Method for operating a container treatment system with fault diagnosis

• US 10,489,263 B2
• Filed: 04/05/2012
• Issued: 11/26/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/18/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Krones AG (Krones)
• Original Assignee: Krones AG (Krones)
• Inventors: Grimm, Volker
• Primary Examiner(s): Chukwurah, Nathaniel C
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ahmed, Mobeen
• Application Number:
  US14/112,416
• Publication Number:
  US 20140298100A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,791 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 49/78 Measuring, controlling or regulating
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 3/00 Packaging plastic material, semiliquids, liquids or mixed solids and liquids, in individual containers or receptacles, e.g. bags, sacks, boxes, cartons, cans, or jars
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 55/00 Preserving, protecting or purifying packages or package contents in association with packaging by packaging under special atmospheric or gaseous conditions B65B31/00; devices for placing protecting sheets, plugs, or wads over contents B65B61/22
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 55/04 Sterilising wrappers or receptacles prior to, or during, packaging sterilising bottles B67C7/00
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 57/00 Automatic control, checking, warning, or safety devices registering wrapping or container-forming material fed from rolls B65B41/18
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 65/08 Devices for counting or registering the number of articles handled, or the number of packages produced by the machine
• CPC Class Codes: B65C 9/40 Controls; Safety devices
• CPC Class Codes: B67B 3/26 Applications of control, warning, or safety devices in capping machinery
• CPC Class Codes: B67C 3/007 Applications of control, warning or safety devices in filling machinery flow-control B67C3/28
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/4184 characterised by fault tolerance, reliability of production system
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0235 based on a comparison with predetermined threshold or range, e.g. "classical methods", carried out during normal operation; threshold adaptation or choice; when or how to compare with the threshold
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

Method for operating a container treatment system (1), wherein containers are treated in a first predefined fashion with a first treatment device (2) of this container treatment system (1), are subsequently transported from this first treatment device (2) to a second treatment device (4) of the container treatment system (1) and are subsequently treated in a second predefined fashion by the second treatment device (4), wherein a first multiplicity of first reference characteristic values (RK1), which are characteristic of the treatment of the containers (10) the first treatment device (2), is recorded by means of first sensor devices (22a, 24a), and a second multiplicity of second reference characteristic values (RK2), which are characteristic of the treatment of the containers (10) with the second treatment device (4), is recorded by means of second sensor devices (42a, 44a), and wherein these reference characteristic values (RK1, RK2) are stored in a memory device (16). According to the invention, the reference characteristic values (RK1, RK2) are registered with a time value which is characteristic of the chronological occurrence of the respective reference characteristic value (RK1, RK2), and a multiplicity of test characteristic values (PK1, PK2) is recorded, and at least one information item (I), which is characteristic of the determination of a present or future fault state of the system, is output on the basis of comparison between at least one of these test characteristic values (PK1, PK2) and at least one reference characteristic value (RK1, RK2).

Claims

1. A method for operating a container treatment system, wherein containers are treated by a first treatment device of this container treatment system in a first predefined manner, are subsequently transported from said first treatment device to a second treatment device of the container treatment system and are subsequently treated by the second treatment device in a second predefined manner, wherein by means of first sensor units, a first plurality of first reference characteristic values are recorded, which are characteristic of the treatment of the containers with the first treatment device, and by means of second sensor units, a second plurality of second reference characteristic values are recorded, which are characteristic of the treatment of the containers with the second treatment device, and wherein the plurality of first and second reference characteristic values are stored in a storage unit, wherein:

the first plurality of first reference characteristic values and second plurality of second reference characteristic values are each detected and recorded with a time value that is characteristic of the temporal occurrence of a respective reference characteristic value of the first and second reference characteristic values,

a plurality of test characteristic values are recorded, as a result of a comparison between at least one of said plurality of test characteristic values and at least one of said plurality of reference characteristic values at least one piece of information is output that is characteristic of the determination of a present or future fault condition of the container treatment system,

at least one of the plurality of test characteristic values or the reference characteristic values relating directly to the containers are logically linked to each other for outputting the at least one piece of information, a same sensor unit of the first and second sensor units determining the at least one of the test characteristic values and the at least one of the plurality of reference characteristic values;

a linking of the first and second reference characteristic values with the time values associates the fault condition of the container treatment system with at least one of the test characteristic values to carry out an automatic or semi-automatic search of a pattern of the test characteristic values for a determination of the fault condition, and

a certain test characteristic of the plurality of test characteristic values determined at a downstream device of the second treatment device has associated therewith at least one test characteristic value determined at an earlier point in time on a machine that is upstream of the downstream device of the container treatment system, wherein a performance level of the machine upstream of the downstream device is reduced or increased in response to the determination of the fault condition and a corresponding increase or decrease in a production output of the downstream device.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one treatment device is controlled on the basis of the information.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of test characteristic values and the plurality of reference characteristic values are determined by a sensor unit of the first and second sensor units that is associated with the first or the second treatment device, and the information that is characteristic of the determination of the fault condition is related to the second or first treatment device.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the plurality of test characteristic values is compared with the plurality of reference characteristic values.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of test characteristic values are continuously compared with the plurality of reference characteristic values.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein a number of the plurality of test characteristic values are logically linked with each other for outputting the information.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of reference characteristic values are selected from a group of reference characteristic values which includes current characteristic values, voltage characteristic values, temperature characteristic values, speed characteristic values, torque characteristic values, pulse characteristic values, power characteristic values, quantity characteristic values, temporal characteristic values, combinations therefrom.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein in the case of a fault in the container treatment system, the plurality of reference characteristic values that are characteristic of the case of the fault are determined and stored.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of test characteristic values are evaluated using a statistic method to detect patterns occurring within a predetermined period of time.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein run times of the containers are taken into account between the treatment devices.

11. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one treatment device is selected from a group of devices including moulding devices for moulding plastic preforms into plastic containers, filling devices for filling containers, transport devices for transporting containers, sterilisation devices for sterilising containers, closing devices for closing containers with caps, labelling devices for labelling containers, combinations therefrom.

12. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein in an association of at least one of the plurality of test characteristic values with at least one of the plurality of reference characteristic values, a degree of fuzziness is taken into account.

14. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one of said first and second treatment devices treats the containers on the basis of the test characteristic values and is open or respectively closed loop controlled.

15. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein a teach-in process for the container treatment system is carried out automatically or semi-automatically.

16. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the statistic method is used in order to detect the patterns in acquired data or respectively the reference characteristic values or the test characteristic values and if the container treatment system has detected certain patterns of the patterns, then these certain patterns will be learned.

17. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein on many machines of the container treatment system and for many patterns, levels of suspicious patterns may be defined, the occurrence of which will cause the level to rise or which respectively indicate a certain fault situation wherein this level is visualized and is used as a warning to the operator in relation to what degree of criticality the treatment system is or respectively runs under at that moment in time.

13. A container treatment system comprising a first treatment device that treats containers in a first predefined manner, a second treatment device that is disposed after the first treatment device in the transport direction of the containers and that treats the containers in a second predefined manner, the first treatment device comprising a first sensor unit that records at least one first reference characteristic value that is characteristic of the treatment of the containers with the first treatment device, the second treatment device comprising a second sensor unit that records at least one second reference characteristic value that is characteristic of the treatment of the containers with the second treatment device, and having a storage unit for storing the at least one first and second reference characteristic values, wherein said storage unit allows an association of time values with the at least one first and second reference characteristic values, wherein said time values are characteristic of the point in time or the period of time of the occurrence of the at least one first and second reference characteristic values,

wherein a comparison unit is provided which enables a comparison of a plurality of recorded test characteristic values with the at least one first and second reference characteristic values, as well as a processor unit that outputs at least one piece of information on the basis of such a comparison, which information is characteristic of the determination of a present or future fault condition of the container treatment system, wherein at least one of the plurality of recorded test characteristic values or the at least one first and second reference characteristic values are logically linked to each other for outputting the at least one piece of information, a same sensor unit of the first and second sensor units determining the at least one of the test characteristic values and the at least one of the plurality of reference characteristic values, wherein a linking of the first and second reference characteristic values with the time values associates the fault condition of the container treatment system with at least one of the test characteristic values to carry out an automatic or semi-automatic search of a pattern of the test characteristic values for a determination of the fault condition,

wherein a certain test characteristic of the plurality of test characteristic values determined at a downstream device of the second treatment device has associated therewith at least one test characteristic value determined at an earlier point in time on a machine that is upstream of the downstream device of the container treatment system, and

wherein a performance level of the machine upstream of the downstream device is reduced or increased in response to the determination of the fault condition and a corresponding increase or decrease in a production output of the downstream device.

18. A method for operating a container treatment system, wherein containers are treated by a first treatment device of this container treatment system in a first predefined manner, are subsequently transported from said first treatment device to a second treatment device of the container treatment system and are subsequently treated by the second treatment device in a second predefined manner, wherein by means of first sensor units, a first plurality of first reference characteristic values are recorded, which are characteristic of the treatment of the containers with the first treatment device, and by means of second sensor units, a second plurality of second reference characteristic values are recorded, which are characteristic of the treatment of the containers with the second treatment device, and wherein the plurality of first and second reference characteristic values are stored in a storage unit, wherein:

the first plurality of first reference characteristic values and second plurality of second reference characteristic values are each detected and recorded with a time value that is characteristic of the temporal occurrence of a respective reference characteristic value of the first and second reference characteristic values,

a plurality of test characteristic values are recorded, as a result of a comparison between at least one of said plurality of test characteristic values and at least one of said plurality of reference characteristic values at least one piece of information is output that is characteristic of the determination of a present or future fault condition of the container treatment system,

at least one of the plurality of test characteristic values or the reference characteristic values relating directly to the containers are logically linked to each other for outputting the at least one piece of information, a same sensor unit of the first and second sensor units determining the at least one of the test characteristic values and the at least one of the plurality of reference characteristic values;

a linking of the first and second reference characteristic values with the time values associates the fault condition of the container treatment system with at least one of the test characteristic values to carry out an automatic or semi-automatic search of a pattern of the test characteristic values for a determination of the fault condition,

all of the recorded reference characteristics are at least partially considered to be overall information or an overall picture in order to teach an artificial intelligence of a machine of the container treatment system on the basis of the overall information, and

a performance level of the first treatment device upstream of the second treatment device is reduced or increased in response to the determination of the fault condition and a corresponding increase or decrease in a production output of the second treatment device.

19. A container treatment system comprising a first treatment device that treats containers in a first predefined manner, a second treatment device that is disposed after the first treatment device in the transport direction of the containers and that treats the containers in a second predefined manner, the first treatment device comprising a first sensor unit that records at least one first reference characteristic value that is characteristic of the treatment of the containers with the first treatment device, the second treatment device comprising a second sensor unit that records at least one second reference characteristic value that is characteristic of the treatment of the containers with the second treatment device, and having a storage unit for storing the at least one first and second reference characteristic values, wherein said storage unit allows an association of time values with the at least one first and second reference characteristic values, wherein said time values are characteristic of the point in time or the period of time of the occurrence of the at least one first and second reference characteristic values,

wherein a comparison unit is provided which enables a comparison of a plurality of recorded test characteristic values with the at least one first and second reference characteristic values, as well as a processor unit that outputs at least one piece of information on the basis of such a comparison, which information is characteristic of the determination of a present or future fault condition of the container treatment system, wherein at least one of the plurality of recorded test characteristic values or the at least one first and second reference characteristic values are logically linked to each other for outputting the at least one piece of information, a same sensor unit of the first and second sensor units determining the at least one of the test characteristic values and the at least one of the plurality of reference characteristic values, and wherein a linking of the first and second reference characteristic values with the time values associates the fault condition of the container treatment system with at least one of the test characteristic values to carry out an automatic or semi-automatic search of a pattern of the test characteristic values for a determination of the fault condition,

wherein all of the recorded reference characteristics are at least partially considered to be overall information or an overall picture in order to teach an artificial intelligence of a machine of the container treatment system on the basis of the overall information, and

a performance level of the first treatment device upstream of the second treatment device is reduced or increased in response to the determination of the fault condition and a corresponding increase or decrease in a production output of the second treatment device.