DEVICE FOR DETERMINING THE ACTUAL STATE AND/OR THE REMAINING SERVICE LIFE OF A CONSTRUCTION, MATERIALS-HANDLING AND/OR CONVEYOR MACHINE

Abstract

The invention relates to a device for determining the actual state and/or the remaining service life of a construction, materials-handling and/or conveyor machine, having a plurality of sensors provided on the construction, materials-handling and/or conveyor machine for recording various state information, a recording unit connected to the sensors for gathering the recorded state information, a central unit able to be connected to the recording unit for evaluating the gathered state information and determining the actual state and/or the remaining service life from the gathered state information, and a display device for displaying the determined actual state and/or the determined remaining service life, wherein the sensors comprise various sensor types for recording at least two different categories of information from the group comprising component oscillations, lubricant properties, component and/or lubricant temperature and drive loading and the central unit is designed to ascertain the actual state and/or the remaining service life on the basis of the at least two different categories of information.

Claims

1. A device for determining the actual state and/or the remaining service life of a construction, materials-handling and/or conveyor machine, the device comprising: sensors on the construction, materials-handling and/or conveyor machine for recording various state information, a recording unit connected to the sensors for gathering recorded state information, a central unit connectable to the recording unit for evaluating gathered state information and for determining the actual state and/or the remaining service life from the gathered state information, and a display device for displaying the actual state determined by the central unit and/or the remaining service life determined by the central unit, wherein the sensors comprise various sensor types for recording at least two different categories of information from the group comprising component oscillations, lubricant properties, component and/or lubricant temperature and drive loading and wherein the actual state and/or the remaining service life is determinable by the central unit based on the at least two different categories of information.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the sensors comprise at least two of the following sensors: an oscillation sensor, a torque sensor, a speed sensor, a temperature sensor, an oil condition sensor, an oil particle sensor, an oil viscosity sensor, an oil conductivity sensor, a force sensor, an oil level sensor, a dielectricity sensor and a moisture sensor.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the sensors are integrated into a machine component of the construction, materials-handling and/or conveyor machine to to be monitored, and wherein the sensors are in an interior space of the machine component and are enclosed by a housing of the machine component.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the sensors are jointly powered by the recording unit.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the central unit is configured to take into account all state information of the following sensors: a torque sensor, a speed sensor, an oscillation sensor, an oil temperature sensor and an oil particle sensor, an oil viscosity sensor, an oil conductivity sensor, a force sensor, an oil level sensor, a dielectricity sensor and a moisture sensor.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the sensors are allocated to a transmission of the construction, materials-handling and/or conveyor machine and comprise at least two of the following sensors: a torque and/or a rotational speed sensor, an oscillation sensor, an oil temperature sensor, an oil particle sensor, an oil viscosity sensor, an oil conductivity sensor, a force sensor, an oil level sensor, a dielectricity sensor and a moisture sensor, and wherein the actual state and/or the remaining service life of the construction, materials-handling and/or conveyor machine and/or of the transmission is determinable by the central unit based on at least two items of information from the group comprising transmission rotational speed and/or torque, oscillations, transmission oil temperature, transmission oil particles and oil condition.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein the sensors are inside the transmission.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein the transmission is a slewing transmission for slewing a revolving stage of the construction, materials-handling and/or conveyor machine relative to an undercarriage of the construction, materials-handling and/or conveyor machine, or wherein the transmission is a travel drive transmission for driving a travel drive or a wheel drive.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the recording unit comprises a data processing module for pre-compressing and/or classifying the gathered state information and is configured to transmit pre-compressed and/or classified state information to the central unit.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein the recording unit comprises an oscillation analysis module for analyzing the state information of an oscillation sensor and for determining oscillation spectra and/or characteristic oscillation values, and wherein the actual state and/or the remaining service life is determinable by the central unit based on determined oscillation spectra and/or determined characteristic oscillation values transmitted from the recording unit.

11. The device of claim 1, wherein the recording unit comprises a linking and/or accounting module for linking and/or accounting for the gathered state information, and wherein the linking and/or accounting module is configured to: determine temperature differences from gathered temperature values of a temperature sensor, and/or calculate a transmission and/or drive power from speed and/or torque values of a speed/torque sensor, and/or calculate an output or input torque from a torque value of a torque sensor using gear ratio information and an efficiency map.

12. The device of claim 1, wherein the recording unit has a power supply input connected to the construction, materials-handling and/or conveyor machine and a power supply output connected to the sensors.

13. The device of claim 1, wherein the central unit comprises an analysis module for analyzing the gathered state information and for analyzing pre-processed state information transmitted by the recording unit.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the analysis module is configured to determine the actual state and/or the remaining service life of a transmission of the construction, materials-handling and/or conveyor machine based on oscillation spectra transmitted by the recording unit and/or characteristic oscillation values and/or temperature differences transmitted by the recording unit and/or power values determined by the recording unit and/or output and/or input torques determined by the recording unit.

15. The device of claim 13, wherein the central unit comprises a trend determination module for determining a trend characterizing a course of changes of the gathered state information and/or information derived therefrom and predicting a future course, and wherein the actual state and/or the remaining service life is determinable by the central unit based on the trend.

16. The device of claim 15, wherein the trend determination module is configured to extrapolate a function approximating the course of changes in the gathered state information and/or the information derived therefrom, and to determine a future trend from the extrapolated course of the function.

17. The device of claim 1, wherein the central unit comprises comparison device for comparing the gathered state information and/or information derived therefrom with limit values and/or with predetermined ranges, and wherein the central unit is configured to determine the remaining service life of the construction, materials-handling and/or conveyor machine from the distance of the actual values of the gathered state information and/or the information derived therefrom from the limit values and/or the predetermined ranges.

18. The device of claim 1, wherein the central unit comprises a weighting device for differentially weighting different gathered state information and/or different information derived therefrom, and wherein the actual state and/or the remaining service life is determinable by the central unit based on weightings of the different gathered state information and/or the different information derived therefrom.

19. The device of claim 18, wherein the weighting device is configured to give a different weighting to an oscillation signal of an oscillation sensor and/or an oscillation characteristic value derived therefrom than to a temperature value of a temperature sensor and/or a temperature characteristic value derived therefrom, and/or wherein the weighting device is configured designed to give a different weighting to speed and/or torque information of a speed and/or torque sensor and/or a torque and/or speed characteristic value derived therefrom than to oil condition information of an oil condition and/or oil particle.

20. The device of claim 18, wherein the weighting device is configured to give different weightings to different state information of different sensors and/or different information derived therefrom based on trends determined for the different state information and/or the different information derived therefrom.

21. The device of claim 1, wherein the central unit comprises a dynamic assessment device for dynamically assessing deviations of the gathered state information from an associated threshold value and/or from a historical course of the gathered state information, and wherein the dynamic assessment device is configured to dynamically adjust deviation threshold values based on the number of gathered state information and/or information derived therefrom with deviations from threshold values.

22. The device of claim 1, wherein the central unit is configured to take into account a history of the gathered state information and/or information derived therefrom for determining the actual state and/or the remaining service life.

23. The device of claim 22, wherein the history comprises at least one of the following histories: a history of gathered temperature values, a history of gathered oscillation characteristics, a history of gathered torque and/or speed values, and a history of gathered oil condition and/or particle values.

24. The device of claim 1, wherein the display device comprises at least one display on the construction, materials-handling and/or conveyor machine.

25. The device of claim 1, wherein the display device comprises at least one display at a machine manufacturer and/or one display at a machine operator.

26. The device of claim 1, wherein the display device comprises at least one display on which a first display field and a second display field separate from the first display field are displayable, wherein a representation of the construction, materials-handling and/or conveyor machine and machine components of the construction, materials-handling and/or conveyor machine monitored by the sensors is displayable in the first display field, and wherein a graphical representation of the actual state and the remaining service life of the machine components displayable in the first display field is displayable in the second display field.

27. The device of claim 26, wherein at least the first display field is configured to be touch-sensitive as a touch screen, and wherein the display device has a control device such that upon touching an area of the first display field in which a specific machine component of the construction, materials-handling and/or conveyor machine (1) is displayed, the control device is configured to reconfigure the second display field and/or control it in such a way that the actual state and the remaining service life of the specific machine component displayed in the first display field is displayed in the second display field.

28. The device of claim 1, wherein the central unit is configured to provide a warning signal and/or a maintenance signal upon or after determining a remaining service life below a predetermined time period.

29. The device of claim 1, wherein the central unit is permanently or temporarily connected to the recording unit by a wired or wireless connection.

30. The device of claim 1, wherein the central unit is located directly on the construction, materials-handling and/or conveyor machine or is installed at a location in the form of a central server or a cloud.

31. The device of claim 1, wherein a processing or a partial processing of a remaining service life calculation, trend formation and/or limit value monitoring is decentrally performed in the recording unit or is performed in the central unit.

32. The device of claim 1, wherein the central unit and memory units are permanently or temporarily wired or wirelessly connected to a visualization unit.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0068] The invention is explained in more detail below on the basis of a preferred exemplary embodiment and the corresponding drawings. The drawings show:

[0069] FIG. 1: a schematic representation of a construction, materials-handling and/or conveyor machine in the form of a crawler excavator with a slewing gear transmission and a travel drive transmission, the actual state and remaining service life of which are determined by a device according to an advantageous embodiment of the invention by monitoring the two transmissions by means of sensors,

[0070] FIG. 2: a schematic representation of the sensors integrated in the travel drive transmission for recording certain status information,

[0071] FIG. 3: A schematic representation of the overall structure of the device for determining the actual state and the remaining service life of the construction machine from FIG. 1 and its slewing gear and travel drive transmissions, wherein the connection of the transmission sensors to a recording unit, the central unit connected thereto for evaluating the data and the memory units and visualisation units connected thereto are shown in turn,

[0072] FIG. 4: A schematic data flow diagram illustrating the data flow and processing of the recorded state information from its sensory detection on the construction machine transmission to the display of the actual state and the remaining service life on a display,

[0073] FIG. 5: A schematic representation of the processing steps relating to the state data recorded by the sensors on the transmission up to the display of the determined remaining service life, whereby decentralised data processing on the one hand and central processing on the other hand are shown,

[0074] FIG. 6: a schematic representation of the display of the determined actual state, the determined remaining service life and the determined time remaining until a required service on the display device of the construction machine, and

[0075] FIG. 7: A schematic representation of the display of currently recorded state information and the determined actual state and the determined remaining service life of oil and transmission of the construction machine from the preceding figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0076] As FIG. 1 shows, for example, a construction machine 1 in the form of a crawler excavator can be monitored, wherein in particular one or more transmissions can be monitored by sensors. For example, a travel drive transmission 3 and a slewing gear transmission 2 can be monitored. As FIG. 1 illustrates, the travel drive transmission 3 can, for example, drive the chain drive tumbler and the slewing gear 2 can rotate the slewing platform 4, said slewing platform 4 being rotatably mounted about an upright axis on the undercarriage 5, which has the travel drive. A driver's cab 6, a jointed boom 7 and further drives and counterweights and other construction machine components may be accommodated on the rotating platform 4 in a conventional manner.

[0077] As FIG. 1 shows, other components of the construction machine 1 relevant to service life can also be monitored by sensors as an alternative or in addition to the transmissions 2 and 3 specified, for example the drive motor 8 of the slewing gear and/or a luffing actuator 9 for luffing the boom 7 up and down, for example in the form of a pressure medium cylinder.

[0078] As FIG. 1 further shows, the gathered sensor data can be transmitted wirelessly to a central unit via a transmitter module, as will be explained later.

[0079] As FIG. 2 shows, various sensors can be integrated into the construction machine component to be monitored, in particular one of the transmissions 3, in particular arranged in an interior space enclosed by a component housing, in order to record relevant state information.

[0080] In particular, the transmission 3 may have associated therewith a torque sensor 10, a speed sensor 11, a temperature sensor 12 for recording the transmission oil temperature and/or the temperature of another transmission component, an oil condition sensor 13 particularly for recording moisture in the oil or oil chamber, and an oil particle sensor 14 for recording particles such as metal chips in the oil.

[0081] As FIG. 3 shows, the state information recorded by the various sensors 10 to 14 is transmitted to a recording unit 15, which may be wireless or wired, as explained at the beginning. Advantageously, the sensors 10 to 14 may be supplied with power by said recording unit 15. Whilst said recording unit 15 may itself be powered by the construction machine 1.

[0082] As FIG. 3 shows, the recording unit 15 transmits the gathered sensor data or the sensor-recorded status information and/or data, parameters, characteristic values and similar derived therefrom to the central unit 16 as explained at the beginning, which determines the remaining service life and the actual state of the construction machine 1, in particular of the monitored transmissions 2 and 3, on the basis of the transmitted state information and/or other variables transmitted by the recording unit 15.

[0083] Advantageously, the memory unit 17 connected to the central unit stores both the state information and/or possibly pre-processed data such as characteristics, etc., transmitted by the recording unit 15 to the central unit 16, and also the remaining service life determined by the central unit 16 and the determined actual state. Advantageously, said memory unit 17 also stores a corresponding data history.

[0084] As shown in FIG. 3, a display device 18 comprising a visualization unit 19 is connected to both said memory unit 17 and said central unit 16 to display or visualize the information obtained by said central unit 16 and information stored in said memory unit 17.

[0085] Advantageously, the processing and evaluation of the sensor-recorded state information can be performed in two stages. On the one hand, as FIG. 4 shows, pre-processing and/or reduction of the state information recorded by sensors can be carried out by the recording unit 15 in order to transmit the compressed and/or reduced and/or pre-processed information to the central unit 16. If necessary, said recording unit 15 may also already perform further analysis and/or evaluation steps, as explained at the beginning.

[0086] In this respect, said recording unit 15 may form a data processing device which may comprise one or more processors and one or more memories in which program blocks are stored which are processed by the processors.

[0087] The central unit 16, which may be designed as a server and/or may comprise one or a plurality of processors and one or a plurality of memory devices in order to process program blocks in a corresponding manner, may further analyze and evaluate the state information gathered by the recording unit 15 and/or preprocessed, compressed and/or reduced data transmitted by the recording unit 15 in order to determine the actual state and the remaining service life of the construction machine 1 or its transmissions 2 and 3.

[0088] For this purpose, the central unit 16 may comprise an analysis module 20 which analyses the information transmitted by the recording unit 15, possibly together with further information transmitted to the central unit 16 and its analysis module 20 from the memory unit 17.

[0089] In particular, the central unit 16 may comprise a trend determination component 21 for determining a trend from said information, as explained at the beginning, cf. FIG. 4.

[0090] In addition to said trend determination, a comparison device 22 implemented in the central unit 16 may compare the transmitted data or information with threshold values and/or range limits, as already explained. A weighting device 23 may give different weights and relevance to different state information and/or different trends and/or different threshold deviations, which are considered for determining the actual state and the remaining time.

[0091] The dynamic determination device 24 may dynamically change calculation factors and/or thresholds and/or weights, as discussed earlier.

[0092] The remaining service life calculation unit 25 of the central unit 16 then calculates the remaining service life of the monitored component based on the information and the data, trends and weightings derived therefrom based on calculation models.

[0093] As FIG. 4 further shows, the determined variables actual state and remaining service life as well as further information of interest such as current state information or derived intermediate evaluations are displayed by the display device 18 on a display 26, which can be provided at the driver's cab 6, although further displays 26 can also be provided at the machine manufacturer or machine operator.

[0094] As FIG. 5 shows, the state information recorded by sensors on the construction machine 1 can be processed decentrally or centrally.

[0095] Whereas in the case of central processing at the sensor-monitored component such as, for example, the transmission 3, only data recording and, if necessary, in the case of large data quantities, a pre-compression takes place and at the construction machine 1 only a data collection takes place, in particular in the recording unit 15, in the case of decentral processing, in addition at the component, for example in the form of the transmission 3, and/or at the construction machine 1, a pre-evaluation and/or evaluation of the sensor data, for example a characteristic value formation and trend formation, can take place, in particular via the recording unit 15 provided at the construction machine and/or the central unit 16 provided at the construction machine or on site at the construction site.

[0096] In the case of central processing, data compression and evaluation, formation of characteristic values and trends, preparation for visualization and provision of global access, for example via web services, are then carried out centrally, for example by a central server in which the central unit 16 is implemented. Conversely, with decentralized processing, since the processing has already been carried out decentrally, only the preparation for the visualization is carried out centrally and global access is provided.

[0097] As FIG. 6 shows, the display 26 representing the information recorded and/or determined may advantageously comprise a split-screen display similar to a split-screen, so that in a display field 27 the construction machine 1 and the components, in particular transmissions 2 and 3 are shown, to which the representation of the recorded and/or determined information relates. In the further display field 28, the determined information, in particular the determined actual state, the determined remaining service life and the remaining interval to the next required service are displayed, advantageously in each case in the form of a step or bar chart and/or a filling strip chart. Alternatively or additionally, the determined information is displayed in the display field 28 in a traffic light representation, for example by means of the intuitively detectable traffic light color symbolism “Green =okay”, “Yellow =conditionally okay/trending towards critical” and “Red =critical/problem”.