Persistent Error Display for Power-Loss Industrial Automation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Industrial automation systems face challenges with power consumption and functionality during power outages, as traditional light-emitting displays require significant electricity and fail to operate without a constant power source, limiting user access to critical information during faults or errors.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a persistent display using electrophoretic techniques that reflect light instead of emitting it, allowing for the presentation of image data without consuming electricity, and a control system that manages the display to render error information even when power is unavailable, utilizing stored or harvested power for adjustments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a traditional light-emitting display is used to present information, then the display can be illuminated and images can be rendered, but significant electricity is consumed and the display fails during power outages
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the electrical light-emitting display system with a reflective optical display system. The display presents information by reflecting ambient light rather than generating light electrically, eliminating the need for continuous power consumption while maintaining visibility. This substitution resolves the contradiction by making the display reliable during power outages without consuming significant electricity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the operational parameter of the display from active light emission requiring electrical power to passive light reflection that does not require power. By changing the fundamental operating mode from electrical to optical, the display achieves reliability during power outages while dramatically reducing energy consumption.
2Loss of information
If electricity is provided continuously to maintain display operation, then information can always be presented, but operational costs increase and power availability becomes a limiting factor
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the electrical power-dependent display with an optically-driven reflective display. This substitution ensures that critical information remains accessible during faults and power outages without incurring continuous operational costs, as the display uses ambient light rather than electrical power to present information.
Solution Approach 2:
The display serves itself by using ambient environmental light to illuminate the displayed information, rather than requiring external electrical power input. This self-service approach eliminates operational costs while ensuring continuous access to critical information regardless of power availability or operational status.
3Use of energy by moving object
If a persistent display is implemented to reduce power consumption, then electricity usage decreases and operation during power outages is enabled, but the display technology becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex electrical display technology with simpler optical reflective technology. By substituting the light-emitting electrical system with a light-reflecting optical system, the display achieves reduced power consumption and power-outage resilience while actually simplifying the overall technology, not increasing complexity.
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
Enables continuous presentation of information to users, facilitating maintenance and fault identification without the need for constant power, reducing operational costs and complexity, and allowing for flexible placement and operation in both closed and open configurations of industrial automation systems.
Implementation Method 1
The display is configured to maintain presentation of image data in absence of the external power being received by the industrial automation component from the external power source
Data Source
AI summary
A system includes an electrical enclosure, an industrial automation component disposed within the electrical enclosure, in which the industrial automation component is configured to receive external power from an external power source to perform an operation, a display configured to maintain presentation of image data in absence of the external power being received by the industrial automation component from the external power source, and a control system communicatively coupled to the industrial automation component and to the display. The control system is configured to perform operations that include receiving an indication that the external power is within a range of a threshold, in which the threshold is associated with an insufficient amount of power for the industrial automation component to operate, identifying an error associated with the industrial automation component in response to receiving the indication, and causing the display to render image data indicative of the error.