Work evaluation system

Abstract

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a means for properly selecting the assembly order or work operations with respect to a component so as to avoid re-decomposition / re-cleaning due to foreign matter, which was generated during assembly work for device maintenance, adhering to the inside of a device.　A representative work evaluation system according to the present invention is a work evaluation system for evaluating work which includes a plurality of processes to be carried out on an object having a surface requiring a predetermined degree of cleanliness. The evaluation includes calculating a total sum of a sum of a plurality of work times required respectively for the plurality of processes, and a product of the sum of the work times and a coefficient indicating a degree of occurrence of a defect caused by a foreign matter after the work based on an evaluation result of a degree of propagation or adhesion of the foreign matter that impairs the degree of cleanliness of the surface in the plurality of processes obtained in advance. A result of the calculation is displayed on or reported to a display device.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a work evaluation system.

Background Art

[0002] In semiconductor manufacturing equipment, the yield deteriorates due to foreign matter generated during the manufacturing process adhering to the internal components of the equipment. Therefore, maintenance work is required to periodically disassemble and clean the equipment. Since the maintenance work is performed with the equipment stopped, there is a problem that in equipment designs and work procedures where disassembly, cleaning, and assembly are difficult, the downtime is long and the operation rate decreases. Therefore, as a technology for creating work procedures that minimize work time, a technology for estimating the time required for disassembly and assembly based on equipment design information and work procedures has been disclosed. Since the disassembly work and the assembly work are symmetric, the following description focuses only on the assembly work.

[0003] As a prior art related to assembly work, Patent Document 1 aims to provide a program that can improve the accuracy of the estimated value of the assembly time calculated in a simulation, and discloses the following contents as a program, an assembly time calculation method, and an assembly time calculation device: "A program for calculating the assembly time of a product by simulation. The input unit 1302 acquires animation data for displaying the procedure of the product assembly work in animation on the display unit. The change point detection unit 1310 detects a change in the viewpoint of the animation from the acquired animation data, and the standard time calculation unit 1311 calculates an estimated value of the assembly time of the product based on the detected change in the viewpoint of the animation." Patent Document 1 discloses a technology for estimating the assembly work time by inputting the assembly work procedure of a product and simulating the assembly work in a computer. Furthermore, Patent Document 2 aims to provide a device that evaluates and calculates assembly workability without the evaluator having to manipulate a human body model, and discloses the following as an assembly workability evaluation calculation device and assembly workability evaluation method: "It comprises an information acquisition means for extracting information on the part attributes, part placement, and adjacency relationships of multiple parts from a 3D CAD model; a means for classifying part types and detecting characteristic shapes from the information of the 3D CAD model; a means for representing an assembly graph from the adjacency relationship information between parts; a means for generating the disassembly direction and disassembly order based on the assembly graph, and deriving the assembly order and assembly direction by performing the reverse transformation; a means for calculating part deductions by multiplying the basic deductions for each assembly operation of the parts by a correction coefficient, and calculating an index representing the quality of the ease of assembly of the parts by subtracting the sum of the deductions for each part from a reference point; a means for generating multiple virtual worker positions, postures, and viewpoints according to the assembly order to evaluate workability; and a comprehensive evaluation means for calculating an evaluation value of the index of ease of assembly of parts and a comprehensive evaluation value of assembly workability, and outputting the results." Patent Document 2 discloses a technique for generating the shortest possible work procedure based on the assembly time of each component and priority relationships, such as the need to assemble certain components before others. [Prior art documents] [Patent Documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2014-182557 [Patent Document 2] Patent No. 5833998 [Overview of the project] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

[0005] The technologies disclosed in the above-mentioned Patent Documents 1 and 2 do not consider the possibility that the inside of the device may be re-contaminated by foreign matter adhering during the assembly process after disassembly and cleaning, requiring the disassembly and cleaning to be repeated, in maintenance work aimed at keeping the inside of the device clean. Generally, dust, sebum, sweat, and other debris are generated from the workers and tools performing the assembly. In addition, dust may be generated from the parts themselves, such as metal shavings generated when screws are attached and detached. These debris and metal shavings are collectively called foreign matter, and in this invention, the source of this foreign matter is called a foreign matter source. During maintenance work, the inside of the device may be re-contaminated by actions such as grasping internal parts by hand, foreign matter sources passing over exposed internal parts, or grasping internal parts after touching foreign matter sources with the hand. These re-contamination processes are probabilistic. In maintenance work aimed at keeping the inside of the equipment clean, the accumulation of probabilistic re-contamination due to each operation can lead to a certain amount of foreign matter accumulating inside the equipment. If this results in a failure in the foreign matter test, the disassembly and cleaning work must be repeated, extending the equipment's downtime.

[0006] This invention has been made in view of the aforementioned problem, and aims to provide a means for appropriately selecting the assembly order of parts and the work operations in order to prevent the need for further disassembly and re-cleaning caused by foreign matter adhering to the inside of the device during assembly work for device maintenance. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] To solve the above problems, one representative work evaluation system of the present invention is a work evaluation system for evaluating a work consisting of multiple steps on an object having a surface requiring a predetermined degree of cleanliness. ,before This includes calculating the sum of the total working times required for each of the multiple processes, and the product of a coefficient indicating the degree of defect caused by foreign matter after the work, based on the evaluation results obtained in advance of the degree of propagation or adhesion of foreign matter that impairs the cleanliness of the surface in the multiple processes, and the total working times. The processing unit that performs the aforementioned evaluation and , the result of the calculation To represent To indicate or notify Equipped with a display unit. . [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] According to the present invention, in maintenance work aimed at keeping the inside of the device clean, the frequency of re-disassembly and re-cleaning caused by foreign matter adhering during assembly can be reduced, thereby shortening maintenance time and improving the equipment operating rate. Other issues, configurations, and effects not mentioned above will be clarified by the description of the embodiments for carrying out the invention below. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0009] [Figure 1] Figure 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a work procedure generation device in the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] Figure 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the reaction vessel section in the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 3] Figure 3 shows an example of the data format for work definition information. [Figure 4] Figure 4 shows an example of a data format for foreign object source information. [Figure 5] Figure 5 shows an example of the data format for the calculation result information. [Figure 6] Figure 6 shows an example of a flowchart representing the processing in the processing unit. [Figure 7] Figure 7 is a directed graph showing candidate assembly sequences for the reaction vessel section in the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 8] Figure 8 is a tree diagram showing candidate assembly sequences for the reaction vessel section in the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 9] Figure 9 shows an example of the assembly operation of a cylindrical part in the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 10] Figure 10 shows an example of the assembly operation of a cylindrical part in the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 11] Figure 11 is a directed graph showing a combination of parts and operations for a candidate assembly procedure for the reaction vessel section in the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 12]FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a flowchart illustrating the processing in the foreign matter defect coefficient section. [Figure 13] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a flowchart illustrating the processing in the foreign matter propagation section. [Figure 14] FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of a GUI in the first embodiment of the present invention.

Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0010] Hereinafter, embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. In the drawings for explaining the embodiments, the same parts are generally denoted by the same reference numerals, and repeated explanations thereof are omitted.

[0011] [First Embodiment] The first embodiment of the present invention will be described using FIGS. 1 to 14.

[0012] [Device Configuration] FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a work procedure generation device 1 in the first embodiment of the present invention. The work procedure generation device 1 includes an input unit 110 for inputting and operating setting information necessary for calculation, a display unit 120 for displaying results, a processing unit 130 for executing generation processing of work procedures, and a storage unit 140 for storing processing results. In the present disclosure, a case of generating a work procedure for maintenance work will be described. The input unit 11* includes input devices such as a keyboard, a mouse, a touch panel, and a voice recognition device. The display unit 120 includes display devices such as a projection device such as a display or a projector, and a printer for printing calculation results. The processing unit 130 includes arithmetic devices such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), and a RAM (Random Access Memory) for executing arithmetic operations. The storage unit 140 is a storage device such as a hard disk device or a cloud storage having a communication function with the work procedure generation device 1. The input device, display device, arithmetic device, and storage device described above do not necessarily have to be dedicated to the work procedure generation device 1, and may be those generally used in a personal computer, a smartphone, or the like.

[0013] The processing unit 130 includes a foreign matter defect coefficient unit 131 that calculates a foreign matter defect coefficient 1431, which is an index representing the risk of failure in a foreign matter test performed after the assembly of the device; a foreign matter propagation unit 132 that calculates the effect of foreign matter propagation between parts and the hands of workers; a maintenance workability index unit 133 that evaluates the maintainability of a series of maintenance operations based on the work time and the foreign matter defect coefficient 1431; and a maintenance work generation unit 134 that selects maintenance operations that maximize or minimize the maintenance workability index. The foreign matter defect coefficient 1431 will be described later.

[0014] Although the configuration of the work procedure generation device 1 has been described, this disclosure is not limited to the device. The functions of the work procedure generation device 1 can also be realized by a system that combines separate devices. For example, the functions of the work procedure generation device 1 can also be realized by a work evaluation system that evaluates a work consisting of multiple steps on an object (reaction vessel section 200) having a surface (clean surface 207) that requires a predetermined degree of cleanliness. Here, the evaluation includes calculating a comprehensive sum of the sum of multiple work times 1413 required for each of the multiple steps (total work time 1435), and a coefficient (total foreign matter defect coefficient 1434) that indicates the degree of occurrence of defects due to foreign matter after the work, based on evaluation results obtained in advance of the degree of propagation or adhesion of foreign matter that impairs the cleanliness of the surface in the multiple steps, and the sum of the work times (total work time 1435), and the result of the calculation is displayed or notified on a display unit (display section 120). Furthermore, the clean surface area is 207, the reaction vessel section is 200, the total working time is 1435, and the total foreign matter defect coefficient is 143. 4 This will be explained later.

[0015] [Description of equipment subject to maintenance] Figure 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the reaction vessel section 200 in the first embodiment of the present invention. In this disclosure, maintenance work involves assembling or assembling a plurality of parts, including at least one part having the surface (clean surface 207) that requires a predetermined degree of cleanliness, to constitute the object, or disassembling the object into at least one of the plurality of parts. Although the reaction vessel section 200 is described as an example of equipment to which maintenance work is performed, this disclosure can also be applied to equipment other than the reaction vessel section 200.

[0016] The reaction vessel section 200 includes a lower vessel 201, an upper vessel 202, a screw 203, a cylindrical part 204, and a lid 205. Inside the reaction vessel section 200, the lower vessel 201 and the upper vessel 202 form a cylindrical internal space 206 extending in the z-axis direction. The upper vessel 202 is assembled into the lower vessel 201, and the upper vessel 202 and down The space between the upper container 202 and the lower container 201 is sealed by fastening the screws 203 that are placed in the screw holes provided in the side container 201.

[0017] To describe each component, the upper container 202 has a cylindrical through-hole inside. The through-hole has a shape that combines a cylindrical portion with a diameter R1 formed by the side surface s1 and a cylindrical portion with a diameter R2 formed by the wall surface s2, and a step st is formed at the boundary between the two cylindrical portions. When viewed from the z-axis positive direction, the step st is ring-shaped, and a cylindrical component 204 is placed on the step st. The cylindrical component 204 is a ring-shaped member that is fitted along the wall surface s2 of the upper container 202. In addition, a lid 205 is placed at the opening of the upper container 202 in the z-axis positive direction to separate the outside from the upper container 202.

[0018] Furthermore, the lower container 201 has a cylindrical recess formed by the bottom surface b1 and the side surface s3. The diameter of the recess is equal to the diameter R1 of the cylindrical portion of the upper container 202.

[0019] For example, when the reaction vessel section 200 is used in semiconductor manufacturing equipment, reaction processes related to semiconductor manufacturing are carried out in the internal space 206, but reaction products may adhere to the inner wall of the reaction vessel section 200. For this reason, it is necessary to disassemble and clean the reaction vessel section 200. Furthermore, when assembling the vessel after disassembly and cleaning, it is necessary to avoid the re-adhesion of foreign matter, and in particular, the bottom surface (the surface on the negative z-axis side) of the lid 205 that constitutes the wall surface of the internal space 206, the bottom surface b1 and side surface s1 of the lower container 201, and the inner wall surface s4 of the cylindrical part 204 are areas where foreign matter adhesion should be avoided. Hereinafter, the lid 205, side surface s3, wall surface s4 and bottom surface b1 will be collectively referred to as the clean surface 207. If foreign matter adheres to the clean surface 207, it will fail the foreign matter test after assembly, requiring the disassembly and cleaning work to be repeated, which will increase the total maintenance time.

[0020] The above description illustrates the main configuration of the reaction vessel section 200, and this disclosure is not limited to this configuration. In addition to the cylindrical component 204, the reaction vessel section 200 may also contain components necessary for the manufacturing process, such as sensors for measuring the temperature in the internal space 206. Furthermore, the reaction vessel section 200 may be connected to gas pipes for introducing gas from the outside, exhaust pipes, and pipes for transporting materials from another vessel section.

[0021] [Description of information stored in the memory unit] The following describes examples of data formats for the work definition information 141, foreign object source information 142, and calculation result information 143 stored in the memory unit 140, using Figures 3 to 5. In the work evaluation system, for each of the multiple processes, a coefficient (total foreign object defect coefficient 1434) indicating the degree of defect caused by the foreign object after the work is calculated using information (positional relationship information 1414) of the relative position of a previously obtained foreign object source 1416, which includes at least one body part of the worker, and the part (cleaned part 1415). A detailed explanation follows below.

[0022] Figure 3 shows an example of the data format of the work definition information 141. The work definition information 141 lists the work procedure ID 1411 assigned to the work procedure and the work IDs 1412 arranged in the order of work. Furthermore, for each work ID 1412, the work time 1413 and positional relationship information 1414 representing the relative positional relationship between the cleaning part 1415, which is a part for evaluating the adhering foreign matter, and the foreign matter source 1416 are stored. In this embodiment, the cleaning part 1415 for evaluating the foreign matter adhesion index consists of the lid 205 (corresponding to "part 205" in Figure 3), the lower container 201 (corresponding to "part 201"), and the cylindrical part 204 (corresponding to "part 204") that constitute the cleaning surface 207.

[0023] Positional relationship information 1414 is defined as information of three types: "contact," "above," and "not specified (displayed as blank)." "Contact" indicates that the clean surface 207 of the clean part 1415 and the foreign matter source 1416 are in contact; "above" indicates that the foreign matter source 1416 is above the clean surface 207, i.e., in the opposite direction to gravity, in a non-contact state; and "not specified" indicates that the clean surface 207 is not affected by the foreign matter source 1416.

[0024] Typical sources of foreign matter 1416 include, but are not limited to, the worker's "face," "arms," ​​and "hands," as well as "screws" to which metal shavings may adhere during screw removal and tightening. Furthermore, clean parts 1415 can include not only the parts that make up the walls of the internal space 206 as mentioned above, but also the worker's hands, which should not have foreign matter adhering to them in order to come into contact with the clean surface 207. The work definition information 141 is used to calculate the foreign matter defect coefficient 1431 and the maintainability index, which will be described later.

[0025] Figure 4 shows an example of the data format for foreign matter source information 142. For each foreign matter source 1416, foreign matter source information 142 stores a foreign matter adhesion index 1421 indicating the amount of foreign matter, a contact foreign matter propagation rate 1422 representing foreign matter propagation by contact, and an overhead foreign matter propagation rate 1423 representing foreign matter propagation due to foreign matter falling from above. Generally, when a foreign matter source 1416 comes into contact with a part, some of the foreign matter on the surface of the foreign matter source is transferred to the part that came into contact with it. In addition, foreign matter that has detached from a foreign matter source 1416 above the part to be assembled may fall onto the part to be assembled or another foreign matter source due to gravity. The foreign matter adhesion index 1421 is defined based on these physical phenomena and is used in the calculation of foreign matter propagation and foreign matter defect coefficient, which will be described later, to calculate the propagation of foreign matter according to relative positional relationships such as "contact" and "above," and the likelihood of foreign matter defects occurring. Furthermore, if the relative positional relationship between the foreign matter source and the clean part 1415 is "unspecified," no foreign matter adhesion occurs, and therefore 0% is entered as the unspecified foreign matter propagation rate 1424.

[0026] The foreign matter source information 142 is provided as input information, but the given foreign matter adhesion index 1421 is an initial value, and the foreign matter adhesion index changes as foreign matter propagates during each operation. For example, if you touch a screw and then touch a part with hands that have metal shavings on them, the foreign matter adhesion index 1421 on your hands will increase. The procedure can be evaluated taking into account the increase in the foreign matter adhesion index 1421 due to the propagation of foreign matter between foreign matter sources.

[0027] The foreign matter adhesion index 1421 relatively represents the impact of failure in the foreign matter test and can be determined by experimentally determining the number of foreign matter particles generated and adhering during work, or the foreign matter defect rate, which is the failure rate in the foreign matter test. The contact foreign matter propagation rate 1422 and the airborne foreign matter propagation rate 1423 can also be determined experimentally. In the examples described below, the foreign matter adhesion index 1421 is explained as the foreign matter defect rate (%). However, the definition of the foreign matter adhesion index 1421 is not limited to this; for example, indicators such as the number of foreign matter particles adhering to a part, the number of foreign matter particles adhering to a foreign matter source, or the area of ​​the part where foreign matter particles are attached may be used. Alternatively, relative values ​​representing the likelihood of foreign matter defect rate occurrence may be used, such as a ratio based on the number or area of ​​foreign matter particles in a given foreign matter source. In particular, when using relative values, for example, when handling a part 1.5 times larger, the number of foreign matter particles can be assumed to be 1.5 times greater, saving the effort of experimental investigation.

[0028] Figure 5 shows an example of the data format of the calculated result information 143. The work procedure ID 1411, work ID 1412, and work time 1413 are the same as those included in the work definition information 141 shown in Figure 3. The maintenance workability index unit 133 calculates the foreign matter defect coefficient 1431, total maintenance time 1432, and rank 1433 for each work ID 1412 and stores them in the storage unit 140 (the calculation method will be described later). The foreign matter defect coefficient 1431 is an index that represents the influence of foreign matter adhering to a certain part during a certain work on failing the foreign matter test, and in this embodiment it is explained as a defect rate, similar to the foreign matter adhesion index 1421 in Figure 3. The definition of the foreign matter defect coefficient 1431 is not limited to this, and other values ​​such as the number of foreign matter particles adhering to the part or the area of ​​the part to which foreign matter is attached may be used depending on the content of the foreign matter adhesion index 1421. Furthermore, in the following embodiment, the total maintenance time of 1432 is treated as the maintenance workability index, but indicators such as the foreign matter defect rate in a series of operations, the total number of foreign matter particles attached to the equipment, the total area on which foreign matter particles are attached, the sum of the foreign matter defect coefficients, and the total working time may also be used as the maintenance workability index.

[0029] The foreign matter defect coefficient 1431 is calculated for each clean part 1415, and then a subtotal is calculated to obtain the foreign matter defect coefficient 1431 for each work ID 1412. The total maintenance time 1432 is calculated for each work procedure ID from the work time 1413 and the foreign matter defect coefficient 1431, and stored in the memory unit 140 (the calculation method is described later). The rank 1433 is the rank when the total maintenance time 1432, which is used as a maintenance workability index in this embodiment, is arranged in ascending order.

[0030] [Explanation of calculation procedure] Figure 6 is a diagram showing an example of a flowchart representing the processing in the processing unit 130. Defects caused by foreign matter after processing occurrence A coefficient indicating the degree of (total foreign matter defect coefficient 1434) is calculated for each of the plurality of processes based on the product of the degree of adhesion of the foreign matter from the foreign matter source to the part targeted by that process and the degree of propagation of the foreign matter in that process.

[0031] Specifically, the processing unit 130 performs the process of reading work definition information (S101). Subsequently, the processing unit 130 repeatedly performs the calculation process of the foreign object defect coefficient (S102) and the calculation process of foreign object propagation (S103) for each work procedure ID 1411 and each work ID 1412. Subsequently, the processing unit 130 performs the calculation process of the maintenance workability index (S104) and the selection process of the work procedure ID (S105).

[0032] Following the flowchart in Figure 6, multiple candidate work procedures (hereinafter also referred to as "candidate work procedures") can be comprehensively calculated, and then the total maintenance time for each work procedure can be compared to output, for example, the work procedure with the shortest total maintenance time. Alternatively, a procedure can be generated by sequentially selecting the work with the minimum total maintenance time, and common methods such as the greedy algorithm, A* algorithm, and Dijkstra's algorithm can be used. Below, an example of the individual processing content described in the overall processing flow is presented.

[0033] (Process for reading work definition information) The process of reading work definition information S101 will now be explained. In the process of reading work definition information S101, candidate work procedures, which combine the assembly order and assembly operations of multiple parts, are read from the work definition information 141. Here, Figures 7 to 11 will be used to explain the information indicating the candidate work procedures described in the work definition information 141.

[0034] (Method for generating candidate work procedures) Using Figures 7 and 8, a method for generating an assembly sequence (hereinafter also referred to as "assembly sequence") will be explained using the reaction vessel section 200 as an example. Figure 7 is a directed graph showing candidate assembly sequences for the reaction vessel section in the first embodiment of the present invention. Figure 8 is a tree diagram showing candidate assembly sequences for the reaction vessel section in the first embodiment of the present invention.

[0035] In the directed graph 300 shown in Figure 7, the vertices, indicated by ellipses, represent parts, and the arrows connecting the vertices indicate the order of assembly. For example, the arrow between the lid 205 and the cylindrical part 204 indicates that the cylindrical part 204, which is connected to the arrowhead, should be assembled first, and then the lid 205, which is connected to the arrowhead, should be assembled. In the directed graph 300, parts that correspond to vertices where all connected arrows are arrowheads are parts that should be assembled last, such as the lid 205 and the screw 203. Also, parts that correspond to vertices where all connected arrows are arrowheads are parts that should be assembled first, such as the lower container 201.

[0036] One method for generating an assembly sequence from a directed graph 300 is to use a tree diagram. First, candidate parts to be assembled last are listed in the first level of the tree diagram. Next, one part is selected from the listed parts, and the parts that can be disassembled when that part is removed are listed in the second level. This process is repeated recursively until there are no more candidate parts to remove. In the case of the directed graph 300, the screw 203 and the lid 205 are the parts that can be disassembled in the initial state. When the lid 205 is removed, the screw 203 and the cylindrical part 204 become the next parts to be disassembled, so the screw 203 and the cylindrical part 204 are listed in the second level, and branches extending from the lid 205 to the screw 203 and from the lid 205 to the cylindrical part 204 are added. The tree diagram obtained by repeating the above process. 3Figure 8 shows 01. By tracing Figure 8 from the first level, the decomposition order can be obtained, and the assembly order can be obtained in the reverse order, resulting in the following three possibilities.

[0037] (Assembly Procedure 1) Install the upper container 202 on top of the lower container 201, insert the cylindrical part 204 into the upper container 202, then close the lid 205, and finally fasten the screw 203. (Assembly Procedure 2) Install the upper container 202 on top of the lower container 201, insert the cylindrical part 204 into the upper container 202, then fasten the screw 203, and finally close the lid 205. (Assembly sequence 3) The upper container 202 is assembled onto the upper part of the lower container 201, and fastened with screws 203. Then the cylindrical part 204 is inserted into the upper container 202, and finally the lid 205 is closed.

[0038] Furthermore, even when there are assemblies composed of multiple parts, the assembly sequence can be generated in the same way. For example, after generating the assembly sequence by treating the assemblies as a single part, the assembly sequence for assembling each assembly can be generated in the same way, and the procedure can be generated by inserting the assembly step of each assembly before the assembly of each assembly.

[0039] Next, using Figures 9 and 10, we will explain an example in which multiple operations occur during assembly. Figures 9 and 10 show examples of assembly operations for the cylindrical part 204 in the first embodiment of the present invention.

[0040] Figure 9 shows an example of operation F for assembling a cylindrical part. Specifically, operation F involves the worker positioning their face 209 above the upper container 202 so that they can look through the through-hole in the upper container 202, and inserting the cylindrical part 204, which they are holding with their hand 208, into the upper container 202 while checking its insertion status. Operation A corresponds to operation ID "204F" in Figure 3.

[0041] Furthermore, Figure 10 shows an example of operation G for assembling a cylindrical component. Operation B is the operation of inserting the cylindrical component 204 into the upper container 202 while ensuring that the face 209 does not come into contact with the through-hole of the upper container 202, and corresponds to operation ID "204G" in Figure 3. Thus, the assembly operation of a component can take on multiple patterns depending on the position of foreign object sources (face or hands) during the operation and the movement path of the component.

[0042] Next, using Figure 11, an example of an assembly sequence combining possible operation patterns for (Assembly Sequence 1) to (Assembly Sequence 3) shown earlier will be explained. Figure 11 is a directed graph showing the combination of parts and operations for a candidate assembly procedure for the reaction vessel section in the first embodiment of the present invention. In Figure 11, operations A to H are given as examples, and one or two assembly operations are assigned to each part (operation A for part (lower container) 201, operations B and C for part (upper container) 202, operations D and E for part (screw) 203, operations F and G for part (cylindrical part) 204, and operations H and J for part (lid) 205), but there may be three or more assembly operations for a single part. Note that in Figure 11, for example, when part 201 is assembled with operation A, it is represented as "201A", which corresponds to the operation ID in Figure 3. Furthermore, the procedure ID "901" (specifically, procedures 201A, 202B, 203D, 204F, and 205J) of the work definition information 141, which is input information shown in Figure 3, is an example of work sequence data indicated by the thick solid arrow in Figure 11, and the procedure ID "902" (specifically, procedures 201A, 202B, 204G, 203D, and 205H) is an example of work sequence data indicated by the thick dotted arrow in Figure 11.

[0043] Furthermore, with respect to the work definition information 141, a directed graph 300 representing the preceding assembly sequence, including constraints between parts, may be derived from the 3D model of the apparatus by using a general constraint extraction technique. Additionally, work procedure ID 1411 and work ID 1412 may be comprehensively generated by calculating possible work postures from a 3D model with an additional human body model using a general line simulation technique, and work time 1413 may be calculated using the same technique. Moreover, relative positional relationships such as "contact" and "above" may be calculated by using a general ray tracing technique to perform ray tracing from the clean surface 207 in the opposite direction to gravity and checking whether it intersects with foreign object sources such as the face, arms, and hands, and these may be used in positional relationship information 1414.

[0044] (Calculation process for foreign object defect coefficient) Next, the calculation process S102 for the foreign matter defect coefficient in Figure 6 will be explained in detail using Figure 12. Figure 12 is a diagram showing an example of a flowchart representing the processing in the foreign matter defect coefficient unit 131. In the foreign matter defect coefficient calculation process S102, the foreign matter defect coefficient 1431 is calculated for each work ID 1412 based on the positional relationship information 1414 in Figure 3. For example, in the work ID "204G" shown in Figure 10, the arm and hand, which are foreign matter sources, are located above the part "201". Therefore, the foreign matter adhesion index (foreign matter defect rate) of the hand "2%" and the foreign matter propagation rate in the air "5%" are multiplied from the foreign matter source information 142 shown in Figure 4 to obtain a foreign matter defect coefficient of "0.1%". Similarly, calculations are performed for each foreign matter source to obtain a foreign matter defect coefficient of "0.02%" due to the arm. Furthermore, these are added together to obtain a foreign matter defect coefficient of "0.12%" for part "201" (step S1021). Similarly, the foreign object defect coefficient is calculated for each part, and the foreign object defect coefficient for part "204" is obtained as "1%". For part "205", since all of the positional relationship information 1414 is "not specified (indicated as blank)", the foreign object defect coefficient is "0%". Based on the above, the subtotal of the foreign object defect coefficient 1431 for work ID "204G" is calculated to be "1.12%" and is stored in the subtotal column for the foreign object defect coefficient 1431 (step S1022). Note that the calculation order of the foreign object source, work ID 1412, and part is not limited to the above case, and is not limited to any order as long as it is possible to perform the calculations comprehensively.

[0045] (Calculation process for foreign object propagation) Next, the foreign matter propagation calculation process S103 in Figure 6 will be explained using Figure 13. Figure 13 is a diagram showing an example of a flowchart illustrating the processing in the foreign matter propagation section. In the foreign matter propagation calculation process S103, the propagation of foreign matter that may occur between foreign matter sources is considered based on the positional relationship information 1414. For example, in the screw tightening operation, task ID "203D", the hand, which is the foreign matter source that becomes the foreign matter propagation destination 1417, and the screw, which is the foreign matter source that becomes the foreign matter propagation source 1418, are extracted from the positional relationship information 1414. When "contact" occurs by grasping the screw, which is the foreign matter propagation source, with the hand, the foreign matter adhesion coefficient of the screw "1%" and the contact propagation rate "50%" are multiplied from the foreign matter source information 142 to obtain a foreign matter propagation amount of "0.5%". By adding this to the foreign matter adhesion index of the hand "2%" (step S1031), a new foreign matter adhesion index of "2.5%" is calculated, and the value of the foreign matter adhesion index 1421 is updated. By sequentially performing this process for each foreign object source that will be the destination of the foreign object propagation, and for each foreign object source that will be the destination of the foreign object propagation number, according to the work sequence of work ID 1412, the effect of the foreign object propagation can be calculated.

[0046] (Calculation process for maintainability indicators) Next, the calculation process S104 for the maintainability index in Figure 6 will be explained in detail. The coefficient (total foreign matter defect coefficient 1434) that indicates the degree to which defects due to foreign matter occur after the work is calculated as the sum of the products of the degree of foreign matter adhesion (foreign matter adhesion index 1421) and the degree of propagation (contact foreign matter propagation rate 1422 and airborne foreign matter propagation rate 1423) for each of the multiple processes (total maintenance time 1432). In this embodiment, the case in which total maintenance time 1432 is used as the maintainability index will be explained, but other requirements besides total maintenance time 1432 will also be adopted as evaluation targets. Specifically, the foreign matter defect coefficient 1431 for each work ID stored in the calculation result information 143 is added for each work procedure ID 1411. For example, in work procedure ID "901", the subtotal of the foreign object defect coefficients for work IDs "201A" to "205H" is added to calculate the total foreign object defect coefficient of "2.52%", which is stored as the total foreign object defect coefficient of 1434. In addition, the work time of 1413 for work IDs "201A" to "205H" is added to the total work time, which is stored as the total work time of 1435.

[0047] The total maintenance time of 1432 is calculated using, for example, formula (1). The total foreign object defect rate is the probability that a foreign object defect occurs in at least one operation during a series of operations, and is equal to the total foreign object defect coefficient of 1434. Total maintenance time = Total working time + Total working time × Total foreign object defect rate … Equation (1)

[0048] In this embodiment, when the foreign matter adhesion index is defined as the rate of foreign matter defects caused by the movement of a foreign matter source in a predetermined positional relationship with a part, the total foreign matter defect rate is equal to the total foreign matter defect coefficient of 1434, assuming that the individual defect rates are sufficiently small.

[0049] Unlike this embodiment, if the foreign matter adhesion coefficient is defined as, for example, the total number of foreign objects attached to the equipment in a series of operations, or the total surface area of ​​the parts to which foreign objects are attached, and the total maintenance time is used as the maintenance workability index, then the total foreign matter defect rate can be determined from the total foreign matter defect coefficient 1434 by means of experimentally determining a correlation coefficient that represents the correlation between the total foreign matter defect coefficient 1434 and the total foreign matter defect rate. In other words, the coefficient (total foreign matter defect coefficient 1434) that indicates the degree to which defects due to foreign objects occur after the operations is calculated using a coefficient (correlation coefficient) that shows the correlation between the sum of the products of the degree of foreign matter adhesion (foreign matter adhesion index 1421) and the degree of propagation (contact foreign matter propagation rate 1422 and airborne foreign matter propagation rate 1423) for each of the multiple processes obtained in advance, and the degree to which defects due to foreign objects occur after the operations.

[0050] (Selection process for work procedure ID) Next, the work procedure ID selection process S105 will be explained in detail. In S105, the optimized work procedure ID is selected. Specifically, for multiple operations on the object that yield the same result, the one with the smallest total maintenance time 1432 is displayed or reported. In this embodiment, total maintenance time 1432 is used as the maintenance workability index, but it is not limited to this. The total maintenance time 1432 for each work procedure ID stored in the calculation result information 143 is numbered in ascending order and stored in rank 1433. Of these, the procedure ID with rank 1 is output. Here, the total maintenance time is ranked in ascending order based on formula (1), but other evaluation methods can also be used, such as ranking based only on total work time or ranking based on the total foreign object defect coefficient in ascending order.

[0051] [GUI Description] Next, an example of the input / output GUI of the work procedure generation device 1 described above will be explained using Figure 14. Figure 14 is a diagram showing an example of the GUI in the first embodiment of the present invention. Figure 14 shows an example of the GUI in the case of the reaction vessel section 200 (product 200). Work definition information 141 is input from the work definition information input section 111, and foreign matter source information 142 is input from the foreign matter source information input section 112, and calculation result information 143 is displayed via the calculation result information display section 121. For example, the contents of "Assy01.dat" set in the work definition information input section 111 are displayed in the work definition information 141, and the contents of "Annormality.dat" set in the foreign matter source information input section 112 are displayed in the foreign matter source information 142. In addition, the conversion coefficient input section 113 is an input section for setting a correlation coefficient that represents the correlation between the total foreign matter defect coefficient 1434 and the total foreign matter defect rate. Furthermore, the user creates a procedure manual using the top-ranked task displayed in the calculation result information 143 as the master task. The procedure manual is output as "Result.log".

[0052] [Effects / Effects] As described above, according to this disclosure, in maintenance work aimed at keeping the inside of the device clean, the frequency of re-disassembly and re-cleaning caused by foreign matter adhering during assembly can be reduced, thereby shortening maintenance time and improving the equipment operating rate.

[0053] It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and various modifications are included. For example, the embodiments described above are described in detail to make the present invention easier to understand, and are not necessarily limited to those having all the configurations described. It is possible to replace or add parts of the configuration of one embodiment to the configuration of another embodiment. In addition, it is possible to add, delete, or replace parts of the configuration of each embodiment with other configurations.

[0054] For example, we have described the maintenance work of assembling the reaction vessel section 200, but this also applies to disassembly work, such as when disassembling the reaction vessel section 200 and extracting the upper vessel 202. Disclosure It is possible to apply this.

[0055] Each of the above-described configurations, functional units, and processing means may be implemented as hardware, in whole or in part, for example, by designing them as integrated circuits. Alternatively, each of the above-described configurations and functions may be implemented, in whole or in part, by a human execution or by a processor interpreting and executing a program that implements each function. Information such as programs, tables, and files for implementing each function can be stored on memory, hard disks, SSDs (Solid State Drives), or other recording media, or on distributed recording devices such as IC cards, SD cards, DVDs, or cloud storage services.

[0056] The following describes, but is not limited to, embodiments that may constitute the present invention. (Aspect 1) An evaluation system for evaluating a multi-step process applied to an object having a surface requiring a predetermined level of cleanliness, The evaluation includes calculating a total sum of the sum of the working times required for each of the multiple processes, and the product of a coefficient indicating the degree of defect occurrence due to foreign matter after the work, based on the evaluation results obtained in advance of the degree of propagation or adhesion of foreign matter that impairs the cleanliness of the surface in the multiple processes, and the sum of the working times, and displaying or notifying the results of the calculation on a display device. (Aspect 2) An evaluation system for the work described in Embodiment 1, An evaluation system for an operation in which the operation involves assembling or combining a plurality of parts, including at least one part having the surface requiring the predetermined degree of cleanliness, to constitute the object, or disassembling the object into at least one of the plurality of parts. (Aspect 3) An evaluation system for the work described in Embodiment 1 or Embodiment 2, A work evaluation system that, for each of the aforementioned steps, calculates a coefficient indicating the degree to which defects occur due to foreign matter after the work, using information on the relative position of a foreign matter source, which includes at least one body part of the worker, and the part, obtained in advance. (Aspect 4) An evaluation system for the work described in any one of Embodiments 1 to 3, An evaluation system for work that calculates a coefficient indicating the degree of defect occurrence due to foreign matter after the work, based on the product of the degree of adhesion of the foreign matter from the foreign matter source to the part targeted by the process and the degree of propagation of the foreign matter in the process, for each of the aforementioned plurality of processes. (Aspect 5) In the work evaluation system described in any one of Embodiments 1 to 4, The degree of adhesion and the degree of propagation of the foreign matter for each of the aforementioned steps. Ito A work evaluation system that calculates the sum of the product of the above as a coefficient indicating the degree to which defects occur due to the foreign matter after the work. (Aspect 6) In the work evaluation system described in any one of Embodiments 1 to 5, An evaluation system for work that calculates a coefficient indicating the degree of defect occurrence due to foreign matter after work, using a coefficient obtained in advance that shows the correlation between the sum of the products of the degree of adhesion and the degree of propagation of the foreign matter for each of the plurality of processes and the degree of defect occurrence due to the foreign matter after the work. (Aspect 7) An evaluation system for the work described in any one of Embodiments 1 to 6, An evaluation system for tasks that, for multiple tasks performed on the same object, display or notify the one with the smallest overall sum. (Aspect a) A work procedure generation device that calculates the work procedure for sequentially assembling and / or disassembling multiple parts, The work procedure generation device comprises a foreign matter defect coefficient unit, a foreign matter propagation unit, a maintainability index unit, and a maintenance work generation unit. The aforementioned foreign matter defect coefficient section is, Multiple work procedures for the aforementioned work, Multiple actions in each task, The relative positional relationship between the clean parts and the foreign object source in each operation, The foreign matter adhesion index for each foreign matter source, By obtaining this data, the foreign matter defect coefficient is calculated as the sum of the foreign matter adhesion indices due to foreign matter sources for each operation and each part. The aforementioned foreign matter propagation section is The relative positional relationship between the cleaned part and the foreign matter source in each of the aforementioned operations, The foreign matter adhesion index for each foreign matter source, The foreign matter propagation rate of each foreign matter source, By obtaining the data, and using the foreign matter propagation rate linked to the relative positional relationship and the foreign matter adhesion index of each foreign matter source, the change in the foreign matter adhesion index due to foreign matter propagation is calculated for each operation. The aforementioned maintenance workability indicator unit is, Work time for each operation, The foreign matter defect coefficient for each operation and for each part calculated by the foreign matter defect coefficient unit and the foreign matter propagation unit, Obtain at least one of the above and calculate a maintainability index, which is an index for evaluating each of the above work procedures. The maintenance work generation unit selects the work procedure that has the maximum or minimum maintenance workability index calculated by the maintenance workability index unit. A work procedure generation device characterized by the following features. (Aspect b) The aforementioned relative positional relationship is defined as one of three states: the part and the foreign object source are in contact (hereinafter referred to as "contact"), the foreign object source is present above the part in a non-contact state (hereinafter referred to as "above"), or the part is not affected by the foreign object source (hereinafter referred to as "unaffected"). The aforementioned foreign matter propagation rate is defined as information of two types: the contact foreign matter propagation rate due to contact between a part and a foreign matter source, and the airborne foreign matter propagation rate due to foreign matter falling from a foreign matter source in the air. The aforementioned foreign matter propagation calculation unit updates the foreign matter adhesion index due to foreign matter propagation based on the contact foreign matter propagation rate if the relative positional relationship is in contact, or based on the airborne foreign matter propagation rate if it is in the air; otherwise, the update process is omitted. A work procedure generation apparatus according to embodiment a, characterized by the features described above. (Pattern c) The aforementioned foreign matter adhesion index is the number of foreign matter particles that originate from a foreign matter source and adhere to the part. A work procedure generation apparatus according to embodiment a or embodiment b, characterized by the above. (Aspect d) The aforementioned foreign matter adhesion index is the defect rate of operations in which the foreign matter source and the component are in the positional relationship defined by the aforementioned relative positional relationship. A work procedure generation device according to any one of embodiments a to c, characterized by the above. (Pattern e) The aforementioned foreign matter adhesion index is the area of ​​the part surface occupied by foreign matter that originates from a foreign matter source and adheres to the part. A work procedure generation device according to any one of embodiments a to d, characterized by the above. (Aspect f) The aforementioned foreign matter adhesion index is the number of foreign matter particles attached to the foreign matter source. A work procedure generation device according to any one of embodiments a to e, characterized by the above. (Pattern g) The aforementioned foreign matter adhesion index is a ratio of one of the following indicators, based on the value at a particular foreign matter source: the number of foreign matter particles generated from a foreign matter source and adhering to the part, the number of foreign matter particles adhering to the foreign matter source, or the area of ​​the part surface occupied by foreign matter. A work procedure generation apparatus according to any one of embodiments a to f, characterized by the above. (Aspect h) The aforementioned maintenance workability index is the total work time required for the work according to the aforementioned work procedure. A work procedure generation device according to any one of embodiments a to g, characterized by the above. (Pattern i) The aforementioned maintainability index is the total foreign object defect coefficient, which is the sum of the foreign object defect coefficients for all operations and parts in the work performed according to the aforementioned work procedure. A work procedure generation apparatus according to any one of embodiments a to h, characterized by the above. (Pattern j) The aforementioned maintenance workability index is the total number of foreign objects attached during work following the aforementioned work procedure. A work procedure generation device according to any one of embodiments a to i, characterized by the above. (Pattern k) The aforementioned maintainability index is the total surface area of ​​parts to which foreign matter adheres during work following the aforementioned work procedure. A work procedure generation device according to any one of embodiments a to j, characterized by the features described herein. (Pattern l) The aforementioned maintenance workability index is calculated by adding the total working time and the value obtained by multiplying the total working time by the total foreign matter defect coefficient. A work procedure generation device according to any one of embodiments a to k, characterized by the above. (Pattern m) The maintenance workability index unit further comprises means for obtaining an estimation function for estimating the foreign object defect rate from the foreign object defect coefficient, and the maintenance workability evaluation index is the sum of the total working time and the value obtained by multiplying the foreign object defect rate estimated from the total foreign object defect coefficient by the estimation function by the total working time. A work procedure generation device according to any one of embodiments a to l, characterized by the above. (Pattern n) A method for generating work procedures to calculate the work procedures for sequentially assembling and / or disassembling multiple parts, Multiple work procedures for the aforementioned work, Multiple actions in each task, The relative positional relationship between the clean parts and the foreign object source in each operation, The foreign matter adhesion index for each foreign matter source, The foreign matter propagation rate of each foreign matter source, The work time for each of the aforementioned operations, Obtain, Based on the foreign matter propagation rate linked to the aforementioned relative positional relationship and the foreign matter adhesion index of each foreign matter source, the change in the foreign matter adhesion index due to foreign matter propagation is calculated for each operation. For each operation and each part, the foreign matter defect coefficient is calculated as the sum of the foreign matter adhesion indices due to foreign matter sources. Based on the foreign object defect coefficient for each part calculated for each operation and the work time for each operation, a maintainability index is calculated, which is an index for evaluating each of the work procedures. Select the work procedure that yields the maximum or minimum maintenance workability index calculated above. A method for generating work procedures, characterized by the features described above. [Explanation of symbols]

[0057] 1. Maintenance Procedures 110 ···Input section 111 ···Work Definition Information Input Section 112 ···Foreign object source information input section 113 ···Conversion coefficient input section 120...Display section 121...Calculation result information display section 130 ··· Processing Unit 131 ···Foreign Matter Defect Coefficient Section 132 ···Foreign body propagation section 133...Maintenance workability index section 134...Maintenance work generation section 140...Storage section 141 ···Work definition information 1411...Work Procedure ID 1412...Work ID 1413...Working hours 1414...Position information 1415... Cleaning parts (parts used to evaluate the foreign matter adhesion index) 1416...Foreign object source 1417...Destination of foreign body propagation 1418... Source of foreign body transmission 142 ... Foreign material source information 1421... Foreign Matter Adhesion Index 1422... Contact foreign matter propagation rate 1423... Rate of foreign object propagation in the upper atmosphere 143 ···Calculation result information 1431... Foreign object defect coefficient 1432...Total maintenance time 1433... Step order 1434...Total foreign matter defect coefficient 1435...Total working hours 200 ···Reaction vessel section of the equipment 201...lower container 201A... First operation in the assembly of the lower container 201 202 ···Upper container 202B...First operation in the assembly of the upper container 202 202C...Second operation in the assembly of the upper container 202 203...screw 203D... First action in the assembly of screw 203 203E... Second action in the assembly of screw 203 204...Cylindrical parts 204F... First operation in the assembly of cylindrical part 204 204G...Second operation in the assembly of cylindrical part 204 205...lid 205H... First step in the assembly of lid 205 205J...Second step in the assembly of lid 205 206 ···Internal space of reaction vessel section 200 207 ···Cleaning surface of reaction vessel section 200 208...The hands of the worker assembling the reaction vessel section 200, which is a source of foreign matter. 209...The face of the worker assembling the reaction vessel section 200, which is a source of foreign matter. 300 ···Directed graph for calculating the order of the reaction vessel section 200 301 ···List of assembly order for reaction vessel section 200 901 ···First assembly procedure for reaction vessel section 200 902 ···Second assembly procedure for reaction vessel section 200 S101... Processing to read work definition information S102...Calculation process for foreign object defect coefficient S103...Calculation process for foreign object propagation S104...Calculation process for maintenance workability index S105...Selection process for work ID

Claims

1. An evaluation system for evaluating a multi-step process applied to an object having a surface requiring a predetermined level of cleanliness, A work evaluation system comprising: a processing unit that performs the evaluation, which includes calculating the sum of the multiple work times required for each of the multiple processes, and the product of a coefficient indicating the degree of occurrence of defects due to foreign matter after the work, based on the evaluation results obtained in advance of the degree of propagation or adhesion of foreign matter that impairs the cleanliness of the surface in the multiple processes, and the sum of the work times; and a display unit that displays or notifies the results of the calculation.

2. An evaluation system for the work described in claim 1, An evaluation system for an operation in which the operation involves assembling or combining a plurality of parts, including at least one part having the surface requiring the predetermined degree of cleanliness, to constitute the object, or disassembling the object into at least one of the plurality of parts.

3. An evaluation system for the work described in claim 2, An evaluation system for work, wherein the processing unit calculates a coefficient indicating the degree to which defects occur due to the foreign matter after the work, using information on the relative position of the foreign matter source, which includes at least one body part of the worker, and the part, for each of the plurality of steps.

4. A work evaluation system according to claim 3, An evaluation system for the processing unit that calculates a coefficient indicating the degree of occurrence of defects due to foreign matter after the work, based on the product of the degree of adhesion of the foreign matter from the foreign matter source to the part targeted by the process and the degree of propagation of the foreign matter in the process, for each of the plurality of processes.

5. In the work evaluation system described in claim 4, An evaluation system for operations in which the processing unit calculates a coefficient indicating the degree of defect occurrence due to the foreign matter after the operation, by summing the products of the degree of adhesion and the degree of propagation of the foreign matter for each of the plurality of processes.

6. In the work evaluation system described in claim 4, An evaluation system for the processing unit that calculates a coefficient indicating the degree of defect occurrence due to foreign matter after the work, using a coefficient obtained in advance that shows the correlation between the sum of the products of the degree of adhesion and the degree of propagation of the foreign matter for each of the plurality of processes and the degree of defect occurrence due to the foreign matter after the work.

7. An evaluation system for work according to claim 1 or 2, An evaluation system for tasks that, when multiple tasks performed on an object that yield the same result are performed on the display device, displays or notifies the one with the smallest overall sum.

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