Patent Application
20230221705
The invention relates to a production machine having a control program for visualizing stations and/or machine components while highlighting the speed-determining station and/or the speed-determining machine component for optimizing the process time. The invention also relates to a method of optimizing the process time for a production machine with such a control program and to a data carrier with such a control program.
Production machines with several stations are used in many areas of manufacturing. These stations usually consist of several subassemblies using product-specific tools. In plastics processing, for example, blow molding stations or thermoforming stations are used as primary forming stations. Further stations within a production machine can be a punching machine, a hole punching machine or a stacking machine. The actual production process is defined by process parameters which, as machine-wide parameters, control the cooperation of the various stations or, within a station, the work processes of the individual components and tools. These process parameters in their entirety define the (usually cyclical) process sequence and thus form a production program, which is also referred to as a recipe.
In the prior art, methods and devices for visualizing the production program as a flow chart are known. Here, the process sequence is displayed schematically, indicating the stations or assemblies/tools involved, with the individual process steps assigned to the components or tools plotted as bars over time.
On the one hand, the production program should permit the manufacture of a high-quality product in a reproducible manner; on the other hand, it should also minimize production time. In the case of complex production programs with many components/tools and possibly several stations, it is extremely difficult for the operator to identify the speed-determining process sequences, especially since individual process steps with the assemblies/tools involved not only run consecutively, but in part also in parallel or in an overlapping manner. In addition, other process times such as delay time, travel time or derivative time are present as parameterizing time phases in addition to the actual effective time. In addition, releases are usually defined in order to take critical process interfaces into account. Despite schematic visualization by means of a flow chart, the person skilled in the art therefore has no objective basis for time optimization of the process program and thus of the manufacturing process. He must rely on his individual experience and try to optimize the process in terms of process time in a trial-and-error approach, which usually also requires initialization of the production machine.
It would therefore be desirable to put the time optimization of the process flow on a more objective basis and to provide a process visualization to the user, with which he can more quickly arrive at a process parameter set that is improved in terms of time for the production, regardless of his experience.
The invention is based on the task of providing a control program for production machines, with which the temporal optimization of the process parameter set takes place on a more objective basis and a process visualization is made available to the user, with which he can arrive in a targeted manner, and thus more quickly, at a process parameter set that is improved in terms of time for the production, regardless of his experience.
The task of the invention is solved by a production machine according to claim 1 and a method according to claim 11. Further advantageous embodiments of the production machine are the subject matter of dependent claims 2 to 10. Further advantageous embodiments of the method are the subject matter of dependent claims 11 to 19.
In a first aspect, the invention relates to a production machine comprising one or more stations (2), each comprising a plurality of machine components (3), and a machine controller (4) for controlling the production machine (1) comprising a control program (5) with a visualization unit (6), wherein the control program (5) is designed to display the stations and/or the machine components of a station as a flow chart on the visualization unit (6) and to highlight the speed-determining station and/or the speed-determining machine component.
Production machines for plastics processing can be, for instance, blow molding machines or thermoforming machines. Blow molding machines produce a film tubing from heated plastic material. Thermoforming machines are used for producing deep-drawn moldings, comprising a transport unit for a thermoplastic film web and a molding station for molding the moldings from the previously heated film web. Such machines are characterized in that they comprise a plurality of individual machine components which must suitably work together since a single film tubing or a single film web, respectively, are guided through the entire production facility and consequently the machine components must be well matched in effect and cycle time so as to achieve a good overall process. Machine components for a thermoforming machine comprise, for instance, the transport unit for film feed from a film roll, a preheating station for preheating the film web, a heating station for heating the film web up to the process temperature, a molding station for molding the product from the film web, a cutting station for cutting the molded products out of the film web, a stacking station for stacking the finished products and a recovery station for the film web which has not been processed.
The machine controller can be arranged on the production machine or separately from the production machine, the machine controller being connected to the respective machine components via suitable data lines such that the process parameter inputs can be translated into corresponding machine settings. The machine control additionally comprises a processor on which the control program can be installed and executed as well as a data memory for storing process parameters or is at least connected to such a memory. The data lines can be embodied as data cables or wireless. The machine controller can also be implemented, for example, as a cloud solution which is connected to the production machine via W-LAN or an Internet connection.
Stations in the sense of the invention are functionally connected individual machines of the overall machines. Examples here are a stacking machine or a punching machine. The components of these stations are referred to as machine components. For example, if the production machine is a thermoforming machine, the station “moulding station” comprises as machine components an upper die and a lower die between which the film web is clamped for the moulding process and, if necessary, prestretching dies which pre-stretch the film during the moulding process.
In a further embodiment of the invention, the speed-determining station and/or the speed-determining machine component are highlighted in the production machine by means of one or more of the visualization types 1 to 5 listed below:
Visualization type 1: with this visualization type, a line running perpendicular to the t-axis of the flow chart is displayed in the flow chart, which intersects the bar of the speed-determining station or the speed-determining machine component at the t-value at which the process bar of this station or this machine component ends in the flow chart. This has the advantage that the user sees at first glance the temporal embedding of the speed-determining station/machine component in the overall process and can thus more easily take measures for process optimization.
Visualization type 2: with this visualization type, links that already exist in the flow chart are visually highlighted, such as a pointer that links the end of a first speed-determining process step with the start of a second process step and defines a release. In this way, the procedural embedding in the overall process is also immediately apparent to the user.
Visualization type 2: with this visualization type, the delay time is indicated numerically. This gives the user an immediate indication of the maximum time that can be saved by adapting the process.
Visualization type 3: with this visualization type, the name of the speed-determining station or the speed-determining step is displayed in a signal colour such as yellow, orange or red. This not only allows immediate identification of the relevant speed-determining station or machine component, but also reduces the risk of misinterpretation with subsequent incorrect operation.
Visualization type 3: with this visualization type, the speed-determining station or the speed-determining step is linked to a graphic symbol, such as a dial with hands. Symbols of this kind have the advantage that they provide an intuitive grasp of the facts and can also be used internationally.
In a further embodiment, the control program of the production machine according to the invention is additionally designed to display the time phases of the process sequences carried out by the machine component on the visualization device. In the context of the present application, a time phase is defined as a period of time in which a specific process is carried out by a machine component or station. It thus has a defined beginning and a defined end, which thus define a phase length.
The visualization of the time phases is preferably done by a line-by-line arrangement of the machine components with the time axis as the horizontal axis and a presentation of the time phases as visually distinguishable sections of a time beam in the line of the respective machine component. Such a representation of the time phases as sections of a time beam expediently takes the form of a bar graph.
Usefully, the time phases are assigned to a specific time phase type according to the assigned process step. Non-restrictive examples of such time phase types are active time, delay time, travel time and derivative time. For example, the active time describes the time phase in which a machine component acts on the workpiece to be processed, whereas the travel time is the time in which the machine component is moved towards or away from the workpiece.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the visualization unit of the production machine is set up as an interactive user interface. In this case, a design as a touchscreen is preferred.
In one embodiment of the invention, the control program of the production machine is additionally designed to provide a user aid on the visualization unit, which can preferably be opened by touching/clicking on the visual highlights of the speed-determining station or the speed-determining machine component. It is particularly preferred that the user aid contains suggestions for optimizing the timing of the process. In this case, it is preferable that the user aid is designed as a separate program window that opens when the user calls it up within the existing program window (“pop-up menu”).
In a particular embodiment, the control program (5) of the production machine (1) is additionally designed to display switch panels (13) on the visualization device (6) for entering time values for the time phases of the process sequences carried out by the machine component. According to the invention, a switch panel is defined to be an input area of a user interface in which one or more time values can be entered.
Preferably, one or more of the following visualization types are provided for the switch panel:
In a further embodiment, the control program of the production machine according to the invention is additionally designed to display a new flow chart based on one or more new time values after they have been entered and transferred to the control program on the visualization device. This provides the user with direct feedback on the effects of the new time values selected and entered by him.
In a further embodiment, in the production machine according to the invention, the control program provides a separate visualization page on the visualization unit for each visualized station, with suitable buttons being provided for switching between individual station visualization pages. A button in the sense of the invention is defined to be an area of the user interface which triggers a program command by touching or clicking/double-clicking by means of a cursor.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, in the production machine, the control program is designed in such a way that the recalculation of the production program and the visualization of the speed-determining station and/or the speed-determining machine component based on input of new time values into the respective switch panels can be performed without real operation of the production machine. This offers an enormous advantage, as a time-consuming, cost-intensive (possibly even material-consuming) initiation of the machine can be dispensed with.
In a second aspect, the invention provides a method of optimizing the process time for a production machine, wherein the production machine comprises a plurality of stations and/or machine components and a machine controller for controlling the production machine and further comprises a control program with an interactive user interface designed as a visualization unit, preferably a touchscreen, wherein the method comprises the following steps:
(A) visualizing at least one, preferably all, stations and/or machine components as a flow chart highlighting the speed-determining station and/or speed-determining machine component with indication of the time phases and providing corresponding switch panels for inputting time values with regard to the respectively visualized station or machine component into the control program;
(B) input of one or more time values into the switch panels and user release for transmission into the control program;
(C) calculating the production program in its time sequence based on the time value(s) entered via the switch panels in step (B);
(D) optionally repeating the visualization according to step (A) based on the newly calculated production program according to step (C), preferably iterating until a maximally shortened process time is achieved.
In a further embodiment of the invention, the process involves highlighting the speed-determining station and/or the speed-determining machine component by one or more of the visualization types 1 to 5 listed below:
Visualization type 1: in this visualization type, a line running perpendicular to the t-axis of the flow chart is displayed in the flow chart, which intersects the bar of the speed-determining station or speed-determining machine component at the t-value at which the process bar of this station or this machine component ends in the flow chart. This has the advantage that the user can see at first glance the temporal embedding of the speed-determining station/component in the overall process and can thus take measures for process optimization more easily.
Visualization type 2: with this visualization type, the visual highlighting of links that already exist in the flow chart, such as a pointer that links the end of a first speed-determining process step with the start of a second process step and defines a release, takes place. In this way, the procedural embedding in the overall process is also immediately apparent to the user.
Visualization type 2: with this visualization type, the delay time is indicated numerically. This gives the user an immediate indication of the maximum time that can be saved by adapting the process.
Visualization type 3: with this visualization type, the name of the speed-determining station or the speed-determining step is displayed in a signal colour such as yellow, orange or red. This not only allows immediate identification of the relevant speed-determining station or machine component, but also reduces the risk of misinterpretation with subsequent incorrect operation.
Visualization type 3: with this visualization type, the speed-determining station or the speed-determining step is linked to a graphic symbol, such as a dial with hands. Symbols of this kind have the advantage that they provide an intuitive grasp of the facts and can also be used internationally.
In a further embodiment, in the method according to the invention, the control program is additionally designed to display on the visualization unit the time phases of the process sequences carried out by the machine component.
This is preferably done by a line-by-line arrangement of the machine components with the time axis as the horizontal axis and a representation of the time phases as visually distinguishable sections of a time beam in the line of the respective machine component. Such a presentation of the time phases as sections of a time beam expediently takes the form of a bar graph.
It is convenient that the time phases are assigned to a specific time phase type according to the assigned process step. Non-restrictive examples of such time phase types are active time, delay time, travel time and derivative time.
In one embodiment of the invention, the control program of the production machine is additionally designed to provide a user aid on the visualization unit, which can preferably be opened by touching/clicking on the visual highlights of the speed-determining station or the speed-determining machine component, and the user aid particularly preferably contains suggestions for optimizing the timing of the process. Preferred here is a design as a separate program window which opens by the user calling it up within the existing program window (“popup menu”).
In a particular embodiment, the control program of the production machine is additionally designed to display switch panels on the visualization unit for entering time values for the time phases of the process sequences carried out by the machine component. According to the invention, a switch panel is defined to be an input area of a user interface in which one or more time values can be entered.
In a preferred manner, one or more of the following visualization types are provided for the switch panel:
In a further embodiment, in the method according to the invention, the control program is additionally designed to display a new flow chart based on one or more new time values after they have been entered and transferred to the control program on the visualization unit. This provides the user with direct feedback on the effects of the new time values selected and entered by him.
In a further embodiment, in the method according to the invention, the control program provides a separate visualization page on the visualization unit for each visualized station, with suitable buttons being provided for switching between individual station visualization pages.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, in the method the control program is designed such that the recalculation of the production program and the visualization of the speed-determining station and/or the speed-determining machine component based on input of new time values into the respective switch panels can be performed without real operation of the production machine. This offers an enormous advantage, since a time-consuming, cost-intensive initialization of the machine (possibly even taking place with material consumption) can be dispensed with.
The invention further relates to a data carrier with a control program stored thereon suitable for carrying out the process according to the invention or for controlling a production machine according to the invention.
It is understood that features of the solutions described above or in the claims can also be combined, if necessary, in order to be able to implement the advantages and effects achievable in the present case in a correspondingly cumulative manner.
In addition, further features, effects and advantages of the present invention are explained with reference to the accompanying drawing and the following specification. Components in the individual figures which at least essentially correspond in terms of their functions are marked here with the same reference numbers, where the components do not have to be numbered and explained in all figures.
The figures show:
At this point, it should be explicitly pointed out that features of the solutions described above or in the claims and/or figures can also be combined, if necessary, in order to be able to implement or achieve the explained features, effects and advantages in a correspondingly cumulative manner.
It is understood that the exemplary embodiment explained above is merely a first embodiment of the present invention. In this respect, the embodiments of the invention are not limited to this example.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 2019 117 097.4 | Jun 2019 | DE | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/DE2020/000136 | 6/22/2020 | WO |
