Failure diagnosis method, failure diagnosis apparatus, conveyance device, image forming apparatus, program, and storage medium

• US 8,132,049 B2
• Filed: 02/23/2005
• Issued: 03/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujifilm Business Innovation Corp. (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Yasukawa, Kaoru, Adachi, Kouji, Uwatoko, Kouki, Yamada, Norikazu, Nakagawa, Eigo, Satonaga, Tetsuichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Baderman, Scott
• Assistant Examiner(s): TRUONG, LOAN
• Application Number:
  US11/064,126
• Publication Number:
  US 20050262394A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,568 Days
• Field of Search: 714/26, 714/48
• US Class Current: 714/26
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/5079 for maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/55 Self-diagnostics; Malfunction or lifetime display
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/553 Monitoring or warning means for exhaustion or lifetime end of consumables, e.g. indication of insufficient copy sheet quantity for a job
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0733 in a data processing system embedded in an image processing device, e.g. printer, facsimile, scanner
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0748 in a remote unit communicating with a single-box computer node experiencing an error/fault remote testing G06F11/2294
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36

Abstract

A failure diagnosis method diagnoses a failure occurring in a diagnosis target apparatus including a drive mechanism having a drive member that receives power supply to operate and a power transmission member that transmits drive force of the drive member to another member. The method includes automatically acquiring by a sensor an operation state signal indicating an operation state during the drive mechanism operating for a predetermined period; and analyzing the automatically acquired operation state signal based on a failure probability model, which is obtained by modeling a cause of failure occurring in the diagnosis target apparatus with using probabilities, to execute failure diagnosis with respect to each of constituent members of the drive mechanism.

Claims

1. An image forming apparatus comprising:

a conveyance section that conveys a member to be conveyed and comprises a drive mechanism having a drive member that receives power supply to operate and a power transmission member that transmits drive force of the drive member to another member;

an image formation section that forms an image on the member to be conveyed that is conveyed by the conveyance section to a predetermined position;

an operation state signal acquisition section that acquires by a sensor an operation state signal indicating an operation state during the drive mechanism operating for a predetermined period, the operation state signal acquisition section including a drive mechanism vibration detection section that detects a signal indicating vibration of the drive mechanism as the operation state signal;

an environment information acquisition section that acquires by a sensor environment information relating to an operation of the drive mechanism; and

a failure diagnosis apparatus further comprising;

a failure diagnosis section that includes a failure judgment section, a failure probability estimation section and a notification section, wherein

the failure diagnosis section analyzes an operation state signal based on a failure probability model, to calculate failure probabilities of constituent members of the drive mechanism, the failure probability model obtained by modeling a cause of failure occurring in the image forming apparatus using previously measured failure probabilities of the constituent members of the drive mechanism, and

the failure diagnosis section analyzes the environment information based on the failure probability model to execute the failure diagnosis,

executing failure diagnosis with respect to the image forming apparatus based on the calculated probabilities of the constituent members of the drive mechanism, wherein;

the operation state signal indicates at least one of (x) a conveyance timing of the member to be conveyed and (y) a conveyance time of the member to be conveyed; and

at a point in time within the period, the failure probability model is adapted to values of other operating states automatically acquired before the point in time, wherein

the failure probability model is a Bayesian network model, the Bayesian network utilizes a stochastic model genetic algorithm for generating searching points using statistical information of preferable individuals in a population,

the failure diagnosis section executes the failure diagnosis based on a reference characteristic amount, calculated by an average value, standard deviation, and dispersion and an adjustment of the failure probability model,

the failure diagnosis section divides the drive mechanism into a plurality of blocks,

the failure diagnosis section executes the failure diagnosis with respect to each of the blocks,

each of the blocks has a single motor as the drive member, and

a transmission member of each block transmits a drive force of the single motor within each of the blocks.

2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the failure diagnosis section executes the failure diagnosis based on (a) the reference characteristic amount, which is obtained when the drive mechanism operates normally, and (b) an actual operation characteristic amount, which is obtained from the acquired operation state signal.

3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the failure diagnosis section adjusts the analyzing on a basis of degree of deviation of the operation state signal from a normal range, which is set for the operation state signal in advance.

4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the operation state signal acquisition section comprises a drive section operation current detection section that detects a signal indicating operation current flowing in the drive member as the operation state signal.

5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the environment information acquisition section acquires at least one of (s) peripheral temperature of the drive mechanism and (t) peripheral humidity of the drive mechanism as the environment information.

6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a history storage section that stores history information of the operation state signal in the conveyance section, wherein;

the failure diagnosis section analyzes the history information stored in the history storage section based on the failure probability model to execute the failure diagnosis.

7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the history storage section stores as the history information number of conveyances of the member to be conveyed after one of new installation of the image forming apparatus, replacement of consumables, and replacement of a part.