Remote monitoring of machine alarms

• US 9,971,346 B2
• Filed: 05/12/2011
• Issued: 05/15/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Joy Global Surface Mining Inc. (Mitsui & Company Limited)
• Original Assignee: Harnischfeger Technologies Inc. (Mitsui & Company Limited)
• Inventors: Rikkola, Michael, Daniel, Kenneth
• Primary Examiner(s): Barbee, Manuel L
• Assistant Examiner(s): Perez Bermudez, Yaritza H
• Application Number:
  US13/106,574
• Publication Number:
  US 20110282630A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,560 Days
• Field of Search: 702188, 702187, 702183, 702184, 702182
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/02 Electric testing or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0232 based on qualitative trend analysis, e.g. system evolution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/554 involving event detection and direct action
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/695 Preprocessing, e.g. image segmentation

Abstract

Methods for monitoring a machine are described. In one aspect, a method includes receiving information on a plurality of events associated with the machine, determining a severity value for at least one event of the plurality of events, the severity value based on at least one of a safety value, a hierarchy value, a time-to-repair value, and a cost-of-repair value, and outputting an alert includes the severity value if the severity value exceeds a predetermined threshold associated with the at least one event. Systems and machine-readable media are also described.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring a mining machine comprising:

sensing, by sensors, temperature and voltage of the mining machine to obtain sensor data;

processing, by a processor, the sensor data to obtain information on a plurality of events associated with the mining machine;

establishing a two-way communication link with the mining machine;

transmitting the information from the mining machine onto the two-way communication link;

receiving, from the mining machine over the two-way communication link at a remote processor, the information on the plurality of events associated with the mining machine;

determining, by the remote processor, a severity value for at least one event of the plurality of events, the severity value based on a hierarchy value associated with the at least one event, a time-to-repair value associated with the at least one event, a cost-of-repair value associated with the at least one event, a hierarchy weight, a time-to-repair weight and a cost-of-repair weight;

displaying the time-to-repair value, and the cost-of-repair value;

outputting an alert comprising the severity value if the severity value exceeds a predetermined threshold associated with the at least one event;

repairing the mining machine based on the severity value, including the cost-of-repair value and the time-to-repair value; and

when the event is a machine failure, including shutdown of the mining machine.

2. The method for monitoring a mining machine of claim 1, wherein at least one selected from the group consisting of the hierarchy weight, the time-to-repair weight, and the cost-to-repair weight is assigned a different value.

3. A method for monitoring a mining machine comprising:

sensing, by sensors, temperature and voltage of the mining machine to obtain sensor data;

processing, by a processor, the sensor data to obtain information on a plurality of events associated with the mining machine;

establishing a two-way communication link with the mining machine;

transmitting the information from the mining machine onto the two-way communication link;

receiving, from the mining machine over the communication link at a remote processor, the information on the plurality of events associated with the mining machine;

determining, by the remote processor, a severity value for at least one event of the plurality of events, the severity value based on a time-to-repair weight associated with the at least one event, a cost-of-repair weight associated with the at least one event, a hierarchy weight associated with the at least one event and a safety weight associated with the at least one event;

displaying the time-to-repair weight, the cost-of-repair weight and the severity value;

repairing the mining machine based on the severity value and the time-to-repair value; and

when the event is a machine failure, including shutdown of the mining machine.

4. The method for monitoring a mining machine of claim 3, wherein the determining of the severity value is further based on a hierarchy rank associated with the event, a time-to-repair rank associated with the event and a cost-of-repair rank associated with the event, the method further including

displaying the hierarchy weight.

5. The method for monitoring a mining machine of claim 3, wherein the determining of the severity value is further based on a hierarchy rank associated with the event and a safety rank associated with the event, the method further including

displaying the hierarchy rank and the safety rank.