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

Work evaluation system

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

[0002] In semiconductor manufacturing equipment, foreign matter generated during the manufacturing process adheres to internal components, reducing yields, and therefore maintenance work is required, in which the equipment is periodically disassembled and cleaned. Since maintenance work requires the equipment to be shut down, equipment designs and work procedures that make disassembly, cleaning, and assembly difficult result in long downtimes and reduced operating rates. To address this issue, a technology has been disclosed that estimates the time required for disassembly and assembly based on equipment design information and work procedures, creating work procedures that minimize work time. Note that disassembly and assembly work are symmetrical, so the following explanation focuses only on assembly work.

[0003] As prior art related to assembly work, Patent Document 1 aims to provide a program that can improve the accuracy of estimated values ​​of assembly time calculated in a simulation, and discloses the following content as a program, assembly time calculation method, and assembly time calculation device: "A program for calculating product assembly time by simulation, wherein an input unit 1302 acquires animation data for displaying the steps of product assembly work as animation on a display unit, a change point detection unit 1310 detects changes in the viewpoint of the animation from the acquired animation data, and a standard time calculation unit 1311 calculates an estimated value of the product assembly time based on the detected change in the viewpoint of the animation." Patent Document 1 discloses a technology for estimating assembly work time by inputting product assembly work steps and simulating assembly work in a computer. Furthermore, Patent Document 2 aims to provide an apparatus for evaluating and calculating assembly workability without the need for an evaluator to manipulate the placement of a human body model, and discloses the following as an assembly workability evaluation calculation apparatus and assembly workability evaluation method: "The apparatus and method are configured to include: information acquisition means for extracting information on the part attributes and part placement of a plurality of parts and information on the adjacency relationships with other parts from a 3D CAD model; means for detecting part type classifications and characteristic shapes from the 3D CAD model information; means for expressing an assembly graph from the adjacency relationship information between parts; means for generating a disassembly direction and disassembly order based on the assembly graph and performing an inverse conversion thereof to derive an assembly order and assembly direction; means for calculating a part deduction score by multiplying a basic deduction score for each part assembly operation by a correction coefficient and calculating an index representing the quality of the part's ease of assembly by subtracting the sum of the deduction scores for each part from a reference point; means for generating a plurality of virtual worker positions, postures, and viewpoints according to the assembly order to evaluate workability; and comprehensive evaluation means for calculating an evaluation value of the part's ease of assembly index and an overall evaluation value of assembly workability, and outputting the results." Patent Document 2 discloses a technology for generating a work procedure with the shortest total work time based on the assembly work time of each part and priority relationships, such as the need to assemble certain parts before other parts.

[0004] JP 2014-182557 A Japanese Patent No. 5833998 A

[0005] The techniques disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2 do not take into consideration the possibility that, during maintenance work aimed at keeping the interior of a device clean, the interior of the device may be recontaminated by foreign matter adhering during the assembly process after disassembly and cleaning, resulting in the need to redo the disassembly and cleaning work. Generally, workers and jigs and tools performing assembly generate contaminants such as dust, sebum, and sweat. Furthermore, parts themselves may generate dust, such as chips generated when fastening or removing screws. These contaminants and chips are collectively referred to as foreign matter, and in this specification, the source of these foreign matter is referred to as a foreign matter source. During maintenance work, the interior of a device may be recontaminated by actions such as gripping a component with one's hand, passing a foreign matter source over an exposed component, or gripping a component after touching a foreign matter source with one's hand. These recontamination processes are probabilistic. During maintenance work aimed at keeping the inside of equipment clean, the accumulation of probabilistic recontamination caused by each operation can cause a certain amount of foreign matter to accumulate in the equipment. If the equipment is judged to fail the foreign matter test, the disassembly and cleaning work must be repeated, extending the equipment's downtime.

[0006] The present invention has been made in light of the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide a means for appropriately selecting the assembly order of parts and work operations in order to prevent the need for re-disassembly and re-cleaning due to foreign matter generated during assembly work for equipment maintenance adhering to the inside of the equipment.

[0007] In order to solve the above problems, one representative work evaluation system of the present invention is a work evaluation system that evaluates work that includes multiple steps on an object having a surface that requires a specified level of cleanliness, and the evaluation includes calculating the total sum of the multiple work times required for each of the multiple steps and the product of a coefficient indicating the degree of occurrence of defects due to foreign matter after the work, based on previously obtained evaluation results of the degree of propagation or adhesion of foreign matter that impairs the cleanliness of the surface in the multiple steps, and the total work time, and the result of the calculation is displayed or notified on a display.

[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 due to foreign matter adhering during assembly can be reduced, and maintenance time can be shortened, thereby improving equipment availability. Problems, configurations, and effects other than those described above will become clear from the description of the following embodiments of the invention.

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

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

[0011] First Embodiment A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

[0012] [Device Configuration] FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a work procedure generation device 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The work procedure generation device 1 includes an input unit 110 for inputting and operating setting information required for calculations, a display unit 120 for displaying results, a processing unit 130 for executing work procedure generation processing, and a memory unit 140 for storing the processing results. This disclosure describes the generation of a maintenance work procedure. The input unit 110 includes input devices such as a keyboard, mouse, touch panel, and voice recognition device. The display unit 120 includes display devices such as a display or projector, and a printer for printing calculation results. The processing unit 130 includes a computing device such as a CPU (central processing unit), ROM (read-only memory), and RAM (random access memory) for executing calculations. The memory unit 140 is a storage device such as a hard disk drive or cloud storage with a communication function with the work procedure generation device 1. The input device, display device, computing device, and storage device described above do not need to be dedicated to the work procedure generation device 1 and may be devices commonly used in personal computers, smartphones, etc.

[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 failing a foreign matter test performed after device assembly, a foreign matter propagation unit 132 that calculates the effect of foreign matter propagation between parts, workers' hands, etc., a maintenance workability index unit 133 that evaluates maintenance workability based on the work time and foreign matter defect coefficient 1431 for a series of maintenance work, and a maintenance work generation unit 134 that selects maintenance work that maximizes or minimizes 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, the present disclosure is not limited to such a device. The functions of the work procedure generation device 1 can also be realized by a system combining separate devices. For example, the functions of the work procedure generation device 1 can be realized by a work evaluation system that evaluates a work including multiple steps on an object (reaction vessel section 200) having a surface (clean surface 207) requiring a predetermined level of cleanliness. The evaluation includes calculating the sum of multiple work times 1413 required for each of the multiple steps (total work time 1435) and the product of a coefficient (total foreign matter defect coefficient 1434) indicating the degree of occurrence of defects due to foreign matter after the work, based on a previously obtained evaluation result 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). The calculation result is displayed or reported on a display (display unit 120). The cleaned surface 207, the reaction vessel section 200, the total operation time 1435, the total foreign matter defect coefficient 1434, and the total operation time 1435 will be described later.

[0015] [Description of Equipment to be Maintained] Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view schematically illustrating the configuration of the reaction vessel section 200 in a first embodiment of the present invention. In the present disclosure, maintenance work involves assembling or assembling a plurality of components, including at least one component having the surface (clean surface 207) that requires the specified cleanliness level, to form the object, or disassembling the object into at least one of the plurality of components. Note that the case of the reaction vessel section 200 will be described as an example of equipment to be maintained, but the present 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, and a cylindrical internal space 206 extending in the z-axis direction is formed inside the reaction vessel section 200 by the lower vessel 201 and the upper vessel 202. The upper vessel 202 is assembled to the lower vessel 201, and the space between the upper vessel 202 and the lower vessel 201 is sealed by fastening a screw 203 disposed in a threaded hole provided in the lower vessel 201.

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

[0018] The lower container 201 has a cylindrical recess formed by a bottom surface b1 and a 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 a semiconductor manufacturing device, a reaction process related to semiconductor manufacturing is performed within the internal space 206. Reaction products may adhere to the inner walls of the reaction vessel section 200. This necessitates disassembly and cleaning of the reaction vessel section 200. Furthermore, when reassembling the vessel after disassembly and cleaning, reattachment of foreign matter must be avoided. In particular, the bottom surface (the surface on the negative z-axis side) of the lid 205, which constitutes the wall surface of the internal space 206, the bottom surface b1 and side surface s1 of the lower vessel 201, and the inner wall surface s4 of the cylindrical component 204 are areas where foreign matter must be avoided. Hereinafter, the lid 205, side surface s3, wall surface s4, and bottom surface b1 are collectively referred to as the clean surface 207. If foreign matter adheres to the clean surface 207, the assembly will fail a foreign matter test, requiring the disassembly and cleaning process to be redone, which increases the total maintenance work time.

[0020] It should be noted that the above description shows the main configuration of the reaction vessel section 200, and the present disclosure is not limited to this configuration. In addition to the cylindrical part 204, the reaction vessel section 200 may be provided with components necessary for the manufacturing process, such as a sensor for measuring the temperature inside the internal space 206. Furthermore, the reaction vessel section 200 may be connected to a gas pipe or exhaust pipe for introducing gas from the outside, or a pipe for transporting components from another vessel section.

[0021] 3 to 5, examples of data formats of the task definition information 141, foreign matter source information 142, and calculation result information 143 stored in the storage unit 140 will be described below. In the task evaluation system, for each of the plurality of processes, a coefficient (total foreign matter defect coefficient 1434) indicating the degree of defect occurrence due to the foreign matter after the task is calculated using information (positional relationship information 1414) regarding the relative position between the part (clean part 1415) and a previously obtained foreign matter source 1416, which includes at least one body part of the worker. This will be described in detail below.

[0022] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the data format of the job definition information 141. The job definition information 141 lists job procedure IDs 1411 assigned to job procedures and job IDs 1412 arranged in the order of the jobs. Furthermore, for each job ID 1412, job time 1413 and positional relationship information 1414 indicating the relative positional relationship between a clean part 1415, which is a part for which adhesion of foreign matter is to be evaluated, and a foreign matter source 1416 are stored. In this embodiment, the clean parts 1415 for which the foreign matter adhesion index is to be evaluated are the lid 205 (corresponding to "part 205" in FIG. 3 ), the lower container 201 (corresponding to "part 201"), and the cylindrical part 204 (corresponding to "part 204") that make up the clean surface 207.

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

[0024] Typical foreign matter sources 1416 include, but are not limited to, the worker's "face," "arm," and "hand," as well as "screws" to which chips that may be generated when screws are removed or tightened. Furthermore, the clean parts 1415 can include not only the parts that make up the wall surfaces of the internal space 206 described above, but also the worker's hands, which come into contact with the clean surface 207 and should avoid foreign matter adhering to them. The work definition information 141 is used to calculate a foreign matter defect coefficient 1431 and a maintenance workability index, which will be described later.

[0025] 4 is a diagram showing an example of the data format of the foreign matter source information 142. The foreign matter source information 142 stores, for each foreign matter source 1416, a foreign matter adhesion index 1421 indicating the amount of foreign matter, a contact foreign matter propagation rate 1422 indicating foreign matter propagation due to contact, and an airborne foreign matter propagation rate 1423 indicating foreign matter propagation due to foreign matter falling from above. Generally, when a foreign matter source 1416 comes into contact with a component, some of the foreign matter on the surface of the foreign matter source is transferred to the contacted component. Furthermore, foreign matter detached from the foreign matter source 1416 located above a target component may fall due to gravity onto the target component or another foreign matter source. The foreign matter adhesion index 1421 is defined based on such physical phenomena and is used in the calculation process for foreign matter propagation and the calculation process for foreign matter defect coefficients, which will be described later, to calculate the likelihood of foreign matter propagation and foreign matter defect occurrence depending on relative positional relationships such as "contact" and "airborne." When the relative positional relationship between the foreign matter source and the clean part 1415 is "indifferent," no foreign matter adhesion occurs, and therefore 0% is entered as the indifferent foreign matter propagation rate 1424 .

[0026] The foreign matter source information 142 is given 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 in each operation. For example, if a user touches a screw and then touches a component with a hand that has chips on it, the foreign matter adhesion index 1421 for the hand increases. The procedure can be evaluated based on an 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 represents the relative impact of failing a foreign matter test and can be determined by experimentally determining the number of foreign matters that occur and adhere during work, the foreign matter defect rate, which is the failure rate of the foreign matter test, etc. The contact foreign matter propagation rate 1422 and the airborne foreign matter propagation rate 1423 can also be determined experimentally. In the following example, the foreign matter adhesion index 1421 is described as the foreign matter defect rate (%). Note that the definition of the foreign matter adhesion index 1421 is not limited to this, and other indicators such as the number of foreign matters adhering to a part, the number of foreign matters adhering to a foreign matter source, or the area of ​​a portion where foreign matters are attached may also be used. Alternatively, a relative value representing the likelihood of a foreign matter defect rate occurring, such as a ratio based on the number or area of ​​foreign matters at a certain foreign matter source, may also be used. In particular, when using a relative value, for example, when handling a part that is 1.5 times larger, the number of foreign matters will also be 1.5 times larger, eliminating the need for experimental investigation.

[0028] FIG. 5 shows an example of the data format of the calculation 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 FIG. 3. The maintenance operability index unit 133 calculates a foreign matter defect coefficient 1431, a total maintenance time 1432, and a ranking 1433 for each work ID 1412, and stores these in the storage unit 140 (the calculation method will be described later). The foreign matter defect coefficient 1431 is an index that represents the impact of foreign matter adhering to a certain part in a certain work operation causing the part to fail a foreign matter test. In this embodiment, the foreign matter defect coefficient 1431 is described as a defect rate, similar to the foreign matter adhesion index 1421 shown in FIG. 3. The definition of the foreign matter defect coefficient 1431 is not limited to this; other values, such as the number of foreign matters adhering to a part or the area of ​​the part where foreign matter is adhering, may be used depending on the content of the foreign matter adhesion index 1421. Furthermore, in the following examples, the total maintenance time 1432 is treated as the maintenance workability index, but other indices such as the foreign matter defect rate in a series of operations, the total number of foreign matters adhering to the equipment, the total area covered by foreign matter, the total foreign matter defect coefficient, and the total work 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 will be described later). The ranking 1433 is the ranking when the total maintenance time 1432, which is used as a maintenance workability index in this embodiment, is sorted in ascending order.

[0030] 6 is a diagram showing an example of a flowchart illustrating the processing in the processing unit 130. A coefficient (total foreign matter defect coefficient 1434) indicating the normal degree of defects due to foreign matter after an operation 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 reads the work definition information (S101). Then, the processing unit 130 repeatedly calculates the foreign matter defect coefficient (S102) and the foreign matter propagation coefficient (S103) for each work procedure ID 1411 and each work ID 1412. Then, the processing unit 130 calculates the maintenance workability index (S104) and selects the work procedure ID (S105).

[0032] According to the flowchart in Figure 6, multiple candidate work procedures (hereinafter also referred to as "candidate work procedures") are comprehensively calculated, and then the total maintenance time for each work procedure is compared, and the work procedure with the shortest total maintenance time can be output, for example. As another process, for example, a procedure may be generated by sequentially selecting the work with the shortest total maintenance time, and general methods such as the greedy algorithm, A* (Aster) algorithm, and Dijkstra algorithm can be used. Below, an example of the individual processing contents described in the overall processing flow will be described.

[0033] (Work definition information reading process) The work definition information reading process S101 will be described. In the work definition information reading process S101, work procedure candidates that combine the assembly order and assembly operations of multiple parts are read from the work definition information 141. Here, information indicating the work procedure candidates written in the work definition information 141 will be described with reference to Figures 7 to 11.

[0034] (Method for generating candidate work procedures) A ​​method for generating an assembly sequence (hereinafter also referred to as "assembly sequence") will be described using the reaction vessel section 200 as an example, with reference to Figures 7 and 8. 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 represent the precedence relationships in assembly. For example, the arrow between the lid 205 and the cylindrical part 204 indicates that the cylindrical part 204 connected to the arrow head should be assembled before the lid 205 connected to the arrow head is attached. In the directed graph 300, the part corresponding to the vertex with all connected arrow heads is the part that should be attached last, and examples of this include the lid 205 and the screw 203. Also, the part corresponding to the vertex with all connected arrow heads is the part that should be attached first, and examples of this include the lower container 201.

[0036] One method for generating an assembly sequence from the directed graph 300 is to use a tree diagram. First, candidate parts to be assembled last are arranged in the first layer of the tree diagram. Next, one of the arranged parts is selected, and the parts that can be disassembled when that part is removed are arranged in the second layer. This process is performed recursively until no candidate parts to be removed remain. In the case of the directed graph 300, the screw 203 and the lid 205 are initially disassembled parts. When the lid 205 is removed, the screw 203 and the cylindrical part 204 become the next targets for disassembly. Therefore, the screw 203 and the cylindrical part 204 are arranged in the second layer, and a branch extending from the lid 205 to the screw 203 and a branch extending from the lid 205 to the cylindrical part 204 are added. The tree diagram 401 obtained by repeating the above steps is shown in FIG. 8. The disassembly sequence is obtained by tracing FIG. 8 from the first layer, and the following three assembly sequences are obtained by reversing this order.

[0037] (Assembly order 1) The upper container 202 is assembled to the upper part on which the lower container 201 is installed, the cylindrical part 204 is inserted into the upper container 202, the lid 205 is closed, and finally the screws 203 are fastened. (Assembly order 2) The upper container 202 is assembled to the upper part on which the lower container 201 is installed, the cylindrical part 204 is inserted into the upper container 202, the screws 203 are fastened, and finally the lid 205 is closed. (Assembly order 3) The upper container 202 is assembled to the upper part on which the lower container 201 is installed, the screws 203 are fastened, the cylindrical part 204 is inserted into the upper container 202, and finally the lid 205 is closed.

[0038] Note that even when there are sub-assemblies made up of multiple parts, the assembly sequence can be generated in the same way. For example, after generating an assembly sequence by regarding the sub-assembly as a single part, the assembly sequence for assembling each sub-assembly can be generated in the same way, and a procedure can be generated by inserting an operation to assemble the sub-assembly before assembling each sub-assembly.

[0039] Next, an example in which there are multiple operations in an assembly operation will be described with reference to Figures 9 and 10. Figures 9 and 10 are diagrams showing an example of an assembly operation for a cylindrical part 204 in the first embodiment of the present invention.

[0040] 9 is an example showing operation F for assembling a cylindrical part. Specifically, in operation F, the worker places his / her face 209 above the upper container 202 so that he / she can look into the through-hole of the upper container 202, and inserts the cylindrical part 204 held by his / her hand 208 into the upper container 202 while checking the insertion state of the cylindrical part 204. Operation A corresponds to operation ID "204F" in FIG. 3.

[0041] 10 is an example showing operation G for assembling a cylindrical part. Operation B is an operation for inserting cylindrical part 204 into upper container 202 while keeping face 209 clear of the through-hole in upper container 202, and corresponds to operation ID "204G" in FIG. 3. In this way, the operation for assembling a part can take multiple patterns depending on the position of the foreign object source (face or hand) during the operation, the path of movement of the part, etc.

[0042] Next, an example of an assembly sequence combining possible operation patterns for the previously shown (Assembling Sequence 1) to (Assembling Sequence 3) will be described using FIG. 11 . FIG. 11 is a directed graph of combinations of parts and operations for candidate assembly procedures for the reaction vessel section in the first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 11 , operations A to H are used as an example, and one or two assembly operations are assigned to each part (operation A for part (lower vessel) 201, operation B and operation C for part (upper vessel) 202, operation D and operation E for part (screw) 203, operation F and operation G for part (cylindrical vessel) 204, and operation H and operation J for part (lid) 205). However, three or more assembly operations may be assigned to each part. In FIG. 11 , for example, assembling part 201 using operation A is represented as "201A," which corresponds to the job ID in FIG. 3 . In addition, the procedure ID "901" (specifically, procedures 201A, 202B, 203D, 204F, and 205J) of the work definition information 141, which is the input information shown in Figure 3, is an example of data for the work sequence indicated by the thick solid arrows in Figure 11, and the procedure ID "902" (specifically, procedures 201A, 202B, 204G, 203D, and 205H) is an example of data for the work sequence indicated by the thick dotted arrows in Figure 11.

[0043] For the task definition information 141, a directed graph 300 representing the assembly precedence order, including the constraints between parts, may be derived from a 3D model of the device using a general constraint extraction technique, and a general line simulation technique may be used to calculate possible task postures from a 3D model to which a human body model has been added, thereby comprehensively generating task procedure IDs 1411 and task IDs 1412, and the task time 1413 may be calculated using the same technique. Furthermore, a general ray tracing technique may be used to perform ray tracing from the clean surface 207 in the direction opposite to gravity, and to check whether the ray intersects with a foreign object source such as a face, arm, or hand, thereby calculating relative positional relationships such as "contact" or "above ground" and using the relative positional relationship information 1414.

[0044] (Calculation Process of Foreign Material Defect Coefficient) Next, the calculation process S102 of the foreign material defect coefficient in FIG. 6 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 12 . FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a flowchart illustrating the processing in the foreign material defect coefficient unit 131. In the calculation process S102 of the foreign material defect coefficient, a foreign material defect coefficient 1431 is calculated for each job ID 1412 based on the positional relationship information 1414 in FIG. 3 . For example, for job ID "204G" shown in FIG. 10 , the foreign material source, that is, the arm and hand, are located in the air above the part "201." Therefore, from the foreign material source information 142 shown in FIG. 4 , the foreign material adhesion index (foreign material defect rate) of "2%" for the hand and the airborne foreign material propagation rate of "5%" are multiplied to obtain a foreign material defect coefficient of "0.1%." Similarly, calculations are performed for each foreign material source, and a foreign material defect coefficient of "0.02%" is obtained as the foreign material defect coefficient for the arm. Furthermore, these are added together to obtain a foreign matter defect coefficient of "0.12%" for part "201" (step S1021). Similarly, a foreign matter defect coefficient is calculated for each part, and a foreign matter defect coefficient of "1%" is obtained for part "204." Since all of the positional relationship information 1414 for part "205" is "unspecified (indicated by blanks)," the foreign matter defect coefficient is "0%." From the above, the subtotal of the foreign matter defect coefficient 1431 for job ID "204G" is calculated to be "1.12%, " which is stored in the subtotal column of the foreign matter defect coefficient 1431 (step S1022). Note that the calculation order for the foreign matter source, job ID 1412, and part is not limited to the above case, and any order is possible as long as it can be performed comprehensively.

[0045] (Calculation Process of Foreign Material Propagation) Next, the calculation process S103 of foreign material propagation in FIG. 6 will be described with reference to FIG. 13. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a flowchart illustrating the processing in the foreign material propagation unit. In the calculation process S103 of foreign material propagation, the propagation of foreign materials that may occur between foreign material sources is taken into consideration based on the positional relationship information 1414. For example, for task ID "203D" which is a screw tightening task, a hand which is a foreign material source that becomes the foreign material propagation destination 1417 and a screw which is a foreign material source that becomes the foreign material propagation source 1418 are extracted from the positional relationship information 1414. When the screw which is the foreign material propagation source is "contacted" by gripping it with the hand, the foreign material adhesion coefficient of the screw "1%" is multiplied by the contact propagation rate "50%" from the foreign material source information 142 to obtain the foreign material propagation amount of "0.5%." This is added to the foreign matter adhesion index of the hand, "2%" (step S1031), to calculate a new foreign matter adhesion index of "2.5%", and update the value of the foreign matter adhesion index 1421. By performing this process sequentially for each foreign matter source that is the foreign matter propagation destination and for each foreign matter source that is the foreign matter transmission destination in accordance with the task order of the task ID 1412, it is possible to calculate the impact of foreign matter propagation.

[0046] (Maintenance Workability Index Calculation Process) Next, the maintenance workability index calculation process S104 in FIG. 6 will be described in detail. A coefficient indicating the degree of occurrence of defects due to foreign matter after the work (total foreign matter defect coefficient 1434) is calculated as the sum (total maintenance time 1432) of the product 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. In this embodiment, a case will be described in which the total maintenance time 1432 is used as the maintenance workability index, but factors other than the total maintenance time 1432 are also adopted as evaluation targets. Specifically, the foreign matter defect coefficient 1431 for each work ID stored in the calculation result information 143 is added up for each work procedure ID 1411. For example, for work procedure ID "901," the subtotals of the foreign matter defect coefficients for work IDs "201A" to "205H" are added together to calculate a total foreign matter defect coefficient of "2.52%," which is stored in total foreign matter defect coefficient 1434. In addition, the work times 1413 for work IDs "201A" to "205H" are added together to calculate the total work time, which is stored in total work time 1435.

[0047] The total maintenance time 1432 is calculated using, for example, formula (1). The total foreign matter defect rate is the probability that at least one operation in a series of operations will be defective due to a foreign matter, and is equal to the total foreign matter defect coefficient 1434. Total maintenance time = total operation time + total operation time × total foreign matter defect rate Formula (1)

[0048] In this embodiment, when the foreign matter adhesion index is defined as the rate of occurrence of foreign matter defects due to the operation of a foreign matter source coming into a predetermined positional relationship with respect to a part, the total foreign matter defect rate will be equal to the total foreign matter defect coefficient 1434, assuming that the individual defect rates are sufficiently small.

[0049] Unlike the present embodiment, if the foreign matter adhesion coefficient is defined as, for example, the total number of foreign matter particles adhering to the equipment in a series of operations or the total surface area of ​​the portions where foreign matter particles are attached, and the total maintenance time is used as the maintenance workability index, the total foreign matter defect rate can be determined from the total foreign matter defect coefficient 1434 by, for example, experimentally determining a correlation coefficient that indicates the correlation between the total foreign matter defect coefficient 1434 and the total foreign matter defect rate. In other words, the coefficient indicating the degree of defect occurrence due to the foreign matter after the operation (total foreign matter defect coefficient 1434) is calculated using 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 plurality of processes, which have been obtained in advance, and a coefficient (correlation coefficient) that indicates the correlation between the degree of defect occurrence due to the foreign matter after the operation.

[0050] (Work Procedure ID Selection Process) Next, the work procedure ID selection process S105 will be described in detail. In S105, an optimized work procedure ID is selected. Specifically, for multiple tasks on the target object that achieve the same result, the one with the smallest total maintenance time 1432 is displayed or notified. In this embodiment, the total maintenance time 1432 is used as the maintenance workability index, but this is not limited to this. The total maintenance times 1432 for each work procedure ID stored in the calculation result information 143 are numbered in ascending order and stored in the rank 1433. Of these, the procedure ID with the highest rank is output. Here, the ranking is performed in descending order of the total maintenance time based on equation (1), but other evaluation methods can also be used, such as a method of ranking only by the total work time or a method of ranking in descending order of the total foreign matter defect coefficient.

[0051] [GUI Description] Next, an example of an input / output GUI for the aforementioned work procedure generation device 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 14. FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of a GUI in the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 14 shows an example of a GUI for 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. Calculation result information 143 is displayed via the calculation result information display section 121. For example, the contents of "Assy01.dat" entered in the work definition information input section 111 are displayed in the work definition information 141, and the contents of "Annormality.dat" entered in the foreign matter source information input section 112 are displayed in the foreign matter source information 142. The conversion coefficient input section 113 is an input section for setting a correlation coefficient representing the correlation between the total foreign matter defect coefficient 1434 and the total foreign matter defect rate. The user also creates a procedure manual using the first-placed task displayed in the calculation result information 143 as the master task. The procedure manual is output as "Result.log".

[0052] [Actions and Effects] As described above, according to the present disclosure, in maintenance work aimed at keeping the inside of the device clean, the frequency of re-disassembly and re-cleaning due to foreign matter adhering during assembly can be reduced, and maintenance time can be shortened, thereby improving equipment availability.

[0053] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but includes various modifications. For example, the above-described embodiments have been described in detail to clearly explain the present invention, and are not necessarily limited to those including all of the described configurations. It is possible to replace or add a portion of the configuration of one embodiment with a configuration of another embodiment. In addition, it is possible to add, delete, or replace a portion of the configuration of each embodiment with another configuration.

[0054] For example, the maintenance work of assembling the reaction vessel section 200 has been described, but this chore can also be applied to disassembly work, such as when disassembling the reaction vessel section 200 and extracting the upper vessel 202.

[0055] The above-described configurations, functional units, processing means, etc. may be realized in part or in whole as hardware, for example, by designing them as integrated circuits. Furthermore, the above-described configurations, functions, etc. may be realized in part or in whole by, for example, a person executing them, or by a processor interpreting and executing a program that realizes each function. Information such as programs, tables, and files for realizing each function can be stored on a storage device such as a memory, hard disk, or solid-state drive (SSD), or on a storage medium such as an IC card, SD card, or DVD, or on a distributed storage device such as a cloud storage service.

[0056] The following are examples of aspects that may be included in the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to these. (Aspect 1) A work evaluation system for evaluating work that includes multiple steps on an object having a surface that requires a predetermined level of cleanliness, wherein the evaluation includes calculating a total sum of multiple work times required for each of the multiple steps and a product of the total work time and a coefficient that indicates the degree of occurrence of defects due to foreign matter after the work, based on previously obtained evaluation results of the degree of propagation or adhesion of foreign matter that impairs the cleanliness of the surface in the multiple steps, and the result of the calculation is displayed or reported on a display. (Aspect 2) The work evaluation system according to Aspect 1, wherein the work involves assembling or assembling multiple parts, including at least one part having the surface that requires the predetermined level of cleanliness, to form the object, or disassembling the object into at least one of the multiple parts. (Aspect 3) The work evaluation system according to Aspect 1 or Aspect 2, wherein the work evaluation system calculates, for each of the plurality of processes, a coefficient indicating the degree of occurrence of defects due to the foreign matter after the work, using information on the relative position of the part and a foreign matter source obtained in advance, the foreign matter source including at least one body part of the worker. (Aspect 4) The work evaluation system according to any one of Aspects 1 to Aspect 3, wherein the work evaluation system calculates, for each of the plurality of processes, a coefficient indicating the degree of occurrence of defects due to the 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 that process and the degree of propagation of the foreign matter in that process. (Aspect 5) The work evaluation system according to any one of Aspects 1 to Aspect 4, wherein the work evaluation system calculates, for each of the plurality of processes, a coefficient indicating the degree of occurrence of defects due to the foreign matter after the work, as a coefficient indicating the degree of occurrence of defects due to the foreign matter after the work.(Aspect 6) The work evaluation system according to any one of Aspects 1 to 5, wherein the work evaluation system calculates a coefficient indicating the degree of occurrence of defects due to the foreign matter after the work by using a coefficient indicating a correlation between a sum of the products of the degrees of adhesion of the foreign matter and the degrees of propagation for each of the plurality of processes, which has been obtained in advance, and the degree of occurrence of defects due to the foreign matter after the work. (Aspect 7) The work evaluation system according to any one of Aspects 1 to 6, wherein, of multiple work tasks on the object that achieve the same result, the one with the smallest overall sum is displayed or notified. (Aspect a) A work procedure generation device that calculates work procedures for work of sequentially assembling and / or disassembling a plurality of parts, the work procedure generation device comprises a foreign matter defect coefficient unit, a foreign matter propagation unit, a maintenance workability index unit, and a maintenance work generation unit, the foreign matter defect coefficient unit obtains a plurality of work procedures for the work, a plurality of operations in each of the operations, a relative positional relationship between a clean part and a foreign matter source in each operation, and a foreign matter adhesion index for each foreign matter source, and calculates a foreign matter defect coefficient for each operation and for each part as the sum of the foreign matter adhesion indexes due to the foreign matter source, the foreign matter propagation unit obtains the relative positional relationship between a clean part and a foreign matter source in each of the plurality of operations, the foreign matter adhesion index for each foreign matter source, and calculates a change in the foreign matter adhesion index due to foreign matter propagation for each operation from the foreign matter propagation rate linked to the relative positional relationship and the foreign matter adhesion index for each foreign matter source, the maintenance workability index unit obtains: work time for each operation, a foreign matter defect coefficient for each operation and for each part calculated by the foreign matter propagation unit, and a maintenance workability index that is an index for evaluating each of the work procedures is calculated by obtaining at least one of the foreign matter defect coefficient unit and the foreign matter defect coefficient for each operation and for each part calculated by the foreign matter propagation unit, and the maintenance work generation unit selects a work procedure for which the maintenance workability index calculated by the maintenance workability index unit is maximum or minimum.(Aspect b) The work procedure generation device according to Aspect a, wherein the relative positional relationship is defined as one of three states: a state where the part and the foreign matter source are in contact (hereinafter referred to as contact), a state where a foreign matter source is present above the part in a non-contact state (hereinafter referred to as air), and the part is not affected by the foreign matter source (hereinafter referred to as unaffected), and the foreign matter propagation rate is information defining two types: a contact foreign matter propagation rate due to contact between the part and the foreign matter source, and an airborne foreign matter propagation rate due to foreign matter falling from a foreign matter source in the air, and the foreign matter propagation calculation unit updates the foreign matter adhesion index due to foreign matter propagation to the contact foreign matter propagation rate when the relative positional relationship is contact, or based on the airborne foreign matter propagation rate when the relative positional relationship is airborne, and omits the update process when the relative positional relationship is unaffected. (Aspect c) The work procedure generation device according to Aspect a or Aspect b, wherein the foreign matter adhesion index is the number of foreign matters that have emerged from the foreign matter source and adhered to the part. (Aspect d) The work procedure generation device according to any one of Aspects a to c, characterized in that the foreign matter adhesion index is a defect rate of operations in which the foreign matter source and the component are in a positional relationship defined by the relative positional relationship. (Aspect e) The work procedure generation device according to any one of Aspects a to d, characterized in that the foreign matter adhesion index is an area of ​​a component surface occupied by foreign matter that has originated from a foreign matter source and adhered to the component. (Aspect f) The work procedure generation device according to any one of Aspects a to e, characterized in that the foreign matter adhesion index is the number of foreign matter particles adhering to the foreign matter source. (Aspect g) The work procedure generation device according to any one of Aspects a to f, characterized in that the foreign matter adhesion index is a ratio, relative to a value for a certain foreign matter source, of any one of the indicators: the number of foreign matter particles that have originated from a foreign matter source and adhered to the component, the number of foreign matter particles adhered to the foreign matter source, or the area of ​​the component surface occupied by foreign matter. (Aspect h) The work procedure generation device according to any one of Aspects a to g, characterized in that the maintenance workability index is a total work time required for work in accordance with the work procedure. (Aspect i) The work procedure generation device according to any one of Aspects a to h, characterized in that the maintenance workability index is a total foreign matter defect coefficient obtained by adding up foreign matter defect coefficients in work in accordance with the work procedure for all operations and parts.(Aspect j) The work procedure generation device according to any one of Aspects a to i, characterized in that the maintenance workability index is the total number of foreign matter particles that have adhered during work in accordance with the work procedure. (Aspect k) The work procedure generation device according to any one of Aspects a to j, characterized in that the maintenance workability index is the total area of ​​parts to which foreign matter has adhered during work in accordance with the work procedure. (Aspect l) The work procedure generation device according to any one of Aspects a to k, characterized in that the maintenance workability index is the sum of the total work time and a value obtained by multiplying the total work time by the total foreign matter defect coefficient. (Aspect m) The work procedure generation device according to any one of Aspects a to l, characterized in that the maintenance workability index unit further comprises means for acquiring an estimation function that estimates a foreign matter defect rate from the foreign matter defect coefficient, and the maintenance workability evaluation index is the sum of the total work time and a value obtained by multiplying the total work time by the foreign matter defect rate estimated from the total foreign matter defect coefficient using the estimation function. (Aspect n) A method for generating work procedures for sequentially assembling and / or disassembling a plurality of parts, comprising the steps of: acquiring a plurality of work procedures for the work; a plurality of operations in each work; a relative positional relationship between a clean part and a foreign matter source in each operation; a foreign matter adhesion index for each foreign matter source; a foreign matter propagation rate for each foreign matter source; and work time for each of the operations; calculating, for each operation, a change in the foreign matter adhesion index due to foreign matter propagation from the foreign matter propagation rate linked to the relative positional relationship and the foreign matter adhesion index for each foreign matter source; calculating, for each operation and for each part, a foreign matter defect coefficient as the sum of the foreign matter adhesion indices due to the foreign matter sources; calculating a maintenance workability index as an index for evaluating each of the work procedures based on at least one of the calculated foreign matter defect coefficient for each operation and for each part, and the work time for each operation; and selecting a work procedure with the calculated maintenance workability index being the maximum or minimum.

[0057] DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Maintenance work procedure 110...Input section 111...Work definition information input section 112...Foreign matter source information input section 113...Conversion coefficient input section 120...Display section 121...Calculation result information display section 130...Processing section 131...Foreign matter defect coefficient section 132...Foreign matter 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...Work time 1414...Positional relationship information 1415...Clean parts (parts for which foreign matter adhesion index is evaluated) 1416...Foreign matter source 1417...Foreign matter propagation destination 1418...Foreign matter propagation origin 142...Foreign matter source information 1421...Foreign matter adhesion index 1422...Contact foreign matter propagation rate 1423...Air foreign matter propagation rate 143...Calculation result information 1431...Foreign matter defect coefficient 1432...Total maintenance time 1433...Procedure order 1434...Total foreign matter defect coefficient 1435...Total work time 200...Reaction vessel part of equipment 201...Lower vessel 201A...First action in assembly work of lower vessel 201 202...Upper vessel 202B...First action in assembly work of upper vessel 202 202C...Second action in assembly work of upper vessel 202 203...Screw 203D...First action in assembly work of screw 203 203E...Second action in assembly work of screw 203 204...Cylindrical part 204F...First action in assembly work of cylindrical part 204 204G...Second action in assembly work of cylindrical part 204 205...Lid 205H... First action in assembling work of lid 205 205J... Second action in assembling work of lid 205 206... Internal space of reaction vessel section 200 207... Clean surface of reaction vessel section 200 208... Hands of worker assembling reaction vessel section 200, which are source of foreign matter 209... Face of worker assembling reaction vessel section 200, which is source of foreign matter 300... Directed graph for calculating assembly order of reaction vessel section 200 301... List of assembly order of reaction vessel section 200 901... First assembly procedure of reaction vessel section 200 902... Second assembly procedure of reaction vessel section 200S101: Processing for reading work definition information S102: Processing for calculating foreign matter defect coefficient S103: Processing for calculating foreign matter propagation S104: Processing for calculating maintenance workability index S105: Processing for selecting work ID

Claims

1. A work evaluation system for evaluating work comprising a plurality of steps on an object having a surface requiring a specified level of cleanliness, wherein the evaluation includes calculating the total sum of the work times required for each of the plurality of steps, and the product of a coefficient indicating the degree of occurrence of defects due to foreign matter after the work, based on the previously obtained evaluation results of the degree of propagation or adhesion of foreign matter that impairs the cleanliness of the surface in the plurality of steps, and the total sum of the work times, and the result of the calculation is displayed or notified on a display.

2. A system for evaluating work as described in claim 1, wherein the work involves assembling or assembling a plurality of parts, including at least one part having a surface that requires the specified cleanliness level, to form the object, or disassembling the object into at least one of the plurality of parts.

3. A work evaluation system as described in claim 2, which calculates, for each of the plurality of processes, a coefficient indicating the degree of occurrence of defects due to the foreign matter after the work, using information on the relative positions of the foreign matter source and the part obtained in advance, which information includes at least one body part of the worker.

4. A work evaluation system as described in claim 3, which calculates, for each of the plurality of processes, a coefficient indicating the degree of occurrence of defects due to the 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 that process and the degree of propagation of the foreign matter in that process.

5. A work evaluation system as described in claim 4, wherein the sum of the products of the degree of adhesion of the foreign matter and the degree of propagation for each of the plurality of processes is calculated as a coefficient indicating the degree of occurrence of defects due to the foreign matter after the work.

6. A work evaluation system as claimed in claim 4, wherein a coefficient indicating the degree of occurrence of defects due to the foreign matter after the work is calculated using a coefficient indicating the correlation between the sum of the products of the degree of adhesion of the foreign matter and the degree of propagation for each of the plurality of processes, which has been obtained in advance, and the degree of occurrence of defects due to the foreign matter after the work.

7. A work evaluation system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein, among a plurality of said works on the object that achieve the same result, the work evaluation system that has the smallest overall sum is displayed or notified.

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