System and method for machine tool maintenance and repair

Abstract

A system and a method for machine tool maintenance and repair is provided for allowing an expert at a remote site to collaborate with an on-site personnel to maintain or repair a physical machine in a manner of combining the physical machine with a virtual reality (VR) model or an augmented reality (AR) model. Two maintenance modes are provided, which are an augmented virtual reality model guided by a standard operation procedure (referred as a SOP-AVR mode), and an augmented virtual reality model guided by an expert operation procedure (referred as an EG-AVR mode). A cyber physical agent (CPA) is adopted for simultaneously monitoring and repairing plural machines of the same machine type.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims the benefit of the Provisional Application Ser. No. 62 / 475,889, filed on Mar. 24, 2017. The entire disclosures of all the above applications are hereby incorporated by reference herein.BACKGROUNDField of Invention[0002]The disclosure relates to a system and a method for machine tool maintenance and repair, and more particularly, to a system and a method for machine tool maintenance and repair by using a virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) technology.Description of Related Art[0003]In an after-sale service, maintenance and repair is an important task provided to a client after a machine tool is delivered, and machine malfunctions often interrupt the production at the client side, thus resulting in cost loss.[0004]In general, a conventional tool maintenance method still relies on an electronic or paper manual for inspecting a machine tool, and sometimes a maintenance instruction film may be recorded and provided for teaching...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

This patent text describes a system and method for machine tool maintenance and repair using virtual and augmented reality. The method involves collecting data from sensors on the machine tool, building models of the parts, analyzing maintenance conditions, and creating a standard maintenance procedure. These models and procedures are then stored in a human cyber physical system, which can be connected to the machine tool for real-time monitoring and repair using a cyber physical agent. The use of augmented and virtual reality can shorten maintenance time and make repair more efficient.

Problems solved by technology

In an after-sale service, maintenance and repair is an important task provided to a client after a machine tool is delivered, and machine malfunctions often interrupt the production at the client side, thus resulting in cost loss.

However, this convention tool maintenance and repair method merely has literal descriptions with few corresponding photos, and thus it takes a lot of time for a maintenance notice to recover the spindle.

However, the maintenance film shows all the problems linking to the solutions, such that the maintenance personnel will have difficulty in finding main points for processing, thus prolonging the maintenance time.

It takes a lot of time to judge the abnormal statuses of the machine tools one by one, and it is quite likely to make wrong judgements.

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