Fault diagnosis apparatus

• US 7,324,909 B2
• Filed: 12/27/2006
• Issued: 01/29/2008
• 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:
  US11/645,673
• Publication Number:
  US 20070113692A1
• Time in Patent Office: 398 Days
• Field of Search: 702/115, 702/179, 702/183, 702/185, 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 drive mechanism including a plurality of elements that includes a driving component activated by current supply and a power transmission component that transmits a driving force of the driving component to another component, comprising:

a first signal detection unit that detects a first signal indicating an operation state of the drive mechanism more than once,

a fault diagnosis unit that forecasts a fault of the plurality of elements by comparing a distribution of operation states of the first signal with a distribution indicating a normal range of the first signal,

wherein the distribution of the first signal is based on the first signal detected by the first signal detection unit more than once.

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

the first signal detection unit detects the first signal more than once on a regular basis, and

the fault diagnosis unit forecasts a fault on a regular basis.

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

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

the first 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 more than once as the first signal based on a detection signal obtained by the plurality of detection units, and

the fault diagnosis unit forecasts a fault by comparing a distribution of the transporting timing and the transporting time of the transported object obtained based on the transporting timing and the transporting time detected by the timing detection unit more than once with a distribution indicating the normal range of the transporting timing and the transporting time.

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

the drive mechanism includes a roll component that moves the transported object to a predetermined direction by torque, and

the fault diagnosis unit forecasts a fault of the roll component.