Support device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2023229156-A1
Application number	US-202217968019-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 18, 2022
Priority date	Jan 14, 2022
Publication date	Jul 20, 2023
Grant date	—

Abstract

The technology disclosed in the present specification is embodied as a support device for supporting maintenance on an apparatus including an expendable component. The support device includes at least one computer. The at least one computer executes: a process of acquiring an index indicative of a consumption level of the expendable component; a process of, at a time point when the index indicative the consumption level reaches a predetermined threshold, specifying a necessary period of time required for replacement of the expendable component at the time point; and a process of restricting an operation of the apparatus when a remaining period of time of the expendable component, the remaining period of time being associated with the threshold, is shorter than the necessary period of time required for the replacement.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A support device for supporting maintenance on an apparatus including an expendable component, the support device comprising at least one computer, wherein the at least one computer executes the following processes:
a process of acquiring an index indicative of a consumption level of the expendable component; a process of, at a time point when the index indicative of the consumption level reaches a predetermined threshold, specifying a necessary period of time required for replacement of the expendable component at the time point; and a process of restricting an operation of the apparatus when a remaining period of time of the expendable component, the remaining period of time being associated with the threshold, is shorter than the necessary period of time required for the replacement.

2 . The support device according to claim 1 , wherein, in the process of restricting the operation of the apparatus, the operation of the apparatus is restricted more greatly as the remaining period of time of the expendable component is shorter and shorter than the necessary period of time required for the replacement.

3 . The support device according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one computer executes the following processes:
a process of, at a time point before the index indicative of the consumption level reaches the predetermined threshold, specifying a necessary period of time required for replacement of the expendable component at the time point; and a process of correcting the threshold when the remaining period of time of the expendable component, the remaining period of time being associated with the threshold, is shorter than the necessary period of time required for the replacement.

4 . The support device according to claim 3 , wherein, in the process of correcting the threshold, the threshold is corrected more greatly as the remaining period of time of the expendable component is shorter and shorter than the necessary period of time required for the replacement.

5 . The support device according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one computer is configured to be communicable with an external device configured to manage the necessary period of time required for the replacement of the expendable component.

6 . The support device according to claim 1 , wherein the index indicative of the consumption level is strength of an order component corresponding to the expendable component, the order component being extracted from vibration data measured by the apparatus.

7 . The support device according to claim 6 , wherein:
the expendable component is a gear or a bearing; and the order component corresponding to the expendable component is correlated with a corresponding one of the number of teeth of the gear or the number of rolling elements of the bearing.

8 . The support device according to claim 6 , wherein:
the apparatus includes a plurality of expendable components including a first expendable component and a second expendable component; the process of acquiring the index indicative of the consumption level, the process of specifying the necessary period of time required for the replacement of the expendable component, and the process of restricting the operation of the apparatus are executed on each of the first expendable component and the second expendable component; an index indicative of a consumption level of the first expendable component is strength of a first order component extracted from the vibration data measured by the apparatus; and an index indicative of a consumption level of the second expendable component is strength of a second order component extracted from the vibration data measured by the apparatus.

9 . The support device according to claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is a hydraulic power generating system.

10 . A support device for supporting maintenance on an apparatus including an expendable component, the support device comprising at least one computer, wherein the at least one computer is configured to execute the following processes:
a process of acquiring an index indicative of a consumption level of the expendable component; a process of determining whether or not the index indicative of the consumption level reaches a predetermined threshold; a process of, at a time point before the index indicative of the consumption level reaches the threshold, specifying a necessary period of time required for replacement of the expendable component at the time point; and a process of correcting the threshold when a remaining period of time of the expendable component, the remaining period of time being associated with the threshold, is shorter than the necessary period of time required for the replacement.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Shimizu Masanori
• Watanabe Hideto
• Hori Tetsuo
• Tsukamoto Hiroyuki
• Yoshikawa Tetsuya

Classifications

• G05B23/0283 Primary

  Predictive maintenance, e.g. involving the monitoring of a system and, based on the monitoring results, taking decisions on the maintenance schedule of the monitored system; Estimating remaining useful life [RUL] (preventive maintenance, i.e. planning maintenance according to the available resources without monitoring the system G06Q10/06) · CPC title

• G05B23/0289

  Reconfiguration to prevent failure, e.g. usually as a reaction to incipient failure detection · CPC title

• G06Q10/087 Primary

  Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders · CPC title

• Y02E10/20

  Hydro energy · CPC title