Welding point count management device

Abstract

The objective of the present invention is to alleviate the burden of work performed by an operator to confirm a number of weld spots on a workpiece.　A weld spot number management device 10 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure comprises: a receiving unit 15 for receiving, from a plurality of welding robots, welding information that is generated for each weld spot on a component to be welded by a plurality of welding robots 30, and that includes a component number for identifying each component, program information indicating a program used when welding the component, and date and time information; a storage unit 14 for adding robot information identifying each welding robot to the welding information and storing the same; an aggregating unit 18 for aggregating the total number of weld spots for each component on the basis of the welding information; and a display unit 13 for displaying the aggregated total number of weld spots as a list.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a welding point number management device. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, the use of welding robots equipped with spot welding guns for welding car bodies and the like has become widespread. In welding operations using spot welding guns, two workpieces to be welded are sandwiched between a movable electrode tip and a fixed electrode tip, and current is applied while a predetermined pressure is applied to weld the two workpieces. To prevent deterioration in the quality of welding operations using welding robots, it is important to detect defects such as defective welds and missing welds. Known techniques for detecting defective welds include, for example, a technique for determining abnormalities in welded locations based on data acquired by an external sensor (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Operators can identify defective welds using such techniques. Regarding missing welds, for example, welding data for each weld on a workpiece collected from a welding robot is displayed on a display device in chronological order, and the operator checks the number of welds on the workpiece by counting the number of welding data points. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2021-10925 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, the task of counting the number of welding data to check the number of welding points on a workpiece places a heavy burden on the worker, and there is even a possibility that missing welding points may be overlooked due to counting errors, etc. Therefore, a technology that reduces the burden on the worker of checking the number of welding points on a workpiece is desired. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] A welding point count management device according to one aspect of the present disclosure includes a receiving unit that receives welding information from multiple welding robots, the welding information being generated by multiple welding robots for each welding point on a part to be welded, and including a part number that individually identifies the part, program information indicating the program used to weld the part, and date and time information; a memory unit that stores the welding information together with robot information that identifies each welding robot; a counting unit that tallies the total number of welding points for each part based on the welding information; and a display unit that displays a list of the tallied total number of welding points. [Effects of the Invention]

[0006] According to this aspect, the burden on the worker of checking the number of points to be struck on the workpiece can be reduced. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0007] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a welding system including a welding point count management device according to this embodiment. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the welding point number management device of FIG. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a welding point number management page provided by the welding point number management device of FIG. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing another example of the number of welding points management page provided by the number of welding points management device of FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0008] Hereinafter, a welding point count management device according to this embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, components having substantially the same functions and configurations are designated by the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be given only when necessary.

[0009] As shown in FIG. 1 , the welding point count management device 10 according to this embodiment is connected to a plurality of welding robots 30 (30a, 30b) via a network 70 such as a LAN. The welding robots 30 (30a, 30b) each include a welding robot main body 40 (40a, 40b) and a welding robot controller 50 (50a, 50b) that controls the welding robot main body 40 (40a, 40b). The welding robot main body 40 is provided by a multi-joint arm mechanism equipped with a spot welding gun. In this embodiment, the welding robot controller 50 is provided as a single device that has the function of controlling the multi-joint arm mechanism and the function of controlling the spot welding gun. However, the welding robot controller 50 may also be configured such that a robot controller that controls the multi-joint arm mechanism and a welding gun controller that controls the spot welding gun are separately provided and connected to each other for communication.

[0010] The welding robot control device 50 has a processor configured with a CPU, a GPU, etc., a RAM that functions as the main memory, work area, etc. of the processor, and a storage device that stores various programs, various setting information, etc.

[0011] The storage device stores a welding program for causing the welding robot 30 to perform a predetermined welding operation. A welding program is prepared for each type of workpiece (component) to be welded. For example, the welding program is provided in text format, with operation instructions written on each line. The operation instructions include an instruction to move to the welding point, an instruction to weld, an instruction to wait, etc. The welding instructions include an instruction for welding pressure, an instruction for welding current, etc.

[0012] By executing the welding program by the processor, the welding robot control device 50 functions as a control unit 51, an input unit 52, a display unit 53, a memory unit 54, a communication unit 55, a current detection unit 56, a welding time measurement unit 57, a welding result determination unit 58, and a welding information generation unit 59.

[0013] The control unit 51 controls the welding robot in accordance with the welding program. Input unit 52 inputs user operations via input devices such as a keyboard, mouse, and teaching console to welding robot controller 50. Specifically, the user operates to input setting information required for causing the welding robot to perform a predetermined welding operation to welding robot controller 50. The setting information includes program information that identifies the welding program to be used for welding and welding gun information that identifies the spot welding gun to be used. Of course, an information processing terminal such as a smartphone, tablet, or PC may be connected to welding robot controller 50, and the setting information may be input to welding robot controller 50 by user operations via the information processing terminal.

[0014] Display unit 53 displays a screen for receiving input of setting information required for welding robot 30 to perform a predetermined welding operation.

[0015] The current detection unit 56 detects the value of the current that flows when current is applied between the fixed electrode tip and the movable electrode tip of the spot welding gun (hereinafter referred to as the gun shaft current value). The gun shaft current value can be detected using an existing method, such as a current sensor. Data related to the gun shaft current value detected by the current detection unit 56 is sent to the welding information generation unit 59.

[0016] Welding time measurement unit 57 measures the time during which current is passed between the fixed electrode tip and the movable electrode tip of the spot welding gun as the welding time. Data relating to the welding time measured by welding time measurement unit 57 is sent to welding information generation unit 59.

[0017] Welding result determination unit 58 determines whether the welding result is successful or not. For example, welding result determination unit 58 determines whether the welding result for each welding point is "successful," "fail," "pseudo welding," "welding retry," or "invalid welding." Data related to the determination result by welding result determination unit 58 is sent to welding information generation unit 59.

[0018] The welding information generating unit 59 generates welding information for each welding point. Specifically, the welding information generating unit 59 compiles information related to welding of the welding points as a data body and generates welding information by associating incidental information with the data body. The welding-related information includes data related to the gun shaft current value, data related to the welding time, and data related to the welding result. The incidental information includes date and time information, robot information, welding gun information, part information, welding point information, and program information. The date and time information includes the welding date and time of the welding point (welding start date and time). The robot information includes a robot name for identifying the welding robot 30 used. The welding gun information includes a gun number for identifying the welding gun used. The part information includes a part number for individually identifying the part to be welded. The part information may include a part type ID for individually identifying the type of part to be welded. The welding point information includes a welding point ID for individually identifying the welding point to be welded. The program information includes a program name for identifying the welding program used.

[0019] Of the additional information, the robot name, gun number, part type ID, and program name are input by user operation via the input unit 52. The part number is assigned to each part to be welded as a serial number after the start of a series of welding operations. The welding point ID corresponds to the welding point order specified in the welding program.

[0020] The storage unit 54 stores the welding information for each welding point generated by the welding information generating unit 59.

[0021] The communication unit 55 controls the transmission and reception of various information to and from the welding point number management device 10. Through processing by the communication unit 55, the welding robot control device 50 transmits welding information corresponding to one welding point to the welding point number management device 10 each time welding of the one welding point is completed. Of course, the welding robot control device 50 may also transmit welding information corresponding to all welding points collectively to the welding point number management device 10 at the timing when welding of all welding points on the component to be welded is completed.

[0022] The welding point number management device 10 includes hardware similar to that of a general PC, such as a processor, ROM, RAM, storage device, and input / output interface. A welding point number management program is stored in the storage device. When the processor executes the welding point number management program, the welding point number management device 10 functions as a control unit 11, an input unit 12, a display unit 13, a storage unit 14, a communication unit 15, a counting condition setting unit 16, a display condition setting unit 17, a welding point number counting unit 18, a table creation unit 19, and a welding point number management page creation unit 20.

[0023] The control unit 11 controls each unit constituting the welding point number management device 10 in an integrated manner. The input unit 12 inputs user operations via input devices such as a keyboard, a mouse, and a teaching operation panel to the welding point number management device 10. Specifically, display conditions are input to the welding point number management device 10 in accordance with the user operations.

[0024] The storage unit 14 stores the welding information received via the communication unit 15. The storage unit 14 also stores initial setting data of the aggregation conditions.

[0025] The communication unit 15 transmits and receives various information to and from the welding robot control device 50. Through the processing of the communication unit 15, the welding point count management device 10 successively receives welding information from the welding robot control device 50.

[0026] The tallying condition setting unit 16 sets tallying conditions. The tallying conditions are conditions for tallying the number of dots. As the tallying conditions, the part number, robot name, and program name are initially set.

[0027] The display condition setting unit 17 sets the display conditions in accordance with user operations via the input unit 12. The display conditions are conditions for determining the display target of the counted results of the number of welding points, and the setting items include the part number, part type, date and time, robot name, program name, etc. For example, if you want to check welding information generated on the same date and time, you can set the date and time. If you want to check the number of welding points for parts welded on the same date and time by a specific robot, you can set the robot name along with the date and time. If you want to check the total number of welding points for multiple parts of the same type, you can set the part type ID.

[0028] The welding point number tallying unit 18 tally the total number of welding points and the number of successful welding points according to the tallying conditions set by the tallying condition setting unit 16. The total number of welding points corresponds to the total number of welding points welded for each component to be welded. Therefore, the total number of welding points includes not only the number of successfully welded welding points but also the number of unsuccessfully welded welding points. The successful number of welding points corresponds to the number of welding points welded for each component to be welded that have a "successful" welding result. For example, the welding point number tallying unit 18 extracts welding information that matches the part number, robot name, and program name as the tallying conditions set by the tallying condition setting unit 16 from the welding information stored in the memory unit 14 by the welding information management unit. The welding point number tallying unit 18 then tally the number of extracted welding information as the total number of welding points, and tally the number of welding information included in the extracted welding information that have a "successful" welding result as the number of successful welding points.

[0029] The table creation unit 19 creates a summary table summarizing the counting results of the number of welding points for each part, according to the display conditions set by the display condition setting unit 17. One record in the summary table includes multiple items. The multiple items include start date and time, end date and time, part number, robot name, program name, gun number, number of successful welding points, and total number of welding points. The start date and time corresponds to the welding date and time of the first welding point on the part. The end date and time corresponds to the welding date and time of the last welding point on the part. Of course, the start date and time and end date and time in the summary table may also be the start date and time and end date and time of the program. Of the multiple items, the start date and time, end date and time, part number, robot name, program name, and gun number are data included in the welding information. The number of successful welding points and total number of welding points are data provided by the welding point counting unit 18.

[0030] The table creation unit 19 creates a list that lists the welding information that is the source of the aggregation, which tallies the number of welding points for each part. One record in the list contains multiple items. The multiple items include welding date and time, part number, robot name, program name, program line number, welding ID, welding result, and welding time. The program line number indicates the line number in a program written in text format where an instruction to weld a welding point is written. The welding ID is an ID for identifying a welding point on a part, and corresponds to, for example, the order in which the welding will be performed.

[0031] The welding point number management page creation unit 20 generates data for the welding point number management page including a list relating to the number of welding points for each component created by the table creation unit 19. The welding point number management page created by the welding point number management page creation unit 20 is displayed on the display unit 13.

[0032] 3 and 4, the welding point number management page created by the welding point number management page creation unit 20 will be described. As shown in FIG. 3, the welding point number management page includes a plurality of input boxes for the user to input display conditions, a display button for setting the display conditions, and a first display area that displays a list of the number of welding points for each component. As shown in FIG. 3, the plurality of input boxes include an input box for inputting the robot name, an input box for inputting the program name, and input boxes for inputting the welding start date and time and the welding end date and time. In this example, the robot name "ROBOT1", the program name "TEST1", the welding start date and time "2022 / 01 / 01 00:00:00", and the welding end date and time "2022 / 01 / 01 23:59:59" are input as display conditions by user operation. When the display button is clicked by the user, the display conditions entered by the user are set by the display condition setting unit, and a summary table of the number of points to be laid for each part is created by the table creation unit 19 according to the set display conditions, and the created summary table is displayed in the first display area.

[0033] As shown in Fig. 4, when a user selects one record on the summary table of the number of dots for each part displayed in the first display area, a second display area is displayed below the first display area. The second display area displays a list of welding information that was the source of the aggregation of the number of dots for each part. In this example, the user selects the record for part number "74" on the summary table of the number of dots for each part displayed in the first display area, and the second display area displays a list created by table creation unit 19 based on the welding information that was the source of the aggregation of the total number of dots for part number "74."

[0034] The welding point count management device 10 according to this embodiment has the following advantages: The welding point count management device 10 can automatically tally up the total number of welding points for each part to be welded, for each welding robot 30 used, and for each welding program used, based on the welding information received from each of the multiple welding robots 30, and can display the tally results.

[0035] For example, as shown in FIG. 3 , the welding point count management device 10 can notify the user of the total number of welding points and the number of successful welding points for each part via a summary table displayed on the welding point count management page. In the summary table shown in FIG. 3 , the total number of welding points for part numbers “71,” “73,” and “74” is “6,” while the total number of welding points for part number “72” is “5.” This indicates that a missing welding point has occurred in one of the groups. The user can easily identify the missing welding point by viewing the summary table shown in FIG. 3 and checking the total number of welding points for each part. In this way, summarizing and displaying the total number of welding points for each part contributes to improving the welding quality of the parts to be welded. The welding point count management page may also display information about the total number of welding points planned based on the welding program. This allows the user to easily determine which group has the missing welding point when there are two groups with different total welding points.

[0036] In addition, in the summary table shown in FIG. 3, the total number of welding points for part number "74" is "6" and the number of successful welding points is "5." This means that welding failed at one of the six welding points on the part. By viewing the summary table shown in FIG. 3 and checking the total number of welding points and the number of successful welding points on the same part, the user can easily determine whether welding at all welding points was successful. In this way, aggregating and displaying the total number of welding points and the number of successful welding points on the same part also contributes to improving the welding quality of the parts being welded.

[0037] Furthermore, as shown in Figure 4, by selecting a record in the summary table that has a failed welding point and checking the welding information from which the data was collected, it is possible to determine which welding point failed. Also, by selecting a record in the summary table where a missing welding point is suspected and checking the welding information from which the data was collected, it is possible to immediately determine which welding point the missing welding point occurred at. These also contribute to improving welding quality.

[0038] In this embodiment, the part number, robot name, and program name are initially set as the conditions for counting the number of wires. This allows the part to be identified by the robot name and program name, even if the part number is duplicated, and the number of wires for each part can be counted. However, the default counting conditions are not limited to these. Assuming that the part numbers are not duplicated, only the part number may be initially set as the counting condition. Of course, multiple types of counting conditions may be prepared as initial conditions, and the user may select one. The counting conditions may also be set according to user operation. For example, possible items for setting the counting conditions include date and time, part number, part type ID, robot name, gun number, program name, and program line number. For example, by setting the part number, robot name, and program name as well as a range of program line numbers as the counting conditions, the total number of wires for each part can be displayed in multiple parts. For example, by setting the program line numbers to "1-20," "21-40," and "41-60," it is possible to tally up for each part the number of partial welding points corresponding to program line numbers 1 through 20, the number of partial welding points corresponding to program line numbers 21 through 40, and the number of partial welding points corresponding to program line numbers 41 through 60. This makes it easy to identify which part of the program contains the processing that caused the missing welding point when a missing welding point is discovered. This also contributes to improving the welding quality of parts.

[0039] In this embodiment, the incidental information included in the welding information is added by the welding robot control device 50. However, at least a portion of the incidental information may be added by an information processing device other than the welding robot control device 50, for example, a higher-level device in the system. In this case, the data body generated by the welding robot control device 50 is sent to the information processing device, which generates welding information by adding the incidental information to the data body, and the welding information is sent from the information processing device to the welding point number management device 10. Also, at least a portion of the incidental information may be added by the welding point number management device 10. For example, when receiving welding information, the welding point number management device 10 can identify the sender of the welding information and add robot information to the welding information.

[0040] In this embodiment, the welding robot 30 is equipped with a spot welding gun and is capable of performing spot welding, but the type of welding is not limited to this. For example, the welding robot 30 may be capable of arc welding.

[0041] Although several embodiments of the present invention have been described, these embodiments are presented as examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, substitutions, and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. These embodiments and their modifications are included within the scope and spirit of the invention, as well as within the scope of the invention described in the claims and their equivalents. [Explanation of symbols]

[0042] 10...welding point number management device, 30 (30a, 30b)...welding robot, 40 (40a, 40b)...welding robot main body, 50 (50a, 50b)...welding robot control device, 11, 51...control unit, 12, 52...input unit, 13, 53...display unit, 14, 54...memory unit, 15, 55...communication unit, 16...collection condition setting unit, 17...display condition setting unit, 18...collection point number collection unit, 19...table creation unit, 20...welding point number management page creation unit, 56...current detection unit, 57...welding time measurement unit, 58...welding result determination unit, 59...welding information generation unit.

Claims

1. A welding point number management device connected to a plurality of welding robots, a receiving unit that receives welding information from the plurality of welding robots, the welding information being generated by the plurality of welding robots for each welding point on a component to be welded, the welding information including robot information for individually identifying the welding robot, a component number for individually identifying the component, program information indicating a program used when welding the component, and date and time information; a counting unit that counts the total number of welding points for each component based on the welding information; a display unit that displays a list of the total number of hits; A welding point number management device comprising:

2. 2. The welding point number management device according to claim 1, wherein the counting unit counts, as the total number of welding points, the number of pieces of welding information in which the part number, the program information, and the robot information match.

3. The welding information includes at least one of a successful welding result, a failure, a false welding, a welding retry, and an invalid welding result, the counting unit counts the total number of welding points for each component and the number of successful welding points for each component, 2. The welding point number management device according to claim 1, wherein the display unit displays the total number of welding points and the number of successful welding points.

4. The welding point number management device according to claim 1 , wherein the display unit displays a list of the welding information for each welding point of the component selected in accordance with a user operation.

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