Acoustic Tracking of Floor Cleaning Devices for Predictive Maintenance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Retail environments face challenges in effectively tracking and monitoring the operational fitness of floor cleaning devices, which affects customer experience and sales due to the need for timely maintenance and optimal cleaning schedules.
Innovation Solution
A system comprising a sound sensor array, a cleaning device database, and a control circuit that identifies and tracks cleaning devices based on unique sound profiles, determines their location, and predicts component replacement needs based on distance traveled, duration of operation, and changes in sound characteristics, while also optimizing cleaning schedules and routes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If floor cleaning devices are tracked and monitored throughout the shopping area, then operational fitness and cleaning quality can be improved, but system complexity and monitoring costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex mechanical tracking systems with acoustic field-based monitoring. Sound sensors detect cleaning device operations through sound waves, eliminating the need for mechanical tags, RFID readers, or visual tracking systems. This substitutes a mechanical/electronic tracking infrastructure with a passive acoustic detection system, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The cleaning devices themselves generate the tracking signals through their operational sounds. The motors, brushes, and cleaning mechanisms produce characteristic acoustic signatures that automatically identify device presence, location, and operational status without requiring additional sensors or active transmission components on the devices. The devices serve their cleaning function while simultaneously providing tracking data.
2Loss of time
If cleaning devices are monitored in real-time, then maintenance timing can be optimized, but data processing and analysis complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system transforms operational data into distinct acoustic frequency signatures, analogous to color codes. Different cleaning device states (operational, idle, malfunctioning) produce characteristic sound frequency patterns that are easily distinguishable. This frequency-based encoding simplifies data processing compared to analyzing raw sensor data, as the control system only needs to recognize and categorize frequency patterns rather than process complex multi-parameter datasets.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces complex data processing algorithms with acoustic pattern recognition. Instead of processing multiple sensor inputs, GPS coordinates, and operational logs, the system analyzes sound frequency spectra and temporal patterns. This substitution of data processing with acoustic signature analysis reduces computational complexity while providing timely maintenance alerts based on detected anomalies in cleaning device sound profiles.
3Measurement precision
If sound sensor arrays are deployed throughout the shopping space, then cleaning device tracking precision improves, but installation and maintenance costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The sound sensors serve multiple functions simultaneously: they detect cleaning device locations, monitor operational status, identify device types through acoustic signatures, and can potentially detect other store sounds (customer activity, equipment issues). This multi-functionality justifies the deployment cost, as a single sensor array provides tracking, monitoring, and diagnostic capabilities that would otherwise require separate systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The sound sensors act as passive intermediaries that detect cleaning device operations without requiring direct interaction with the devices. The acoustic field serves as the intermediary medium, allowing the system to track devices through sound propagation rather than requiring physical tags, visual markers, or direct electronic communication. This intermediary approach simplifies deployment, as sensors can be placed in standard audio locations without modifying the cleaning devices themselves.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system enhances customer experience by ensuring cleaning devices are maintained promptly and efficiently, improving operational efficiency and reducing maintenance costs through real-time tracking and alerting of component replacements, and optimizing cleaning routes and schedules.
Implementation Method 1
A system for tracking a cleaning device in a shopping space includes: a sound sensor array covering at least a portion of the shopping space
Data Source
AI summary
Systems, apparatuses and methods are provided for tracking cleaning devices in a shopping space. A system for tracking cleaning devices comprises: a sound sensor array, a cleaning device database storing location information and sound profiles associated with a plurality of cleaning device identifiers, and a control circuit configured to: identify a cleaning device sound made by a movement of a cleaning device, determine a current location of the cleaning device based on the cleaning device sound, match the cleaning device to a cleaning device identifier in the cleaning device database, update the location information associated the cleaning device identifier in the cleaning device database based on the current location of the cleaning device, update the sound profile of the cleaning device identifier based on the cleaning device sound captured by the sound sensor array, and determine that a component of the cleaning device needs to be replaced.