Machine Control Timing for Automatic Safety Diagnostic Tests
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Solution Overview
Problem
In machine tools and industrial robots, diagnostic tests for safety functions cannot be executed during automatic operation, leading to potential safety malfunctions and machining defects, and require manual operator intervention to schedule within predetermined periods.
Innovation Solution
A machine control device that calculates and predicts execution times for diagnostic tests, allowing automatic execution before or after program execution, ensuring tests are conducted within predetermined cycles without interrupting machining operations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the automatic operation of the machine is prioritized, then productivity is improved, but the diagnostic test cannot be executed within a predetermined cycle, increasing safety risk
Solution Approach 1:
The control device predicts the program ending time in advance and compares it with the diagnostic test execution time. When the predicted ending time exceeds the execution time, the diagnostic test is executed prior to the scheduled time, ensuring safety tests are performed within required cycles without interrupting ongoing machining operations.
2Reliability
If the diagnostic test is prioritized, then safety reliability is improved, but machining is interrupted at unintended timing, causing machining defects
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary prediction of program ending time and compares it with scheduled diagnostic test execution time. This allows advance planning to execute tests at optimal moments that do not interrupt critical machining operations, thereby maintaining both safety reliability and machining quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The diagnostic test execution timing is made dynamic rather than fixed. The control device adjusts the test execution time based on real-time program status and predicted completion times, allowing flexible scheduling that adapts to varying machining conditions to avoid interrupting precision operations.
3Reliability
If manual operator intervention is required to schedule diagnostic tests, then test execution reliability is improved, but operator burden increases and automation is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The control device autonomously manages diagnostic test scheduling by automatically predicting program ending times, comparing them with scheduled test execution times, and determining optimal test execution moments without operator intervention. This self-service approach maintains reliable test execution while fully automating the scheduling process.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements a feedback mechanism where the control device continuously monitors program execution status, predicts ending times, and uses this information to automatically adjust diagnostic test scheduling. This closed-loop control ensures tests are executed at appropriate times without requiring manual operator input or monitoring.
Data Source
AI summary
A machine control device includes: a diagnostic test time calculation unit that calculates a scheduled execution time of a diagnostic test; a program execution time prediction unit that predicts a predicted ending time of a program before executing the program; a diagnostic test execution determination unit that determines whether to execute the diagnostic test at a predetermined time, by determining whether the predicted ending time of the program exceeds the scheduled execution time of the diagnostic test, and a diagnostic test execution unit that executes the diagnostic test, in which, in a case in which the predicted ending time of the program exceeds the scheduled execution time of the diagnostic test, the diagnostic test execution determination unit instructs the diagnostic test execution unit to execute the diagnostic test prior to the scheduled execution time of the diagnostic test before executing the program.