Maintenance Support System for Automated Appliances
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing maintenance support systems for automation systems only signal a need for servicing but do not provide adequate assistance, leading to time delays and misunderstandings due to the lack of direct access to appliance-specific information, requiring external expert communication.
Innovation Solution
An integrated system and method that uses a monitoring unit to process operating parameters, combining servicing requests with appliance-specific information stored in a database, and forwarding this data to mobile terminals of servicing personnel, including video clips, text instructions, and navigation information to facilitate efficient and qualified maintenance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If servicing personnel access appliance-specific information through external expert communication by telephone, then information can be obtained, but time delays and misunderstandings occur due to interrupted information channels
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a digital copy of the appliance manual and servicing information stored in a database. The SSIS server retrieves and transmits this stored information electronically to mobile terminals, eliminating the need for physical manual handling and direct expert communication. This copying approach preserves information completeness while dramatically reducing servicing time.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an SSIS server as an intermediary between the database containing appliance information and the mobile terminals of servicing personnel. This intermediary automatically retrieves, processes, and transmits the required servicing information, replacing the human intermediary (expert) in telephone communication and eliminating associated delays and misunderstandings.
2Loss of information
If servicing personnel use a library of manuals stored centrally with external servicing service, then comprehensive information is available, but direct access is not available in-situ requiring external communication
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the essential servicing information from the centrally stored manual library and makes it accessible through mobile terminals. The SSIS server queries the database containing appliance-specific information and delivers the relevant portions directly to the servicing personnel's mobile device, eliminating the need for physical access to central locations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions the information delivery system from a physical, location-bound dimension (central manual library) to a digital, mobile dimension. By delivering information through mobile terminals, the system allows accessing comprehensive appliance information anywhere in-situ, fundamentally changing the accessibility dimension from fixed to mobile.
3Reliability
If external expert communication is used to provide servicing information, then qualified support is obtained, but communication interruptions and misunderstandings occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables servicing personnel to independently access and retrieve appliance-specific servicing information from the database through the SSIS server and mobile terminal system. This self-service approach eliminates the need for external expert communication, ensuring that the original, unaltered information from the database is delivered directly without being filtered or miscommunicated through human intermediaries.
Data Source
AI summary
System and method for maintenance support for electronically actuated and/or monitored appliances implemented within an electronically networked automation system, having a central monitoring unit processing present operating parameters for appliances for establishing the servicing state of the appliances using comparison operating parameters, where an external SSIS server logically combines the servicing request established by the monitoring unit with appliance-specific servicing performance information stored in a database and forwards these data to electronic mobile terminals of the servicing personnel in order to perform the servicing.