Material search and compounding design device and compounding design method

Abstract

To efficiently search for an alternative material and an additive to be added to the alternative material.SOLUTION: The present invention is provided with a compounding design program 112 for selecting an additive to be added to an alternative material, which is a material of alternative candidate for a reference material that is the current material used for a product or use of which for the product is assumed, and outputting a combination of the alternative material selected by a compounding design unit and the additive. A processor 11 executing the compounding design program calculates an addition rate range that represents a range of addition rates corresponding to property change characteristics of the additive, based on a range of physical property change rates due to the additive satisfying an additive condition. When the calculated addition rate range includes a range that overlaps with regard to multiple physical properties, the processor selects the overlapping range as an addition rate of the additive, and outputs an addition rate corresponding to the overlapping range of the addition rate range in addition to the combination of the alternative material and the additive.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a technology of a material search and compounding design apparatus and a compounding design method.

Background Art

[0002] In recent years, while the demand for plastics has been on the increase, it is expected that the production volume of new plastics derived from petroleum, which is a depleting resource, will decrease in the future. Along with this, the proportion of recycled plastics is expected to increase significantly.

[0003] Also, recently, the release of products applying recycled materials to exterior parts and the like has been increasing. As a result, the utilization of recycled materials is becoming a new axis of competition.

[0004] Note that Patent Document 1 describes "a processor that acquires input design parameters, reads out SS data representing at least two stress-strain curves from a storage device, determines a feature quantity including at least one shape parameter characterizing the shape of the SS curve for each SS data, assigns at least two SS data to one of k (k is an integer of 2 or more) similar groups based on the feature quantity, and in each of the k similar groups, searches for a target material having material property parameters that satisfy the design range specified by the input design parameters from among at least two SS data assigned to each similar group, and among the k similar groups, searches for a material corresponding to the SS data assigned to the similar group selected by the user among the l (l is an integer less than or equal to k) similar groups in which the target SS data could be searched" a similar material search system, a test apparatus, and a computer program (see the abstract).

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0005]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0006] Regarding the rapidly increasing demand for recycled materials, at present, it can be said that the methods and data for selecting candidate materials are insufficient. Furthermore, there is not necessarily a material having the desired characteristics, and manufacturers and the like need to repeat trial production for searching and adopting appropriate candidate materials. For this reason, it has been a problem that it takes a great deal of time and cost.

[0007] With the activation of the utilization of recycled materials, it is expected that the proportion of applying recycled materials to the exterior parts of products will increase in the future. On the other hand, when using recycled materials for exterior parts, the required specifications for dimensions and molding quality accuracy are higher than when using them for interior parts. Therefore, if an appropriate recycled material corresponding to the required specifications cannot be selected, it may not be possible to cope with it by adjustment at the injection molding stage.

[0008] In addition, the similar material search system described in Patent Document 1 determines an optimal material based on a feature amount including at least one shape parameter that characterizes the shape of the SS curve. The technique described in Patent Document 1 is effective when there is a material having characteristics that sufficiently satisfy the specifications among the registered materials. However, regarding the case where there is no material having characteristics that sufficiently satisfy the specifications among the registered materials, proposing an appropriate candidate material is not considered. Therefore, it is difficult to comprehensively solve the supply of recycled materials with high required specifications shown in the above problems by the technique described in Patent Document 1.

[0009] In view of such a background, the present invention has been made, and an object of the present invention is to efficiently search for alternative materials and additives to be added to the alternative materials.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0010] In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention includes a formulation design unit that selects an additive to be added to a substitute material that is a candidate material for substitution of a reference material that is the current material used in a product or a material assumed to be used, and an output processing unit that outputs a combination of the substitute material selected by the formulation design unit and the additive. The formulation design unit calculates an additive rate range that is a range of additive rates corresponding to the physical property change characteristics of the additive based on a range of physical property change rates caused by the additive that satisfies the additive conditions, and when there is a range where the calculated additive rate ranges overlap for a plurality of physical properties, the overlapping range is selected as the additive rate of the additive. The output processing unit outputs the additive rate corresponding to the range where the additive rate ranges overlap in addition to the combination of the substitute material and the additive. Other solutions will be described as appropriate in the embodiments.

Advantages of the Invention

[0011] According to the present invention, it is possible to efficiently search for a substitute material and an additive to be added to the substitute material.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0012]

Figure 1

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Figure 6B

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Figure 12

MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0013] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0014] Here, the terms used in this embodiment will be described. The material is a resin or the like. The reference material is the current material used in the product or the material assumed to be used. The recycled material is different from the reference material and has the same properties as the reference material. The alternative material is a candidate material for replacing the reference material and is a material such as a resin. The additive is something that is added to the alternative material to produce the recycled material. That is, the recycled material is produced by adding the additive to the alternative material. In other words, in this embodiment, the recycled material is the alternative material with the additive added.

[0015] [First Embodiment] <Overall Configuration of Material Search and Formulation Design System Z> FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of the material search and compounding design system Z. As shown in FIG. 1, the material search and compounding design apparatus 1 stores, for example, material information 120a (see FIG. 3) provided from material manufacturers or recyclers as a database (material DB 120 (see FIG. 2)). Further, the material search and compounding design apparatus 1 receives, for example, a search request for materials for generating recycled materials from an external apparatus 2 such as a computer of a manufacturing manufacturer. The material search and compounding design apparatus 1 calculates a recommended order of alternative materials based on the similarity to a reference material by using predetermined information (for example, physical property value information 126 (see FIG. 3)).

[0016] Further, the material search and compounding design apparatus 1 sequentially sets alternative materials based on the recommended order obtained by the material search. Then, the material search and compounding design apparatus 1 determines the type and addition rate of an appropriate additive that satisfies the additive conditions based on a regression model derived by machine learning or the like. The addition rate represents the ratio of the additive to the total weight when the resin material (material) and the additive are mixed. The additive conditions are conditions used when selecting an additive. The additive conditions will be described later. Further, the material search and compounding design apparatus 1 outputs the results such as alternative materials, the type of additive, and the addition rate to the external apparatus 2 or the user interface 18.

[0017] In this way, the material search and compounding design apparatus 1 searches for alternative materials that are candidate materials for replacing the reference material and additives to be added to the alternative materials.

[0018] The material is, for example, polypropylene or an ABS resin. The additive is, for example, an elastomer type.

[0019] Such a material search and compounding design system Z includes a material search and compounding design apparatus 1 and an external apparatus 2, and is a system that provides a combination of an alternative material having desired characteristics, the type of additive, and the addition rate. Although the material search and compounding design system Z can search for various types of materials, in the present embodiment, materials used for injection molding (for example, recycled materials such as resin materials and plastic materials, bioplastics) will be described as an example.

[0020] The material search and compounding design system Z is used when selecting suitable alternative materials, types of additives, addition rates, etc. that can be used in the manufacture of target products. For example, the material search and compounding design system Z is used when a manufacturing manufacturer attempts to generate other materials (i.e., recycled materials) from the materials (reference materials) currently being used.

[0021] Examples of the use of the material search and compounding design system Z include the following cases. That is, when mixing an alternative material and an additive with a specified addition rate in an injection molding machine and using it, or when a compound manufacturer mixes an alternative material and an additive with a specified addition rate and pelletizes and provides it.

[0022] Specifically, the material search and compounding design device 1 receives input of information on current materials used in the manufacture of products or materials assumed to be used (reference materials), for example. Further, after narrowing down alternative materials based on the characteristic values of physical properties (hereinafter referred to as physical property values) that the user P (see FIG. 2) values, the ranking of the alternative materials is determined in ascending order of proximity to the reference material and output as a search result.

[0023] In addition, the material search and compounding design device 1 sequentially sets alternative materials based on the ranking obtained as a result of the material search. Then, the material search and compounding design device 1 determines the type of appropriate additive that satisfies the additive conditions and the addition rate based on a regression model derived by machine learning or the like, and outputs the results such as alternative materials, types of additives, and addition rates.

[0024] According to such a material search and compounding design system Z, it is possible to present to a manufacturing manufacturer or the like a combination of alternative materials, types of additives, addition rates, etc. whose physical properties are close to those of the materials used in current products and the like.

[0025] <Schematic configuration of the material search and compounding design device 1> FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the material search and formulation design device 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the material search and formulation design device 1 is communicably connected to an external device 2 via, for example, a communication cable or a predetermined communication network N by a network interface (NI: Network Interface Device) 12. The communication network N is, for example, the Internet, a LAN (Local Area Network), or a WAN (Wide Area Network), etc.

[0026] <<External device 2>> The external device 2 is a device that makes a search request to the material search and formulation design device 1 and displays results such as alternative materials, types of additives, and addition rates derived from the search and formulation design. In this case, the external device 2 corresponds to, for example, a computer of an operator such as a manufacturing manufacturer who uses the search service provided by the material search and formulation design device 1.

[0027] <<Details of the material search and formulation design device 1>> The material search and formulation design device 1 executes various processes by the processor 11 reading the program 110 and various information stored in the memory resource 10. Specifically, the material search and formulation design device 1 executes a material search process for searching for alternative materials similar to the reference material. Further, the material search and formulation design device 1 executes a formulation design process for obtaining combinations of alternative materials, types of additives, and addition rates. Details of these processes will be described later.

[0028] The material search and formulation design device 1 is, for example, a server computer, a cloud server, or a personal computer, and is a system including at least one or more of these computers.

[0029] The material search and formulation design device 1 has a processor 11, a memory resource 10, and a network interface 12. Further, the material search and formulation design device 1 has a user interface (UI: User Interface Device) 13.

[0030] The processor 11 is an arithmetic unit that reads the program 110 stored in the memory resource 10 and executes the processing corresponding to the program 110. Note that examples of the processor 11 include a microprocessor, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or other semiconductor devices capable of performing calculations.

[0031] The memory resource 10 is a storage device that stores various kinds of information. Specifically, the memory resource 10 is composed of non-volatile or volatile storage media such as, for example, RAM (Random Access Memory) and ROM (Read Only Memory). Note that the memory resource 10 may include a rewritable storage medium such as a flash memory, a hard disk, an SSD (Solid State Drive), a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory, a memory card, a hard disk, etc.

[0032] The network interface 12 is a communication device that performs information communication with the external device 2. The network interface 12 performs information communication with the external device 2 via a predetermined communication network N such as, for example, a LAN or the Internet. Note that unless otherwise specified below, the information communication between the material search and formulation design device 1 and the external device 2 is assumed to be executed via the network interface 12.

[0033] The user interface 13 includes an input device for inputting an instruction from the user P to the material search and formulation design device 1 and an output device for outputting information generated by the material search and formulation design device 1. As the input device, for example, a pointing device such as a mouse, a voice input device such as a microphone, a keyboard, a touch panel, etc. can be considered.

[0034] In addition, examples of the output device include a display, a printer, a voice synthesizer, and the like. Unless otherwise specified below, operations by the user P (operator) on the material search and formulation design device 1 (such as input of information, output, execution instruction of processing, etc.) are assumed to be executed via the user interface 13.

[0035] Moreover, each component, function, processing means, etc. of the material search and formulation design device 1 may be realized in hardware by designing some or all of them, for example, with an integrated circuit. Also, the material search and formulation design device 1 can realize some or all of each function by software, or can be realized by the cooperation of software and hardware. Further, the material search and formulation design device 1 may use hardware having fixed circuits, or may use hardware with at least some circuits being changeable.

[0036] In addition, the system can also be realized by the user P (operator) implementing some of the functions and processes realized by each program 110 of the material search and formulation design device 1.

[0037] Note that the program 110 executed by the material search and formulation design device 1 may be stored in a non-volatile storage medium readable by the material search and formulation design device 1. The program 110 stored in such a non-volatile storage medium may be directly read by the material search and formulation design device 1, or a processor system for program distribution may read the program 110 from the medium. And then, the program 110 may be transmitted (distributed) from the processor system for program distribution to the material search and formulation design device 1. Examples of the non-volatile storage medium include the non-volatile memory described as the memory resource 10, but other optical disk media may also be used.

[0038] The program 110 stored in the memory resource 10 includes a material search program 111 and a formulation design program 112. The material search program 111 is a program 110 that determines whether there is an alternative material that meets a predetermined search condition for a reference material. Further, the formulation design program 112 is a program 110 that searches for possible alternative materials and additives for a reference material when there is no alternative material that meets the search condition.

[0039] Furthermore, the memory resource 10 stores a material DB 120, an additive DB 130, and a recipe DB 140.

[0040] <<<Material DB 120>>> The material DB 120 is a database that stores material information 120a (see FIG. 3). In the material information 120a, information on various materials (including reference materials and alternative materials) used in the manufacture of products is registered.

[0041] <<<Additive DB 130>>> The additive DB 130 is a database that stores additive information 130a (see FIG. 4). In the additive information 130a, physical property change rate information 134 (see FIG. 4) etc. for each additive are registered.

[0042] <<<Recipe DB 140>>> The search results by the material search and formulation design device 1 are stored in the recipe DB 140. Specifically, in the recipe DB 140, identification information 121 (see FIG. 3) of alternative materials, identification information 131 (see FIG. 4) of additives, addition rates, etc. derived by the program 110 are stored.

[0043] <<Details of Material Information 120a>> FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the material information 120a.

[0044] As shown in FIG. 3, in the material information 120a, identification information 121, the name and type of the material 122, model number 123, manufacturer name 124, lot number 125, physical property value information 126, environmental load information 127, and cost information 128 are registered in association with each other.

[0045] The identification information 121 is information for uniquely identifying the materials registered in each record of the material information 120a.

[0046] The name and type 122 are information indicating the name and type of the material (for example, the type of resin material or plastic material).

[0047] Each of the model number 123, manufacturer name 124, and lot number 125 is information indicating the model number of the material, the manufacturer name of the material, and the lot number of the material.

[0048] The physical property value information 126 is information regarding the characteristic values (physical property values) of the physical properties of each material. For example, physical properties such as mechanical properties and thermal properties and their values (physical property values) are registered. Here, the mechanical properties include, for example, elastic modulus, tensile strength, impact properties, etc. The thermal properties include, for example, crystallization temperature, melting temperature, heat distortion temperature, etc. Note that these physical property value information 126 are just examples, and in addition to the above examples, various types of physical properties and their values are registered in the physical property value information 126.

[0049] The environmental load information 127 is information regarding the load on the environment when processing the material. Examples of the environmental load information 127 include the amount of CO2 required when applying heat to the material, that is, the CO2 emission amount, etc.

[0050] The cost information 128 is, for example, the price (unit price) per 1 cm of the material 3 or the like.

[0051] Note that even if the materials are of the same type, different model numbers 123 and grades are assigned according to the material manufacturer, and their physical property values and the like also differ from each other. Therefore, in the material information 120a, even if the materials are of the same type, materials with different model numbers 123 and grades are registered as different types of materials.

[0052] <<Details of the additive information 130a>> FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the additive information 130a.

[0053] As shown in FIG. 4, in the additive information 130a, identification information 131, the name / type 132 of the additive, the manufacturer name 133, the physical property change rate information 134, the prediction model information 135, and the cost information 136 are registered in association with each other.

[0054] The identification information 131 is information that uniquely identifies the additive.

[0055] The name / type 132 and the manufacturer name 133 are information indicating the name and type of the additive and the manufacturer of the additive, respectively.

[0056] In addition, the physical property change rate information 134 is numerical information regarding the change rate of the physical property values in the material when the additive is added to the material. Specifically, the physical property change rate information 134 is the change rate (%) of the physical property value with respect to the addition rate (unit: %). And as an example of the physical property change rate information 134, there are elastic modulus, tensile strength, flexural strength, etc.

[0057] The prediction model information 135 is information on a prediction formula showing the relationship between the addition rate of the additive obtained by machine learning or the like and the change rate of the physical properties of the material, and the function and each coefficient of the prediction formula are registered. The prediction model information 135 is calculated in advance by experiments or the like. The machine learning is, for example, linear regression. Such prediction model information 135 is the physical property change characteristic of the additive.

[0058] The cost information 136 is, for example, the price (unit price) per 1 cm of the additive 3 or the like.

[0059] <<Flowchart>> FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of the material search process. When the material search and compounding design device 1 receives a request from the external device 2, the processor 11 reads the material search program 111. Then, by executing the read material search program 111, the processor 11 performs the process shown in FIG. 5. As a result, the processor 11 operates as a material search unit. For reference, FIGS. 2 and 3 are referred to as appropriate.

[0060] When the process shown in FIG. 5 starts, the processor 11 receives the input of the reference material information from the external device 2 (S101). Specifically, the processor 11 receives, as the reference material information, for example, the input of the name and type of the reference material from the external device 2. The reference material information is input by the user P operating the external device 2. In step S101, the processor 11 may receive the identification information of the reference material. The reception of the input in step S101 may be performed via the user interface 18.

[0061] Next, the processor 11 acquires the physical property value information 126, etc. of the received reference material (S102). Specifically, the processor 11 acquires the record of the material information 120a corresponding to the reference material from the material information 120a based on the input name and type of the reference material. Further, the processor 11 acquires the corresponding physical property value information 126 from the material information 120a based on the identification information 121 in the record of the acquired material information 120a of the reference material.

[0062] Next, the processor 11 accepts the selection of physical property evaluation items and the input of evaluated physical property values (S103). The physical property evaluation items are, for example, the elastic modulus of mechanical properties and the crystallization temperature of thermal properties in the material information 120a. In step S103, the processor 11 accepts the selection of physical property evaluation items that the user P values from among a plurality of physical property evaluation items corresponding to the physical property value information 126 of the reference material. For example, when the elastic modulus, tensile strength, impact strength, melting temperature, etc. are registered in the physical property value information 126 of the reference material, the processor 11 accepts the selection of physical property evaluation items (for example, the elastic modulus and the impact strength) that the user P values from among these.

[0063] Also, in step S103, the processor 11 accepts the input of evaluated physical property values for the selected physical property evaluation items. For example, when the elastic modulus and the impact strength are selected as the physical property evaluation items, the processor 11 accepts the numerical ranges of the elastic modulus and the impact strength that the user P desires (allows) as the evaluated physical property values.

[0064] That is, in step S103, it is set which physical property evaluation items and within what numerical ranges to search for substitute materials.

[0065] Next, the processor 11 sets the search conditions for substitute materials (S104). Specifically, the processor 11 sets the physical property evaluation items and the evaluated physical property values input in step S103 as the search conditions for substitute materials. Note that the type of the reference material may be included in the search conditions. By also including the type of the reference material in the search conditions, the processor 11 can narrow down the search range and reduce the processing load of the processor 11.

[0066] Next, the processor 11 executes the search for substitute materials and determines whether there is a substitute material that satisfies the search conditions (S105). At this time, the processor 11 searches the material information 120a based on the search conditions.

[0067] When there is a substitute material that meets the search criteria (S105 → Yes), the processor 11 outputs the search results (S106). If there are multiple substitute materials that meet the search criteria, the processor 11 outputs all the retrieved substitute materials. The substitute materials that meet the search criteria are appropriately referred to as candidate materials.

[0068] If there is no substitute material (candidate material) that meets the search criteria in step S105 (S105 → No), the processor 11 executes a compounding design process (S200). The compounding design process will be described later with reference to FIGS. 7 to 9B.

[0069] With reference to FIGS. 6A and 6B, step S105 in FIG. 5 will be described.

[0070] FIGS. 6A and 6B are diagrams showing the relationship between two physical property values (in the examples shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, the physical property values "A" and "B"). As shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, the coordinates constituted by different physical property values on each coordinate axis are referred to as a physical property coordinate space 300. In the examples shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, the physical property coordinate space 300 is constituted by two coordinate axes (that is, a two-dimensional coordinate space), but the number of coordinate axes may be one or may be constituted by three or more coordinate axes.

[0071] In FIGS. 6A and 6B, reference numeral 301 indicates the physical property information of the reference material, and reference numeral 302 indicates the physical property information of the substitute material. And the frame C indicates the search criteria. The reference material (reference numeral 301) is located at the center of the frame C indicating the search criteria. Each of the reference numerals 302 corresponds to each of the materials stored in the material information 120a.

[0072] If the reference material is stored in the material information 120a, the reference numeral 301 indicating the reference material is plotted according to the physical property value information 126 corresponding to the reference material. If the reference material is not stored in the material information 120a, the reference numeral 301 indicating the reference material is plotted by manual input by the user P or the like, or is plotted according to the physical property value of the reference material input manually.

[0073] Figure 6A shows a case where there is an alternative material (candidate material) that meets the search conditions. In Figure 6A, there are a plurality of candidate materials (reference numeral 302a) within the frame C indicating the search conditions. In such a case, the processor 11 determines "Yes" in step S105.

[0074] Figure 6B shows a case where there is no candidate material that meets the search conditions. In Figure 6B, there is no candidate material (reference numeral 302) within the frame C indicating the search conditions. In such a case, the processor 11 determines "No" in step S105. That is, depending on the search conditions, the result may be that there are candidate materials as in Figure 6A, or the result may be that there are no candidate materials as in Figure 6B. Note that since the properties of the recycled material generated change when the properties of the candidate material change, the search conditions generally cannot be changed.

[0075] Through the process shown in Figure 5, the processor 11 searches for a material that meets a predetermined search condition for the reference material.

[0076] <<Blending Design Process>> Figure 7 is a flowchart showing an example of a blending design process which is a blending design method. In the process shown in Figure 6, when the material search and blending design apparatus 1 receives a request, the processor 11 reads the blending design program 112. Then, by executing the blending design program 112, the processor 11 performs the process shown in Figure 7. As a result, the processor 11 operates as a blending design unit and an output processing unit. Refer to Figures 2 to 4 as appropriate.

[0077] Note that steps S201 to S207 and S211 in Figure 7 correspond to blending design steps, and steps S212 to S213 correspond to output processing steps.

[0078] First, the processor 11 selects an alternative material based on the similarity between the physical property values of the reference material and those of the alternative material (S201). The alternative material selected in step S201 is hereinafter appropriately referred to as the base material. Specifically, the processor 11 calculates the similarity between the physical property values of the reference material and those of the alternative material, and arranges the identification numbers of the alternative materials in descending order of similarity. Then, the processor 11 selects, as the base material for the formulation design, the alternative material with the highest similarity (the most similar) to the reference material. Here, the similarity uses, for example, the Euclidean distance 311 (FIG. 8) between the reference material and the alternative material with respect to the physical properties specified in the search conditions. The Euclidean distance 311 will be described later.

[0079] Referring to FIG. 8, step S201 in FIG. 7 will be described.

[0080] FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of the vicinity of the frame C shown in FIG. 6B.

[0081] As described above, the similarity is defined by the Euclidean distance 311. Here, the Euclidean distance 311 is the distance defined in the physical property coordinate space 300.

[0082] As shown in FIG. 8, in step S201, the processor 11 selects the alternative material with the shortest Euclidean distance 311 with respect to the physical property information of the reference material (reference numeral 301). In the example shown in FIG. 8, the alternative material indicated by reference numeral 302b is selected as the base material. Note that reference numeral 302c will be described later.

[0083] That is, when there is no material that satisfies the search conditions (S105→No in FIG. 5), the processor 11 selects an alternative material for the reference material based on the similarity indicating the degree of similarity to the reference material. Specifically, the processor 11 selects an alternative material similar to the reference material based on the Euclidean distance 311 between the physical property information of the alternative material (reference numeral 302) and the physical property information of the reference material (reference numeral 301) in the physical property coordinate space 300.

[0084] In the present embodiment, the Euclidean distance 311 in the physical property coordinate space 300 is used as the similarity between the two materials, but it is not limited thereto. For example, as the similarity, the Manhattan distance or the Chebyshev distance may be used. Alternatively, as long as the similarity between the two materials can be measured, it is not limited to the distance.

[0085] Return to the description of FIG. 7. Next, the processor 11 calculates a target value range (S202). In step S202, the processor 11 calculates the upper and lower limit values of the search conditions set in step S104 of FIG. 5 and the physical property change rate of the base material, and represents the target value range of the compounding design process by the physical property change rate. Through this process, the processor 11 calculates the range of the physical property change rate by the additive that satisfies the additive conditions.

[0086] Next, the processor 11 selects an additive from the additive information 130a (S203). The selection of the additive is performed, for example, in ascending order of the identification number. Alternatively, the combination of the well - combined alternative materials and the additive may be learned by machine learning, and the selection in step S203 may be performed according to the learning result. By doing so, it becomes possible to efficiently select the additive.

[0087] Next, the processor 11 refers to the record of the additive information 130a having the identification number selected in step S203 from the additive information 130a, and reads the numerical value of the physical property change rate information 134 and the prediction model information 135 (S204).

[0088] Subsequently, the processor 11 calculates an additive rate range 431, 432 (see FIGS. 9A and 9B) which is the range of the additive rate corresponding to the physical property change characteristics of the additive (S205: additive rate range calculation step). The additive rate range 431, 432 will be described later.

[0089] Next, the processor 11 determines whether the selected additive satisfies the additive conditions (S206). The additive conditions are the target value range calculated in step S202.

[0090] Regarding the process of step S206, it will be described with reference to FIGS. 9A and 9B.

[0091] FIGS. 9A and 9B are diagrams showing the relationship between the addition rate of the additive and the change rate of the physical property value (physical property change rate) of the material due to the addition of the additive.

[0092] In the examples shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B, the vertical axis represents the change rate of the physical property value, and the horizontal axis represents the addition rate. The physical property is the physical property of the alternative material (base material) selected in step S201 of FIG. 7. And the examples shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B are based on the numerical values of the physical property change rate information 134 and the information of the prediction model information 135 in the additive information 130a. Note that FIG. 9A shows the relationship between the addition rate and the change rate of the physical property related to "Physical Property A", and FIG. 9B shows the relationship between the addition rate and the change rate of the physical property related to "Physical Property B". Note that "Physical Property A" is the physical property corresponding to the physical property value "A" in FIGS. 6A and 6B. Similarly, "Physical Property B" is the physical property corresponding to the physical property value "B" in FIGS. 6A and 6B.

[0093] For example, Physical Property A is the mechanical property described above, and Physical Property B is the thermal property described above.

[0094] In FIGS. 9A and 9B, the plot 401 shows experimental values, for example. And the straight line 402 representing the physical property change characteristic shows the regression line (the result of machine learning) for the experimental values (plots 401) and represents the physical property characteristic of the material. The straight line 402 is shown by the prediction model information 135 shown in FIG. 4. Thus, the physical property change characteristic of the additive is generated by machine learning based on the addition rate in the additive and the physical property change rate.

[0095] Also, in FIGS. 9A and 9B, the additive condition ranges 421 and 422 indicate the target value ranges of the physical property change rate calculated in step 202. Note that the additive condition ranges 421 and 422 are the ranges of the physical property change rate by the additive that satisfies the additive conditions, and are calculated in step S205 of FIG. 7.

[0096] For example, when the additive is an elastomer-based material, the impact strength tends to be improved by the additive, but conversely, the elastic modulus tends to decrease. That is, as shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B, the rate of change of physical properties with respect to the addition rate may have a mutually contradictory relationship depending on the physical properties (there may also be no contradiction). Therefore, when a plurality of physical properties are selected, the processor 11 needs to search for an additive and an addition rate that satisfy the additive conditions while also considering the contradictory relationship between the respective physical properties.

[0097] As described above, in step S206, the processor 11 determines whether there exists an additive and an addition rate that satisfy the additive conditions. Specifically, in this process, the processor 11 determines whether there exists an addition rate that satisfies the target value range of the rate of change of physical properties (additive condition ranges 421, 422) shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B. Further specifically, the processor 11 determines whether there exists a range of overlapping addition rates between the addition rate range 431 shown in FIG. 9A and the addition rate range 432 shown in FIG. 9B. The addition rate range 431 shown in FIG. 9A and the addition rate range 432 shown in FIG. 9B are ranges of addition rates that satisfy the target value range of the rate of change of physical properties (additive condition ranges 421, 422) determined in step 202. The addition rate ranges 431, 432 are ranges of the rate of change of physical properties due to an additive that satisfies the additive conditions and ranges of addition rates corresponding to the physical property change characteristics of the additive.

[0098] That is, in step S206, the processor 11 calculates the addition rate ranges 431, 432.

[0099] Returning to the description of FIG. 7. When the additive conditions are satisfied in step S206 (205 → Yes), the processor 11 selects an addition rate that satisfies the addition rate ranges 431, 432 shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B (S211: addition rate selection step). That is, in step S211, when the calculated addition rate ranges 431, 432 have an overlapping range for a plurality of physical properties, the processor 11 selects the overlapping range as the addition rate of the additive.

[0100] Then, the processor 11 stores information on the base material and additives in the recipe DB 140 (S212). Specifically, the processor 11 stores the identification information 121 of the base material (see FIG. 3), the identification information 131 of the additives (see FIG. 4), the addition rate selected in step S211, etc. in the recipe DB 140. The identification information 121 of the base material to be stored is the identification information 121 of the material selected in step S201. Also, the identification information 131 of the additives to be stored is the identification information 131 of the additives selected in step S203. And the addition rate to be stored is the range of the addition rates that overlap between the addition rate range 431 in FIG. 9A and the addition rate range 432 in FIG. 9B.

[0101] Note that instead of the identification information 121 of the base material and the identification information 131 of the additives, the name of the base material and the name of the additives may be stored in the recipe DB 140.

[0102] Next, the processor 11 outputs the search result (S213). Specifically, when there is an alternative material (candidate material) that satisfies the search conditions, the processor 11 outputs (transmits) information on the candidate material and information on the additives that satisfy the additive conditions to an external device 2 or the like operated by the user P. When there is no candidate material, the material name, additive name, and addition rate of the base material stored in the additive information 130a are output (transmitted) to the external device 2 operated by the user P together with an error display. The output may be performed with respect to the user interface 18. At this time, the processor 11 may output a material for which the Euclidean distance 311 (see FIG. 8) from the reference material (reference numeral 301 in FIGS. 6A and 6B) defined in the physical property coordinate space 300 shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B is equal to or less than a predetermined value.

[0103] If the additive conditions are not satisfied in step S206 (S206→No), the processor 11 determines from the identification number whether there is an uncalculated additive (S207).

[0104] If there is an uncalculated additive in step S207 (S207→Yes), the processor 11 returns the process to step S203. Then, the processor 11 reads the next identification number from the additive information 130a and repeats the processes after step S204.

[0105] If there is no uncalculated additive in step S207 (S207→No), the processor 11 returns the process to step S201. Then, the processor 11 selects the next alternative material with a high similarity as the base material and repeats the processes after step S202. Next, the next alternative material with a high similarity is the alternative material indicated by reference numeral 302c, which has a shorter Euclidean distance 311 from the reference material (reference numeral 301) than that of reference numeral 302b in FIG. 8.

[0106] Hereinafter, in the same manner, the base material is selected in the order of high similarity to the reference material (in the order of short Euclidean distance 311). Note that the base material with a Euclidean distance 311 from the reference material equal to or less than a predetermined distance may be selected. In other words, a material with a Euclidean distance 311 from the reference material greater than the predetermined distance may not be selected as the base material.

[0107] When the processor 11 outputs the search result in step S213, the process of the flowchart shown in FIG. 7 ends.

[0108] By the process shown in FIG. 7, the processor 11 selects an additive to be added to the alternative material. Also, in steps S212 and S213, the processor 11 outputs an addition rate corresponding to a range where the addition rate ranges 431 and 432 overlap, in addition to the combination of the alternative material and the additive.

[0109] <<Result display screen 500A>> FIG. 10A is a diagram showing an example of the result display screen 500A output in step S213. The result display screen 500A shown in FIG. 10A is, for example, a screen displayed for a material manufacturer.

[0110] The result display screen 500A includes a reference material input field 501a, a search condition input field 501b, a base material display area 502, and an additive display area 503.

[0111] The reference material input field 501a is a field where reference material information (such as the name and type of the reference material) received in step S101 of FIG. 5 is input.

[0112] The search condition input field 501b is a field where physical property evaluation items input in step S103 of FIG. 5 and evaluated physical property values are input. As shown in the example of FIG. 10A, information about a plurality of physical properties is input to the search condition input field 501b. In the example shown in FIG. 10A, "Physical Property A" and "Physical Property B" correspond to physical property evaluation items, and "***" indicating the value of each physical property corresponds to the evaluated physical property value.

[0113] Then, in the base material display area 502 and the additive display area 503, the names of the base materials and additives searched in the processes shown in FIGS. 5 and 7, the addition rate, etc. are displayed. The addition rate corresponds to the overlapping range of the addition rate range 431 according to the example shown in FIG. 9A and the addition rate range 432 according to the example shown in FIG. 9B.

[0114] As shown in the example of FIG. 10A, the result display screen 500A also displays an environmental load information display area 504 such as cost and the reduction effect of greenhouse gas emissions, and a cost display area 505. Information about the environmental load of the selected alternative material and additives is output to the environmental load information display area 504. Also, information about the cost of the selected alternative material and additives is output to the cost display area 505.

[0115] The environmental load information display area 504 and the cost display area 505 are based on the environmental load information 127 and the cost information 128 of the material information 120a. By doing so, the user P can refer to the cost and environmental load in addition to the combination of the base material with physical properties similar to the materials used in current products (reference materials), the types of additives, the addition rate, etc., and select a suitable material composition with added materials and additives. Note that the cost is the cost incurred when generating recycled materials of the reference material using the base material and additives. The cost may be calculated as the cost per unit quantity. Also, the cost is calculated based on the cost information 128 in FIG. 3 and the cost information 136 in FIG. 4. <<Result display screen 500B>> FIG. 10B is a diagram showing an example of the result display screen 500B output in step S213. The result display screen 500B shown in FIG. 10B is, for example, a screen displayed for product manufacturers.

[0116] In the example of the result display screen 500B shown in FIG. 10B, the environmental load information display area 504 and the cost display area 505 displayed in FIG. 10A are omitted. Other configurations are the same as those of the result display screen 500A shown in FIG. 10A.

[0117] As shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B, the result display screen 500A is displayed for material manufacturers, and the result display screen 500B is displayed for manufacturing manufacturers. By doing so, necessary and appropriate information can be shown for each manufacturer.

[0118] The material search process and the compounding design process have been described above.

[0119] According to the material search and compounding design system Z shown in this embodiment, combinations such as base materials with physical properties similar to those of the materials used in current products (reference materials), types of additives, and addition rates can be presented to the user P (see FIG. 2) (manufacturers, material manufacturers, etc.). That is, according to this embodiment, based on the results of material search, recycled materials with high similarity of material properties as the reference material can be selected, and a material composition with desired properties can be provided by appropriately compounding additives. As a result, according to this embodiment, the search for alternative materials and additives to be added to the alternative materials can be efficiently performed.

[0120] Also, in this embodiment, the selection of alternative materials (base materials) can be quantitatively performed by selecting alternative materials based on the similarity to the input reference material. In particular, by setting the similarity to the Euclidean distance 311 as shown in FIG. 8, the selection of alternative materials can be quantitatively performed.

[0121] Also, as shown in the examples of FIGS. 9A and 9B, in this embodiment, base materials in which there are overlapping regions of the addition rate ranges 431 and 432 are selected. Thereby, even when the physical property change characteristics of the additives in the alternative materials are contrary as shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B, combinations of the base material, additives, and addition rates can be selected.

[0122] Also, in this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B, the physical property change characteristics of the additives are generated by a regression line (line 402), that is, by machine learning. By doing so, the actual additive change characteristics can be considered.

[0123] Also, as shown in FIG. 10A, by displaying the environmental load information display area 504 and the cost display area 505 for the searched base materials and additives, the user P can easily conduct considerations including information on cost and environmental load.

[0124] Also, as in the examples shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B, it is also possible to pre-consider the antagonistic effects of additives on each physical property. That is, the processor 11 may add the tendency of each physical property to be added to the search conditions as an element for narrowing down the alternative materials and the prediction model (straight line 402) of the additive information 130a.

[0125] [Second Embodiment] Next, with reference to FIGS. 11 and 12, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the second embodiment, combinations of a plurality of base materials and additives are displayed in a ranking format.

[0126] [Formulation Design Process] FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of the formulation design process according to the second embodiment. In FIG. 11, the same steps as those in FIG. 7 are denoted by the same step numbers and the description thereof is omitted. Refer to FIG. 2 as appropriate.

[0127] First, the processor 11 selects a plurality of alternative materials based on the similarity between the physical property values of the reference material and the physical property values of the alternative materials (S201a). In step S201a, the processor 11 selects all alternative materials whose Euclidean distance 311 (see FIG. 8) is equal to or less than a predetermined value. The predetermined value is set in advance by the user P. Each of the plurality of alternative materials selected in step S201a is referred to as a base material.

[0128] When it is determined "No" in step S207 or step S211 is performed, the processor 11 determines whether or not the processing of steps S202 to S207 and S211 has been completed for all the base materials selected in step S201a (S221).

[0129] If the processing of steps S202 to S207 and 211 has not been completed for all the base materials (S221 → No), the processor 11 returns the processing to step S202.

[0130] When the processes in steps S202 to S207 and S211 are completed for all base materials (S221 → Yes), the processor 11 proceeds to step S212.

[0131] <<Ranking display screen 600>> FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of the ranking display screen 600 displayed in the second embodiment.

[0132] The ranking display screen 600 is composed of a ranking condition display area 601, a pull-down menu 602, and a ranking display area 611. Note that the ranking display screen 600 is output (displayed) to the external device 2 and the user interface 13.

[0133] The user P (see FIG. 2) can switch the ranking conditions using the pull-down menu 602. The ranking conditions that can be selected are "cost" and "environmental load information". In the example shown in FIG. 12, "cost" is selected as the ranking condition. The ranking condition selected by the pull-down menu 602 is displayed in the ranking condition display area 601.

[0134] In the ranking display area 611, the combination of the selected alternative material and the additive is output in a predetermined ranking format. By performing such a display, the user P (especially the manufacturing manufacturer) can consider which combination of base material and additive is excellent in terms of cost and environmental load. Incidentally, the number "1" in the ranking display area 611 indicates the first place in the ranking and is the most suitable combination among the three displayed combinations.

[0135] In addition, user P can select the combination of the base material and the additive displayed in the ranking display area 611. Then, the result display screens 500A and 500B (see FIGS. 10A and 10B) corresponding to the selected combination of the base material and the additive are displayed. By doing so, user P can recognize detailed information about the combination of the base material and the additive displayed in the ranking.

[0136] Note that among the base materials selected in step S201a in FIG. 11, there may be no combination of a base material and an additive that satisfies step S206. In such a case, a display indicating that there is no combination of a base material and an additive that satisfies the search conditions and the additive conditions is made in the ranking display area 611. When such a display is made, user P considers changing the search conditions and the predetermined values used in step S201a.

[0137] Moreover, this embodiment is not limited to the above, and various modifications are possible. For example, in the foregoing embodiment, it is premised that the material DB 120 and the additive DB 130 are stored in the memory resource 10 in advance. However, alternatively, these databases may be held by other computers (for example, a cloud server). That is, in the material search and compounding design system Z in this case, a computer (cloud server) that holds the database is included in the configuration. Or, the material search and compounding design system Z may be configured to search for and collect all or part of the information and data necessary for the information processing in this embodiment from various information and data scattered on the Internet, either in advance or each time.

[0138] In this case, the material search and compounding design device 1 searches for and acquires the target material information 120a (see FIG. 3) and additive information 130a (see FIG. 4) from the database of the computer (cloud server) when executing the processes of material search and compounding design.

[0139] With the material search and formulation design system Z configured as described above, it is possible to select a more appropriate material composition added with materials and additives.

[0140] Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, modifications, etc., and includes various other embodiments and modifications. For example, the above embodiments have been described in detail for easy understanding of the present invention, and are not necessarily limited to those having all the configurations described. Also, a part of the configuration of one embodiment can be replaced with the configuration of another embodiment, and the configuration of another embodiment can be added to the configuration of one embodiment. Also, it is possible to add, delete, or replace other configurations for a part of the configuration of each embodiment.

[0141] For example, in the present embodiment, although resins such as plastics are the search targets, aluminum or iron may also be applied as materials.

[0142] Also, in the above description, the control lines and information lines show those considered necessary for explanation, and do not necessarily show all the control lines and information lines on the product. In reality, it can be considered that almost all the components are interconnected.

Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0143] 1 Material search and formulation design device 2 External device 10 Memory resource 11 Processor (material search unit, formulation design unit, output processing unit) 13 User interface 110 Program 111 Material search program 112 Formulation design program 120 Material DB 120a Material information 121 Identification information 122 Name and type 126 Physical property value information 127 Environmental load information 128 Cost information 130 Additive DB (stores information about additives) 130a Additive information (stores information about additives) 131 Identification information 132 Name and type 134 Physical property change rate information 135 Prediction model information (physical property change characteristics) 136 Cost information 140 Recipe DB 300 Physical property coordinate space 301 Code (physical property information of the reference material) 302 Code (physical property information of the substitute material) 302a - 302c Codes 311 Euclidean distance (similarity) 402 Straight line (physical property change characteristics) 421 Additive condition range 422 Additive condition range 431 Addition rate range 432 Addition rate range 500A, 500B Result display screen 501a Reference material input field 501b Search condition input field 502 Base material display area 503 Additive display area 504 Environmental load information display area 505 Cost display area 600 Ranking display screen 601 Ranking condition display area 602 Drop - down menu 611 Ranking display area C frame P user Z Material search and compounding design system S201 Select substitute material based on similarity (compounding design step) S202 Calculate target value range (compounding design step) S203 Select additive (compounding design step) S204 Read numerical values of physical property change rate information and prediction model information (compounding design step) Calculation of the addition rate range (compounding design step, addition rate range calculation step) Determination of whether the additive conditions are satisfied (compounding design step) Determination of whether there is an uncalculated additive (compounding design step) Selection of the addition rate (compounding design step, addition rate selection step) Save the information of the base material and the additive in the recipe DB (output processing step) Output of the search result (output processing step)

Claims

1. A compounding design unit that selects an additive to be added to a substitute material, which is a candidate material for substituting a reference material that is the current material used in a product or the material assumed to be used; An output processing unit that outputs a combination of the substitute material selected by the compounding design unit and the additive; Comprising: The compounding design unit: Based on the range of the physical property change rate caused by the additive that satisfies the additive conditions, calculates an additive rate range that is the range of the additive rate corresponding to the physical property change characteristics of the additive; For a plurality of physical properties, when the calculated additive rate ranges have an overlapping range, selects the overlapping range as the additive rate of the additive; The output processing unit: In addition to the combination of the substitute material and the additive, outputs the additive rate corresponding to the overlapping range of the additive rate range; A material search and compounding design device.

2. The physical property change characteristics of the additive are generated by machine learning based on the additive rate in the additive and the physical property change rate. The material search and compounding design device according to claim 1, characterized in that.

3. A material search unit that searches for materials that satisfy predetermined search conditions for the reference material; Having: The compounding design unit: In the material search unit, when the material that satisfies the search conditions does not exist, selects a substitute material for the reference material based on the similarity indicating the degree of similarity to the reference material. The material search and compounding design device according to claim 1, characterized in that.

4. The compounding design unit: Selects the substitute material that is similar to the reference material based on the Euclidean distance between the physical property information of the substitute material and the physical property information of the reference material in the physical property coordinate space. The material search and compounding design device according to claim 3, characterized in that.

5. The output processing unit: Outputs information regarding the environmental load of the selected substitute material and the additive. The material search and compounding design device according to claim 1, characterized in that.

6. The output processing unit: Outputs information regarding the cost of the selected substitute material and the additive. The material search and compounding design device according to claim 1, characterized in that.

7. The output processing unit: Outputs the combination of the selected substitute material and the additive in a predetermined ranking format. The material search and compounding design device according to claim 1, characterized in that.

8. A material search and formulation design device that searches for alternative materials, which are alternative candidates for a reference material that is the current material used in a product or the material assumed to be used, and additives to be added to the alternative material, A formulation design step of selecting the additive for the alternative material, An output processing step of outputting a combination of the alternative material and the additive selected by the formulation design step, Execute, The material search and formulation design device, In the formulation design step, An additive rate range calculation step of calculating an additive rate range, which is a range of additive rates corresponding to the physical property change characteristics of the additive, based on the range of the physical property change rate by the additive that satisfies the additive conditions, An additive rate selection step of selecting, as the additive rate of the additive, a range in which the calculated additive rate ranges overlap for a plurality of physical properties, Execute In the output processing step, In addition to the combination of the alternative material and the additive, output the additive rate corresponding to the range in which the additive rate ranges overlap Formulation design method.

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