Management system for machine tool and industrial tool

Abstract

To provide a management system capable of unitarily managing an operation state of a machine tool and states of industrial tools.SOLUTION: A machine tool includes a body part sensor which detects an operation state of the machine tool side. An industrial tool includes an industrial tool sensor which detects usage state of the industrial tool side. Further, there is provided a user interface (UI) connected to both of operation monitoring data of the machine tool obtained by the body part sensor and industrial tool monitoring data obtained by the industrial tool sensor.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a management system for unifying management of the operating status and tool status of a machine tool. [Background technology]

[0002] 2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when an abnormality such as breakage occurs in a tool used in a machine tool, the abnormality is detected and a warning such as an alarm is issued. However, external tool monitoring solutions do not have a function for monitoring the operation of machine tools, and there was a technical issue in that if an abnormality occurred in the machine tool, the external tool monitoring solution could not detect it. Therefore, conventionally, the operator had to directly look at the machine tool and make a judgment.

[0003] For example, Patent Document 1 describes providing a vibration detection unit in the mechanical part of a machine tool, a sound detection unit for detecting sound waves generated when machining a workpiece, and a current detection unit for a servo motor, and also providing an M-code in the machining program for setting the detection start point and detection end point. However, this does not work when the tool monitoring function is externally attached to the machine tool. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2020-116667 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] An object of the present invention is to provide a management system that can centrally manage the operating status of machine tools and the state of tools. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The machine tool and tool management system of the present invention is characterized in that the machine tool has a main body sensor that detects the operating status of the machine tool, the tool has a tool sensor that detects the usage status of the tool, and has a user interface (UI) connected to both the machine tool operation monitoring data obtained by the main body sensor and the tool monitoring data obtained by the tool sensor.

[0007] Here, examples of the main body sensors that detect the operating conditions of the machine tool include various sensors that detect vibrations, temperatures, abnormal noises, etc. of the spindle and tool rest. In addition, examples of tool sensors that detect the usage status of the tool include photoelectric sensors that detect damage such as chipping and breaking of the cutting edge of the tool, and friction, as well as sensors that detect tool vibration, temperature, etc.

[0008] The present invention is characterized in that the operation monitoring data of these machine tools and the tool monitoring data can be displayed on a common user interface (UI).

[0009] In the present invention, it is preferable that the tool monitoring data is transmitted to an IoT device having a processing unit for determining whether or not the tool is normal based on the tool monitoring data, and it is preferable that the IoT device has a means for transmitting to the user interface when a tool abnormality is detected by the processing unit, and a means for transmitting an operation stop command to the machine tool.

[0010] It is also preferable that the IoT device is an edge device connected to the machine tool via a LAN, the edge device is connected to a cloud server on the network via asynchronous communication, and the cloud server on the network is connected to the user interface. [Effects of the Invention]

[0011] In the present invention, machine tool operation monitoring information, alarm information, tool status monitoring information, and alarm information can be displayed on a common UI, allowing both to be managed in a unified manner.

[0012] It is also easy to determine which tool malfunction caused the machine tool to stop. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0013] [Figure 1] This shows the flow of monitoring the operating status and tool condition of the machine tool and outputting an operation stop signal. [Figure 2] Here is an example of calling a subprogram using M code: M98. [Figure 3] Here is an example of using the macro call function in M ​​code. [Figure 4] An example of a subprogram is shown below. [Figure 5] This shows an example of connecting a machine tool to a cloud server on a network via an IoT device (edge ​​device). [Figure 6] An example of a tool selection screen is shown. [Figure 7] An example of a sensor setting screen is shown. [Figure 8] An example of a tool post monitoring screen is shown. [Figure 9] An example of a tool monitoring screen is shown. [Figure 10] An example screen showing a broken tool is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0014] An example of a machine tool and tool management system according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Figure 1 shows an example of connecting a website user interface WebUI to an IoT device to monitor machine tools and tools, and stopping the operation of the machine tool if damage to the tool is detected. The WebUI is connected to an IoT device, which is in turn connected to the NC control unit of the machine tool. In this example, a predetermined machining program is installed in the NC control unit, and a subprogram for monitoring macro variables is also installed.

[0015] The operator sets the sensors and tools to be monitored in the IoT device from the WebUI and sets the monitoring macro variables. Fig. 6 shows an example of a screen for selecting the tool to be monitored, and Fig. 7 shows an example of a screen for setting the target sensor. Once the macro variables are initialized and the operator presses the automatic start button, the machine tool executes the machining program. During this time, sensors on the machine tool side and the tool side are activated and the machining information is monitored. Fig. 8 shows an example of a screen showing the operating status of the tool post, and Fig. 9 shows an example of a screen showing the status of the tool. In this example, when tool damage is detected during the machining process, the macro variables are rewritten, a subprogram is called, an automatic operation stop command is sent to the machine tool, and an alarm is displayed. Figure 10 shows an example of a screen showing that a tool has broken.

[0016] Here, various methods are conceivable for calling a subprogram. For example, as shown in Figure 2, M98, one of the M codes used to command the operation of auxiliary functions for machining in NC programming, can be used to call a program by specifying the program number as argument P. Note that M99 is a call end command.

[0017] As shown in FIG. 3, there is also a method of specifying an M code number in an NC parameter, for example, calling program number O9020 from M999 (NO. 6080=999). An example of the subprogram in this case is shown in FIG.

[0018] Another method is to input a signal directly into the PLC (ladder program) when damage is detected, without using a custom macro.

[0019] As shown in FIG. 5, the present invention may be applied to a management system constructed by connecting to a communication terminal provided on a tablet or the like or on the operation unit of a machine tool using a cloud server on a network.

[0020] In this embodiment, a machine tool 10 incorporates an NC control unit 11 and a ladder program 12. In this example, various sensors 13 are attached to the machine tool afterwards, but sensors that are attached to the machine tool in advance are also included.

[0021] The edge device 20 has an NC communication control unit 21 and a server communication control unit 22, and the NC communication control unit 21 is communicatively connected to the NC control unit 11 of the machine tool 10 via a LAN. Furthermore, the server communication control unit 22 is connected to the edge communication control unit 31 on the cloud server 30 side through an asynchronous communication connection using LTE.

[0022] The edge device has a program analysis unit 23, a judgment processing unit 24, and a stop signal issuing unit 25, and program information used or being used by the machine tool and sensor data transmitted from the sensor 13 are taken into the judgment processing unit 24 and transmitted as asynchronous communication to a cloud server 30 on the network via, for example, MQTT communication.

[0023] The cloud server 30 has a UI control unit 32 and is connected to a terminal 40 such as a tablet via HTTPS communication, for example. In this case, the terminal 40 may be provided on the control panel of the machine tool or the like. The cloud server 30 has a database 33 for machine tool operation history, tool usage history, etc., a data request unit 37, a data processing unit 36, a notification condition notification destination 34, and a notification control unit 35, which are connected to a terminal 40 via a UI control unit 32. Furthermore, the operating status of the machine tool may be communicated to a communication terminal 50 such as a smartphone.

[0024] In this embodiment, an example is shown in which initial settings are performed to connect to a cloud server using SORACOM Krypton via a SIM issued by SORACOM and its authentication infrastructure (SORACOM Endorse). Various cloud server services such as AWS IoT Core, Amazon Cognito, Azure IoT Hub Device Provisioning Service, and SORACOM Inventory can be used. Furthermore, the following will use an example of using a Raspberry Pi as an edge device, but various IoT devices used for gateways, routers, etc. can also be used.

[0025] When an edge device such as a Raspberry Pi is connected to a router equipped with a SORACOM SIM, authentication settings such as certificates are automatically completed, and provisioning (initial settings) for connecting to the cloud server 30 is securely achieved. In addition, in this example, a subprogram for automatically controlling the stopping of the machine tool is incorporated under the machining program in the NC control unit 11 of the machine tool. Next, connect the LAN cable of the edge device to the NC port of the NC control unit. As a result, the machine tool 10, the edge device 20, and the cloud server 30 form a network.

[0026] Next, the operator inputs the name and location of the machine tool into the edge device 20 using a tablet or a terminal 40 installed on the control panel of the machine tool, and a list of tool post names, tools, etc. is displayed, from which the operator can select. As a result, a machining program is selected through communication between the UI control unit 32, the data request unit 37, the data processing unit 36 ​​and the machine operation and tool determination DB 33. When the operator issues an automatic machining command, the workpiece is machined automatically and repeatedly. If an abnormality is detected in the operating status of the machine tool, the machining status of the tool, or the like, the determination processing unit 24 determines that an abnormality has occurred based on the sensor data from the sensor 13. This information is sent to the cloud server 30 via the NC communication control unit 21 and the server communication control unit 22, and based on the information previously registered in the notification condition notification destination 34, the notification control unit 35 sends it to the communication terminal 50 or the terminal 40 connected via HTTPS to the UI control unit. In this embodiment, MQTT communication is used as an example of asynchronous communication, but the present invention is not limited to this. On the other hand, a signal judged as abnormal by the judgment processing unit 24 is automatically sent from the stop signal issuing unit 25 to the ladder program 12 of the NC control unit, which calls a subprogram and issues an operation stop command 25a. [Explanation of symbols]

[0027] 10 Machine tools 20 Edge Devices 30 Cloud Servers 40 terminals

Claims

1. The machine tool has a main body sensor that detects the operating status of the machine tool, The tool has a tool sensor that detects the usage status of the tool, A machine tool and tool management system characterized by having a user interface (UI) connected to both the machine tool operation monitoring data obtained by the main body sensor and the tool monitoring data obtained by the tool sensor.

2. 2. The machine tool and tool management system according to claim 1, wherein the tool monitoring data is transmitted to an IoT device having a processing unit for determining whether the tool is normal or not based on the tool monitoring data.

3. 3. The machine tool and tool management system according to claim 2, further comprising: a means for transmitting to the user interface when a tool abnormality is detected by a judgment processing unit provided in the IoT device; and a means for transmitting an operation stop command to the machine tool.

4. 4. A machine tool and tool management system according to claim 3, characterized in that the IoT device is an edge device connected to the machine tool via a LAN, and the edge device is asynchronously connected to a cloud server on the network.

5. The machine tool and tool management system according to claim 4, wherein the cloud server on the network is connected to the user interface.

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