阅读说明：本技术 机器人保养支持装置及方法 (Robot maintenance support device and method ) 是由 泽田洋美 吉村雅人 清水知也 于 2015-11-30 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明涉及一种用于预测机器人的驱动系统的剩余寿命并支持机器人的保养的机器人保养支持装置及方法。本装置具备：获取数据存储机构(4),用于存储针对构成机器人驱动系统(R1)的伺服电动机的电流指令值所获取的数据；倾向诊断机构(5),用于基于存储在获取数据存储机构(4)的电流指令值的数据,诊断电流指令值的将来变化倾向；及寿命判定机构(6),用于基于利用倾向诊断机构(5)获得的电流指令值的将来变化倾向,判定电流指令值距离到达预先设定值的期间。本装置能够高精度地预测机器人驱动系统的剩余寿命。(The present invention relates to a robot maintenance support device and method for predicting the remaining life of a drive system of a robot and supporting maintenance of the robot. The device is provided with: an acquisition data storage means (4) for storing data acquired for current command values of servo motors constituting a robot drive system (R1); tendency diagnosing means (5) for diagnosing a tendency of future change in the current command value based on the data of the current command value stored in the acquisition data storing means (4); and a life determination means (6) for determining a period of time during which the current command value reaches a preset value, based on the tendency of future change of the current command value obtained by the tendency diagnosis means (5). The device can predict the residual service life of the robot driving system with high precision.)

1. A robot maintenance support device for supporting maintenance by predicting the life of a drive system of a robot, comprising:

an acquisition data storage unit configured to store data acquired for a current command value of a servo motor constituting a drive system of the robot;

tendency diagnosing means for diagnosing a tendency of future change in the current command value based on the data of the current command value stored in the acquisition data storing means; and

life determination means for determining a period during which the current command value reaches a preset value based on the tendency of future change of the current command value obtained by the tendency diagnosis means.

2. The robot maintenance support device according to claim 1, wherein the acquisition data storage means stores data on a plurality of current command values relating to a plurality of servo motors constituting a drive system of the robot; and is

The robot maintenance support device further includes target data selection means for selecting the current command value to be a diagnosis target of the tendency diagnosis means from the plurality of current command values.

3. The robot maintenance support device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the tendency diagnosis means has a function of graphically displaying, on a display means, a prediction line indicating a tendency of future change in the current command value.

4. The robot maintenance support device according to claim 3, wherein the life determination means is configured to determine a time corresponding to an intersection of the prediction line displayed in the graph and a reference line set in the graph as the predicted life.

5. The robot maintenance support device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising a diagnostic item selection means for selecting a diagnostic item of the current command value of the tendency diagnosis means from an I2 monitor, a load, and a peak current.

6. The robot maintenance support device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising set value changing means for changing a set value used in diagnosis by the tendency diagnosis means.

7. The robot maintenance support device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the setting value used in the diagnosis by the tendency diagnosis means includes at least one of a threshold value regarding the current command value, a number of target data days from a current date, a number of days from the current date to a determination date, and a minimum number of data used in diagnosis calculation.

8. The robot maintenance support device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the tendency diagnosis means is configured to perform diagnosis based only on the current command value during the operation of the robot.

9. A robot maintenance support device for supporting maintenance by predicting the life of a drive system of a robot, comprising:

an acquisition data storage unit configured to store data acquired for a current command value of a servo motor constituting a drive system of the robot;

tendency diagnosing means for diagnosing a tendency of future change in the current command value based on the data of the current command value stored in the acquisition data storing means; and

life determination means for determining a period during which the current command value reaches a preset value based on the tendency of future change of the current command value obtained by the tendency diagnosis means; and

a display means for acquiring and displaying at least one of the diagnosis result of the tendency diagnosis means and the determination result of the life determination means via a communication network.

10. A robot maintenance support method for predicting the life of a drive system of a robot and supporting maintenance, comprising:

an acquired data storage step of storing data acquired for a current command value of a servo motor constituting a drive system of the robot;

a tendency diagnosing step of diagnosing a tendency of future change of the current command value based on the data of the current command value stored by the acquisition data storing step; and

and a lifetime determination step of determining a period during which the current command value reaches a preset value, based on the future tendency of change of the current command value obtained by the tendency diagnosis step.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a robot maintenance support device and method for predicting the remaining life of a drive system of a robot and supporting maintenance of the robot.

Background

Industrial robots, when used for a long period of time, suffer degradation of the machines constituting the robot drive system for driving the robot arms and the robot external axes (e.g., wear of gears of a reduction gear), and therefore, the operation accuracy of the robot is reduced. Further, if such a state is left alone, the robot constituting the robot drive system is damaged, and the robot malfunctions.

In an industrial robot installed in a production line, if a robot fails, the entire production line stops, which reduces production efficiency and hinders production planning. Therefore, there is a market demand for preventing a failure by performing preventive maintenance before the failure of the robot.

In order to meet such a market demand, a method of estimating the remaining life of a machine (such as a speed reducer) constituting a drive system of the robot based on the design life of the machine and the operating time of the robot up to the current date has been considered.

However, since the robot operating conditions assumed when determining the design life of the machine may be significantly different from the actual robot operating conditions, it is difficult to maintain the high accuracy of the estimated value by a method of estimating the remaining life of the machine based on the design life of the machine and the operating time of the robot up to the current date.

On the other hand, for example, patent document 1 proposes the following technique: data of a robot controller in actual work is collected via a communication line, and fault diagnosis and maintenance are performed based on the collected data (patent document 1).

Documents of the prior art

Patent document

Patent document 1: japanese patent laid-open publication No. 2007-190663

Disclosure of Invention

[ problems to be solved by the invention ]

However, in the related art, although it is possible to determine whether or not maintenance is currently required (part replacement or the like) based on current data, the related art cannot specify its time period (timing) when maintenance is required in the future when it is determined that maintenance is not currently required.

That is, in the conventional art, it is difficult to plan a work schedule for maintenance of the robot in advance while maintaining a margin in time, and as a result, it is difficult to perform maintenance of the robot at a proper time.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems of the conventional art, and an object thereof is to provide a robot maintenance support device and method capable of predicting the remaining life of a robot drive system with high accuracy.

[ means for solving problems ]

In order to solve the above problem, a first aspect of the present invention provides a robot maintenance support device for predicting a lifetime of a drive system of a robot and supporting maintenance, the robot maintenance support device including: an acquisition data storage unit configured to store data acquired for a current command value of a servo motor constituting a drive system of the robot; tendency diagnosing means for diagnosing a tendency of future change in the current command value based on the data of the current command value stored in the acquisition data storing means; and life determination means for determining a period of time during which the current command value reaches a preset value, based on the tendency of future change of the current command value obtained by the tendency diagnosis means.

According to the 1 st aspect, the 2 nd aspect of the present invention is characterized in that: the acquisition data storage means stores data on a plurality of current command values relating to a plurality of servomotors constituting a drive system of the robot, and further includes target data selection means for selecting the current command value to be diagnosed by the trend diagnosis means from among the plurality of current command values.

According to the 1 st or 2 nd aspect of the present invention, the 3 rd aspect is characterized in that: the tendency diagnosing means has a function of graphically displaying on the display means a prediction line indicating a tendency of future change of the current command value.

According to the 3 rd aspect, the 4 th aspect of the present invention is characterized in that: the life determination means is configured to determine a time corresponding to an intersection of the prediction line displayed in the graph and a reference line set in the graph as a predicted life.

According to any one of aspects 1 to 4, the 5 th aspect of the present invention is characterized in that: the diagnostic device further comprises diagnostic item selection means for selecting a diagnostic item of the current command value of the trend diagnostic means from an I2 monitor, a load, and a peak current.

According to any one of aspects 1 to 5, the 6 th aspect of the present invention is characterized in that: and a set value changing means for changing a set value used for diagnosis by the trend diagnosis means.

According to any one of aspects 1 to 6, the 7 th aspect of the present invention is characterized in that: the set value used for the diagnosis of the trend diagnosis means includes at least one of a threshold value for the current command value, the number of target data days from the current date, the number of days from the current date to the determination date, and the minimum number of data used for the diagnosis calculation.

According to any one of aspects 1 to 7, an 8 th aspect of the present invention is characterized in that: the tendency diagnosing means is configured to diagnose only based on the current command value during the operation of the robot.

In order to solve the above problem, a 9 th aspect of the present invention is a robot maintenance support device for predicting a lifetime of a drive system of a robot and supporting maintenance, the robot maintenance support device including: an acquisition data storage unit configured to store data acquired for a current command value of a servo motor constituting a drive system of the robot; tendency diagnosing means for diagnosing a tendency of future change in the current command value based on the data of the current command value stored in the acquisition data storing means; life determination means for determining a period during which the current command value reaches a preset value based on the tendency of future change of the current command value obtained by the tendency diagnosis means; and a display means for acquiring and displaying at least one of the diagnosis result of the tendency diagnosis means and the determination result of the life determination means via a communication network.

In addition, the 9 th aspect of the present invention and any one or more of the 1 st to 8 th aspects of the present invention can be appropriately combined.

In order to solve the above problem, a 10 th aspect of the present invention is a robot maintenance support method for predicting a lifetime of a drive system of a robot and supporting maintenance, the method including: an acquired data storage step of storing data acquired for a current command value of a servo motor constituting a drive system of the robot; a tendency diagnosing step of diagnosing a tendency of future change of the current command value based on the data of the current command value stored by the acquisition data storing step; and a life determination step of determining a period during which the current command value reaches a preset value, based on the tendency of future change of the current command value obtained by the tendency diagnosis step.

According to the 10 th aspect, the 11 th aspect of the present invention is characterized in that: the acquisition data storage step stores data on a plurality of current command values for a plurality of servo motors constituting a drive system of the robot, and the method further includes a target data selection step of selecting the current command value to be diagnosed in the tendency diagnosis step from the plurality of current command values.

According to the 10 th or 11 th aspect of the present invention, the 12 th aspect is characterized in that: in the tendency diagnosing step, a prediction line indicating a tendency of future change of the current command value is displayed on a display means in a graph.

According to the 12 th aspect, the 13 th aspect of the present invention is characterized in that: in the life determination step, a time corresponding to an intersection of the prediction line displayed in the graph and a reference line set in the graph is determined as a predicted life.

According to any one of aspects 10 to 13, the 14 th aspect of the present invention is characterized in that: the method further comprises a diagnostic item selection step for selecting a diagnostic item of the current command value of the trend diagnostic step from an I2 monitor, a load, and a peak current.

According to any one of the 10 th to 14 th aspects, the 15 th aspect of the present invention is characterized in that: and a set value changing step of changing a set value used for diagnosis in the tendency diagnosis step.

According to any one of aspects 10 to 15, the 16 th aspect of the present invention is characterized in that: the setting value used in the diagnosis in the trend diagnosis step includes at least one of a threshold value for the current command value, the number of target data days from the current date, the number of days from the current date to the determination date, and the lowest number of data used in the diagnosis calculation.

According to any one of aspects 10 to 16, the 17 th aspect of the present invention is characterized in that: in the tendency diagnosing step, the diagnosis is performed based only on the current command value during the operation of the robot.

[ Effect of the invention ]

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a robot maintenance support device and method capable of predicting the remaining life of a robot drive system with high accuracy.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a robot maintenance support device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a diagram showing object data used in the robot maintenance support device shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a diagram showing setting items used in the robot maintenance support device shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a diagram showing items of a trend chart created by the robot maintenance support device shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a trend chart created by the robot maintenance support device shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a flowchart showing a method for predicting the remaining life of the robot drive system using the robot maintenance support device shown in fig. 1.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, a robot maintenance support device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

First, a schematic configuration of a robot that is a target of the robot maintenance support device according to the present embodiment will be described. The robot includes a robot arm and a robot driving system for driving the robot arm or an external axis of the robot.

The robot drive system includes a servomotor that generates a drive force, a speed reducer that transmits the drive force from the servomotor to the robot arm or an external axis of the robot, and an encoder that detects the position of the servomotor. The robot drive system is controlled by a servo control system comprising a position loop, a velocity loop, and a current loop.

As shown in fig. 1, the robot to be used as the robot maintenance support device according to the present embodiment includes a robot drive system R1 having 8 drive shafts JT1 to JT8, and the robot drive system R1 is controlled by a robot controller R2.

The robot maintenance support device 1 according to the present embodiment is a device for predicting the life of the robot drive system R1 and supporting maintenance.

As shown in fig. 1, the robot maintenance support device 1 includes a data acquisition means 2, and the data acquisition means 2 is configured to acquire data on current command values of the servo motors corresponding to the drive shafts JT1 to JT8 of the robot drive system R1 from the robot controller R2.

The data acquisition by the data acquisition mechanism 2 may be acquired from the robot controller R2 via a communication line such as the internet, or the data may be acquired directly from the robot controller R2 by connecting a substrate for data acquisition to the robot controller R2.

The data on the current command value acquired by the data acquisition means 2 is transferred to and stored in the acquisition data storage means 4 constituted in the PC 3. The acquisition data storage means 4 stores data on a plurality of current command values relating to a plurality of servomotors constituting the robot drive system R1.

The robot maintenance support device 1 further includes tendency diagnosis means 5 for diagnosing a tendency of future change in the current command value of the servo motor. This tendency diagnosing means 5 diagnoses a tendency of future change in the current command value based on the data on the current command value stored in the acquired data storing means 4. The diagnostic results can be output, for example, as a trend chart.

The robot maintenance support device 1 further includes a life determination means 6 for determining the life of the robot drive system R1. The life determination means 6 determines a period during which the current command value distance of the servo motor constituting the robot drive system R1 reaches a preset value, based on the tendency of future change in the current command value obtained by the tendency diagnosis means 5.

The robot maintenance support device 1 further includes target data selection means 7, and the target data selection means 7 is configured to select a current command value to be a diagnosis target of the tendency diagnosis means 5 from among a plurality of current command values corresponding to the drive shafts JT1 to JT 8. That is, the drive shafts JT1 to JT8 whose remaining life is to be determined can be selected by the target data selection means 7.

As shown in fig. 2, the object data selected by the object data selection means 7 is data of an execution section set by the robot teaching program. That is, only data on the current command value during the operation of the robot is set as a diagnosis target, and data during the stop of the robot is not set as a diagnosis target. This can improve the accuracy of determining the remaining life.

The tendency diagnosing means 5 of the robot maintenance support device 1 has a function of displaying a prediction line indicating a tendency of future change of the current command value on the display means 8 as a graph (a tendency graph). The life determination means 6 is configured to determine a time corresponding to an intersection of a prediction line displayed on the graph and a reference line set on the graph as the predicted life.

The robot maintenance support device 1 further includes a diagnostic item selection means 9, and the diagnostic item selection means 9 is configured to select a diagnostic item that is inclined to the current command value of the diagnostic means 5 from among an I2 monitor, a load (DUTY), and a peak current.

As shown in fig. 3, the I2 monitor sets the threshold value to 107% (design basis) based on the initial measurement value. The load is based on the motor continuous braking current value (motor manufacturer specification). The peak current value is based on a current limit value (current limit of an amplifier, a speed reducer, and a motor).

The robot maintenance support device 1 further includes a set value changing means 10, and the set value changing means 10 changes a set value used for diagnosis by the inclination diagnosis means 5. As shown in fig. 3, the setting values used for the diagnosis by the trend diagnosis means 5 include a threshold value for the current command value, the number of days of the target data (reference days) from the current date, the number of days (determination days) from the current date to the determination date (predicted life value), and the minimum number of data used for the diagnosis calculation.

The graph displayed on the display means 8 of the robot maintenance support device 1 includes the items shown in fig. 4, and an example thereof is shown in fig. 5. In fig. 5, when the I2 monitor is selected by the diagnostic item selector 11, the diagnostic result regarding the current command value of the servomotor corresponding to the drive shaft JT1 selected by the target data selector 12 is displayed.

The X-axis (horizontal axis) of the graph shown in fig. 5 is a date and time indicating the date and time at which the data of the current command value is acquired, and the Y-axis (vertical axis) displays the I2 monitor as diagnostic items for the current command value of the servomotor with respect to the drive shaft JT 1. The reference days to the chart are preset 10 days. The reference line 13 in the graph, which is used as a criterion for determining the remaining life, is determined by the reference value × the threshold value/100.

On the graph, a prediction line 15 obtained by the least square method based on plot data 14 of the current command value is displayed. The intersection of this prediction line 15 with the reference line 13 is displayed as the prediction date 16 of the remaining life.

Next, a method of predicting the life of the robot drive system R1 and supporting maintenance of the robot by using the robot maintenance support device 1 will be described with reference to fig. 6.

First, the acquired data storage means 4 stores data on the current command values of the servomotors corresponding to the plurality of drive shafts JT1 to JT8 acquired by the data acquisition means 2 (acquired data storage step S1). Subsequently, a current command value to be diagnosed is selected from among a plurality of current command values corresponding to the plurality of drive shafts JT1 to JT8 (target data selecting step S2).

Next, the diagnostic item selection means 9 selects diagnostic items from the I2 monitor, the load, and the peak current (diagnostic item selection step S3). The default values of the threshold, the reference number of days, the number of determination days, and the number of data are changed by the set value changing means 10 as necessary (set value changing step S4).

Next, the trend diagnosing means 5 plots the selected current command value data and the diagnosis result of the diagnosis item on a graph (diagnosis result plotting step S5). Next, based on the diagnosis result plotted in the graph, a prediction line is drawn by the least square method (prediction line drawing step S6). The diagnostic result plotting step S5 and the predictive line plotting step S6 constitute a tendency diagnosing step of diagnosing a tendency of future change in the current command value.

Next, the life determination means 6 determines a period until the current command value reaches the preset reference line 13 based on the future tendency of change of the current command value obtained in the tendency diagnosis steps S5 and S6 (life determination step S7). That is, in the lifetime determination step S7, a time corresponding to an intersection of the prediction line 15 displayed in the graph of fig. 5 and the reference line 13 set in the graph is determined as the predicted lifetime.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the remaining life of the robot drive system R1 can be predicted with high accuracy based on the data of the current command value of the servomotor of the robot drive system R1. This makes it possible to perform maintenance of the robot at a proper timing, to minimize the stop time of the robot due to a failure, and to reliably prevent a reduction in the production efficiency of a production line in which the robot is installed.

In particular, in the present embodiment, the tendency diagnosing means 5 diagnoses the movement of the robot based only on the current command value during the movement of the robot, and therefore the accuracy of predicting the remaining life of the robot driving system R1 can be further improved.

As another embodiment of the present invention, in the configuration of the above embodiment, in addition to the display means 8 connected to the robot controller R2 (or instead of the display means 8), a device connectable to the PC 3 of the robot controller R2 via a communication network such as the internet may be provided.

Such a device is preferably a so-called smart device such as a tablet terminal, a smart phone, a laptop PC, or the like, or a general desktop PC may be used. In short, a device that can be connected to the PC 3 via a communication network may be used at a location remote from the site where the robot is installed.

According to the robot maintenance support apparatus and method of the present embodiment, even at a location remote from a site where the robot is installed, the state of the robot can be remotely confirmed. Thus, the maintenance operation of the robot can be more reliably and more timely performed.

[ description of symbols ]

1 robot maintenance support device

2 data acquisition mechanism

3 PC

4 acquisition data storage mechanism

5 trend diagnostic mechanism

6 life judging mechanism

7 object data selection mechanism

8 display mechanism

9 diagnostic item selection mechanism

10 set value changing mechanism

11 diagnostic item selector

12 object data selection unit

Reference line of 13 charts

14 plotting data

15 prediction line of chart

16 predicted date of remaining life

R1 robot driving system

R2 robot controller

S1 data acquisition and storage step

S2 object data selection step

S3 diagnostic item selection step

S4 setting value changing step

S5 diagnostic result plotting step (Trend diagnostic step)

S6 prediction line drawing step (tendency diagnosis step)

And S7 life judgment step.