Fault diagnosis apparatus

• US 7,275,009 B2
• Filed: 04/20/2006
• Issued: 09/25/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Satonaga, Tetsuichi, Uwatoko, Koki, Yasukawa, Kaoru, Adachi, Koji, Nakagawa, Eigo, Yamada, Norikazu
• Primary Examiner(s): NOLAND, THOMAS
• Application Number:
  US11/407,294
• Publication Number:
  US 20060207355A1
• Time in Patent Office: 523 Days
• Field of Search: 702/115, 702/183, 702/185, 702/179, 738/659
• US Class Current: 702/115
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 29/38 Drives, motors, controls or automatic cut-off devices for the entire printing mechanism

Abstract

A fault diagnosis section activates a driving component alone, measures an operation state signal and a paper passage time, and stores feature values (Vm, σv, Tqs, σts) extracted as a determination reference in a storage medium. A paper passage fault determination section determines whether or not a fault has arisen on the basis of the paper passage time when an apparatus is under normal operating conditions. A diagnosis target block determination section determines an order to operate a detail fault diagnosis when it is determined that there is a plurality of diagnosis target blocks. When the driving component is activated alone under actual operation conditions, the operation state signal Vf is obtained, and an operation state fault determination section conducts diagnosis on whether or not a fault has arisen on the driving component and a state of the fault, and whether or not a fault has arisen on other power transmission components and a nature of the fault with reference to the feature values as the determination reference on the basis of a degree of deviation from a normal range.

Claims

1. A fault diagnosis apparatus for diagnosing a fault that occurs in an apparatus having a plurality of drive mechanisms each including a driving component activated by current supply and at least a power transmission component that transmits a driving force of the driving component to another component without receiving current supply, comprising:

a second signal detection unit that detects a second signal indicating an operation state of each drive mechanism on a normal operation state in which the plurality of driving components and the plurality of power transmission components are operated;

a first signal detection unit that detects a first signal indicating an operation state of each element of each drive mechanism within a predetermined period in a state where each drive mechanism individually activates;

a second determination unit that determines whether the drive mechanism has a fault or not based on the second signal detected by the second signal detection unit; and

a fault diagnosis unit that executes the fault diagnosis on each component of the drive mechanism determined that the drive mechanism has a fault by the second determination unit.

2. The fault diagnosis apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the drive mechanism is used for a transport system for transporting a transported object,

the second signal detection unit includes a timing detection unit including a plurality of detection units that detects a passage of the transported object, and a measurement unit that measures a transporting timing and a transporting time of the transported object as the first signal based on a detection signal obtained by the plurality of detection units,

the first signal detection unit that detects the first signal indicating the operation state of each element of the drive mechanism includes at least one of a current detection unit that detects a signal indicating an operation current applied to the driving component as the first signal and a vibration detection unit that detects a signal indicating a vibration occurring in the drive mechanism as the first signal,

the second determination unit determines a drive mechanism to be subjected to the fault diagnosis based on the transporting timing and the transporting time detected by the timing detection unit,

the fault diagnosis unit includes a first determination unit that executes the fault diagnosis on each element in the drive mechanism determined that the drive mechanism has a fault by the second determination unit, and

the first determination unit executes the fault diagnosis on the drive mechanism determined by the second determination unit based on the operation current obtained by the current detection unit or the vibration obtained by the vibration detection unit.

3. The fault diagnosis apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

the second determination unit determines an order to execute the fault diagnosis on each drive mechanism in a case where the second determination unit determines the plurality of drive mechanisms to be subjected to the fault diagnosis, and

the first determination unit executes the fault diagnosis on the plurality of drive mechanisms determined by the second determination unit according to the order determined by the second determination unit.

4. The fault diagnosis apparatus according to claim 1, further comprises

a storage unit that stores information indicating the normal range obtained based on the first signal detected by the first signal detection unit in a state where the apparatus has no faults, wherein

the fault diagnosis unit reads out the information indicating the normal range from the storage unit to execute the fault diagnosis.

5. The fault diagnosis apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the storage unit stores information indicating the normal range of each drive mechanism obtained based on the first signal detected by the first signal detection unit in a state where the plurality of drive mechanisms activate individually.

6. The fault diagnosis apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the storage unit stores information indicating the normal range obtained based on the first signal detected by the first signal detection unit in a state where the apparatus including the drive mechanism has no faults at a shipment of the apparatus or after a replacement of the elements.