Determination system and storage medium

Abstract

This determination system: stores information about an abnormality which is detected by a numerical value control device; extracts a command to be affected by the abnormality which is detected by the numerical value control device; determines whether or not a processing program is affected by the abnormality, on the basis of whether or not the extracted command is included in the processing program; and outputs a determination result.

Description

Judgment system and storage medium

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a judgment system and a computer-readable storage medium.

[0002] When an abnormality occurs in the numerical control device or machine tool, the operation of the machine tool is stopped and an alarm is sent to the operator. An abnormality here refers to, for example, a failure of the numerical control device, various hardware of the machine tool, motor, amplifier, peripheral device, etc. The operator resolves the abnormality in the machine tool and cancels the alarm. The machine tool will be stopped until the abnormality is resolved, halting machining.

[0003] In order to avoid interruptions to machining, an abnormality is detected, and based on the type of abnormality, it is determined whether or not it is acceptable to disable the shutdown of the machine due to the abnormality. If it is acceptable to disable the shutdown of the machine due to the abnormality, the operation of the machine tool is allowed to continue (for example, Patent Document 1).

[0004] JP 2016-33705 A

[0005] In the technology of Patent Document 1, when an abnormality occurs, an inquiry is made to the machine manufacturer. The manufacturer analyzes the cause of the abnormality and determines whether or not it is acceptable to disable the machine's shutdown due to the abnormality. The manufacturer's decision is stored in a storage medium or the like and is referenced the next time an abnormality occurs. The next time an abnormality occurs, the storage medium is referenced, and if the abnormality is acceptable for disabling the machine's shutdown, processing continues.

[0006] However, the technology of Patent Document 1 does not take into consideration the content of the machining program when determining whether or not to disable an abnormality. For example, there are machining programs that can be operated even if an abnormality occurs.

[0007] In the field of machine tools, there is a demand for technology that can determine whether each machining program can be operated when an abnormality occurs.

[0008] The judgment system includes a relationship memory unit that stores information about an abnormality and commands affected by the abnormality in association with each other, an abnormality memory unit that stores information about an abnormality detected by a numerical control device, a command extraction unit that refers to the relationship memory unit to extract commands affected by the abnormality detected by the numerical control device, a command memory unit that stores the commands extracted by the command extraction unit, a judgment unit that judges whether or not a machining program is affected by an abnormality based on whether or not the commands stored in the command memory unit are included in the machining program, and an output unit that outputs the judgment result of the judgment unit.

[0009] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a determination system. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a command extraction method. FIG. 3 is a flowchart explaining the operation of the determination system. FIG. 4 is a block diagram explaining an example of an embodiment of the determination system. FIG. 5 is a block diagram explaining a modified example of the determination system. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a relationship storage unit to which commands created by a machine manufacturer have been added. FIG. 7 is a block diagram explaining a modified example of the determination system. FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the determination system. FIG. 9 is a block diagram explaining an example of the configuration of the determination system. FIG. 10 is a block diagram explaining the hardware configuration of an information processing device constituting the determination system.

[0010] The determination system 100 of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the following description, components having the same or similar functions will be denoted by the same reference numerals. Duplicate descriptions of those components may be omitted.

[0011] In this application, "based on XX" means "based on at least XX," and includes cases where it is based on other elements in addition to XX. Furthermore, "based on XX" is not limited to cases where XX is used directly, but also includes cases where it is based on XX that has been calculated or processed. "XX" is any element (for example, any information).

[0012] When an abnormality occurs in a machine tool, a judgment system 100 judges which machining programs are affected by the abnormality. Fig. 1 is a block diagram of the judgment system 100. The judgment system 100 includes an abnormality storage unit 10, a relationship storage unit 11, a command extraction unit 12, a command storage unit 13, a judgment unit 14, and an output unit 15.

[0013] The judgment system 100 may be implemented in a single numerical control device, or may be implemented by combining a numerical control device with another information processing device. The other information processing device may be present in a higher layer of the network. The other information processing device may be connected to multiple numerical control devices. One information processing device may constitute multiple numerical control devices and the judgment system 100.

[0014] The abnormality storage unit 10 stores information about abnormalities detected by the numerical control device. Information about abnormalities includes, for example, alarm details generated due to an abnormality, such as "B-axis related alarm" or "second spindle related alarm." Information is not limited to alarms, and may also include diagnostic information indicating an abnormality. The information stored in the abnormality storage unit 10 is information about an abnormality that has currently occurred. When the abnormality is resolved, the information about the abnormality is deleted from the abnormality storage unit 10. Information about the resolved abnormality is saved in the abnormality history storage unit 19, which will be described later.

[0015] The relationship memory unit 11 stores information about abnormalities that may occur in machine tools or numerical control devices, in association with the relationship between commands affected by the abnormalities. The term "command" includes codes, words, and blocks of a machining program. A machining program code is an alphabetic character that indicates the function of a machining program, such as the "G" in "G01." A word is the smallest unit of a program command, consisting of a code followed by several digits, such as the "G01" in "G00." A block is a command unit formed by combining words, such as "G01X50.Y50.Z-10.F500," and is composed of one or more words. A command affected by an abnormality is a command that does not operate according to its contents when the abnormality occurs. Figure 2 shows an example of the relationship memory unit 11. In this embodiment, "abnormality information" is synonymous with "information related to the abnormality." In the example of Figure 2, the abnormality information "B-axis related alarm" corresponds to the command "BXXX (B-axis movement command)", and the abnormality information "second spindle related alarm" corresponds to the command "S2=XXX (second spindle rotation command)".

[0016] The command extraction unit 12 extracts commands affected by the abnormality. Specifically, the command extraction unit 12 reads information about the abnormality from the abnormality storage unit 10, and extracts commands affected by the abnormality by referring to the relationship storage unit 11. The command extraction unit 12 stores the extracted commands in the command storage unit 13.

[0017] The judgment unit 14 judges whether the abnormality detected by the numerical control device affects the machining program. Specifically, the judgment unit 14 searches whether the command extracted by the command extraction unit 12 is included in the machining program. If the command extracted by the command extraction unit 12 is included in the machining program, the judgment unit 14 judges that the abnormality that has occurred will affect the machining program.

[0018] The output unit 15 outputs the judgment result of the judgment unit 14. The judgment result is output to a display screen or the like. The display screen displays the program number, which is the identification information of the machining program, and the judgment result as to whether the machining program is affected by the abnormality. The machining program to be judged may be one or multiple programs.

[0019] The operation of the determination system 100 will be described with reference to Fig. 3. The numerical control device detects information relating to an abnormality that has occurred in the machine tool or the numerical control device. The abnormality storage unit 10 stores information relating to the abnormality detected by the numerical control device (step S1).

[0020] The command extraction unit 12 reads out the abnormality information from the abnormality memory unit 10, refers to the relationship memory unit 11, extracts commands affected by the abnormality (step S2), and stores the extracted commands in the command memory unit 13 (step S3).

[0021] The judgment unit 14 searches whether or not a command affected by the abnormality is included in the machining program (step S4). If a command affected by the abnormality is included in the machining program (step S5; Yes), it is judged that the target machining program is affected by the abnormality (step S6). If a command affected by the abnormality is not included in the machining program (step S5; No), it is judged that the target machining program is not affected by the abnormality (step S7). If there are multiple target machining programs, the judgment unit 14 repeats the processes from step S4 to step S7. The output unit 15 notifies the operator of the judgment result of the judgment unit 14 (step S8).

[0022] As described above, the judgment system 100 stores information about an abnormality that has occurred in a machine tool or a numerical control device, and extracts commands that are affected by the abnormality. The judgment system 100 searches for whether a target machining program includes a command that is affected by the abnormality, and if a command that is affected by the abnormality is included, the judgment system 100 judges that the target machining program is affected by the abnormality.

[0023] The determination system 100 notifies the operator of the determination result. The operator can know which machining programs can be operated under the current abnormality. Conventionally, to determine which machining programs are not affected by the abnormality, the operator had to check the contents of each machining program. The determination system 100 of the present disclosure automatically determines whether a program is affected by the abnormality, thereby reducing the burden on the operator.

[0024] Furthermore, even when an abnormality occurs, by presenting the operator with machining programs that can be operated, the operator can decide whether or not to execute the presented machining program. If the operator selects one of the machining programs and executes the selected machining program, the machine tool operation stoppage is avoided and the availability rate increases. Furthermore, even if a machining program is currently being executed, if it is determined that it will not be affected by the abnormality, it can continue to be executed.

[0025] (Example) An example of the judgment system 100 will be described with reference to Fig. 4. In the example of Fig. 4, it is assumed that a peripheral axis (B axis) has failed. When the B axis fails, the numerical control device detects an abnormality in the peripheral axis (B axis), stops the machine tool, and generates an alarm to notify the user. The abnormality memory unit 10 stores information related to the abnormality.

[0026] The command extraction unit 12 refers to the relationship storage unit 11 and extracts commands that will be affected when an abnormality occurs in the B axis. In Figure 4, the command that will be affected by the abnormality in the B axis is "BXXX (B axis movement command)." "XXX" indicates the position of the B axis.

[0027] The judgment system 100 in Fig. 4 includes a machining program storage unit 16 and a number storage unit 17. The machining program storage unit 16 stores a plurality of machining programs. The number storage unit 17 stores the numbers of the machining programs to be judged. The machining program numbers are selected by an operator. In the example of Fig. 4, program numbers "O0001" and "O0002" are selected.

[0028] The judgment unit 14 reads out the command "B100." extracted from the command memory unit 13 and judges whether the machining programs with program numbers "O0001" and "O0002" contain the command "B100." that is affected by the abnormality. The machining program with program number "O0002" contains "B100." The judgment unit 14 judges that "O0002" is affected by the abnormality of the B axis.

[0029] The output unit 15 notifies the operator of the machining programs that can be executed even when an abnormality occurs, as the determination result of the determination unit 14. For example, the output unit 15 displays a list of executable machining program numbers on a display screen.

[0030] (Variation 1) A variation will be described with reference to Fig. 5. The determination system 100 in Fig. 5 includes an editing unit 18 that accepts editing of the relationship storage unit 11. The editing unit 18 may be provided in the numerical control device or in an external information processing device such as a PC (personal computer).

[0031] The manufacturer of the numerical control device creates at least a part of the relationship storage unit 11. Pre-made commands are registered in the numerical control device. The relationship storage unit 11 associates abnormality information with commands affected by the abnormality and registers the information in the relationship storage unit 11. For example, among the codes constituting the commands, the preparatory function "G," the basic coordinate words "X," "Y," and "C," the axis speed setting "F," the auxiliary function "M," the tool function "T," and the operation settings "I," "J," "K," "P," and "D" of various other functions are pre-made commands. The manufacturer of the numerical control device registers information about abnormalities that affect the pre-made commands of the numerical control device in the relationship storage unit.

[0032] The commands include custom-made commands created by machine manufacturers or machine tool users. Custom-made commands are not registered in the relationship storage unit 11, so it is necessary to newly register the relationship between the command and the abnormality information.

[0033] The editing unit 18 accepts editing of the relationship storage unit 11. The commands to be edited include both ready-made commands created by the manufacturer of the numerical control device and custom-made commands. By providing the editing unit 18, custom-made commands can also be added to the relationship storage unit 11. In addition, existing data in the relationship storage unit 11 can also be edited.

[0034] 6 shows an example in which a command created by a machine manufacturer is added to the relationship storage unit 11. Peripheral device A is a device that machine manufacturer A has attached to a machine tool. Initially, information on commands related to peripheral device A is not registered in the relationship storage unit 11. The machine manufacturer adds, via the editing unit 18, abnormality information "failure of peripheral device A" and a command "M1000" that is affected by the abnormality to the relationship storage unit 11.

[0035] (Variation 2) A variation will be described with reference to FIG. 7 . The judgment system 100 in FIG. 7 includes an abnormality history storage unit 19. The abnormality history storage unit 19 also stores abnormalities that have already been cleared. When an operator clears an alarm, the abnormality is cleared. Information about the cleared abnormality is deleted from the abnormality storage unit 10 and may not be subject to judgment. For example, suppose an abnormality occurs when a "B-axis movement command" is read from a machining program. The numerical control device generates an alarm to notify the operator of the abnormality. When the operator clears the alarm, the abnormality information is deleted from the abnormality storage unit 10. However, if the operator does not determine which machining program is affected by the abnormality, the same abnormality may occur again. The abnormality history storage unit 19 stores information about abnormalities that have already been cleared. This makes it possible to extract commands affected by a past abnormality and determine whether the target machining program is affected by the past abnormality.

[0036] (Variation 3) A variation will be described with reference to Fig. 8. The judgment system of Fig. 8 includes a judgment storage unit 20. The judgment storage unit 20 stores the judgment result of the judgment unit 14. The judgment result is, for example, information associating an abnormality that has occurred (or may occur) in a numerical control device or a machine tool with a machining program that is affected by the abnormality. In this variation, the judgment result of the judgment unit is temporarily stored in the judgment storage unit 20 and output at an arbitrary timing. Examples of the arbitrary timing include when the communication path between the output destination device and the output unit is free, or when a request is received from a user. If the communication path is free, the communication load is adjusted. If the communication path is free, the communication load can be adjusted. If the communication path is free, the communication load can be reduced. If the communication path is free, the communication load can be reduced.

[0037] As described above, when an abnormality occurs in a numerical control device or a machine tool, the judgment system 100 of the present disclosure determines whether or not the machining program is affected by the abnormality, thereby enabling machining to continue using a machining program that is not affected by the abnormality.

[0038] Currently, there are machine tools with multiple axes. In machining, not all axes are necessarily used, and even if an abnormality occurs in one of the axes, machining can sometimes continue without that axis. Currently, there are machine tools with multiple spindles. In machining, not all spindles are necessarily used, and even if an abnormality occurs in one spindle, machining can sometimes continue without that axis. In addition, machine manufacturers attach peripheral devices to machine tools, but not all of the attached peripheral devices are always used. Even if an abnormality occurs in one peripheral device, machining can continue without that peripheral device.

[0039] (Configuration of the Determination System) The determination system 100 of the present disclosure may be implemented in a standalone numerical control device, or may be implemented in a combination of a host information processing device and a numerical control device connected via a network. FIGS. 9 to 11 show examples of combinations of numerical control devices and information processing devices that constitute the determination system 100. Note that the combinations shown below are merely examples and are not limiting. FIG. 9 is a block diagram of the determination system 100 that is configured using a standalone numerical control device. The determination system 100 includes an abnormality storage unit 10, a relationship storage unit 11, a command extraction unit 12, a command storage unit 13, a determination unit 14, and an output unit 15. The numerical control device may further include a machining program storage unit 16, a number storage unit 17, an editing unit 18, an abnormality history storage unit 19, and a determination storage unit 20. The editing unit 18 may be implemented in a machine manufacturer's information processing device to receive edited content.

[0040] 10 is a block diagram of a judgment system 100 composed of a numerical control device and a host information processing device. The numerical control device transmits information about an abnormality to the host information processing device, and the host information processing device transmits a judgment result to the numerical control device. The numerical control device acquires the acquired judgment result.

[0041] The upper information processing device includes an abnormality storage unit 10, a relationship storage unit 11, a command extraction unit 12, a command storage unit 13, and a judgment unit 14. The information processing device may further include a machining program storage unit 16, a number storage unit 17, an editing unit 18, an abnormality history storage unit 19, and a judgment storage unit 20. The information processing device stores information about abnormalities acquired from the numerical control device in the abnormality storage unit 10 and transmits judgment results to the numerical control device. The numerical control device includes an output unit 15. The output unit 15 notifies an operator of the numerical control device of information about machining programs that are affected (or not affected) by the abnormality. The editing unit 18 may be provided in the numerical control device, in an information processing device operated by a machine builder, or in a higher-level information processing device.

[0042] FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a judgment system 100 composed of a numerical control device and a host information processing device. In the judgment system 100, the numerical control device transmits information about an abnormality to the host information processing device, and the host information processing device outputs information about commands affected by the abnormality to the numerical control device. The host information processing device includes an abnormality storage unit 10, a relationship storage unit 11, a command extraction unit 12, and a command storage unit 13. The information processing device may also include an abnormality history storage unit 19. The information processing device stores information about an abnormality acquired from the numerical control device in the abnormality storage unit 10 and transmits commands affected by the abnormality to the numerical control device. The numerical control device includes a judgment unit 14 and an output unit 15. The numerical control device may also include a machining program storage unit 16, a number storage unit 17, an editing unit 18, and a judgment storage unit 20. The numerical control device acquires information about commands affected by the abnormality from the host information processing device. The judgment unit 14 judges whether the target machining program is affected by the abnormality. The output unit 15 outputs the judgment result.

[0043] The hardware configuration of an information processing device (such as a numerical control device, a higher-level information processing device, or an information processing device of a machine manufacturer) to which the present disclosure is applied and which constitutes a determination system will be described below. Fig. 12 is a hardware configuration diagram of the information processing device. As shown in Fig. 12, the information processing device includes a CPU 111 that controls the entire information processing device, a ROM 112 that records programs and data, and a RAM 113 for temporarily expanding data. The CPU 111 reads a system program recorded in the ROM 112 via a bus and executes processing in accordance with the system program.

[0044] The nonvolatile memory 114 is backed up by, for example, a battery (not shown), and the stored state is maintained even when the power supply of the information processing device is turned off. The nonvolatile memory 114 stores various data such as programs read from the external device 120 via the interfaces 115, 118, and 119 and operation inputs input via the input unit 30. The nonvolatile memory 114 may store programs and data for executing the information processing device of this embodiment.

[0045] The interface 115 is an interface for connecting the information processing device to an external device 120 such as an adapter. Programs, various parameters, etc. are loaded from the external device 120. The interface 118 is an interface for connecting the information processing device to a display unit 70 such as a liquid crystal display. The display unit 70 displays various data loaded into memory, data obtained as a result of executing programs, etc. The interface 119 is an interface for connecting the information processing device to an input unit 30 such as a keyboard or pointing device. The input unit 30 passes commands, data, etc. based on operations by an operator to the CPU 111 via the interface 119.

[0046] Although the present disclosure has been described in detail, the present disclosure is not limited to the individual embodiments described above. Various additions, substitutions, modifications, partial deletions, etc. are possible to these embodiments without departing from the gist of the present disclosure or the gist of the present disclosure derived from the content of the claims and their equivalents. Furthermore, these embodiments can also be implemented in combination.

[0047] The following are supplementary notes related to embodiments of the present disclosure. (Supplementary Note 1) A judgment system (100) includes a relationship storage unit (11) that stores information about an abnormality and commands affected by the abnormality in association with each other, an abnormality storage unit (10) that stores information about an abnormality detected by a numerical control device, a command extraction unit (12) that refers to the relationship storage unit (11) to extract commands affected by the abnormality detected by the numerical control device, a command storage unit (13) that stores the commands extracted by the command extraction unit (12), a judgment unit (14) that judges whether a machining program is affected by the abnormality based on whether the commands stored in the command storage unit (13) are included in the machining program, and an output unit (15) that outputs the judgment result of the judgment unit. (Supplementary Note 2) The output unit (15) displays the judgment result of the judgment unit (14) on a display unit (70). (Supplementary Note 3) The judgment system (100) comprises an editing unit (18) that accepts editing of the relationship storage unit (11). (Supplementary Note 4) The judgment system (100) comprises a machining program storage unit (16) that stores machining programs and a number storage unit (17) that stores machining program numbers, and the judgment unit (14) targets the machining programs with numbers stored in the number storage unit (17) for judgment. (Supplementary Note 5) The judgment system (100) comprises an abnormality history storage unit (19) that stores information about an abnormality detected by the numerical control device even after the abnormality is resolved. (Supplementary Note 6) The judgment system (100) comprises a judgment storage unit (20) that stores the judgment result of the judgment unit (14). (Supplementary Note 7) The computer-readable storage medium (112, 113, 114) stores instructions for causing one or more processors (111) to execute processing to store information on an abnormality detected by a numerical control device, extract commands affected by the abnormality detected by the numerical control device, determine whether or not a machining program is affected by the abnormality based on whether or not the extracted commands are included in the machining program, and output the determination result.

[0048] 100 Judgment system 10 Abnormality storage unit 11 Relationship storage unit 12 Command extraction unit 13 Command storage unit 14 Judgment unit 15 Output unit 16 Machining program storage unit 17 Number storage unit 18 Editing unit 19 Abnormality history storage unit 20 Judgment storage unit

Claims

1. A judgment system comprising: a relationship memory unit that stores information regarding an abnormality and commands affected by the abnormality in association with each other; an abnormality memory unit that stores information regarding an abnormality detected by a numerical control device; a command extraction unit that refers to the relationship memory unit and extracts commands affected by the abnormality detected by the numerical control device; a command memory unit that stores the commands extracted by the command extraction unit; a judgment unit that judges whether a machining program is affected by the abnormality based on whether a command stored in the command memory unit is included in the machining program; and an output unit that outputs the judgment result of the judgment unit.

2. The judgment system according to claim 1, wherein the output unit causes a display unit to display the judgment result of the judgment unit.

3. The determination system according to claim 1, further comprising an editing unit that accepts editing of said relationship storage unit.

4. A judgment system as described in claim 1, comprising a machining program storage unit that stores machining programs, and a number storage unit that stores numbers of machining programs, wherein the judgment unit judges the machining programs having numbers stored in the number storage unit.

5. The judgment system according to claim 1, further comprising an abnormality history storage unit for storing information regarding an abnormality detected by said numerical control device even after the abnormality is eliminated.

6. The judgment system according to claim 1, further comprising a judgment storage unit for storing a judgment result of said judgment unit.

7. A computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions to cause one or more processors to execute the following processes: store information regarding an abnormality detected by a numerical control device, extract commands affected by the abnormality detected by the numerical control device, determine whether or not the machining program is affected by the abnormality based on whether or not the extracted commands are included in the machining program, and output the determination result.

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