Method for Installing a Device for the Monitoring of a Machine Having a Rotating Machine Part

Abstract

A method for installing a machine monitoring device which includes at least one gateway, at least one machine operation data sensor unit, a transmission unit having a transmission antenna for radio-based transfer of the machine operation data from the sensor unit to the gateway, and at least one user terminal for communication with the gateway. The antenna position is variable relative to the sensor and/or transmission units. The method steps include installing the gateway; establishing a communication link between the transmission unit and the gateway, positioning the transmission unit and antenna at or near the machine, transferring data packets to determine at least one communication parameter influencing the communication transfer quality, generating a position change instruction for the transmission unit or antenna and/or an action recommendation on the basis of the communication parameter, and displaying the instruction and/or recommendation at a user terminal.

Claims

1-13. (canceled)

14. A method for installing a device for monitoring of at least one machine having a rotating machine part, the device consisting of at least one gateway, at least one sensor unit configured to collect machine operation data of the at least one machine, at least one transmission unit having a transmission antenna configured to conduct radio-based transfer of the machine operation data collected by the at least one sensor unit to the at least one gateway, and at least one user terminal configured to communicate with the at least one gateway, wherein a position of the transmission antenna relative to one or both of the at least one sensor unit and the at least one transmission unit being variable, the method comprising the steps of: installing the at least one gateway; establishing a communication link between the at least one transmission unit and the at least one gateway; positioning the at least one transmission unit and the transmission antenna at or in a region of the at least one machine, transferring data packets between the at least one transmission unit and the at least one gateway using the communications link; determining from the transferred data packets at least one communication parameter associated with a transmission quality on the communication link; generating one or both of a position change instruction for one or both of the at least one transmission unit and the transmission antenna, and an action recommendation for the user on the basis of the at least one communication parameter; and presenting the one or both of the position change instruction and the action recommendation using the user terminal.

15. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the at least one machine includes at least one hydraulic pump.

16. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the displaying step includes displaying the position change instruction, the action recommendation, the at least one communication parameter or a combination thereof on a mobile user terminal.

17. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the communication link uses one or both of WLAN and a Bluetooth standard.

18. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein the transmission quality determining step includes comparing the at least one communication parameter with a predetermined threshold value stored in a memory.

19. The method as claimed in claim 18, wherein the presenting step includes presenting the position change instruction as one or both of an optical user guidance and an acoustic user guidance in the form of a heat map, a blink code, a warning tone, an augmented/virtual reality application, or a combination thereof.

20. The method as claimed in claim 18, wherein the generating step includes generating the action recommendation as one or both of a replacement of the transmission antenna by an antenna with a higher antenna gain and the use of an extension cable one of both of between the at least one transmission unit and the at least one sensor unit and between the at least one transmission unit and the transmission antenna.

21. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the communication link is established on a mesh network, and the communication link includes communication via at least one further transmission unit or repeater.

22. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the at least one transmission unit includes respective transmission units for one or both of different installation sites and different machines, the method further comprising: a position with the highest reception quality of each of the respective transmission units is stored.

23. The method as claimed in claim 21, wherein the stored highest reception quality positions are visually displayed on the at least one user terminal at a part of an installation plan.

24. The method as claimed in claim 15, wherein the at least one sensor unit is positioned and fixed to a bearing support or a support stand of the at least one hydraulic pump, one or both of the at least one transmission unit and the transmission antenna is arranged at an installation site on or near the at least one hydraulic pump, and one or more of the at least one sensor unit, the at least one transmission unit and the transmission antenna are positioned with a form-fitting, force-fitting or bonded connection.

25. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the at least one communication parameter is one or more of a signal reception level, a signal-to-noise ratio, and a bit error rate.

26. A machine monitoring system, comprising: at least one gateway; at least one transmission unit with a transmission antenna; and a user terminal, wherein the machine monitoring system is configured to establish a communication link between the at least one transmission unit and the at least one gateway, position the at least one transmission unit and the transmission antenna at or in a region of at least one machine, transfer data packets between the at least one transmission unit and the at least one gateway using the communications link, determine from the transferred data packets at least one communication parameter associated with a transmission quality on the communication link, generate one or both of a position change instruction for one or both of the at least one transmission unit and the transmission antenna, and an action recommendation for the user on the basis of the at least one communication parameter; and present the one or both of the position change instruction and the action recommendation using the user terminal.

27. The system as claimed in claim 26, wherein a position of the transmission antenna relative to one or both of the at least one sensor unit and the at least one transmission unit is variable.

28. The system as claimed in claim 26, wherein the at least one transmission unit is integral with the at least one sensor unit and the transmission antenna is connected to the transmission unit by cable, or the at least one transmission unit is external to the at least one sensor unit and is connected to the at least one sensor unit by cable and the transmission antenna is integrated into the at least one transmission unit or is connected to the at least one transmission unit by a cable connection.

29. The system as claimed in claim 27, wherein the at least one transmission unit is integral with the at least one sensor unit and the transmission antenna is connected to the transmission unit by cable, or the at least one transmission unit is external to the at least one sensor unit and is connected to the at least one sensor unit by cable and the transmission antenna is integrated into the at least one transmission unit or is connected to the at least one transmission unit by a cable connection.

30. The system as claimed in claim 26, wherein at least one sensor of the sensor unit includes a vibration sensor, an acoustic sensor, a temperature sensor, or a combination thereof.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0027] The single FIGURE is a schematic illustration of an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] The single FIGURE shows a schematic overview of an embodiment of the device according to the invention for monitoring one or more hydraulic pumps 60. The device comprises a central gateway 10 which is connected for communication to one or more transmission units 20. The FIGURE shows only the transmission unit 20 by way of example, but in fact any number of transmission units 20 can be integrated into the network. Communication between gateway 10 and transmission unit 20 can be based on the well-known thread protocol for setting up a mesh network, in which transmission units 20 can both communicate with each other as well as with the gateway unit 10.

[0029] Access to the gateway 10 from outside can be made via a commercially available tablet or other mobile terminal 30 (user terminal). For communication, a radio standard such as WLAN or Bluetooth is used, which is supported by most commercially available terminals. In addition, the gateway 10 can be connected to the internet or a cloud 50 via another interface. For this purpose, the gateway ideally has a mobile radio module that supports at least one of the well-known mobile radio standards such as 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G or higher, or a wired Ethernet interface.

[0030] The following text gives a brief description of a typical method sequence used in the site verification during commissioning of such a monitoring device. In the concrete example, an industrial system having a plurality of hydraulic pumps to be monitored separately will be equipped with the monitoring device. The aim is to install one or more sensors 21 per pump 60, which are able, for example, to measure the temperature of the conveyed medium as well as the occurrence of mechanical vibrations in the area of the bearing support. The sensors 21 are each connected via a detachable cable connection 23 to an assigned separate transmission unit 20, which in addition to the transmission module and antenna 22 for communication with the gateway 10 also contains the energy source for the transmission unit 20 and sensor 21 itself.

[0031] The sensors 21 can be attached to the bearing support of the hydraulic pump 60 either magnetically, by means of a screw connection or by gluing using industrial glue. The same applies to the installation of the transmission unit 20 on the pump 60 or in the immediate vicinity of the pump 60. Especially in the case of a material-compatible connection, a careful selection of the appropriate installation site is obviously important. For this reason, before the sensor 21 and the transmission unit 20 are finally fixed, the method according to the invention is carried out in order to find out the best installation location.

[0032] In a first step, the gateway 10 is commissioned and access to the gateway 10 is established via mobile terminal 30. To do this, an application installed on the terminal 30 is first started, which is used to establish a logical connection with the gateway 10. Using the application that is running, the wireless reception of the gateway 10 can then be tested to first determine an optimal gateway location for the wireless reception, which of course should also be in the vicinity of the transmission units 20 to be installed, and finally to install the gateway 10 in the best location.

[0033] This is followed by the communication connection of at least one transmission unit 20 to the gateway 10. To do this, the transmission unit is placed near the gateway 10 and activated there. Using the terminal and the application running there, a setup process is performed to establish communication between the gateway 10 and the transmission unit 20. The display of the application on the mobile terminal 30 now shows the current signal strength, i.e. the signal quality of the communication signal transmitted from the transmission 20 to the gateway 10. By matching with a defined minimum signal strength, which is stored in the memory of the gateway 10 as a threshold value, the user is signaled on the terminal 30 whether the current signal quality is sufficient for smooth communication between the transmission 20 and gateway 10.

[0034] The user now assigns a name in the application for the desired installation location or the pump to be monitored, e.g. Pump 1. The transmission unit 20 is then moved into the area of Pump 1 and temporarily held or positioned at a possible installation point. After checking the reception value in the application of the terminal, the user can now determine whether the desired installation location is suitable for implementing reliable communication between transmission unit 20 and gateway 10. The display is in graphical form with the corresponding status colors red, yellow, green for the evaluation of the reception quality. Once a suitable installation location has been found, it can be physically marked at the pump or at another suitable location nearby in the building or also in the application on the terminal.

[0035] If the required minimum signal quality cannot be achieved in the vicinity of the pump 60 to be monitored, this installation site must either be excluded or possible recommendations for action be given to the installer. For example, the transmission unit 20 can be moved by means of an extension cable for connection 23 to a location further away from the pump 60 where sufficient signal quality is indicated. Alternatively, the location or characteristic of the gateway antenna could be modified.

[0036] The method is then repeated for the next pump or installation site, using the same or an additional transmission unit 20. As before, the transmission unit 20 is then moved to the area of the second pump and an identical installation location is determined. If all installation locations have been determined according to the procedure according to the invention, the gateway 10 can create an installation plan based on the respective saved installation locations and display it to the user.

[0037] For the fixed installation of the individual transmission units 20 and sensor units 21, the respective transmission unit 20 is then connected to the assigned sensor unit 21 via cable 23 and confirmed by a response in the application on the terminal device 30. The sensor 21 can then be installed. This can be carried out using the stored position data as well as other image data of the industrial plant, if necessary in connection with an augmented/virtual reality application, by matching the image of the respective pump with a database and displaying the installation site to the user via an augmented/virtual reality application.

[0038] Once the pump has been created in the gateway 10 or the application, an association between sensor 21 and pump can be created in the cloud 50. Subsequently, the transmission unit 20, which is also installed, is put into operation with the sensor head 21 connected and the application gives a feedback signal when the transmission unit 20 with sensor 21 has been successfully detected. For the test, an initial measurement is automatically triggered and measured values determined are displayed in the application.

[0039] The foregoing disclosure has been set forth merely to illustrate the invention and is not intended to be limiting. Since modifications of the disclosed embodiments incorporating the spirit and substance of the invention may occur to persons skilled in the art, the invention should be construed to include everything within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereof.