System and Method for Maintenance Support

• US 20090043885A1
• Filed: 08/05/2008
• Published: 02/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/07/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ABB AG (ABB Limited)
• Original Assignee: ABB AG (ABB Limited)
• Inventors: Braun, Roland, Hilsch, Georg, Fengler, Frank, John, Dirk, Bollmeyer, Stefan
• Granted Patent: US 8,589,533 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0283 Predictive maintenance, e.g. involving the monitoring of a system and, based on the monitoring results, taking decisions on the maintenance schedule of the monitored system; Estimating remaining useful life [RUL] preventive maintenance, i.e. planning maintenance according to the available resources without monitoring the system G06Q10/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance

Abstract

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.

Claims

1. A system for maintenance support for electronically actuated and/or monitored appliances implemented within an electronically networked automation system, having a monitoring unit which processes present operating parameters for appliances in order to establish the servicing state of the appliances using comparison operating parameters,

wherein

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 this information in file form to electronic mobile terminals belonging to the servicing personnel in order to perform the servicing.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1,

wherein

the servicing performance information comprises a video clip for providing audio-visual information about setup and servicing features of the appliance to be serviced.

3. The system as claimed in claim 1,

wherein

the servicing performance information comprises a piece of navigation information for finding the appliance to be serviced within the automation system.

4. The system as claimed in claim 3,

wherein

the navigation information has a multilevel structure, comprising at least two of the following pieces of route information:

a first piece of route information for finding the postal address of a factory site comprising the automation system using the present position of the servicing personnel'"'"'s mobile terminal equipped with a GPS module,

a second piece of route information for finding a building or factory site section on the factory site which contains the automation system, from the postal address,

a third piece of route information for finding the appliance to be serviced within the automation system accommodated in the building or factory site section, from the entrance to the building or factory site section.

5. The system as claimed in claim 1,

wherein

the servicing performance information comprises a text instruction, matching the specific servicing case, with the servicing steps to be performed in order.

6. The system as claimed in claim 1,

wherein

the mobile terminal of the servicing personnel is equipped with a camera for real-time communication via the SSIS server during the servicing work.

7. The system as claimed in claim 1,

wherein

the mobile terminal of the servicing personnel is equipped with a communication interface for local connection to the automation system, and with means for interchanging servicing-related information with the SSIS server via the automation system.

8. A method for maintenance support for electronically actuated and/or monitored appliances which are implemented within an electronically networked automation system and whose present operating parameters are recorded by a monitoring unit in order to establish the servicing state of the appliances using comparison operating parameters,

wherein

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 wherein these data are forwarded to electronic mobile terminals of the servicing personnel in order to perform the servicing.

9. The method as claimed in claim 8,

wherein

the SSIS server transmits servicing performance information containing navigation information to the relevant servicing personnel'"'"'s mobile terminal.

10. The method as claimed in claim 8,

wherein

the SSIS server transmits servicing performance information containing a video clip and/or text instructions to the relevant servicing personnel'"'"'s mobile terminal.

11. A maintenance support method for electronically actuated and/or monitored appliances which are implemented within an electronically networked automation system, the method comprising:

recording present operating parameters by a monitoring unit in order to establish a servicing state of the appliances using comparison operating parameters;

logically combining a servicing request established by the monitoring unit with appliance-specific servicing performance information stored in a database; and

forwarding these data to electronic mobile terminals for servicing.

12. The maintenance support method as claimed in claim 11, wherein an external SSIS server logically combines a servicing request established by the monitoring unit with appliance-specific servicing performance information stored in a database.

13. The maintenance support method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the electronic mobile terminals are associated with servicing personnel in order to perform the servicing.