Distributed Ledger for Tamper-Proof Safety Logging
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional data storage systems in industrial environments lack transparency and timely logs, making it difficult to ensure data integrity and safety certification for machinery operations.
Innovation Solution
A system utilizing a distributed ledger, such as blockchain, to store smart contracts that define conditions for safe operation of technical systems, ensuring manipulation-free data storage and transparent logging of information and actions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional data storage is used to store safety documentation, then data storage capacity is sufficient, but data integrity and transparency are compromised due to manipulation risks
Solution Approach 1:
A distributed ledger system acts as an intermediary between multiple stakeholders (machine vendors, owners, certification bodies) to store and verify safety documentation. The blockchain network mediates data storage and verification processes, ensuring that no single entity can manipulate the data while maintaining transparency across all participants in the safety certification ecosystem.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines multiple functions into the distributed ledger system: data storage, timestamp logging, integrity verification, and stakeholder coordination. By merging these functions into a single blockchain-based platform, the system achieves high reliability through cryptographic security while managing complexity through unified architecture rather than multiple separate systems.
2Loss of information
If multiple stakeholders update documentation at various points in time, then comprehensive safety information is captured, but analysis complexity increases due to huge dataset
Solution Approach 1:
The distributed ledger pre-structures data storage by automatically timestamping and hashing each documentation update as it occurs. This preliminary organization of data during the update process eliminates the need for complex post-hoc analysis, as the information is already sorted chronologically and verified for integrity before retrieval.
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides immediate feedback to all stakeholders when safety documentation is updated or modified. The blockchain network automatically notifies relevant parties of changes and allows them to verify the updates in real-time, eliminating the need for manual data collection and analysis across multiple sources.
3Ease of manufacture
If conventional data storage is used, then storage implementation is simple, but timely logging of transparent actions is not ensured
Solution Approach 1:
The distributed ledger ensures continuous, uninterrupted logging of all safety-related actions and documentation updates. Every transaction is immediately recorded and permanently stored in the blockchain, providing unbroken chronological evidence of all safety certifications and modifications without gaps or delays.
Solution Approach 2:
The blockchain network automatically performs the logging function without requiring external intervention. Each node in the network independently verifies and records transactions, eliminating the need for manual logging processes and ensuring that timeliness is maintained through automated, self-executing operations.
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is a device for ensuring safe operation of a technical system configured to generate a smart contract including a condition to be fulfilled for safe operation of a technical system, to store smart contract data of the smart contract in a distributed ledger, and to determine if the technical system fulfills the condition using the smart contract.