Method for a vacuum pump system

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for determining a service event of a vacuum pump, comprising the following steps: acquiring one or more pump parameters from the vacuum pump by a control unit of the vacuum pump; transmitting, by the control unit, the one or more pump parameters to a cloud server; one or more service events for the vacuum pump are determined by the cloud server based on the one or more pump parameters, where the determination of the service events is performed by a lookup table stored in the cloud server, the lookup table comprising a correspondence between the one or more pump parameters and the service events.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to a method for operating a vacuum pump system to determine a service event of a vacuum pump, such a vacuum pump and a cloud server implementing the steps of the method. Furthermore, the invention relates to a vacuum pump system comprising at least one vacuum pump and a cloud server. Furthermore, the invention relates to a computer program storage device. Background Art

[0002] Vacuum pumps are used in many different technical fields in different locations around the world by different customers and their respective processes. Among other things, the reliable operation of the vacuum pump is crucial for these processes, and a failure of the vacuum pump may have a huge monetary impact. Therefore, it is important for customers to adhere to a maintenance schedule for the vacuum pump. Among other things, in the prior art, maintenance is scheduled regularly regardless of the specific environment in which the vacuum pump is used. This may create unnecessary costs and burdens for the customer, since the necessary maintenance of the vacuum pump may depend on the specific use of the vacuum pump, and longer service intervals may be possible without the risk of failure. Summary of the invention

[0003] It is therefore an object of the present invention to determine service events more flexibly.

[0004] This problem is solved by a method according to claim 1 , a vacuum pump according to claim 9 , a cloud server according to claim 10 , a system according to claim 11 and a computer program storage device according to claim 12 .

[0005] In one aspect of the present invention, a method for determining a service event of at least one vacuum pump for a vacuum pump system including at least one vacuum pump and at least one cloud server is provided. The method comprises the following steps:

[0006] obtaining, by a control unit of the vacuum pump, one or more pump parameters from the vacuum pump;

[0007] transmitting, by the control unit, the one or more pump parameters to the cloud server;

[0008] The cloud server determines one or more service events for the vacuum pump based on the one or more pump parameters, wherein the service events are determined by a lookup table stored in the cloud server, and the lookup table includes a correspondence between the one or more pump parameters and the service events.

[0009] Wherein, the service event or maintenance plan event indicates the upcoming need for service of the vacuum pump. In particular, the cloud server determines a plurality of different service events, wherein different service events may involve different service / maintenance tasks to be performed, such as oil change, gear control / change, bearing control / change, drive belt control / change, etc. In order to determine such a service event, the pump parameters from the vacuum pump are acquired by the control unit of the vacuum pump. These pump parameters are transmitted to the cloud server via a gateway or a controller. The cloud server is a remote server located at a different location from the vacuum pump. The vacuum pump may be located at a customer, wherein the cloud server may be located at a manufacturer or service provider providing the cloud server. The vacuum pump and the cloud server are connected via a wireless local area network (WAN) or a local area network (LAN) or via a cellular Internet (i.e., the Internet) of a SIM card. The cloud server searches for the transmitted pump parameters in a stored lookup table to determine the service event. Wherein, for the corresponding pump parameters, the lookup table may indicate the time from the last service to the next service, i.e., the service interval. The lookup table is used as a template for indicating a safe and reasonable service interval for a plurality of different pump parameters of the vacuum pump. By means of the service interval and the time since the last maintenance or service of the vacuum pump, an upcoming service event can be determined. For determining the service event, all transmitted pump parameters can be used. Alternatively, only one transmitted pump parameter or a subset of the transmitted pump parameters can be used for the lookup in the lookup table. Thus, the time between two services of the vacuum pump can be flexibly calculated based on the pump parameters. The lookup table provides a simple way to implement such a calculation. Thus, the maintenance interval can be determined by the cloud server in a more flexible way, avoiding unnecessary services of the vacuum pump, thereby reducing costs and the burden on the customer.

[0010] Preferably, the pump parameters include one or more of oil type, process parameters, maintenance contract information, pump model, pump serial number, customer name, location, fault / warning register, vacuum pump current, vacuum pump frequency, operating time and number of restarts.

[0011] It has been shown that for different oil types, the service interval can be extended, and for some oil types, there is even no need to change the oil on a regular basis. Thus, for a specific oil type, the service interval can be determined more flexibly.

[0012] Furthermore, it has been noted that different uses of the vacuum pump or different processes operated with the vacuum pump have an impact on the necessity to service the vacuum pump. For example, use in harsh environments, such as for pumping gaseous chemicals or water, may accelerate the degradation of the oil and / or parts of the vacuum pump, thereby increasing the necessity for shorter service intervals. Among other things, the pumping process may include different stages, such as high, medium and low harshness processes. More and / or different parameterizations of the process into process parameters may be implemented.

[0013] The warning / fault register may include storage of warnings and / or faults of the vacuum pump that have occurred in the past. Warnings and / or faults may be stored and transmitted as pump parameters. For example, if the temperature exceeds a certain threshold, this may be stored in the warning / fault register and may indicate the need for urgent service.

[0014] The current of the vacuum pump may be the actual current of the vacuum pump or the current of the vacuum pump over time. Similarly, the frequency may be the actual frequency or rotation speed of the vacuum pump or the frequency over time. The current over time and / or the frequency over time may be stored in the control unit.

[0015] The operating hours indicate the hour count for the hours the pump has been in operation and running.

[0016] The number of restarts indicates the number of restarts of the control unit and / or the vacuum pump itself.

[0017] Preferably, one or more pump parameters of the plurality of vacuum pumps are transmitted to a cloud server. Thus, one cloud server receives the pump parameters of the plurality of vacuum pumps, wherein one cloud server determines a service event for each of the vacuum pumps.

[0018] Preferably, if one or more pump parameters of multiple vacuum pumps are transmitted to the cloud server, the transmission may be performed via different gateways, so that at least two vacuum pumps transmit their pump parameters via different transmission channels or gateways, such as WAN, LAN, cellular connection, etc. Alternatively, the transmission of all vacuum pumps is performed via the same or similar transmission channels or the same or similar kind of gateways.

[0019] Preferably, one or more pump parameters are received from an external database such as a SAP service or stored in a cloud server. Among them, for example, maintenance contract information, customer, location, etc. may not be received directly from the control unit itself, but may be provided by an external database or may be stored in a cloud server and used to determine a service event.

[0020] Preferably, the cloud server stores a lookup table for each pump model. Because different pump models require different services and in particular different service intervals, a different lookup table may be provided for each pump model and stored in the cloud server. Thus, when determining one or more service events for a particular model of vacuum pump by the cloud server, the corresponding lookup table is used.

[0021] Preferably, different lookup tables may be stored in the cloud server for different pump parameters. Thus, for pump parameters that have an impact on the service interval, different lookup tables may be used when determining a service event. Thus, the pump parameters may not only be used to search in a lookup table, but may also be used to determine which lookup table to use. For example, the pump parameters for the location may be used to distinguish service intervals for different locations. Thus, different lookup tables may be used for the pump parameters for the location, such as different lookup tables for different geographic regions, such as different countries or different continents. Other examples include using different lookup tables for different maintenance contract information, such as the previously mentioned pump models, customers, process parameters, oil types, pump parts such as bearings, cooling components, and the like.

[0022] Preferably, a hierarchical tree structure is defined in a cloud server, wherein each vacuum pump is assigned to a leaf node of the hierarchical tree structure. Wherein, the hierarchical tree structure includes a root node on the highest level of the hierarchical tree structure, wherein several child nodes are connected to the root node in the first level. In the second level, another node can be connected to each child node in the first level, and the other node is a child node of the node in the first level. The node on the lowest level is referred to as the leaf node corresponding to the corresponding vacuum pump. The child node of a specific node indicates all nodes connected to the specific node on the lower level of the leaf node in the tree structure. Each level can correspond to one of the pump parameters, so that different vacuum pumps including the same pump parameters are child nodes of the same node, i.e., share the same parent node. The lookup table can be assigned to one or more of the nodes of the tree structure. The child nodes of this node can use the same lookup table. In other words, all vacuum pumps directly connected to the node to which the lookup table is assigned can use this lookup table. Therefore, it is possible to define a lookup table for a corresponding subset of vacuum pumps (including those vacuum pumps that share at least one common pump parameter) so that they are child nodes of the node corresponding to this corresponding pump parameter. Therefore, it is no longer necessary to define a lookup table for each vacuum pump. At the same time, flexibility is achieved through the ability to assign different lookup tables to corresponding nodes of the tree structure.

[0023] Preferably, different lookup tables are assigned to different nodes of the tree structure, wherein for a specific vacuum pump, the lookup table assigned to the lowest level node in the tree structure connected to the specific vacuum pump is used. Thus, one then starts from the leaf node of the tree structure corresponding to the specific vacuum pump and returns towards the root of the tree structure using the lookup table that was found first.

[0024] Preferably, the determined one or more service events are displayed on a terminal, preferably via a web interface. The terminal may be a laptop, a personal computer, a smart phone, a tablet computer, or the like.

[0025] Preferably, the determined one or more service events are transmitted to the control unit of the vacuum pump and are preferably displayed by the control unit. Thus, the service events are also stored at the vacuum pump and can be displayed to the customer for information. Any stored service events stored on the control unit of the vacuum pump can be overwritten to synchronize with the service events of the cloud server. Thus, consistent service events are shown on the vacuum pump. At the same time, flexible adaptation of service events is possible even if the service events are stored on the vacuum pump itself.

[0026] Preferably, the method further comprises the step of performing a service according to the determined service event.

[0027] In another aspect of the present invention, a vacuum pump is provided, comprising a control unit. The control unit is part of the vacuum pump and may be directly connected to the vacuum pump or integrally constructed with the vacuum pump. The control unit is configured to perform the corresponding steps of the method as described above. In particular, the control unit is configured to obtain one or more pump parameters from the vacuum pump and transmit these pump parameters to a cloud server via a gateway for determining a service event.

[0028] Preferably, the control unit is configured to receive service events determined by the cloud server according to the method described above, and may be configured to display these service events.

[0029] In another aspect of the present invention, a cloud server is provided. The cloud server is configured to perform the corresponding steps of the aforementioned method. In particular, the cloud server is configured to receive one or more pump parameters of one or more vacuum pumps, and determine one or more service events for the vacuum pumps based on the pump parameters, wherein determining the service events is performed by a lookup table stored in the cloud server, the lookup table including a correspondence between the pump parameters and the service events.

[0030] Preferably, the cloud server is further constructed in conjunction with the features described with respect to the method described above.

[0031] In another aspect of the present invention, a system is provided, comprising a vacuum pump or a plurality of vacuum pumps and a cloud server as described above.

[0032] In another aspect of the present invention, a computer program storage device is provided, the computer program storage device storing instructions which, when executed by a processor, perform the corresponding steps of the method described above.

[0033] In particular, the instructions stored on the computer program storage device are executed by a processor of the cloud server for determining one or more service events for the vacuum pump based on the received pump parameters, wherein determining the service events is performed by a lookup table stored in the cloud server, the lookup table comprising a correspondence between the pump parameters and the service events. Alternatively, the lookup table is stored on the same computer program storage device. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0034] The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0035] The diagram shows:

[0036] Figure 1 is a schematic flow chart of a method according to the present invention;

[0037] Figure 2 is a system according to the present invention;

[0038] Figure 3 is an example of a tree structure according to the present invention; and

[0039] Figure 4 is an example of a service event table. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0040] refer to Figure 1 , Figure 1 The steps of the method according to the invention are shown, with the following steps:

[0041] In step S01 , one or more pump parameters are acquired from the vacuum pump by a control unit of the vacuum pump.

[0042] In step S02 , one or more pump parameters are transmitted to a cloud server by the control unit.

[0043] In step S03, the cloud server determines one or more service events for the vacuum pump based on one or more pump parameters, wherein determining the service events is performed by a lookup table stored in the cloud server, the lookup table including a correspondence between one or more pump parameters and service events.

[0044] refer to Figure 2 , the vacuum pump 10 comprises a pump mechanism 12 for pumping a gaseous medium. The vacuum pump 10 comprises a control unit 14 for controlling the operation of the pump mechanism 12. The control unit 14 may be directly connected to the pump mechanism 12, or may be provided as a separate unit directly connected to the pump mechanism 12. According to step S01 of the present invention, the control unit 14 acquires pump parameters from the vacuum pump and transmits these pump parameters to a remote cloud server 18 via a cellular gateway or a LAN / WAN 16. The pump parameters may include one or more of the following:

[0045] -Oil type,

[0046] - process parameters,

[0047] - Maintain contract information,

[0048] - Pump model,

[0049] - Pump serial number,

[0050] - Customer name,

[0051] - Alarm register,

[0052] - current,

[0053] -frequency,

[0054] - running time,

[0055] - Number of restarts

[0056] -Service by partners (end customers, OEMs, etc.),

[0057] Preferably, the pump parameters include only the pump serial number, which may also indicate the pump model, oil type, maintenance contract information (such as the party responsible for or performing the service), and operating hours.

[0058] The pump parameters can be transmitted to the cloud server 18 periodically. Among them, the pump parameters can be transmitted once every 5 seconds, preferably once every hour, and more preferably once a day. Therefore, the transmission interval can depend on the pump parameters transmitted, so that dynamic pump parameters (such as current) can be transmitted more frequently (up to every 5 seconds), while other more static information (serial number) can be transmitted less regularly (daily). A lookup table or template is stored in the cloud server 18, wherein one or more of the pump parameters are searched in the lookup table, and the lookup table provides corresponding service events or service intervals for the corresponding pump parameters or combinations of pump parameters. Therefore, in order to determine the service event, all the transmitted pump parameters can be used. Alternatively, only one transmitted pump parameter or a subset of the transmitted pump parameters can be used to search in the lookup table. Therefore, there is no need to calculate the service event or service interval separately. Alternatively, the lookup table provides a simple method for determining an upcoming service event. Among them, the cloud server 18 can receive pump parameters from multiple different pumps 10, and the service events of different vacuum pumps 10 are determined by the same lookup table. Thus, changing the lookup table or template in the cloud server 18 changes the service events or service intervals for all connected vacuum pumps uniformly at the same time. Alternatively, the cloud server may store different lookup tables so that tailored service events may be determined for different sets of vacuum pumps.

[0059] The cloud server 18 may be accessible via the terminal 20, in particular via a web interface showing determined service events. Figure 4 An example is depicted in which different kinds of services indicated as "Service A" and "Service B" are shown for a vacuum pump of a specific serial number. Furthermore, the total service interval is indicated as having an operating time of 3000 h for "Service A" and, in the example for "Service B", having an operating time of 10000 h. Furthermore, Figure 4 The service events of the corresponding service type indicate the remaining operating time of the vacuum pump until the next service of the corresponding service type becomes due. For example, "Service A" may involve an oil change, where "Service B" involves a complete overhaul of the vacuum pump. For certain types of oil used in vacuum pumps, an oil change is not necessary, and thus "Service A" may be avoided in the example. This may be stored dynamically, and the upcoming service events may be adapted accordingly.

[0060] refer to Figure 3 , the cloud server is stored in Figure 3 The hierarchical tree structure 24 is illustrated in FIG. The tree structure 24 has a root node 26 in the highest level 28 indicated as “Level 1”, wherein Figure 3 In the example of FIG. 2 , all nodes of the tree structure 24 are ordered in different levels 30, 32, 34 from the highest "Level 1" (first level) to the lowest "Level 4" (fourth level). The tree structure 24 further includes leaf nodes 40, 40' in the lowest level 34, wherein each leaf node 40, 40' corresponds to a respective vacuum pump connected to the cloud server 18. Child nodes 36 are connected to the root node 26 in the subsequent lower levels 30. Additional child nodes 38 are connected to each node in the second level 30, and so on. For simplicity and representation, as shown in FIG. Figure 3 The root structure shown in does not show all nodes connected to the nodes at higher levels. Figure 3 The example must not be understood in a limiting manner. The tree structure stored in the cloud server may have more or fewer levels and more or fewer nodes. In particular, Figure 3 1 shows that each parent node has three child nodes, which may be different in the tree structure stored in the cloud server 18. Among them, the child nodes of the node 36 in the second level 30 correspond to the nodes connected to the lower level (i.e. Figure 33 and "Level 4" in the example of . A specific lookup table can be assigned to each of the nodes of the tree structure 24. Wherein, all child nodes of the node to which the lookup table is assigned use the same lookup table (if not replaced by a lookup table assigned to one of the child nodes itself, and as explained in more detail below). Wherein, each level can correspond to a specific pump parameter. For example, the node 36 of the second level 30 can correspond to different locations of the corresponding vacuum pump. Therefore, each vacuum pump connected to the node 36 can refer to a vacuum pump located in a specific country. Therefore, for example, additional conditions or specific legal requirements of this country can be covered by the corresponding lookup table assigned to the node 36. For example, the node 36 can correspond to a northern position so that the vacuum pump exhibits a lower temperature. Alternatively, for example, the node 36 corresponds to a position with increased dust, so that the corresponding vacuum pump 40, 40' is subjected to this dust, which may require a shorter service interval. In order to determine a valid lookup table, start from the corresponding vacuum pump 40' and return to a higher level from there as indicated by the arrow 42. If a lookup table is assigned to the node 43, the vacuum pump 40' uses the lookup table assigned to the node 43. If no lookup table is assigned to the node 43 of the third level 32, a further return to the node 36 of the second level 30 is made as indicated by the arrow 44. If a lookup table is assigned to the node 36 of the level 2 for the specific vacuum pump 40', this lookup table is used. If no lookup table is assigned to the node 36 of the second level 30, a further return to the root node 26 is made according to the arrow 46, so that the lookup table assigned to the root node 26 is used. Of course, for a specific vacuum pump, the service event can be changed manually.

[0061] Thus, a flexible way of managing service intervals and service events for a plurality of vacuum pumps is provided. In particular, it is only necessary to define a lookup table or template for a specific subset of vacuum pumps. Wherein, all these vacuum pumps of the subset can use the same lookup table. For different subsets, different lookup tables can be used, wherein the vacuum pumps can be sorted in a tree structure in order to organize the corresponding lookup tables and the subsets of vacuum pumps.

[0062] Reference List

[0063] 10 Vacuum pump

[0064] 12 Pump mechanism

[0065] 14 Control Unit

[0066] 16 Gateway

[0067] 18 Cloud Server

[0068] 20 Terminal

[0069] 22 Reverse transmission

[0070] 24 Tree Structure

[0071] 26 root nodes

[0072] 28 Level 1

[0073] 30 Level 232 Level 3

[0074] 34 levels 436 nodes

[0075] 38 nodes

[0076] 40, 40' leaf node 42 arrow

[0077] 44 Arrow 46 Arrow S01 Step 1 S02 Step 2 S03 Step 3

Claims

1. A method for determining a service event of at least one vacuum pump for a vacuum pump system comprising at least one vacuum pump and at least one cloud server, the method comprising the following steps: obtaining, by a control unit of the vacuum pump, one or more pump parameters from the vacuum pump; transmitting, by the control unit, the one or more pump parameters to the cloud server; The cloud server determines one or more service events for the vacuum pump based on the one or more pump parameters, wherein the service events are determined by a lookup table stored in the cloud server, and the lookup table includes a correspondence between the one or more pump parameters and the service events.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The pump parameters include one or more of oil type, process parameters, maintenance contract information, pump model, pump serial number, customer name, location, alarm register, current, frequency, operating hours, number of restarts.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: Pump parameters of a plurality of vacuum pumps are transmitted to the cloud server.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein: The cloud server stores a lookup table for each pump model.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein: A tree structure is defined in the cloud server, wherein each vacuum pump is assigned to a leaf node of the tree structure, wherein each level of the tree structure can correspond to one of the pump parameters, so that different vacuum pumps including the same pump parameters share the same parent node, wherein a lookup table is assigned to one of the nodes of the tree structure, wherein all child nodes of this node use the same lookup table.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein: Different lookup tables are assigned to different nodes of the tree structure, wherein for a specific vacuum pump the lookup table assigned to the lowest level node in the tree structure connected to the specific vacuum pump is used.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein: The determined one or more service events are displayed on the terminal, preferably via a web interface.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein: The determined service event or events are transmitted to a control unit of the vacuum pump and are preferably displayed by the control unit.

9. A vacuum pump comprising a control unit configured to perform the respective steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

10. A cloud server, the cloud server being configured to execute corresponding steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

11. A system, comprising: One or more vacuum pumps, wherein each vacuum pump has a control unit; and a cloud server, wherein the control unit and the cloud server are configured to perform the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

12. A computer program storage device storing instructions which, when executed by a processor, perform the corresponding steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

Images