Methods and systems for detecting heavy machine wear

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10024034-B2
Application number	US-201615349494-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 11, 2016
Priority date	Nov 12, 2015
Publication date	Jul 17, 2018
Grant date	Jul 17, 2018

Abstract

Methods and systems for detecting heavy machine wear. One system includes a heavy machine tooth of an industrial machine having a working end and a mounting end opposite the working end. The system also includes a wear indicator included in the tooth. The wear indicator includes a conductive tip, a conductive outer body extending along at least a length of the tooth, a conductive inner core positioned within the outer body, and insulating material positioned between the outer body and the inner core. The conductive tip is positioned between the working end of the tooth and the outer body and electrically couples the outer body and the inner core to form an electric circuit. The system also includes a transmitter included in the tooth. The transmitter transmits a state of the electric circuit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a heavy machine tooth of an industrial machine having a working end and a mounting end opposite the working end, the working end interacting with a working material and the mounting end removably coupling the heavy machine tooth to the industrial machine;
a wear indicator included in the heavy machine tooth, the wear indicator including a conductive tip, a conductive outer body extending along at least a length of the heavy machine tooth defined between the working end and the mounting end, a conductive inner core positioned within the conductive outer body, and insulating material positioned between the conductive outer body and the conductive inner core, the conductive tip positioned between the working end of the heavy machine tooth and the conductive outer body and electrically coupling the conductive outer body and the conductive inner core to form an electric circuit; and
a transmitter included in the heavy machine tooth, the transmitter transmitting a state of the electric circuit.

2. The system of claim 1 , further comprising
a receiver including an electronic processor, the electronic processor configured to
receive the state of the electric circuit,
determine a wear level of the heavy machine tooth based on the detected state of the electric circuit, and
automatically perform an action based on the determined wear level of the heavy machine tooth.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the action includes at least one selected from a group consisting of generating an alert, controlling operation of the industrial machine, generating and transmitting a communication, and logging data.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the conductive inner core includes cylindrically-shaped conductive material, the conductive outer body includes ring-shaped conductive material, and the insulating material includes ring-shaped insulating material.

5. The system of claim 1 , further comprising second insulating material provided over at least a portion of an external surface of the wear indicator.

6. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a battery included in the heavy machine tooth, the battery supplying electric circuit to the transmitter.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the transmitter includes a passive radio frequency identification (RFID) transponder receiving induced power from a RFID reader.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the transmitter receives electric current through the electric circuit and transmits the detected state of the electric circuit by transmitting a signal when electric current is received through the electric circuit.

9. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a sensor for detecting the state of the electric circuit.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the sensor includes a current sensor detecting electric current through the electric circuit and wherein the transmitter transmits the detected state of the electric circuit by transmitting the detected electric current through the electric circuit.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the conductive outer body of the wear indicator is constructed from at least two visually distinct materials to provide a visual indication of a wear level of the heavy machine tooth based on which of the at least two visually distinct materials is exposed.

12. A system comprising:
a heavy machine tooth of an industrial machine having a working end and a mounting end opposite the working end, the working end interacting with a working material and the mounting end removably coupling the heavy machine tooth to the industrial machine;
a first wear indicator included in the heavy machine tooth, the first wear indicator including a first conductive tip, a first conductive outer body, a first conductive inner core positioned within the first conductive outer body, and first insulating material positioned between the first conductive outer body and the first conductive inner core, the first conductive tip positioned between the working end and the first conductive outer body at a first distance from the working end, the first conductive tip electrically couples the first conductive outer body and the first conductive inner core to form a first electric circuit;
a second wear indicator included in the heavy machine tooth, the second wear indicator including a second conductive tip, a second conductive outer body, a second conductive inner core positioned within the second conductive outer body, and second insulating material positioned between the second conductive outer body and the second conductive inner core, the second conductive tip positioned between the working end and the second conductive outer body at a second distance from the working end different than the first distance, the second conductive tip electrically couples the second conductive outer body and the second conductive inner core to form a second electric circuit; and
at least one transmitter included in the heavy machine tooth, the at least one transmitter transmitting at least one of a state of the first electric circuit and a state of the second electric circuit.

13. The system of claim 12 , further comprising
a receiver including an electronic processor, the electronic processor configured to
receive the state of the first electric circuit and the state of the second electric circuit,
determine a wear level of the heavy machine tooth based on the detected state of the first electric circuit and the detected state of the second electric circuit, and
automatically perform an action based on the determined wear level of the heavy machine tooth.

14. The system of claim 12 , wherein the first conductive inner core includes cylindrically-shaped conductive material, the first conductive outer body includes ring-shaped conductive material, and the first insulating material includes ring-shaped insulating material.

15. The system of claim 12 , further comprising third insulating material provided over at least a portion of an external surface of the first wear indicator.

16. The system of claim 12 , wherein the first conductive outer body includes material forming a portion of the heavy machine tooth.

17. The system of claim 12 , wherein the at least one transmitter includes a passive radio frequency identification (RFID) transponder receiving induced power from a RFID reader.

18. A system comprising:
a heavy machine tooth of an industrial machine having a working end and a mounting end opposite the working end, the working end interacting with a working material and the mounting end removably coupling the heavy machine tooth to the industrial machine;
a wear indicator included in the heavy machine tooth, the wear indicator including a first conductive body, a second conductive body, and a plurality of conductive walls electrically coupling the first conductive body and the second conductive body to form an electric circuit;
a sensor detecting a resistance of the electric circuit, the resistance of the electric circuit varying based on a number of the plurality of conductive walls destroyed as the heavy machine tooth wears; and
a transmitter included in the heavy machine tooth, the transmitter transmitting the detected resistance of the electric circuit.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the first conductive body is positioned approximately parallel to the second conductive body along a length of the heavy machine tooth defined between the working end and the mounting end.

20. The system of claim 18 , wherein each of the plurality of conductiv

Assignees

• Harnischfeger Tech Inc
• Joy Global Surface Mining Inc

Inventors

• Nicoson Richard
• Popp James R
• Schlegel Daniel
• Pomerenke Keith

Classifications

• E02F9/268

  with failure correction follow-up actions · CPC title

• E02F9/285

  characterised by the material used · CPC title

• E02F9/267

  Diagnosing or detecting failure of vehicles · CPC title

• G08B21/18

  Status alarms (G08B21/02 takes precedence) · CPC title

• E02F3/301

  with more than two arms (boom included), e.g. two-part boom with additional dipper-arm · CPC title