Data processing: generic control systems or specific application – Specific application – apparatus or process – Product assembly or manufacturing
Reexamination Certificate
1998-11-09
2001-10-30
Grant, William (Department: 2121)
Data processing: generic control systems or specific application
Specific application, apparatus or process
Product assembly or manufacturing
C700S017000, C700S083000, C700S180000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06311101
ABSTRACT:
The invention is concerned with methods of operating injection molding machines.
More specifically the invention concerns a method of remote monitoring or remote maintenance of an injection molding machine which has an SPC (stored-programmable control) with at least one CPU (central processing unit) for operating the actuators of the injection molding machine in real-time. In such a method data are transmitted between the injection molding machine and a remote monitoring or remote maintenance workstation disposed at a remote location, and said data include process data of the injection molding process implemented by the injection molding machine and/or control parameters for process control of the injection molding machine.
The invention further concerns a method of data transmission between an SPC and an operating unit, having a microprocessor, of an injection molding machine, wherein the data transmission includes a transmission to the SPC of reference values of injection molding parameters, the reference values being inputted into the operating unit. In dependence on those reference values and actual values which are outputted to the SPC by sensor devices, the SPC outputs control signals to actuators of the injection molding machine.
The transmission of data to a workstation which is disposed at a location remote from the injection molding machine in order to implement remote monitoring or control or remote maintenance of the injection molding machine from that workstation is already known. For example U.S. Pat. No. 5,301,120 discloses data transmission from a plurality of injection molding machines to a monitoring or control computer. For that purpose, the usual procedure is to make a serial point-to-point data connection between the injection molding machine and the remotely disposed workstation, wherein modems and the telephone network can be used as the data line. A disadvantage with those systems is that software which is specifically adapted to the respective injection molding machine has to be previously installed at the remotely disposed workstation, to make the communication with the injection molding machine and to permit monitoring or control thereof.
It is known from WO 97/26587 to connect a production station by way of the Internet to external apparatuses, for example a programming apparatus. The production station has inter alia a plurality of SPCs (stored-programmable controls or PLCs) and servers, wherein a control program can be transmitted from the external programming apparatus by way of the Internet into an SPC of the production station.
An injection molding machine is provided with an operating unit for the display and input of data of the injection molding process. Besides operating units which do not have any “intelligence”, that is to say a microprocessor, operating units are also known, which include a microprocessor on which run the programs which form the interface between man and machine. They are in particular programs for the display of process data which are detected by sensors of the injection molding machine and fed to the SPC as actual values, and programs for the input of reference or target values of injection molding parameters which are inputted into the operating unit and transmitted to the SPC. The SPC controls or regulates the actuators of the injection molding machine, in dependence on those reference values.
The connection between an SPC and an operating unit of an injection molding machine is conventionally effected by way of an internal parallel synchronous bus or, in the case of an “intelligent” operating unit, by way of a serial “point-to-point connection” between the microprocessor of the operating unit and the microprocessor of the SPC. Such serial “point-to-point connections” are afforded by a respective SIO (serial input-output) interface in the SPC and in the operating unit, wherein those SIO can be connected by way of a cable which is suitable for the specific nature of the SIO-interface. A plurality of internationally standardised serial connections are known, which make specific demands in terms of the SIO-interface and the cable used (for example the number of poles, length, material, screening).
It is further known in regard to rubber injection molding installations to connect a plurality of injection molding machines to a central computer to form a local network. That central computer can take over control functions and tasks of data input, data acquisition and data display. Each of the injection molding units which are connected together to form a local network in addition have an internal operating unit for local operation of the injection molding machine, wherein the internal connection between the SPC of the injection molding machine and the internal operating unit of the injection molding machine is effected in conventional manner.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method of remote monitoring or remote maintenance of an injection molding machine, with which the possibilities in terms of remote monitoring or remote maintenance are enlarged and by which the service expenditure and the costs for such a system are reduced.
A further object of the invention is to permit a simple and reliable kind of internal data transmission between the SPC and the operating unit of an injection molding machine. The invention further seeks to provide that a communication option with external apparatuses is provided by the manner according to the invention of the internal communication in the injection molding machine, in a simpler fashion than with the conventional injection molding machines.
In accordance with a first aspect of the invention the SPC of the injection molding machine, in addition to real-time operation of the actuators of the injection molding machine, operates as a web server, preferably an HTTP (hypertext transfer protocol)-server or an FTP (file transfer protocol)-server, by way of which it is possible to make a simultaneous communication connection with two or more remote monitoring or remote maintenance workstations, wherein a CPU of the SPC performs both real-time control operations of the injection molding machine and also server functions for remote monitoring or remote maintenance.
Therefore the injection molding machine does not require a separate server which is provided in addition to the SPC for communication with the remote monitoring or remote maintenance workstations, but that functionality is taken over directly by the SPC. Therefore, two completely different functionalities are implemented on the SPC, which hitherto were considered to be contradictory from the point of view of their character, these being more specifically operation of the injection molding machine which must be capable of being implemented in real-time, and the computing time- and memory-intensive communication tasks of a web server.
A further advantage of the method according to the invention is that the remote monitoring or remote maintenance workstations do not have to be especially prepared. The appropriate communication software can be stored in the SPC of the injection molding machine itself and can be called up from the remote monitoring or remote maintenance workstation by way of a standard communication protocol such as HTTP or FTP by the SPC. In that case the data connection can be made for example by way of the Internet.
In accordance with a further aspect of the invention the SPC of the injection molding machine and a microprocessor of the operating unit of the injection molding machine communicate by way of a local network, wherein the SPC forms a server and the operating unit forms a client in the local network. This aspect of the invention is therefore based on already providing a LAN (local area network)-architecture for internal data transmission within the injection molding machine, more specifically between the SPC and the operating unit of the injection molding machine. In terms of hardware, various types of such network architectures exist, for example the known Ethernet. Those network technol
Engel Maschinenbau Gesellschaft m.b.H.
Grant William
Notaro & Michalos P.C.
Rodriquez Paul
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