Computer, communication / power device mounting equipment housing cabinet rack protection panel, failure searching method, and system management method

Abstract

To provide a method for correctly performing maintenance work in a short time at a data center or a telephone central office that manages a large number of communication devices and servers.SOLUTION: A method is for suppressing operation errors by visually displaying to an operator and providing to an operator at a site information that identifies individual devices such as the names and unit types of devices housed in a protection board installed on the whole surface of a device housing cabinet in a table or list form. By providing device housing situation, communication interconnection codes, and work management information required for the work as a remote support system that allows them to be checked by the operator at the site via a tablet terminal carried by the operator, not only the accuracy of work specifics but also the efficiency of work progress (automatic acquisition of site arrival time, operation start time or the like), creation of a work report, and management of use of maintenance components can be achieved.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 8

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a protection panel for use in server cabinets and mounting racks that house devices used in computer equipment, communication equipment, power equipment, etc., and to a maintenance and operation method for these devices. [Background technology]

[0002] In data centers and telephone exchange facilities that house computer server equipment, communication equipment, and power equipment, there are known racks, cabinets, device racks, etc. (hereinafter referred to as cabinets) that stack and house equipment for the purpose of efficiently housing these electronic devices (see Patent Document 1). The cabinet has multiple electronic devices stacked on a subrack shelf, and the electronic devices have numerous modules and multiple communication and power connection terminals, each of which is interconnected with other devices within the cabinet or outside the cabinet by communication and power cables. As a general example, the cabinet mounting of electronic equipment shown in FIG. 4 of Patent Document 2 can be referred to. When installing or maintaining these devices, workers add, disconnect, replace, or remove specific modules or terminals of specific devices. At this time, the workers must reliably connect or remove the specified modules or terminals from among a vast number of similar devices. Removing the wrong equipment can cause an immediate breakdown, while incorrect connection can lead not only to breakdowns but also to the leakage of confidential information. Also, touching other terminals during work can cause unintentional breakdowns or deform or damage the terminals, which can adversely affect communications. Furthermore, since electric shock accidents have occurred when touching power terminals, etc., methods for preventing this have been devised, and some cabinets are provided with a protective plate to protect the terminal surface. The protective plate is made of a light-transmitting material or metal, and is known to be available in various sizes, such as for each unit or multiple tiers of server equipment, or for the entire opening of a cabinet. The connection information of rack equipment, communication and power cables is recorded in a "management book" with information such as the purpose, interconnection details such as terminals, workers, construction time, importance indication, and danger warnings, and is used as basic operation information. The installation, relocation, replacement, removal, etc. of these devices and interconnected cables are maintained each time the work occurs to ensure consistency with the device status, and these management records are also systemized by computer (see Patent Documents 4 and 14). In recent years, system management methods using IC tags have been implemented for managing warehouse inventory, medical documents, pharmaceuticals, etc. For managing equipment and wiring within a cabinet, a management method such as attaching a barcode to each piece of equipment and each wiring cord is implemented (see Patent Document 12). AI technology has become commonplace, and image processing technology is being used to manage the progress of construction work and other projects by analyzing specific points in images (see Patent Document 16). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2019-57695 [Patent Document 2] Patent Publication No. 2003-264385 [Patent Document 3] Real all Showa 52-098193 [Patent Document 4] Patent application 2009-19949 [Patent Document 5] Patent No. 6847588 [Patent Document 6] Patent No. 4378474 [Patent Document 7] Patent Publication No. 2015-215917 [Patent Document 8] Patent Publication No. 2022-180096 [Patent Document 9] Patent Publication No. 2005-092463 [Patent Document 9] Patent Publication No. 2014-067399 [Patent Document 10] Patent Publication No. 2003-330709 [Patent Document 11] Patent Publication No. 2003-005824 [Patent Document 12] Patent No. 2022-052052 [Patent Document 13] Patent Publication No. 2015-215917 [Patent Document 14] Special table flat 08-510101 [Patent Document 15] Patent Publication No. 2022-068603 [Patent Document 16] Patent Publication No. 2023-072231 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In a series of communication processing facilities that are realized by computer servers, transmission devices, power supply devices, and wiring terminal boards that interconnect these devices installed in data centers and telephone exchanges, many similar devices are interconnected with communication optical cables and communication metal cables to provide communication services. In addition, power cables are also connected to each device from the device that supplies power to these devices.

[0005] Every day, maintenance personnel visually inspect and manually install, replace, remove, make new interconnections, change connections, and disconnect devices and the numerous cables that interconnect them.

[0006] When carrying out such installation and maintenance work, the equipment, interconnecting cables, terminals, etc. to be worked on are checked using instructions in work procedure manuals, operation descriptions, and numbers on the equipment and terminal boards. However, with a large number of similar devices and cables, operational errors are likely to occur, and breakdowns due to operational errors have been an unsolved problem for a long time.

[0007] In order to reduce work mistakes, measures are taken such as attaching device numbers to the equipment itself and name tags or tags to cables. In addition, if necessary, a double check system is implemented by multiple maintenance personnel, and target equipment is checked using monitoring equipment, but a certain amount of work errors due to careless mistakes are a characteristic of this type of site.

[0008] In order to reduce work errors, the names of the devices contained in the cabinets, their uses, and other information are written inside the cabinets, but the space for such information is extremely limited and the characters are often small and difficult to read. In particular, there are hundreds of name strips and tags attached to a huge number of cables, making them difficult to distinguish. In addition, when sorting cables by visually checking the tags, there are cases where lines that are not the target of the work are accidentally disconnected, or when a momentary interruption occurs, the system load increases, which can lead to large-scale communication failures, and this is a problem.

[0009] Other measures to reduce work errors include double-checking over time using management books, and double-checking by multiple people. However, because similar wiring of similar devices is being targeted, unexpected errors occur, such as making mistakes with the storage cabinet even if the storage numbers of individual devices match.

[0010] In order to reduce work errors, there are methods such as double-checking or triple-checking by workers and supervisors when carrying out work, but these cannot be easily implemented due to the enormous total amount of checking work, the cost of each unit of work, and the requirement to carry out the work with limited personnel. Furthermore, such work is often carried out late at night or on holidays during maintenance windows, and there are also other conditions, such as restrictions on the time that work can be done, making it even more difficult to achieve.

[0011] Furthermore, even if the above-mentioned measures to reduce work mistakes are taken, there are still cases of careless mistake-related breakdowns occurring at a certain frequency, and so a countermeasure from a different perspective than the conventional method is required. In this case, it is thought that an intuitive and easy-to-understand mechanism is effective at the work site without using an overly complicated mechanism, and a mechanism that is inexpensive and requires little work time and cost is required.

[0012] On the other hand, from the perspective of equipment management, the need for pre- and post-operation maintenance of the management database and the creation of failure progress recovery reports, etc., overlap, making the series of operations cumbersome and time-consuming, which is an issue.

[0013] It is essential that such a management book accurately grasps and coordinates the current equipment status and cable interconnection status, and whenever any changes occur, the same changes as those in the on-site information are always made to the management database.

[0014] If the management database and the current equipment layout status differ, determining which is correct becomes an even bigger problem, and any discrepancy in this information could lead to future failures. However, once a discrepancy occurs, a great deal of additional confirmation work is required to reconcile the information, and in many cases the discrepancy itself goes unnoticed and is left unattended.

[0015] Thus, new operational methods were required to prevent operational errors and reduce costs when it came to maintaining the current equipment layout and terminal interconnection consistency of the management database. [Means for solving the problem]

[0016] In order to solve the above problems, the panel 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention is provided in front of the equipment and terminal board housed in the cabinet, as shown in Fig. 1, for example, to protect them. Furthermore, the panel is characterized in that it is made of a flame-retardant and transparent material such as polycarbonate, allowing the operation status of the equipment inside to be visually observed (such as the status of the LED display mounted on the equipment).

[0017] By attaching a display sticker (equipment storage sticker) showing the equipment storage status to the transparent front of the panel, not only the name of the equipment on the back of the panel but also associated information and precautions (such as power supply dangers and LED flashing status explanations) can be displayed at a visible size and in different color schemes, making it easy to check the different operations and status displays of similar equipment (static display).

[0018] By attaching a sticker on the device to a transparent panel, it is possible to provide information in a different way than before, indicating that there are no errors in the relative positions of the devices, the selection of the device to be worked on, and the selection of terminals, etc. (Figure 1).

[0019] The front of the transparent panel has space where work plans, status, and important points to note about the work can be written by hand, making it possible to reliably check important matters that would be written on the work order, as well as instructions from different workers on site.

[0020] The side of the transparent panel is fitted with multiple alarm buzzers and LEDs that are linked in the event of equipment failure, and by controlling it via Wi-Fi, the specified LEDs can be lit or blinked, or an alarm sound can be set up to alert workers to the urgency of the situation. By operating the operation stop button, these can be coordinated with information indicating that workers have arrived at the site and started work, allowing for the automation of time management for various tasks.

[0021] By attaching a 2D barcode, NFC tag, RFID tag, or BLE tag to the transparent panel as needed, it becomes possible to check the current device status for each installation information identifier and whether it matches the information linked to the system via a laptop, tablet, smartphone, etc. (See Figure 2)

[0022] The installation information identifier is a collection of information such as whether the device or cable is the target of the work, the device name, the cable name, the control number, and other related information.

[0023] When a two-dimensional barcode is used for object identification, the management number is used as the web server identifier, and the worker can confirm the work object by reading this with a barcode reader.

[0024] In the case of NFC tags, RFID tags, and LED tags (hereafter referred to as various tags), the control number is read wirelessly or the LED is flashed to confirm the target. For tags attached to cables, the radio waves received from these tags are blocked to determine the target from among many tags. This is effective when finding the target tag among many similar tags.

[0025] As a method for blocking radio waves from various tags (part 1), a metal cover is placed over the tag to determine whether it is blocked. A tag reader that receives radio waves from various tags detects when the radio waves are blocked and then received again, and notifies the worker that the tag in question is a work target.

[0026] As a method (part 2) of blocking radio waves from various tags, a microswitch is sealed onto the tag, and a worker turns the wireless communication function on and off to obtain a specific signal change and distinguish it from other tags. A tag reader that receives radio waves from various tags detects when the radio waves are blocked and then received again, allowing the worker to confirm that the tag in question is the target of work.

[0027] The LED tag uses radio waves received from the tag reader as its power source to drive an LED that emits light even with a minute current, making it possible to visually search for the location of a specific cable, etc. Workers do not need to check the printed markings on each cable to identify the cable, and the amount of handling work required to identify the cable can be minimized.

[0028] Information from the tag reader is transferred to a smartphone or tablet device connected via wireless LAN or other means, and can be compared with an equipment management database.

[0029] The information from these various tag readers is linked to the equipment management database, for example when a new piece of equipment is installed, with the individual cabinet information, installation position information within the cabinet, equipment information, interconnected equipment information (power, communication, and other management connections), and various tag information.

[0030] Next, if a malfunction occurs in the installed equipment, relevant information such as the equipment's location within the cabinet, the equipment module location, type, and interconnecting cables can be linked to the tag and displayed on a tablet or other device, making it possible to diagnose and confirm the malfunction with high accuracy (see Figure 7).

[0031] As a system that oversees the management of information inside these cabinets, it manages processes such as expansion, removal, and replacement of cables due to equipment failure by pre-creating a database of photographs and videos of the entire inside of the installed cabinets.

[0032] By comparing the camera footage taken by workers with the database footage and matching it with various tag information at the site, it is possible to understand the condition of the equipment being worked on and link it to a knowledge database accumulated for problem solving.

[0033] By comparing the accumulated video data with the current video information, it is possible to search for differences from the installation state. This can be achieved by AI processing for video matching. By using the disorder of the interconnected wiring cords inside the cabinet as an image judgment feature and quantifying the disorder before and after the work, it is possible to standardize the work results, which not only makes operation after the work easier, but also makes it easier to isolate and investigate the cause, even if a failure occurs in the same position.

[0034] When operating a series of equipment, highly skilled technicians can provide real-time support to workers from remote locations, providing instructions on how to check each stage of the operation, how to recover from failures, and various other related advice.

[0035] By combining these component technologies, it will be possible to provide operational support for all types of communication equipment and server devices, from critical equipment to general equipment, not only preventing operational errors that have occurred in the past, but also improving work efficiency and providing advanced operational support.

[0036] Furthermore, by incorporating on-site work processes into the management by the management server in a time-based manner, it becomes possible to grasp work information in real time, and it may also be possible to estimate the time required to restore from a failure, arrange for necessary parts, automatically generate work reports, and accumulate failure cases as post-maintenance information.

[0037] The above system integration allows for confirmation of work objects by displaying them on a panel, linking tags, and linking images with a management database to automatically match management, thereby improving the quality of work by preventing human error and creating new value actions as a means of accumulating knowledge of how to respond when a breakdown occurs. Effect of the Invention

[0038] The present invention is expected to prevent failures caused by human error during equipment maintenance work in a data center, and to enable accurate recovery work of the target device when a failure does occur.

[0039] The present invention is expected to reduce the time required for work and confirmation, thereby improving the efficiency of the entire maintenance work.

[0040] By visualizing the flow of individual maintenance tasks, from the time a task occurs until it is completed, not only can you see the progress of the task, but if an incorrect operation or cable break occurs, you can expect to be able to respond quickly to recovery.

[0041] It is assumed that the work instructions are consistent with the current equipment. If the equipment management database is prepared according to the present invention when creating work instructions, it is expected that the linking of not only work instructions but also related documents (work reports, operating time management, invoices, etc.) will be simplified.

[0042] When a failure occurs and rapid recovery is required, it is possible to quickly grasp the failure status and the system equipment and system interconnection status, and to isolate the cause of the failure. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0043] [Figure 1] 1A-1C are diagrams illustrating example cabinet rack protection panels. [Diagram 2] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of installing a cabinet rack protection panel. [Diagram 3] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of use of a cabinet rack protection panel. [Figure 4] FIG. 1 is a diagram of a typical cabinet rack. [Diagram 5] This is an example of the back of a cabinet rack. [Figure 6] This is an example of a cabinet rack surface. [Figure 7] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the connection between cabinet mounted equipment and the interconnect cable management system. [Figure 8] 11 is a description of the operation transition when a failure occurs. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0044] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. EXAMPLES

[0045] In the first embodiment, an example of a server system failure in a data center will be described. An example of the appearance of an equipment cabinet housing communication devices is shown in Figure 3. A protective plate is installed on the front of the equipment to protect the equipment and interconnecting cables from inadvertent work errors.

[0046] A transparent sticker showing the layout of the equipment is attached to the protective plate, and by checking this information, workers can easily visually check whether the equipment in question is broken or not. In particular, when there are a large number of similar equipment, this is a different method from the current confirmation method as an equipment management method, so it can be effective from the perspective of double checking.

[0047] When repairing a breakdown, it may be necessary to take emergency measures such as temporarily restoring the equipment by procuring parts, and several steps may need to be repeated in order to fully restore the equipment at a later date. In such cases, it is useful to write notes or instructions for future work on the protective plate as valuable information. EXAMPLES

[0048] This section explains an example (part 1) of how to find the cause of a failure, confirm the location of the failure, and eliminate the failure (replacement of equipment, replacement of interconnecting cables, removal of loose parts, etc.) when repairing a failure.

[0049] Figure 5 shows an example of the communication cable connections on the back of the device. The cables are neatly connected at the time of installation, and even after that, no operational changes are made to the connections in this area, so failures are unlikely to occur in this area.

[0050] On the other hand, Figure 6 shows an example of interconnection on the entire surface of the equipment. Connections are frequently changed and added. A characteristic of this area is that unnecessary equipment and interconnection cables are often not removed, which often results in difficult cable connection conditions.

[0051] The prompt removal of unnecessary cables and equipment, including tidying up, is often put off while carrying out system addition and modification work, and this action accumulates and can become a major cause of failures.

[0052] With the present invention, the supervisor can check the status of changes to the interconnections of equipment and cables before and after the work is done, not only to check the quality of the electrical and optical interconnections, but also to evaluate the accuracy of the work by recording images of the inside of the equipment cabinet before and after the work is done, making it possible to maintain a certain level of tidiness. EXAMPLES

[0053] This section explains an example (part 2) of how to find the cause of a failure, confirm the location of the failure, and eliminate the failure (replacement of equipment, replacement of interconnecting cables, removal of loose parts, etc.) when repairing a failure.

[0054] By using an RFID tag equipped with an LED as a means of identifying a specific cable as shown in Figure 6, the cable to be located can be visually confirmed by the optical signal, making it easy to locate. In addition, by registering the identification code of the RFID tag in a management database, it can also be easily managed for individual connected cables. [Industrial Applicability]

[0055] The present invention contributes to preventing operational errors during the operation of communication devices installed in large quantities in telephone exchanges and data centers.

[0056] The number of communication cords interconnecting communication devices continues to increase, and because of the difficulty of removing them, there are many cases where they are left abandoned, causing the wiring inside the cabinet to become increasingly chaotic.

[0057] Finding a specific cable among a multitude of tangled cords and cables requires pushing through other cables. Unnecessary force is applied to nearby cables, which can lead to disconnections or poor contact at the connection points.

[0058] By using the IC tag, LED tag, and front protective plate of the present invention, it is expected that the work of searching for a specific cable can be carried out with a minimum of effort, and the work time can also be shortened.

[0059] It can also be a solution to the problem of inconsistencies in the many facility maintenance management documents (hereafter referred to as facility management documents) that exist on-site. Facility management documents enable normal operation by reflecting additions, changes, and deletions of facility on-site, but maintaining consistency is a cumbersome matter, and has been an issue since the 1990s when computer-to-computer communications such as LAN equipment became common.

[0060] Although various proposals have been made to solve this problem, there are still a certain number of careless mistakes, mistakes in work instructions, and mistakes due to assumptions that occur at telecommunications equipment maintenance sites, where work is carried out late at night.

[0061] This invention provides a mechanism that can automatically register related parameters such as work content and time in a post-work management book, and also establishes new standards through image processing to organize the book in a way that makes maintenance after work easier than before work.

[0062] The combination of the above system operations provides new indicators, procedures, and means for managing communications equipment within telephone exchanges and data centers, enabling the operation of a system that is less prone to failure and easier to manage. [Explanation of symbols]

[0063] 1 Rack or cabinet mounting bolt holes 2 Module display sticker for housing equipment (transparent) 3. 2D barcode for device information 4 Warning display for power supply parts, etc. 5 Protective plate, handle for removal 6. Notes on work precautions, etc. 7 Polycarbonate plate 8. Example of equipment storage cabinet in data center 9 Accommodating communication equipment (router equipment in the figure) 10. Communication equipment interconnection cable 11 IC tags for individual identification of interconnection cables 12 Internet network and in-facility LAN equipment network 13 Cabinet equipment and wiring arrangement work examples 14 Camera 15 RFID scanner 16 LED Tag 17 RFID tag radio wave blocking operation

Claims

1. A flame-retardant resin plate (hereinafter referred to as the protective plate) that is attached to the front of the equipment inside the cabinet that houses the communication equipment and server equipment in a data center, and a transparent sticker that is affixed to this protective plate and indicates the equipment storage status. A two-dimensional barcode sticker that identifies the equipment status. A method for identifying the equipment storage status using an alarm buzzer, LED lamp, and IC tag such as RFID attached to the protective plate.

2. The above-mentioned method for displaying warnings for dangerous parts such as power supplies and for realizing protective measures for important equipment using protective plates. Also, the above-mentioned method for realizing a means for notating communication and cautions such as work notes that can be written on protective plates.

3. A method for implementing a radio wave blocking means, a function disabling means, and a means for identifying and identifying a large number of devices and communication interconnection codes using LED tags for IC tags.

4. A method for visualizing work levels through AI analysis of images mounted on equipment, providing evaluation criteria information, and using these to improve work levels and provide a comprehensive management means by systematizing when problems such as breakdowns occur.

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