JPH09163008A - Remote maintenance device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simplify the remote maintenance of plural equipments by connecting a portable maintenance unit to an equipment when a diagnosis is required on a user side having plural equipments provided with PLCs. SOLUTION: A portable maintenance unit 12 is composed by integrating a modem 13 to be connected with a modular jack 10 and a link unit 14 which is connected with the modem 13 and can be connected with the sequencer of the programable logic controller(PLC) 11 of an equipment 8 into one body. When a fault is generated in the equipment 8 and a state becomes the one that the equipment 8 is diagnosed, the portable maintenance unit 12 is connected with the modular jack 10 and the sequencer of the equipment 8 on a user side. As a result, the personal computer 2 on the maker side and the equipment 8 on the user side are remotely connected via a telephone line network 4 and the diagnosis as to whether data is normal or not, etc., which can be obtained by accessing to the sequencer of the PLC 11 of the equipment 8 by the remote control from the personal computer 2 for diagnosis is accessed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a programmable logic controller (hereinafter, referred to as a control microcomputer).
The present invention relates to a remote maintenance device for performing a failure diagnosis on a device equipped with a PLC) via a telephone line network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A remote maintenance device in the prior art is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-46482. The content is that one telephone line and one maintenance device are provided for one maintenance target device including a PLC. With the configuration in which the device to be maintained, the telephone line, and the maintenance device are in one-to-one correspondence with each other, in order to perform maintenance on a plurality of devices, the telephone line and the maintenance are required for the number of the devices. Equipment is required. Therefore, in order to avoid using a plurality of telephone lines and a maintenance device, for example, as shown in FIG. 5, a plurality of maintenance target devices 8 provided with PLC 11 are connected in a network form so that the manufacturer side can perform diagnosis. A configuration is conceivable in which the device 1 and the diagnostic device 5 on the user side are connected by one telephone line network 4.

The diagnostic device 1 on the manufacturer side is a PLC 11
It is composed of a personal computer 2 equipped with application software for remotely diagnosing the device 8 equipped with the above, and a modem 3 for transmitting and receiving predetermined data by connecting to the telephone network 4 based on an instruction from the personal computer 2.

The telephone line network 4 is composed of a main station including a relay station, a telephone line laid via a branch office, a dedicated line and the like. The diagnostic device 5 on the user side is configured to be connected to each of a plurality of devices 8 forming a network.

The diagnostic device 5 has a function of diagnosing the drive state of the equipment 8 including each PLC,
A predetermined instruction is sent to a diagnostic modem 6 that is connected to the telephone line network 4 and is compatible with the modem 3 on the manufacturer side in transmission speed and the like, and a device 8 that is connected to the diagnostic modem 6 and has a PLC And a personal computer 7 that extracts the information and sends it to the manufacturer.

With such a configuration, when a failure or the like occurs in any of the devices 8, the expert on the maker side first makes a diagnosis before going to the site of the user side who has constructed the network. The device 1 is driven, and the diagnostic personal computer 7 on the user side is driven via the telephone network 4 to access the PLC 11 of the device 8 which is considered to be defective and perform a predetermined diagnosis. Therefore, even in a remote place, it is possible to take appropriate measures for the device 8 which is considered to be out of order.

[0007]

However, in the above-described conventional remote maintenance device, all the devices are linked by the network and the PLC is used.
It is necessary to build a large-scale center that needs to exchange data between a device equipped with and a personal computer for diagnosis. The center constructed in this way is ideal, but if a remote maintenance device that is necessary only in case of failure etc. is constructed, it is pointed out that it costs too much other than achieving the original purpose. ing.

That is, (1) the network unit itself provided in a device equipped with a PLC becomes expensive, and it is necessary to provide each device equipped with a PLC with a diagnostic function.

(2) The equipment itself equipped with a PLC to which a network unit can be attached is of high function type,
A large sequencer is required even for a single compact device. (3) By forming a network, the load on the software of the sequencer of the device equipped with each PLC increases.

(4) In the case of a network connecting devices equipped with PLCs of different manufacturers, the cost of the unit itself becomes extremely high. In addition, since the load of the software to be incorporated increases, generally, when forming a network, there is no choice but to limit it to the sequencer of the same manufacturer.

(5) A personal computer interrupting the network reads the operation status of the ladder of a device equipped with a specific PLC, sends the data through a telephone line, and a diagnostic PC in a remote place indicates the operation status of the ladder. General-purpose software for monitoring is not complete. Therefore, what can be monitored by a remote PC, which is the manufacturer, is limited to abnormal comments and input / output I / O data that are usually displayed on the touch panel.

Therefore, when an abnormal condition such as a failure occurs in a plurality of devices equipped with PLC, the access state of the sequencer of the device in which the abnormal condition occurs, the saved flag, and the error log when an error occurs There is a demand for a remote maintenance device that can collect such information from a remote location and can perform predetermined operations as appropriate. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a remote maintenance device that can perform remote maintenance of a plurality of devices with a simple configuration.

[0013]

The above object of the present invention is achieved by the following constitution. A diagnostic device (1A) for individually diagnosing each of a plurality of devices (8) having a programmable logic controller (11) in a remote place via a telephone line network (4), and the telephone line network (4). ), And the modular jack (10) provided for each device (8) and the modular jack (10) provided for the device (8) to be diagnosed when the device (8) is diagnosed. A portable maintenance unit (12) which is detachably attached to the device (8), in which a modem (13) connected to the device and a link unit (14) connected to the programmable logic controller (11) are integrated. A remote maintenance device characterized in that

Programmable logic controller (1) at a remote location via a telephone network (4A)
1), a diagnostic device (1B) for individually diagnosing each of a plurality of devices (8), and a programmable device (8) for diagnosing the device (8) when diagnosing the device (8).
A link unit (17) connected to the logic controller (11) and connected to the link unit (17) via a modem (16) and the telephone line network (4A)
A remote maintenance device comprising: a portable maintenance unit (12A) which is detachably attached to the device (8), which is integrated with a portable wireless telephone (15) wirelessly connected to the device.

The remote maintenance device according to the above, wherein the portable wireless telephone has a configuration in which a fixed station connected to a wired telephone line and a fixed station are connected to the fixed station via a local radio.

The portable maintenance unit (1
2, 12A) is equipped with an imaging device, and the diagnostic device (1A,
1B) is provided with a display device for displaying an image taken by an imaging device, The remote maintenance device according to any one of items 1 to 3 above.

According to the present invention, since the portable maintenance unit can be connected to each device, the maintenance operation can be performed from a remote location by using one telephone line and one portable maintenance unit for a plurality of devices. It can be carried out. Therefore, it is possible to provide a remote maintenance device having a simple structure and a low cost.

[0018]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A remote maintenance device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The same components as those in the prior art will be described with the same reference numerals for easy understanding. First, the items required for remote maintenance are as follows. When a problem occurs in a plurality of devices equipped with PLC, in the case of a simple problem, the device itself can perform a failure diagnosis and display the details of the failure and the coping method on the touch panel of the operation surface, The user can handle it.

As described above, no problem arises with respect to a failure that can be detected by the failure diagnosis function according to a predetermined rule. However, in the case of a so-called unpredictable cause that cannot be detected by the failure diagnosis function, an engineer on the maker side having specialized technology needs to visit the user side. If it is a predictable trouble, it is naturally possible to display a comment. If the manufacturer's diagnostic device is in a remote location and only accesses the comment display of this error, the comment and display display status etc. displayed when the user's network fails Is no different from getting a phone call.

The causes of these unpredictable troubles are, for example, 1. Optical axis shift of photoelectric sensor, 2. Displacement of proximity sensor due to screw loosening (including cylinder sensor), 3. Loose terminals, 4. Disconnection, 5. Disconnection of solder between connectors and disconnection due to cavitation due to aging,
6. There may be bugs hidden in the sequence software.

The present invention takes this remote maintenance one step further and normally leaves the maintenance mechanism in a detached state. The diagnostic device is connected to and the data such as error logs can be directly collected.

That is, when a trouble occurs during driving, the internal software of the sequencer of each device having the trouble can be accessed by using the telephone line, and the operation status,
The status of I / O can be monitored to find the cause and indicate the coping method. Furthermore, by using the function that can be operated remotely, if you want to change the timer value, make a slight circuit change such as version upgrade, etc. according to the user's request, you can remotely view the contents of the software without going to the place where it is installed. It is also possible to change.

With respect to the remote maintenance device having such a function, it is possible to monitor the I / O status of the sequencer, the operation status of the ladder of the sequencer, and other abnormal comments and abnormal history from at least a remote location. If a simple circuit change or the like can be performed from a remote place, the function will be further enhanced.

Various embodiments of the remote maintenance device having the above functions will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the remote maintenance device according to the first embodiment uses a telephone line network 4 to connect a PLC on a remote side from a diagnostic device 1A on the manufacturer side to a user side.
The portable maintenance unit 12 is appropriately connected to the sequencer of the device 8 including 11 to access the sequencer, and the operation status of the ladder of the device 8 can be extracted.

That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the remote maintenance device comprises a diagnostic device 1A on the manufacturer side, a telephone line network 4, a modular jack 10 and a portable maintenance unit 12 provided on the user side. There is. The manufacturer's diagnostic device 1A includes a personal computer 2 equipped with remote maintenance software, and a modem 3 for transmitting data on the telephone network 4 and receiving data transmitted via the telephone network 4. It consists of

The telephone network 4 has been widely opened to the general public,
It consists of so-called wired telephone lines. The diagnostic device on the user side includes a plurality of devices 8 each having a PLC, a diagnostic telephone line terminal 9 into which a telephone line is drawn, and a modular jack provided inside or near each device 8 connected to the telephone line terminal 9. 10 and a portable maintenance unit 12 that can be connected to the modular jack 10 and can be connected to the sequencer of the PLC 11 of the device 8 and that is portable.

The portable maintenance unit 12 has a structure in which a modem 13 connected to the modular jack 10 and a link unit 14 connected to the modem 13 and connectable to the sequencer of the PLC 11 of the device 8 are integrated. When the device 8 is operating normally, it is in a detached state as a single unit.

In the remote maintenance device having such a configuration, the portable maintenance unit 12 is removed from any of the modular jacks 10 when the network is operating normally. Equipment 8
When a failure occurs in the device and the device 8 is diagnosed, the user connects the portable maintenance unit 12 to the modular jack 10 and the sequencer of the device 8. Then, it is possible to remotely connect to the user's device 8 through the manufacturer's personal computer 2 and the telephone network 4, and to access the PLC 11 sequencer of the device 8 by remote operation from the manufacturer's diagnostic personal computer 2. Then, it is possible to access the ladder status, error log, actual I / O command, diagnosis of whether or not the obtained data is normal, and the like without going to the user side.

As described above, it is not necessary to install a diagnostic link unit, a modem, and a telephone line for each device 8 on the user side, and a plurality of modular jacks 10 connected to a single-line telephone line terminal 9 are provided as devices. It may be installed in or near 8. Further, the portable maintenance unit 1 in which the modem 13 and the link unit 14 are integrated
With respect to No. 2, only one set needs to be handed to the user side, so that the cost can be reduced. Further, since it is not necessary to be aware of incorporating software for remote maintenance into the software incorporated in the installed device 8, simplification can be achieved accordingly.

Further, it is not necessary to specify the maker and format of the device 8, and it is possible to support various devices of each maker. In this case, the manufacturer's diagnostic program needs to incorporate ladder support software corresponding to the device 8.

Next, a remote maintenance device according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 2, the remote maintenance device according to the second embodiment includes a manufacturer-side diagnostic device 1B and a telephone network 4.
And a portable maintenance unit 12A including a portable wireless telephone 15 provided in the network device on the user side.

The diagnostic device 1B on the manufacturer side comprises a personal computer 2 having a diagnostic program installed therein and a modem 3 for transmitting / receiving data to / from the telephone line network 4A. The diagnostic device described in the first embodiment above. Similar to 1A. The telephone line network 4A forms a telephone line including a wired telephone line network 4b and a ground station 4d connected to the wired telephone line network 4b by a radio 4c.

The diagnostic device on the user side has a configuration in which a plurality of devices 8 each having a PLC and a portable maintenance unit 12A connectable to the devices 8 are installed. The portable maintenance unit 12A includes a digital portable radio telephone 15, which is a radio telephone, a modem 16, and a PLC.
The link unit 17 is connected to the sequencer of the device 8 equipped with.

By adopting the portable maintenance unit 12A having such a structure, it is not necessary to provide a modular jack for connecting each device 8 with a telephone line, so that an extension telephone line is not provided. Also gets better. In addition, since the mobile wireless telephone 15 is used, the link unit 17 is simply added to the sequencer of the device 8 when used.
You only need to connect, and the usability will be improved. The portable wireless telephone 15 may be a so-called PHS, and it goes without saying that it includes all of the wireless telephones. In addition, the usage method of the remote maintenance is the same as that of the first embodiment.

Next, a remote maintenance device according to the third embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 3, the remote maintenance device according to the third embodiment includes a manufacturer's diagnostic device 1C and a telephone network 4.
And a maintenance unit 18 including a portable maintenance unit 20 using the in-house radio in the device 8 on the user side.

The diagnostic device 1C on the manufacturer side comprises a personal computer 2 having a diagnostic program installed therein and a modem 3 for transmitting / receiving data to / from the telephone line network 4. The telephone line network 4 is formed by telephone lines that are spread over various parts of the wired telephone line network. On the user side, a plurality of devices 8 and a maintenance unit 18 for performing a failure diagnosis of the devices 8 are provided.

The maintenance section 18 is connected to the modem 6 connected to the telephone line network 4 and the modem 6, and
A personal computer 7 equipped with a diagnostic program for directly diagnosing a device 8 equipped with an LC 11, and a wireless modem 19 for premises
And a portable maintenance unit 20. Of these, the modem 6, the personal computer 7, and the indoor wireless modem 19 are fixed stations on the user side.

The portable maintenance unit 20 has a structure in which a local radio modem 21 and a link unit 22 which is directly connected to the sequencer of the device 8 are integrally configured, and transmits and receives wirelessly to and from the local radio modem 19. Enables wireless data transmission / reception within the device installation range on the user side.

Thus, the portable maintenance unit 2
By arranging the wireless modem 20 for premises at 0, it is not necessary to dispose a modular jack or the like for each device 8, and therefore, it is not necessary to install a wired telephone line dedicated to maintenance. In addition, the usage method of the remote maintenance is the same as that of the first embodiment.

Next, a remote maintenance device according to the fourth embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 4, the remote maintenance device according to the fourth embodiment can access the sequencer of each device at a remote place on the user side from the manufacturer side by using the telephone line and extract the contents of the ladder. , It is so constructed that you can watch the video of the scene in a remote place.

That is, as shown in FIG. 4, a diagnostic device 1D having a display 24 on the manufacturer side, a telephone network 4, and a portable maintenance unit 25 having a modular jack and a video camera 27 on the user side. It is configured with and.

The diagnostic device 1D on the maker side transmits data to the personal computer 2 equipped with the remote maintenance software and the telephone line network 4, and receives data transmitted via the telephone line network 4. Modem 3 and switch 23
And a display 24 connected via. The telephone line network 4 is composed of so-called wired telephone lines.

The diagnostic device on the user side includes a plurality of devices 8 each having a PLC 11, a terminal 9 for pulling in a telephone line, and a modular jack 10 provided inside or near each device 8 connected to the terminal 9. And a portable maintenance unit 25 that can be appropriately connected to the modular jack 10 and can be connected to the sequencer of the device 8 and is portable.

The portable maintenance unit 25 includes a modem 13 connected to the modular jack 10, a link unit 14 connected to the modem 13 and a sequencer of the device 8, and a video camera connected via a switch 26. And 27. The portable maintenance unit 25 is detached as a single unit when the network is operating normally.

The remote maintenance device in such a state is in a state in which the portable maintenance unit 25 is removed from any of the modular jacks 10 during normal operation. When a failure occurs in a specific device 8 and the device 8 is diagnosed, the user connects the portable maintenance unit 25 to the modular jack 10 and the sequencer of the device 8. Then, the personal computer 2 on the manufacturer side and the device 8 on the user side are remotely connected via the telephone network 4, and the sequencer of the device 8 is accessed by remote operation from the personal computer 2 on the manufacturer side to check the ladder status and error. It is possible to apply a log, an actual I / O command, and diagnose whether the obtained data is normal or not, without having to go to the user side.

Further, the display 24 and the video camera 2
By providing 7 on the user side and the maker side, it is possible to view the display status, operation status, connection status, etc. of the device 8 in a remote place and use it together with the data diagnosed in the error log, etc. It is possible to

The display 24 and the video camera 27
The data can be sent as a still image for each screen in about 10 seconds, for example. Furthermore, the sound can be sent in real time, and the situation of the site on the user side can be grasped by the image and the sound.

[0048]

As described above, the remote maintenance device according to the present invention uses the portable maintenance unit as a device when a user having a plurality of devices equipped with PLC needs to make a diagnosis. By adopting the connection configuration, there is an effect that it is not necessary to permanently install a diagnostic function in each device, the network construction can be simplified, and the cost can be reduced.

Further, since the diagnostic function is not provided for each device, it is sufficient to prepare at least one set of portable maintenance unit at the place where a plurality of devices are installed, which is unnecessary. The effect is that capital investment can be suppressed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a remote maintenance device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of a remote maintenance device according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of a remote maintenance device according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of a remote maintenance device according to the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a remote maintenance device in the related art.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D Diagnostic device 2 Personal computer 3 Modem 4, 4A Telephone line network 4b Wired telephone 4c Wireless line network 4d Ground station 5 Diagnostic device 6 Diagnostic modem 7 Personal computer 8 PLC equipped 9 PLC diagnostic phone Line terminal 10 Modular jack 11 PLC 12, 12A Portable maintenance unit 13 Modem 14 Link unit 15 Digital portable radio telephone 16 Modem 17 Link unit 18 Maintenance section 19 On-premises wireless modem 20 Portable maintenance unit 21 On-premises wireless modem 22 Link unit 23 Switching device 24 Video camera 25 Portable maintenance unit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A programmable logic controller (11) at a remote location via a telephone network (4).
A diagnostic device (1A) for individually diagnosing each of a plurality of devices (8) including: a modular jack (10) connected to the telephone network (4) and provided for each device (8); When diagnosing the device (8), a modem (13) connected to the modular jack (10) provided in the device (8) to be diagnosed and a link connected to the programmable logic controller (11) A remote maintenance device comprising a unit (14) and a portable maintenance unit (12) which is detachable from the device (8). 2. A programmable logic controller (11) at a remote location via a telephone network (4A).
A diagnostic device (1B) for individually diagnosing each of a plurality of devices (8) provided with a programmable logic controller (11) for the device (8) to be diagnosed when the device (8) is diagnosed. ) And a portable radio telephone (15) connected to the link unit (17) via the modem (16) and wirelessly connected to the telephone network (4A). A remote maintenance device comprising: a portable maintenance unit (12A) which is detachably attached to the device (8).