Maintenance scheduling device and maintenance scheduling method

Abstract

When performing maintenance of a machine pertaining to required maintenance items for a robot, a machine tool, and a peripheral apparatus, etc., periodic component replacement work and inspection work of another machine is automatically added and an optimal maintenance schedule is established.　The present invention is a maintenance scheduling device that: acquires a work time period pertaining to additional work required for inspection other than the maintenance pertaining to the required maintenance items; and when the additional work can be implemented within a remaining work time period obtained by subtracting the work time period for maintenance pertaining to the required maintenance items from the entire work time period set for the maintenance day, establishes a maintenance schedule to which the additional work is added.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a maintenance scheduling device and a maintenance scheduling method. [Background technology]

[0002] For robots, machine tools, peripheral equipment, etc. that make up a production system (hereinafter referred to as "industrial machinery" or "manufacturing machinery"), a system and equipment manager, who is an expert with specialized knowledge and experience, creates a maintenance schedule based on the operating status of the machinery. In response to this, for example, an inspection timing notification device for an industrial robot is known that notifies a maintenance request when the cumulative operating time since inspection, which is the cumulative actual operating time since the last inspection, for a component part of the industrial robot exceeds a predetermined value (also called the "inspection cycle") that has been set in advance (for example, Patent Document 1). Similarly, for peripheral devices, a control device is known that serves as an inspection timing notification device for peripheral devices, which defines the output time of a control signal to the peripheral device or an operation signal of the peripheral device as the operating time, and notifies a maintenance request when the cumulative operating time since inspection, which is the cumulative operating time since the last inspection, exceeds a predetermined value (inspection period) that has been set in advance (for example, Patent Document 2). Furthermore, there is known a numerical control device that determines the next inspection cycle for the components of a machine tool based on the amount of change in the state of the components since the previous inspection (for example, voltage, insulation resistance value, deformation amount, vibration frequency, and usage time corresponding to the inspection items of each component of the machine tool), and notifies the user of the date and time of the next inspection (for example, Patent Document 3). On the other hand, a control device is known that automatically predicts when machine parts will fail based on machine operation information, orders the parts, and notifies the user when the machine parts can be replaced (for example, Patent Document 4). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 58-223594 [Patent Document 2] Patent No. 5956627 [Patent Document 3] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2014-174680 [Patent Document 4] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2017-102554 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] Since robots, machine tools, peripheral equipment, etc. are production assets, for example, in order to carry out maintenance work related to mandatory maintenance items that occur due to failures or predictive warnings of failures, and / or to maintenance work related to preset mandatory maintenance items, the system / equipment manager must set dates on which maintenance is possible (operation shutdown dates) and create a maintenance schedule that enables maintenance of the machines related to the mandatory maintenance items. On the other hand, when performing maintenance on machines related to mandatory maintenance items, it is desirable to optimize the maintenance schedule by, for example, adding regular part replacement work and inspection work for other machines to the excess time for the mandatory maintenance. However, it is difficult for system and facility managers to grasp all the information related to regular part replacement work and inspection work for each manufacturing machine, and it is difficult to formulate an optimal maintenance schedule by adding regular part replacement work and inspection work for other machines to the excess time on the maintenance day (operation shutdown day). For this reason, when performing maintenance on machines related to essential maintenance items such as robots, machine tools, and peripheral devices, it is desirable to automatically add regular part replacement work and inspection work for other machines on the maintenance day (operation shutdown day) in addition to the maintenance of the machines related to the essential maintenance items, thereby optimizing the maintenance schedule.

[0005] The present invention aims to provide a maintenance scheduling device and a maintenance scheduling method that, when performing maintenance on machines related to essential maintenance items in robots, machine tools, peripheral devices, etc. that make up a production system, automatically adds regular part replacement work and inspection work (hereinafter also referred to as "work necessary to prevent failures" or simply "work necessary for inspection") related to other machines on the maintenance date (operation shutdown date) in addition to the maintenance of the machines related to the essential maintenance items, thereby optimizing the maintenance schedule. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] (1) One aspect of the maintenance scheduling device of the present invention is a required maintenance work information acquisition unit that acquires required maintenance items related to the industrial machine, maintenance dates for performing the maintenance related to the required maintenance items, and work times for performing the maintenance related to the required maintenance items; a maintenance work information acquisition unit that acquires maintenance work information including at least inspection items related to industrial machines including robots whose inspection cycles have exceeded the inspection period on the maintenance date, and work times related to additional work required for the inspection items; an addition possibility determination unit that determines whether the additional work can be performed within the remaining work time obtained by subtracting the work time for the maintenance related to the essential maintenance item from the total work time set for the maintenance day; a maintenance schedule formulation unit that formulates a maintenance schedule that includes the additional work when the addition possibility determination unit determines that the additional work can be performed; Equipped with.

[0007] (2) One aspect of the maintenance scheduling method of the present invention is a method for scheduling maintenance by a computer. a required maintenance work information acquisition step of acquiring required maintenance items related to the industrial machine, maintenance dates for performing the maintenance related to the required maintenance items, and work times for performing the maintenance related to the required maintenance items; a maintenance work information acquisition step of acquiring maintenance work information including at least inspection items related to industrial machines including robots whose inspection cycles exceed the inspection period on the maintenance date, and work times related to additional work required for the inspection items; an additional work possibility determination step of determining whether the additional work can be performed within the remaining work time obtained by subtracting the work time for the maintenance related to the essential maintenance item from the total work time set for the maintenance day; a maintenance schedule formulation step of formulating a maintenance schedule including the additional work when it is determined in the addition possibility determination step that the additional work can be performed; Execute. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] According to the present invention, when performing maintenance on machines related to essential maintenance items in robots, machine tools, peripheral devices, etc. that make up a production system, a maintenance scheduling device and a maintenance scheduling method can be provided that can automatically add regular part replacement work and inspection work for other machines on the maintenance date (operation shutdown date) in addition to maintenance of the machines related to the essential maintenance items, thereby optimizing the maintenance schedule. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a production system. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a machine control device. [Figure 3] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of a maintenance scheduling device. [Figure 4] 10 is a flowchart showing an outline of the process of the maintenance scheduling device. [Figure 5A] 10 is a flowchart showing details of a determination process in the processing of the maintenance scheduling device for determining whether or not additional work can be performed. [Figure 5B] 10 is a flowchart showing details of a determination process in the processing of the maintenance scheduling device for determining whether or not additional work can be performed. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0010] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. However, this is merely an example, and the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to this example. (First embodiment) <Overall configuration of production system 100> FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a production system 100. As shown in FIG.

[0011] As shown in FIG. 1, the production system 100 includes industrial machines 2, such as a plurality of robots 2a, machine tools 2b, and peripheral devices 2c, machine control devices 3 that control each of the industrial machines 2, a maintenance scheduling device 1, and a communication network 6.

[0012] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of a machine control device. The machine control device 3 includes a control unit 31, a storage unit 32, a communication unit 33, etc., and is connected to the maintenance scheduling device 1 via a communication network 6 so as to be able to communicate with it. The storage unit 32 pre-selects and stores parts of the industrial machine 2, including the robot 2a, etc., whose operation information is to be acquired by the operation information acquisition unit 311 (described later), and also stores operation information of the industrial machine 2 including the parts. Note that the storage unit 32 may store inspection item information related to inspections that are work required to inspect the parts, and the required maintenance time related to the inspection items. Specifically, the required maintenance time related to the inspection items may be calculated, for example, by recording the time required for the maintenance (inspection) as history information. Furthermore, the storage unit 32 may also include the required maintenance time related to the work related to the maintenance items that occurred due to a failure or a failure prediction warning, for example. Furthermore, the storage unit 32 may also contain maintenance work information relating to mandatory maintenance items. Examples of mandatory maintenance items include mandatory maintenance items that have occurred due to a fault or a warning of a potential fault, maintenance inspection items for machines whose inspection cycle has significantly exceeded (exceeded a predetermined threshold), and maintenance items that have been set as mandatory in advance.

[0013] In addition to the well-known function of controlling the operation of the industrial machine 2, the control unit 31 includes an operation information acquisition unit 311, an inspection cycle excess time calculation unit 312, and a maintenance information transmission unit 313, as described below.

[0014] The operation information acquisition unit 311 stores operation information of the industrial machine 2 at preset time intervals in the storage unit 32. The operation information includes, for example, variables indicating the drive state, such as the current value supplied to the drive motor, the output of a rotational position detector attached to the drive motor, and the output of a sensor attached to the industrial machine 2. The operation information may include, for example, the accumulated operation time, accumulated power consumption, input voltage / current, output voltage / current, environmental temperature, environmental humidity, vibration, cutting fluid usage status, cooling fan rotation speed, etc. The data such as the accumulated operation time, accumulated power consumption, input voltage / current, output voltage / current, environmental temperature, environmental humidity, and vibration may be acquired for each printed circuit board constituting the industrial machine 2.

[0015] The inspection cycle excess time calculation unit 312 calculates the excess time (also referred to as "inspection cycle excess time") that has exceeded the inspection cycle when it determines that the inspection cycle of a part of each industrial machine 2 has been exceeded, based on the inspection cycle of the part calculated based on the operation information acquired by the operation information acquisition unit 311. Specifically, when the accumulated operation time etc. since the previous inspection exceeds a preset threshold, the accumulated operation time from the time the threshold was exceeded to the present is calculated as the inspection cycle excess time.

[0016] The maintenance information transmission unit 313 transmits maintenance work information of at least the industrial machine 2 including the robot 2a etc. that has exceeded its inspection cycle to the maintenance scheduling device 1 via the communication network 6. Here, the maintenance work information includes the time over the inspection cycle for parts of the industrial machine 2 including the robot 2a etc. Furthermore, the maintenance work information may also include the work time for the inspection work for the parts.

[0017] The control unit 31 may include a failure prediction unit 314 and a failure detection unit 315. The failure prediction unit 314 calculates failure prediction information that predicts the timing of failure of components of each industrial machine 2 based on the operation information acquired by the operation information acquisition unit 311. For example, in predicting failure of the arm drive motor of a robot 2a as an industrial machine 2, the failure prediction unit 314 calculates the rate of increase of the speed difference based on the difference between a speed command based on an operation program and an actual speed calculated based on a rotation angle detected by a rotation position detector, thereby predicting the timing when the speed difference will exceed a threshold value that is the boundary of the normal range. Regarding the required maintenance time for a machine whose failure is predicted, for example, the time required for the maintenance may be recorded as history information. Failure prediction techniques are well known to those skilled in the art, as described in, for example, Patent Document 4, and detailed description thereof will be omitted. Similarly, the failure detection unit 315 can detect a failure by detecting an abnormal state based on the operation information acquired by the operation information acquisition unit 311, for example.

[0018] The production system 100 may include a cell control device 4 including a plurality of industrial machines 2 and a machine control device 3 that controls each of the industrial machines 2. As shown in FIG. 1, the cell control device 4 is connected to, for example, machine control devices 3 that control the industrial machines 2 arranged in the same cell so that they can communicate with each other. Although not shown, the cell control device 4 may be configured to have functional units equivalent to the operation information acquisition unit 311, inspection cycle excess time calculation unit 312, maintenance information transmission unit 313, failure prediction unit 314, and failure detection unit 315 that are provided in each machine control device 3 included in the cell. Specifically, the cell control device 4 may acquire operation information from each machine control device 3 included in the cell, calculate the inspection cycle overtime for each machine control device 3 based on the operation information, and transmit maintenance work information for at least the industrial machines 2 that have exceeded their inspection cycles to the maintenance scheduling device 1 via the communication network 6. Next, the maintenance scheduling device 1 will be described.

[0019] In the explanation of the maintenance scheduling device 1 according to this embodiment, a robot 2a will be used as an example of the industrial machine 2. However, the present invention is not limited to the robot 2a. For example, the present invention can be applied to a production system 100 that includes a peripheral device 2c, etc. The present invention can also be applied to a production system 100 that includes a machine tool 2b and a peripheral device 2c.

[0020] The maintenance scheduling device 1 is a device for formulating an optimized maintenance schedule that effectively utilizes the downtime on the maintenance date by, for example, setting a maintenance date (operation shutdown date) for the robot 2a that constitutes the production system 100 and performing maintenance on a machine related to the aforementioned required maintenance items, by automatically adding regular part replacement work and inspection work on other machines in addition to maintaining the machine related to the required maintenance items. The maintenance scheduling device 1 may be configured as a single computer, or may be configured as a distributed processing system in which multiple computers are connected via, for example, a communication network. The maintenance scheduling device 1 may also be configured as a virtual server (virtual machine) provided on, for example, a cloud. It may also be included in, for example, an edge device.

[0021] 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of the maintenance scheduling device 1. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the maintenance scheduling device 1 includes a control unit 10, a storage unit 20, a communication unit 30, a display unit 50, and an input unit 60. The control unit 10 is a central processing unit (CPU) that controls the entire maintenance scheduling device 1. The control unit 10 appropriately reads and executes the operating system (OS) and application programs stored in the storage unit 20, thereby cooperating with the above-mentioned hardware and executing various functions.

[0022] Specifically, in this embodiment, an example will be described in which a program is executed by a computer to realize the maintenance scheduling device 1. The program can be recorded on a computer-readable non-transitory information recording medium such as a compact disc, a flexible disc, a hard disk, a magneto-optical disc, a digital video disc, a magnetic tape, a ROM (Read Only Memory), an EEOPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM), a flash memory, or a semiconductor memory.

[0023] The program can also be written in a programming language for describing the behavior of electronic circuits. In this case, various design drawings, such as wiring diagrams and timing charts for the electronic circuit, are generated from the program written in the programming language for describing the behavior of electronic circuits, and the electronic circuit that constitutes the maintenance scheduling device 1 can be created based on these design drawings. For example, the maintenance scheduling device can be configured on reprogrammable hardware using FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) technology from a program written in a programming language for describing the behavior of electronic circuits. It is also possible to configure an electronic circuit dedicated to a specific application using ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) technology.

[0024] The control unit 10 will be described in detail later. The storage unit 20 is a storage area such as a hard disk or semiconductor memory element for storing programs, data, etc. required for the control unit 10 to execute various processes. For example, a maintenance scheduling program is stored in the storage unit 20. The maintenance scheduling program is a program for executing each function of the control unit 10, which will be described later.

[0025] The communication unit 30 is a communication interface for communicating between the machine control device 3 and the cell control device 4.

[0026] The display unit 50 is configured with a display device such as a liquid crystal display, an organic electroluminescence panel, etc. The display unit 50 receives instructions from the control unit 10 and displays an image. The input unit 60 is configured with, for example, an input device (not shown) such as a physical switch called a numeric keypad or a touch panel provided over the display surface of the display unit 50.

[0027] Next, the control unit 10 will be described. As shown in Figure 3, the control unit 10 works in cooperation with the hardware by appropriately reading and executing the operating system (OS) and application programs stored in the memory unit 20, thereby constituting a required maintenance work information acquisition unit 101, a maintenance work information acquisition unit 102, an addability determination unit 106, and a maintenance schedule formulation unit 107.

[0028] The mandatory maintenance work information acquisition unit 101 can acquire, from the system / facility manager via the input unit 60, the identification information of the robot 2a that is the target of maintenance work related to the mandatory maintenance item, the mandatory maintenance item, the maintenance work time related to the mandatory maintenance item, the maintenance date, and the work time set for the maintenance date. Examples of mandatory maintenance items include, but are not limited to, maintenance for faults or failure prediction of the industrial machine 2, inspection work for industrial machine that has significantly exceeded its inspection cycle, and predetermined periodic maintenance. The system / facility manager may arbitrarily set the mandatory maintenance items. The required maintenance work information acquisition unit 101 may also receive, via the communication network 6, from the machine control device 3 or the cell control device 4, the identification number of the robot 2a that is the target of the required maintenance work, the required maintenance items, and the maintenance work time for the required maintenance items. This allows the system / facility manager to set a maintenance date and a group consisting of one or more maintenance personnel working simultaneously on that maintenance date. A group consisting of one or more maintenance personnel working simultaneously may be configured to perform maintenance on robots 2a installed in the same area, for example, within the work time. The area in which the robot 2a is installed can be managed in association with the identification number of the robot 2a. This makes it easy to determine whether different robots 2a are installed in the same area based on the identification number of the robot 2a. The robots 2a installed in different areas may be maintained by a set of different maintenance personnel. In this way, in addition to maintaining the robots 2a installed in each area with respect to the essential maintenance items, regular part replacement work and inspection work for other robots 2a can be automatically added, thereby making it possible to effectively utilize downtime.

[0029] The maintenance work information acquisition unit 102 acquires, from the machine control device 3 or the cell control device 4 via the communication network 6, maintenance work information including the identification number of the robot 2a that has exceeded its inspection cycle, the inspection items related to the robot 2a, and the work time related to the additional work required for the inspection items, in addition to the robot 2a set for mandatory maintenance on the maintenance date acquired by the mandatory maintenance work information acquisition unit 101. Note that if the maintenance work information acquisition unit 102 cannot acquire the work time related to the additional work required for the inspection items related to the robot 2a from the machine control device 3 or the cell control device 4, it may acquire it from the system / facility manager via the input unit 60.

[0030] The additional work possibility determination unit 106 determines whether or not additional work required for inspection items of the robot 2a that have exceeded their inspection period can be performed within the remaining work time obtained by subtracting the maintenance work time for the required maintenance items from the total work time set for the maintenance day. Specifically, as described above, when a group of one or more maintenance personnel working simultaneously performs maintenance on a robot 2a installed in an area to be maintained, the additional work possibility determination unit 106 determines whether or not additional work required for the inspection items of the robot 2a installed in the area that has exceeded its inspection period can be performed within the remaining work time obtained by subtracting the maintenance work time for the required maintenance items of the robot 2a installed in the area from the total work time set for the group of maintenance personnel.

[0031] When multiple robots 2a installed in the same area have exceeded their respective inspection cycles, the addition feasibility determination unit 106 may set priorities based on the amount of time that each robot 2a has exceeded its inspection cycle. In this manner, the addition feasibility determination unit 106 can determine, in order of priority, whether additional work required for inspection items of robots 2a that have exceeded their inspection cycles can be performed within the remaining work time, excluding the time required for maintenance work related to essential maintenance items of the robots 2a installed in the area. For example, if it is determined that additional work is possible, the addition feasibility determination unit 106 may subtract the time required for additional work required for inspection of the robot 2a determined to be possible from the remaining work time, and use this time as the new remaining work time to continue determining whether additional work can be performed on the robot 2a with the next highest priority. Note that, if it is determined that additional work is not possible, the addition feasibility determination unit 106 may terminate the determination at that point and determine that additional work is not possible for all remaining robots 2a with lower priorities. This determination mode is referred to as the “first determination mode.” According to the first determination mode, inspection of the robot 2a whose inspection period has expired can be scheduled in order of priority. The determination form when determining in order of priority is not limited to the first determination form. In the first determination form, the determination is made in order of priority, and when it is determined that a task is impossible to perform, the robots 2a set with lower priorities are deemed impossible to perform. In contrast to this, another determination form (referred to as a "second determination form") may be as follows.

[0032] In the second determination mode, the addition possibility determination unit 106 determines, in the order of priority described above, whether or not additional work required for an inspection item of a robot 2a whose inspection cycle has expired can be performed. If it is determined that additional work is available, the addition possibility determination unit 106 subtracts the work time for the additional work required for the inspection of the robot 2a determined to be available from the remaining work time, and determines the new remaining work time as the new remaining work time. If it is determined that additional work is unavailable, the addition possibility determination unit 106 continues to determine whether or not additional work can be performed on the robot 2a with the next highest priority. In this way, it is possible to determine whether or not additional work can be performed on all remaining robots 2a with lower priorities. This makes it possible to schedule more inspections of robots 2a whose inspection cycle has expired.

[0033] In the first and second judgment forms, the priority set by the addition possibility judgment unit 106 based on the excess time beyond the inspection cycle of each robot 2a may be such that priority is given to the robot with the longest excess time. Alternatively, as another priority order, a robot 2a having a larger ratio of the excess time beyond the inspection cycle of the robot 2a to the inspection cycle of the robot 2a may be given priority. Specifically, for example, when the inspection cycle is X hours and the overtime is Y hours, priority may be given to the product with the larger value of Y / X, which is the ratio of the overtime Y to the inspection cycle X. By doing so, it is possible to relatively compare a robot with a long inspection cycle with a robot with a short inspection cycle based on the ratio of the excess time that the robot 2a has exceeded the inspection cycle to the inspection cycle.

[0034] When the addition possibility determination unit 106 determines that the additional work required for inspection can be performed within the work hours on the maintenance day, the maintenance schedule formulation unit 107 formulates a maintenance schedule that includes the additional work in addition to the maintenance related to the required maintenance items. The maintenance schedule formulation unit 107 can provide the formulated maintenance schedule to the system / facility manager via the display unit 50, for example. The configuration of each functional unit of the maintenance scheduling device 1 according to this embodiment has been described above. Next, the processing flow of the maintenance scheduling device 1 will be described.

[0035] 4, 5A, and 5B are flowcharts showing the process by which the maintenance scheduling device 1 optimizes the maintenance schedule. The process flow described below shows the process of formulating a maintenance schedule when a group of maintenance personnel performs maintenance on a robot 2a installed in an area to be maintained. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an outline of the process flow. The detailed process flow of steps S14 and S15 shown in FIG. 4 will be described later based on the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B.

[0036] Referring to the flowchart shown in Figure 4, in step S10, the maintenance scheduling device 1 (essential maintenance work information acquisition unit 101) acquires the maintenance date, the total work time set for the maintenance, the identification number of the robot 2a that is the target of the maintenance work related to the mandatory maintenance items, the mandatory maintenance items, and the work time for the maintenance related to the mandatory maintenance items.

[0037] In step S11, the maintenance scheduling device 1 (mandatory maintenance work information acquisition unit 101) calculates the total maintenance work time for the mandatory maintenance items, and acquires the required maintenance time for the mandatory maintenance items.

[0038] In step S12, the maintenance scheduling device 1 (maintenance work information acquisition unit 102) acquires maintenance work information including the identification number of the robot 2a whose inspection cycle has expired, the inspection items related to the robot 2a, and the work time related to the additional work required for the inspection items.

[0039] In step S13, the maintenance scheduling device 1 (addition possibility determining unit 106) subtracts the required maintenance time of the essential maintenance item from the total work time set for the maintenance, and calculates the remaining work time.

[0040] In step S14, the maintenance scheduling device 1 (addition possibility determining unit 106) sets a priority order based on the excess time that has passed since the inspection cycle of the robot 2a.

[0041] In step S15, the maintenance scheduling device 1 (addition possibility determination unit 106) determines, in order of priority, whether or not additional work required for an inspection item of the robot 2a whose inspection cycle has expired can be performed.

[0042] In step S16, the maintenance scheduling device 1 (addition possibility determination unit 106) acquires additional work information required for inspection items related to all robots 2a for which it was determined in step S15 that additional work required for inspection items of robots 2a that have exceeded their inspection cycle can be performed within the remaining work time.

[0043] In step S17, the maintenance scheduling device 1 (maintenance schedule formulation unit 107) formulates a maintenance schedule that includes additional work in addition to the maintenance related to the essential maintenance items.

[0044] In step S18, the maintenance scheduling device 1 (maintenance schedule formulation unit 107) provides the formulated maintenance schedule to the system / facility manager via the display unit 50. The outline of the processing flow in the maintenance scheduling device 1 has been explained above. Next, the detailed processing flow of steps S14 and S15 described above will be explained. Figures 5A and 5B show an example of a processing flow for determining whether or not an additional task can be performed based on priority. Specifically, the processing flow shown in Figure 5A shows an example of the first determination mode described above. Furthermore, the processing flow shown in Figure 5B shows an example of the second determination mode described above.

[0045] Referring to FIG. 5A, in step S141, the maintenance scheduling device 1 (addition possibility determination unit 106) calculates the excess time beyond the inspection cycle for each robot 2a that exceeds the inspection cycle acquired in step S12.

[0046] In step S142, the maintenance scheduling device 1 (addition possibility determination unit 106) sets the priority of the robots 2a in descending order of the time that has exceeded the inspection cycle. Hereinafter, the number of robots 2a that have exceeded the inspection cycle is set to N (an integer of 1 or more), and each robot 2a is identified by its priority. Specifically, the robot 2a with the ith priority will be represented by robot 2a(i).

[0047] In step S151, i is initialized (1->i), and the remaining work time value is set to a value obtained in step S13 by subtracting the required maintenance time for the required maintenance items from the total work time set for maintenance.

[0048] In step S152, it is determined whether i has exceeded N. If i has exceeded N, the process proceeds to step S16. If i is equal to or less than N, the process proceeds to step S153.

[0049] In step S153, it is determined whether the remaining work time value is equal to or greater than the additional work time required for the inspection item of the robot 2a(i). If the remaining work time value is equal to or greater than the additional work time required for the inspection item of the robot 2a(i) (Yes), the process proceeds to step S154. If the remaining work time value is less than the additional work time required for the inspection item of the robot 2a(i) (No), the process proceeds to step S16.

[0050] In step S154, the additional work required for the inspection item of the robot 2a(i) is added to the maintenance schedule, and the additional work time required for the inspection item of the robot 2a(i) is subtracted from the remaining work time value.

[0051] In step S155, i is incremented by 1 (i+1->i) and the process proceeds to step S152. By the above process, the determination is made in order of priority, and when it is determined that the task cannot be performed, the first determination mode can be executed, in which the task cannot be performed for the robots 2a with lower priorities. The above has described the processing flow related to the first determination mode. Next, the processing flow according to the second determination mode will be described.

[0052] Referring to FIG. 5B, steps S141' to S152' perform the same processing as steps S141 to S152 shown in FIG. 5A.

[0053] In step S153', it is determined whether the remaining work time value is equal to or greater than the additional work time required for the inspection item of the robot 2a(i). If the remaining work time value is equal to or greater than the additional work time required for the inspection item of the robot 2a(i) (Yes), the process proceeds to step S154'. If the remaining work time value is less than the additional work time required for the inspection item of the robot 2a(i) (No), the process proceeds to step S155'.

[0054] In step S154', the additional work required for the inspection item of the robot 2a(i) is added to the maintenance schedule, and the additional work time required for the inspection item of the robot 2a(i) is subtracted from the remaining work time value.

[0055] In step S155', i is incremented by 1 (i+1->i) and the process proceeds to step S152. By the above process, the determination is made in order of priority, and if it is determined that the task cannot be performed, it can be determined whether the task can be performed for the robot 2a with the next highest priority. The processing flow according to the second determination mode has been described above.

[0056] In addition, in the method of setting the priority, as described above, the robot 2a having the larger ratio of the excess time beyond the inspection cycle of the robot 2a to the inspection cycle of the robot 2a may be given priority. In this case, in steps S142 and S142' in Figures 5A and 5B, the maintenance scheduling device 1 (addition possibility determination unit 106) may perform a process of setting the priority of the robot 2a in descending order of the ratio of the excess time beyond the inspection period of the robot 2a to the inspection period of the robot 2a, instead of the process of setting the priority of the robot 2a in descending order of the excess time beyond the inspection period of the robot 2a. The processing flow for the maintenance scheduling device 1 to optimize the maintenance schedule has been described above.

[0057] In other words, the maintenance scheduling device and the maintenance scheduling method of the present disclosure can take the following various embodiments.

[0058] (1) According to this embodiment, the maintenance scheduling device (for example, “maintenance scheduling device 1”): a required maintenance work information acquisition unit (e.g., "required maintenance work information acquisition unit 101") that acquires required maintenance items related to the industrial machine, maintenance dates for performing the maintenance related to the required maintenance items, and work times for performing the maintenance related to the required maintenance items; a maintenance work information acquisition unit (e.g., "maintenance work information acquisition unit 102") that acquires maintenance work information including at least inspection items related to industrial machines including robots whose inspection cycles exceed the inspection period on the maintenance date, and work times related to additional work required for the inspection items; an addition possibility determination unit (e.g., "addition possibility determination unit 106") that determines whether the additional work can be performed within the remaining work time obtained by subtracting the work time for the maintenance related to the required maintenance item from the total work time set for the maintenance day; a maintenance schedule formulation unit (e.g., "maintenance schedule formulation unit 107") that formulates a maintenance schedule that includes the additional work when the additional work is determined to be executable by the additional work determination unit (e.g., "addition possibility determination unit 106"); Equipped with. As a result, when performing maintenance on machines related to essential maintenance items such as robots, machine tools, and peripheral equipment, on the maintenance date (day of operation shutdown), in addition to the maintenance of the machines related to the essential maintenance items, regular part replacement work and inspection work for other machines can be automatically added, optimizing the maintenance schedule.

[0059] (2) In the maintenance scheduling device (e.g., “maintenance scheduling device 1”) described in (1), The maintenance work information acquisition unit (for example, the "maintenance work information acquisition unit 102") further Obtain the excess time beyond the inspection period of industrial machinery, including robots, that has exceeded the inspection period. The addability determination unit (for example, the "addability determination unit 106") further setting a priority based on the excess time beyond the inspection cycle of the industrial machine acquired by the maintenance work information acquisition unit (e.g., "maintenance work information acquisition unit 102"); Within the remaining work time excluding the maintenance work time related to the required maintenance items, determine whether or not the additional work required for the inspection acquired by the maintenance work information acquisition unit (e.g., "maintenance work information acquisition unit 102") can be performed in the order of priority, and if it is determined that the additional work can be performed, continue the determination by subtracting the work time related to the additional work required for the inspection that has been determined to be performable from the remaining work time, and set the new remaining work time; The maintenance schedule formulation unit (for example, the “maintenance schedule formulation unit 107”) further When the addition possibility determination unit (e.g., "addition possibility determination unit 106") determines that the additional work required for the inspection cannot be performed, a maintenance schedule may be formulated that includes the additional work required for the inspection that is determined to be performable. This allows the maintenance schedule to be formulated by prioritizing inspection work with high priority.

[0060] (3) In the maintenance scheduling device (e.g., “maintenance scheduling device 1”) described in (1), The maintenance work information acquisition unit (for example, the "maintenance work information acquisition unit 102") further Obtain the excess time beyond the inspection period of industrial machinery, including robots, that has exceeded the inspection period. The addability determination unit (for example, the "addability determination unit 106") further setting a priority order based on an excess time beyond the inspection cycle of the industrial machine acquired by the maintenance work information acquisition unit; determine whether or not the additional work necessary for the inspection acquired by the maintenance work information acquisition unit can be performed in the order of priority within the remaining work time excluding the maintenance work time related to the required maintenance item, and if it is determined that the additional work can be performed, continue the determination by subtracting the work time related to the additional work necessary for the inspection that has been determined to be performable from the remaining work time, and if it is determined that the additional work cannot be performed, continue the determination to determine whether or not the additional work necessary for the inspection of the next priority can be performed within the remaining work time; The maintenance schedule formulation unit (for example, the “maintenance schedule formulation unit 107”) further Once the addition feasibility determination unit has completed determining whether or not all of the additional work required for the inspections can be performed, a maintenance schedule may be formulated that includes the additional work required for the inspections that has been determined to be performable. This allows for the formulation of an efficient maintenance schedule that prioritizes inspection work with high priority and also includes inspection work that requires short additional work.

[0061] (4) In the maintenance scheduling device (e.g., “maintenance scheduling device 1”) described in (2) or (3), The priority order may be such that priority is given to an industrial machine that has exceeded its inspection cycle for a long time, as acquired by the maintenance work information acquisition unit (for example, the "maintenance work information acquisition unit 102"). This allows a maintenance schedule to be formulated by prioritizing the maintenance and inspection of the robot 2a whose inspection period has greatly exceeded.

[0062] (5) In the maintenance scheduling device (e.g., “maintenance scheduling device 1”) described in (2) or (3), The priority may be set so that the higher the ratio of the excess time beyond the inspection period of the industrial machinery acquired by the maintenance work information acquisition unit (e.g., "maintenance work information acquisition unit 102") to the inspection period, the higher the priority. This allows the excess time for items with long inspection cycles to be compared relatively with the excess time for items with short inspection cycles based on the ratio of the excess time that exceeds the inspection cycle of the robot 2a to the inspection cycle, and if the excess time for items with long inspection cycles and items with short inspection cycles are about the same, the item with the short inspection cycle can be evaluated to be given priority.

[0063] (6) In the maintenance scheduling device (for example, “maintenance scheduling device 1”) according to any one of (1) to (5), The total work time set for the maintenance day and the work time for the additional work required for the inspection items may be set according to the number of maintenance personnel working simultaneously. This allows the overall work time set for the maintenance day and the work time required for additional work required for inspection items to be appropriately set depending on whether the number of maintenance personnel is large or small.

[0064] (7) According to this embodiment, a maintenance scheduling method executed by a computer includes: a required maintenance work information acquisition step of acquiring required maintenance items related to the industrial machine, maintenance dates for performing the maintenance related to the required maintenance items, and work times for performing the maintenance related to the required maintenance items; a maintenance work information acquisition step of acquiring maintenance work information including at least inspection items related to industrial machines including robots whose inspection cycles exceed the inspection period on the maintenance date, and work times related to additional work required for the inspection items; an additional work possibility determination step of determining whether the additional work can be performed within the remaining work time obtained by subtracting the work time for the maintenance related to the essential maintenance item from the total work time set for the maintenance day; a maintenance schedule formulation step of formulating a maintenance schedule including the additional work when it is determined in the addition possibility determination step that the additional work can be performed; Includes. This can achieve the same effect as (1).

[0065] (8) In the maintenance scheduling method according to (7), In the maintenance work information acquisition step, Obtaining the excess time beyond the inspection period of the industrial machine including the robot that has exceeded the inspection period; In the addition possibility determination step, setting a priority based on an excess time beyond the inspection cycle of the industrial machine acquired in the maintenance work information acquisition step; Within the remaining work time excluding the maintenance work time related to the required maintenance items, determine whether or not the additional work necessary for the inspection acquired in the maintenance work information acquisition step can be performed in the order of priority, and if it is determined that the additional work necessary for the inspection can be performed, continue the determination by subtracting the work time related to the additional work necessary for the inspection that has been determined to be performable from the remaining work time, and set the time obtained by subtracting the work time related to the additional work necessary for the inspection that has been determined to be performable as a new remaining work time; The maintenance schedule creation step further includes: In the addition possibility determination step, when it is determined that the additional work required for the inspection cannot be performed, a maintenance schedule may be formulated that includes the additional work required for the inspection that is determined to be performable. This can achieve the same effect as (2).

[0066] (9) In the maintenance scheduling method according to (7), In the maintenance work information acquisition step, Obtaining the excess time beyond the inspection period of the industrial machine including the robot that has exceeded the inspection period; In the addition possibility determination step, setting a priority based on an excess time beyond the inspection cycle of the industrial machine acquired in the maintenance work information acquisition step; determine whether or not the additional work required for the inspection acquired in the maintenance work information acquisition step can be performed within the remaining work time excluding the maintenance work time related to the required maintenance item, in the order of priority, and if it is determined that the additional work can be performed, continue the determination by subtracting the work time related to the additional work required for the inspection that has been determined to be performable from the remaining work time, and if it is determined that the additional work cannot be performed, continue the determination to determine whether or not the additional work required for the inspection of the next priority can be performed within the remaining work time; The maintenance schedule creation step further includes: Once the step of determining whether or not all of the additional work required for the inspections can be performed has been completed, a maintenance schedule may be formulated that includes the additional work required for the inspections that has been determined to be possible. This can achieve the same effect as (3).

[0067] Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments. Furthermore, the effects described in the present embodiments are merely a list of the most preferable effects resulting from the present invention, and the effects of the present invention are not limited to those described in the present embodiments. [Explanation of symbols]

[0068] 100 Production System 1 Maintenance scheduling device 10 Control Unit 101 Required maintenance work information acquisition section 102 Maintenance work information acquisition section 106 Addition possibility determination section 107 Maintenance Schedule Planning Department 20 Memory section 30 Communications Department 50 Display 60 Input section 2. Industrial machinery 2a Robot 2b Machine tools 2c Peripherals 3 Machine control device 30 Control Unit 301 Operation Information Acquisition Department 302 Inspection cycle excess time calculation unit 303 Maintenance Information Transmission Unit 32 Storage section 4 Cell control device 6. Communication Networks

Claims

1. a required maintenance work information acquisition unit that acquires required maintenance items related to the industrial machine, maintenance dates for performing the maintenance related to the required maintenance items, and work times for performing the maintenance related to the required maintenance items; a maintenance work information acquisition unit that acquires maintenance work information including inspection items related to industrial machinery including a robot that are not included in the essential maintenance items related to the industrial machinery and that are beyond the inspection cycle on the maintenance date, excess time beyond the inspection cycle, and work time related to additional work required for the inspection items; an additional work possibility determination unit that sets a priority for the additional work acquired by the maintenance work information acquisition unit using a preset priority setting method based on the overtime, determines whether or not the additional work necessary for the inspection can be performed within the remaining work time obtained by subtracting the work time for the maintenance related to the mandatory maintenance item acquired by the mandatory maintenance work information acquisition unit from the total work time set for the maintenance day on which the maintenance related to the mandatory maintenance item is to be performed using a preset determination method for the additional work based on the priority, and if it is determined that the additional work can be performed, sets the time obtained by subtracting the work time for the additional work necessary for the inspection that has been determined to be performable from the remaining work time as a new remaining work time and continues the determination; a maintenance schedule formulation unit that formulates a maintenance schedule that includes the additional work when the addition possibility determination unit determines that the additional work can be performed; A maintenance scheduling device comprising:

2. The addability determination unit further Within the remaining work time excluding the work time for the maintenance related to the required maintenance items, determine whether or not the additional work required for the inspection acquired by the maintenance work information acquisition unit can be performed in the order of priority, and if it is determined that the additional work can be performed, continue the determination by subtracting the work time for the additional work required for the inspection that has been determined to be performable from the remaining work time, and The maintenance schedule formulation unit further When the additional work necessary for the inspection is determined to be impossible to perform by the addition possibility determination unit, a maintenance schedule is formulated that includes the additional work necessary for the inspection that is determined to be possible to perform. The maintenance scheduling device of claim 1 .

3. The addability determination unit further determine whether or not the additional work necessary for the inspection acquired by the maintenance work information acquisition unit can be performed in the order of priority within the remaining work time excluding the maintenance work time related to the required maintenance item, and if it is determined that the additional work can be performed, continue the determination by subtracting the work time related to the additional work necessary for the inspection that has been determined to be performable from the remaining work time, and if it is determined that the additional work cannot be performed, continue the determination to determine whether or not the additional work necessary for the inspection of the next priority can be performed within the remaining work time; The maintenance schedule formulation unit further When the addition possibility determination unit has completed the determination of whether or not all of the additional work required for the inspections can be performed, a maintenance schedule is formulated that includes the additional work required for the inspections that has been determined to be performable. The maintenance scheduling device of claim 1 .

4. 4. The maintenance scheduling device according to claim 2, wherein the priority order is determined such that an industrial machine that has exceeded its inspection cycle for a long period of time as acquired by the maintenance work information acquisition unit has priority.

5. 4. The maintenance scheduling device according to claim 2, wherein the priority is determined by giving priority to an industrial machine having a larger ratio of the excess time beyond the inspection cycle of the industrial machine acquired by the maintenance work information acquisition unit to the inspection cycle.

6. 6. The maintenance scheduling device according to claim 1, wherein the total work time set for the maintenance day and the work time for additional work required for the inspection items are set according to the number of maintenance personnel working simultaneously.

7. A maintenance scheduling method for formulating a maintenance schedule for industrial machinery including a robot by a computer, comprising: a required maintenance work information acquisition step of acquiring required maintenance items related to the industrial machine, maintenance dates for performing the maintenance related to the required maintenance items, and work times for performing the maintenance related to the required maintenance items; a maintenance work information acquisition step of acquiring maintenance work information including inspection items related to industrial machines including robots that are not included in the required maintenance items related to the industrial machines and whose inspection cycles have exceeded the inspection date, the excess time exceeding the inspection cycles, and the work time related to additional work required for the inspection items; an additional work feasibility determination step of setting a priority for the additional work acquired in the maintenance work information acquisition step by a preset priority setting method based on the overtime, determining whether or not the additional work necessary for the inspection can be performed within the remaining work time obtained by subtracting the work time for the maintenance related to the essential maintenance item acquired in the essential maintenance work information acquisition step from the total work time set for the maintenance day on which the maintenance related to the essential maintenance item is to be performed by a preset determination method for the additional work based on the priority, and if it is determined that the additional work can be performed, setting the time obtained by subtracting the work time for the additional work necessary for the inspection that has been determined to be feasible from the remaining work time as a new remaining work time and continuing the determination; a maintenance schedule formulation step of formulating a maintenance schedule including the additional work when it is determined in the addition possibility determination step that the additional work can be performed; A maintenance scheduling method comprising:

8. In the addition possibility determination step, Within the remaining work time excluding the maintenance work time related to the required maintenance items, determine whether or not the additional work necessary for the inspection acquired in the maintenance work information acquisition step can be performed in the order of priority, and if it is determined that the additional work necessary for the inspection can be performed, continue the determination by subtracting the work time related to the additional work necessary for the inspection that has been determined to be performable from the remaining work time, and set the time obtained by subtracting the work time related to the additional work necessary for the inspection that has been determined to be performable as a new remaining work time; The maintenance schedule creation step further includes: formulating a maintenance schedule that includes the additional work required for the inspection that is determined to be executable when it is determined that the additional work required for the inspection is not executable in the addition possibility determination step; The maintenance scheduling method of claim 7.

9. In the addition possibility determination step, determine whether or not the additional work required for the inspection acquired in the maintenance work information acquisition step can be performed within the remaining work time excluding the maintenance work time related to the required maintenance item, in the order of priority, and if it is determined that the additional work can be performed, continue the determination by subtracting the work time related to the additional work required for the inspection that has been determined to be performable from the remaining work time, and if it is determined that the additional work cannot be performed, continue the determination to determine whether or not the additional work required for the inspection of the next priority can be performed within the remaining work time; The maintenance schedule creation step further includes: When the determination of whether or not all of the additional work required for the inspections can be performed is completed in the addition possibility determination step, a maintenance schedule is formulated that includes the additional work required for the inspections that has been determined to be performable. The maintenance scheduling method of claim 7.

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