JP2980182B2 - Tool management device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a numerical control machine tool having a plurality of tool magazines, a numerical control device, a work transfer device, a warehouse for storing a pallet shared by a plurality of numerical control machine tools, and loading / unloading of a work. Regarding a flexible production system (hereinafter referred to as FMS) including a setup station for loading and a central processing unit for centrally managing these, in particular, a tool previously mounted in a tool magazine of a numerically controlled machine tool is a tool. The present invention relates to a tool management device that predicts when a service life is to be reached and enables tool preparation and tool change in advance.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Numerically controlled machine tools having a plurality of tool magazines and a numerical control device, a work transfer device, a warehouse for storing pallets shared by a plurality of numerically controlled machine tools, a setup station for loading / unloading a work, and In the FMS, which is composed of a central processing unit that manages and manages these, every time a production plan or a machining schedule is determined, all parts to be machined are reduced in order to reduce machine downtime due to tool preparation and tool change.
Calculates the tool to be used and the usage time, and calculates the remaining life of the tool currently stored in the tool magazine of each numerically controlled machine tool (the time that can be used from the current time until the end of the life: this time when used) Is subtracted and the life is judged to be "0"). By comparing the use time with the use time, if the intended part is machined as it is, the use time exceeds the remaining life time and reaches the tool life halfway. It is possible to predict in advance whether or not the tool will be changed, and to prepare a tool necessary for machining in advance and exchange the tool, or to automatically exchange a tool when a tool transfer device is provided.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an example of a general FMS. The central processing unit 1 instructs a worker to input a work through a work instruction CRT 7, and the worker uses the setup station 2. To perform work input. The input work is transferred to the warehouse 4 or the AP by the work transfer device 5.
The workpiece is conveyed to a C (pallet loading / unloading device) 8, and the numerical control device 6 controls the numerical control machine tool 3 including the APC 8 and the tool magazine 9 in accordance with a command from the central processing unit 1, and the workpiece is processed. When the machining is completed by the numerically controlled machine tool 3, a machining completion signal is notified from the numerical control device 6 to the central processing unit 1, and the central processing unit 1 determines whether or not there is a post-process of the completed workpiece. If there is a process, a command is issued to the transfer device 5 to transfer the work to the next numerically controlled machine tool 3, and if not, to the warehouse 4. Central processing unit 1
Collects the work transported to the warehouse 4 by a work instruction CRT.
The worker is instructed via the setting station 7, and the worker uses the setup station 2 to collect the work, thereby completing a series of steps.

Next, an example of a conventional tool management apparatus is shown in FIG.
This will be described in detail with reference to the block diagram of FIG. 6 and the flowchart of FIG. In the machined part determination unit 11,
When one week or one day of processed parts is determined in the production plan or the processing schedule, the corresponding processed parts and the number of processed parts are obtained (step S1), and the processed parts are classified by processing machine (step S2). Next, in the tool use time calculation unit 12, based on the tool data (the tool to be used and the use time) stored in the external storage device registered in the central processing unit 1 in advance, the tool used in the part to be machined is used. And the used time are obtained for all the machined parts classified by the machined part judging unit 11 (step S3), and when there is the same used tool, they are integrated into one tool, and the used time for the number of machined is integrated. To determine the expected tool use time for each tool (step S4).

The tool magazine information input unit 13 of the numerical control device 6 receives the tools stored in the tool magazine 9 of each numerical control machine tool 3 and the life setting of each tool as tool magazine information according to a command from the central processing unit 1. The time (time that can be used until the end of the life: this time is not subtracted even if used) and the remaining life are transferred to the central processing unit 1 via the communication line (step S5). The central processing unit 1 that has received the tool magazine information performs the processing of the life tool determination unit 14 based on the estimated tool use time and the remaining life time.
First, it is determined whether or not the tool to be used is in the tool magazine information (step S6). If there is a tool to be used, the scheduled use time of the used tool and the remaining life time of the tool in the tool magazine information are determined. If the scheduled use time is longer than the remaining life time (step S7), it is determined that the tool life will be reached during machining, and the tool is registered in the life tool list and stored in the external storage device of the central processing unit 1. It is stored (step S8).

If the tool to be used is not included in the tool magazine information, it is necessary to newly prepare the tool. Therefore, the tool is registered in the prepared tool list and stored in the external storage device of the central processing unit 1 ( Step S9). This process is repeated for all the used tools (step S10). When the process is completed, the same process is performed for the next numerically controlled machine tool 3, and the process is repeated for all the numerically controlled machine tools 3 (step S1).
1). When the processing is completed for all the numerically controlled machine tools 3, the central processing unit 1 reads the life tool list and the ready tool list from the external storage device of the central processing unit 1 and displays them on the work instruction CRT7 (step S12), and the operator Performs the tool change according to this instruction, or performs the automatic change using the tool transfer device, and ends all the processing.

[0007]

In the prior art, a tool prediction process is performed every time a production plan or a machining schedule is determined. Therefore, tool prediction is performed in units of one day or one week. Become.
However, in such a long-term tool prediction, if there is a change in the production plan or machining of express parts,
It is necessary to redo the tool prediction for all the processed parts again, and it takes time for the tool prediction process, and even if a long-term tool prediction is performed, the number of tools is limited, so all specified tools can not be prepared. There was a problem that In addition, in order to perform tool prediction, there is a problem that the tools to be used and the usage time of each tool must be calculated and registered in the central processing unit 1 in advance.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is not to determine a production plan or a processing schedule but to execute a work in real time each time a work is input from a setup station. Tools that can be used to predict tools without having to calculate the used tools and usage time in advance and register them in the central processing unit, and can flexibly respond to problems such as changes in production plans, limited express parts and the number of tools. It is to provide a management device.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a numerically controlled machine tool having a plurality of tool magazines, a numerical control device, a work transfer device, a warehouse for storing a pallet shared by the plurality of numerically controlled machine tools, and loading of a work. The present invention relates to a flexible production system including a setup station for performing unloading and a central processing unit for integrally managing the setup station and the like. Input part determination means for determining whether the work has already been processed or not, and if the input work is a work having no processing performance, the estimated use time and the work time of all the tools to be used. Scheduled time calculating means for calculating a scheduled processing time based on an NC program; In the case where the work is a work having a working record, the actual working time extracting means for taking out the working actual time and working actual time of the work from all the tools used from the external storage device of the central processing unit; Machining start time calculating means for calculating a scheduled start time of machining of the workpiece on the numerically controlled machine tool; and setting the life setting time / remaining life time of all the tools mounted on the tool magazine of the numerically controlled machine tool to the numerical values. Tool magazine information input means for transferring from the control device to the central processing unit via the communication line, and the scheduled use time, scheduled work time, actual use time, actual machining time, scheduled work start time and life setting time / remaining life Based on the time, the life tool determination means for predicting the time to reach the tool life for each tool used, and the life tool determination means The tool is determined to reach the life in factory is achieved by providing a life tool displaying means for displaying together with the life time of arrival.

[0010]

According to the present invention, the tools to be used and the use time are calculated in advance and registered in the central processing unit in real time each time a work is input from the setup station, not every time a production plan or machining schedule is determined. Since the tool prediction can be performed without setting, it is possible to easily cope with a problem such as a change in the production plan and a limitation on the number of express parts and tools.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An example of a tool management apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 8 and according to the block diagram of FIG. 1 and the flowcharts of FIGS. When a work is input from the setup station 2, the central processing unit 1 obtains a processing machine for the input work (step S21), and the input part determination unit 16 in FIG. It is determined whether or not there is (Step S22). If there is a record of processing, the actual time extraction unit 18
The tools used when processed by the processing machine, the actual usage time of each tool, and the actual processing time are read from the external storage device of the central processing unit 1 (step S27).

If there is no machining result, the scheduled time calculation unit 17 first reads the NC program data of the input work from the external storage device of the central processing unit 1 (step S23), and reads the NC program data from the top. The tools are analyzed in order, and the tools to be used and the processing time (scheduled use time) with each tool are calculated (step S24). The tool to be used is determined by the tool command (for example, “T **”) in the NC program data.
Cutting feed command (for example, “G01”) and coordinates (“X **”)
* Y *** Z *** ") to calculate the moving distance in the cutting process, and feed the moving distance and feed (for example," F ** ").
* ”).

Then, a time other than the cutting time is calculated, and a planned use time of each tool and a rapid traverse time are integrated to calculate a planned processing time from the start to the end of the processing (step S25). For times other than the cutting time,
For example, regarding the fast-forward time, a fast-forward command (eg, “G0
0 ") and the coordinates (" X ** Y ** Z *** "), and calculates the moving distance in the fast-forward processing, and calculates and calculates the moving distance from the moving distance and the fast-forward speed. The calculated used tools, the planned use time of each tool, and the planned processing time are stored in the external storage device of the central processing unit 1 (step S26).

When the calculation of the scheduled tool use time and the scheduled machining time of the input work is completed, the central processing unit 1 causes the machining start time calculation unit 19 to calculate the scheduled tool use time of the workpiece waiting for machining in the warehouse. And the estimated processing time are calculated, and the estimated time at which the input work is started to be processed by the numerically controlled machine tool 3 is calculated. First, a work to be machined by the same machine as the numerically controlled machine tool 3 on which the input work is machined is searched from the warehouse 4, and a tool to be used and a planned use time of each tool are obtained for each work (step). S28) Further, a scheduled processing time is obtained (step S29).

At this time, if the work waiting to be processed has already been processed by the numerically controlled machine tool 3, the tools used when processed by the numerically controlled machine tool 3, the actual use time of each tool, and the processing time The actual time is read from the external storage device of the central processing unit 1, and if there is no actual machining result, the tool used when the work is input, the estimated use time of each tool, and the estimated processing time are set in the central processing unit 1. Since the data is stored in the external storage device, the data is read, the tool used for each work, the estimated use time of each tool and the estimated machining time are integrated, and all the used tools and all the tools of the work waiting for machining are added. Calculate the scheduled use time and the total scheduled time.

Next, the used tools of the inserted work and the estimated use times of the respective tools are added to the obtained total used tools and the estimated use times of the respective tools (the estimated use times of the same tool are integrated). Calculate the tools to be used and the respective tool use scheduled times until the machining of the work is completed (step S30), and add the total machining schedule time to the current time,
A scheduled processing time at which the processing of the input work is started is calculated (step S31). When the calculation of the processing start time of the input work and the calculation of the use time of all tools and each tool are completed, the central processing unit 1 sends the tool magazine information input unit 13 to the numerical control device of the machine to be processed. The numerical control device that transmits the transfer command of the tool magazine information, and receives the transfer command, communicates the life setting time / remaining life time of all tools stored in the tool magazine 9 of the numerical control machine tool 3 and each tool with a communication line. (Step S32).

When the reading of the tool magazine information is completed,
Based on the calculated machining start time of the input workpiece, all the used tools, the usage time of each tool, and tool magazine information, the central processing unit 1 determines a tool having a life and a tool to be newly prepared based on the calculated processing start time of the input workpiece. calculate. First, it is determined whether or not the used tool is included in the tool magazine information (step S33). If the used tool is not included in the tool magazine information, the used tool and the processing start time are set in the prepared tool list as a tool to be newly prepared. It is registered and stored in the external storage device of the central processing unit 1 (step S36). If the used tool is included in the tool magazine information, the used time of the tool is compared with the remaining life time (step S34). If the used time exceeds the remaining life time, the corresponding tool is processed during the machining of the input workpiece. Is determined to have reached the end of its life, the used tool and the processing start time are registered in the end-of-life tool list and stored in the external storage device of the central processing unit 1 (step S35). If the use time does not exceed the remaining life time, it is determined that the tool life of the tool is not reached during machining of the input workpiece.

Then, returning to step S33, the above processing is performed for all the used tools (step S37). When the determination of the life tool is completed, the central processing unit 1 reads the life tool list and the preparation tool list from the external storage device of the central processing device 1 on the life tool display unit 21 and performs the work instruction CR.
This is displayed at T7 (step S38), and the operator performs a tool change according to this instruction, or performs an automatic change using a tool transfer device. On the other hand, the input work is soon started to be processed by the numerically controlled machine tool 3, and the numerical control device 6 stores the tool instructed in the NC program,
The actual time calculation unit 22 counts the time required for machining with the commanded tool, and obtains the actual use time for each used tool (step S41). Further, the time from the start to the end of the machining is counted to obtain the actual machining time (step S42).

When the machining is completed, the numerical controller 6 uses the actual time input unit 23 to transfer the obtained used tool, the actual use time of each tool and the actual machining time to the central processing unit 1 via a communication line (step S43). . The central processing unit 1 stores the used tool, the actual use time, and the actual machining time received from the numerical controller 6 in the external storage of the central processing unit 1 in the actual time storage unit 24 (step S4).
4). In this process, when there is no actual machining, the machining start time is calculated and the life is determined based on the scheduled time calculated based on the NC program data registered in the central processing unit 1. When the machining is performed in the above, the actual time calculated from the actual machining is used thereafter, and the calculation of the machining start time and the life determination can be performed more accurately and promptly.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a data table used in the tool management device of the present invention, which is stored in the external storage device of the central processing unit 1. Production plan data is shown in Fig.
As shown in (b), the type and the number of workpieces to be input are defined, and the machining process data includes, as shown in FIG. The time and the processing result presence / absence flag are defined for each process, and the tool layout data defines the tools to be used and the time required for processing each workpiece with a machine, as shown in FIG. It was done.

When a work is input from the setup station 2, the central processing unit 1 determines from the production plan data ((A) in the figure) the input work as to which part number and which process of the input work. The processing process data of the part number / corresponding process number ((B) in the figure) is read from the external storage device. Then, a processing result presence / absence graph in the processing step data ((C) in the drawing) is checked, and if “1” (processing result is present), the processing time is extracted and stored as the processing result time. Also,
The layout data of the corresponding part number / process is read from the external storage device using the file name as a key, and the actual use time of the tool to be used is extracted and stored. On the other hand, when machining is performed by the numerically controlled machine tool 3, the numerical control device 6 calculates the actual use time and actual machining time of the used tool, and the calculation results are transmitted via the communication line to the central processing unit 1.
Is forwarded to

The central processing unit 1 reads, from the external storage device, the machining step data of the corresponding part number / step number from the external storage device based on the part number and the step number of the processed workpiece. The processing result time is set to the processing time, the processing result presence / absence flag is set to “1” (processing result is present), and stored in the external storage device. Also, using the file name of the machining process data as a key, the tool layout data of the corresponding part number / corresponding process number is read from the external storage device,
Each actual use time of the received tool is set to the use time of the tool layout data ((C) in the same figure) and stored in the external storage device. In this way, by automatically updating the tool management data each time a work is input from the setup station, the above-described tool prediction can be performed in real time.

[0023]

As described above, according to the tool management apparatus of the present invention, each time a work is input from the setup station, the tool to be used and the use time are calculated in advance and registered in the central processing unit. Even without this, it is possible to perform tool prediction. In addition, it becomes possible to flexibly cope with problems such as a change in a production plan and a limitation on the number of express parts and tools, and efficient system operation can be achieved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a tool management device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram 1 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a diagram 2 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a data table used in the apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of a conventional tool management device.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a conventional apparatus.

FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram illustrating an example of a general FMS.

[Explanation of symbols]

 16 Input part determination unit 17 Scheduled time calculation unit 18 Actual time extraction unit 19 Machining start time calculation unit 20 Life tool determination unit 21 Life tool display unit 22 Actual time calculation unit 23 Actual time input unit 24 Actual time storage unit

Continuation of the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B23Q 41/00 B23Q 3/155 B23Q 17/09

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A numerical control machine tool having a plurality of tool magazines and a numerical control device, a work transfer device, a warehouse for storing a pallet shared by a plurality of numerical control machine tools, a setup station for loading / unloading a work, and In a flexible production system composed of a central processing unit or the like that integrally controls these, each time a work is input from the setup station, an input component that determines whether the input work is a work that has already been processed or not. Determining means, and when the input work is a work having no machining record, the scheduled use time of all the tools to be used and the scheduled work time of the work are set to N
Scheduled time calculating means for calculating based on the C program;
In the case where the input work is a work having a working record, a working time extracting means for taking out the working actual time and the working actual time of the work for all the tools used from the external storage device of the central processing unit, Machining start time calculation means for calculating a scheduled start time of the inserted workpiece in the numerically controlled machine tool; and life setting time / remaining life of all tools mounted on a tool magazine of the numerically controlled machine tool Tool magazine information input means for transferring time from the numerical control device to the central processing unit via a communication line; and setting the scheduled use time, scheduled work time, actual use time, actual work time, scheduled start time, and service life. Life tool determination means for predicting when the tool life will be reached for each tool used based on the time / remaining life time; Tool management apparatus characterized by comprising a life tool displaying means for displaying together with the life end time of the decision by the tool reaches the lifetime during machining by means. 2. A numerical result calculated by said numerical control device for each time a workpiece is machined by said numerically controlled machine tool, the actual use time of each tool and the actual machining time of said workpiece for all tools used for machining. Time calculation means, and actual time input means for transferring the actual use time of each tool and the actual machining time of the work calculated by the numerical control device to the central processing unit via a communication line when machining is completed. And an actual time storage means for storing the actual use time and the actual machining time of the work for each of the tools received by the central processing unit via a communication line in an external storage device of the central processing unit. The tool management device according to claim 1.