Pulse-Based Maintenance Support for Automatic Analysis Equipment

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Solution Overview

Problem

Automatic analysis devices experience failures and downtime due to high usage frequency and unexpected external factors between periodic inspections, necessitating a proactive maintenance support system to prevent component failures and reduce downtime.

Innovation Solution

A maintenance support system that utilizes pulse motor data, including driving pulse values, consumed pulse quantities, and remaining pulse quantities, to detect abnormal tendencies and predict potential failures, thereby integrating these insights into periodic inspection checklists to prevent failures and optimize component replacement timing.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of operation

If periodic inspection is performed at fixed intervals, then maintenance scheduling is simplified, but failures may occur between inspections due to high usage frequency or unexpected factors

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvemaintenance schedulingVSAvoidcomponent reliability between inspections
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary detection of abnormal tendencies by monitoring pulse quantities before actual failures occur. The abnormality detection unit identifies components showing signs of degradation through increased pulse consumption patterns, enabling proactive maintenance scheduling before failures happen between periodic inspections.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system implements continuous feedback monitoring of pulse motor consumption patterns. The abnormality detection unit compares actual pulse quantities against standard values and provides real-time feedback on component health status, allowing dynamic adjustment of maintenance schedules based on actual component conditions rather than fixed intervals.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

2Ease of operation

If component replacement is performed based on alarm output or fixed time intervals, then maintenance timing is simplified, but downtime increases due to unexpected failures

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvemaintenance timing determinationVSAvoiddevice downtime
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary identification of components with abnormal tendencies before they fail. By monitoring pulse quantity patterns and comparing them against standard values, the system predicts which components will fail soon, allowing maintenance to be scheduled in advance rather than reacting to unexpected failures that cause downtime.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The maintenance scheduling becomes dynamic rather than static. The priority determination unit dynamically adjusts maintenance priorities based on detected abnormal tendencies and usage frequencies, allowing the system to adapt maintenance timing to actual component conditions and usage patterns, thereby reducing unexpected downtime.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #15Dynamics

3Ease of operation

If all components are inspected with equal priority, then inspection process is simplified, but critical failures may be delayed due to insufficient attention to high-risk components

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveinspection processVSAvoidprevention of critical failures
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system applies different inspection priorities to different components based on their individual risk profiles. The priority determination unit assigns higher inspection priorities to components showing abnormal tendencies or high usage frequencies, while lower-priority components receive standard attention. This differentiated approach ensures critical components receive focused attention while maintaining overall process efficiency.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

Data Source

PatentEP2876448B1Maintenance support system
Publication Date: 2023.12.20 HITACHI HIGH TECH CORP
  • EP2876448B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP2876448B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP2876448B1 patent drawingFigure 3A

AI summary

Provided are an automatic analysis device and a maintenance support system which prevent a failure that occurs between regular inspection periods to thereby reduce the downtime of the automatic analysis device. A maintenance support system acquires, from each of a plurality of automatic analysis devices (100), pulse information transmitted from the automatic analysis device (100) provided with a mechanism which is driven by a pulse motor, and a transmission means which transmits pulse information including tow among a driving pulse value for driving the pulse motor, a consumed pulse amount that is a pulse amount consumed when the pulse motor has actually been driven, and a remaining pulse amount obtained by subtracting the consumed pulse amount from the driving pulse value, and stores at least the consumed pulse amount.