S. Thereafter, in step S15, the control unit 31 associates the identified composition of the scrap S with distribution information 323 related to the distribution of the scrap S for each scrap S and stores them in the storage unit 32, and ends a series of control operations (END).

[0030] According to the embodiment described above, the scrap management system 1 includes a storage unit 32, a recognition unit 10, and an identification processing unit 42. The storage unit 32 stores composition information 321 related to the composition of the material to be pressed and reference identification information 322 related to the scrap S generated by pressing the material in advance in association with each other. The recognition unit 10 recognizes the identification information of the scrap S generated by the press processing. The identification processing unit 42 collates the identification information recognized by the recognition unit 10 with the reference identification information 322, thereby identifying the composition of the scrap S generated by the press processing based on the composition information 321 associated with the reference identification information 322.

[0031] According to this, the composition of each scrap S in the scrap group S0, which is a mixture of metals with a wide variety of compositions, can be easily identified by the reference identification information 322 and the identification information related to the scrap S. This makes it easy to manage high-quality scrap and low-quality scrap contained in, for example, iron scrap. Therefore, the quality of the scrap S can be managed to a high degree.

[0032] The reference identification information 322 and the identification information include information regarding the shape of the scrap. The recognition unit 10 recognizes the shape of the scrap S by capturing an image. This allows the quality of the scrap S to be highly managed without requiring significant improvements to the device or increases in cost, by installing, for example, a camera capable of capturing an image of the scrap S in an existing press processing device.

[0033] The scrap management system 1 further includes a sorting processing unit 43. The sorting processing unit 43 sorts the scrap S generated by press working into distribution units based on the composition of the scrap S identified by the identification processing unit 42. By sorting the wide variety of scrap S generated by press working into distribution units, the scrap S can be smoothly distributed to material supply manufacturers 93 such as steel manufacturers. This contributes to the optimal circulation of the scrap S.

[0034] The scrap management system 1 further includes a memory processing unit 44. The memory processing unit 44 stores the composition of the scrap S identified by the identification processing unit 42 in association with distribution information regarding the distribution of the scrap S generated by press processing. This makes it possible to realize traceability regarding the recycling of the scrap S by using the information stored in the memory processing unit 44.

[0035] Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, this embodiment is presented as an example and is not limited to the embodiments described above and shown in the drawings, and can be modified as appropriate within the scope that does not deviate from the gist of the invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0036] 1...scrap management system, 10...recognition unit, 32...storage unit, 321...composition information, 322...reference identification information, 42...specific processing unit, S...scrap

Claims

1. A storage unit that stores composition information related to a composition of a material to be press-processed and reference identification information related to scrap generated by press-processing the material in association with each other in advance; a recognition unit that recognizes identification information regarding the scrap generated by the press working; and an identification processing unit that identifies a composition of the scrap generated by the press working based on the composition information associated with the reference identification information by comparing the identification information recognized by the recognition unit with the reference identification information. Scrap management system.

2. The reference identification information and the identification information include information regarding the shape of the scrap, The recognition unit recognizes the shape of the scrap by imaging. The scrap management system according to claim 1 .

3. A separation processing unit is further provided for separating the scrap generated by the press working into distribution units based on the composition of the scrap identified by the identification processing unit, The scrap management system according to claim 1 .

4. A storage processing unit that stores the composition of the scrap identified by the identification processing unit and distribution information regarding the distribution of the scrap generated by the press processing in association with each other, The scrap management system according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

Images