Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US6907384?dq=5,963,646
Timestamp: 2017-09-22 12:39:44
Document Index: 788888390

Matched Legal Cases: ['art.\n6', 'art.\n9', 'art.\n12', 'art.\n15', 'art.\n18', 'art.\n19']

Patent US6907384 - Method and system for managing construction machine, and arithmetic ... - Google Patents
A method and system for managing a construction machine whereby working time for each of different parts of a hydraulic excavator is measured. Measured data is stored in a memory of a controller and then transferred to a base station computer via satellite communication to be stored in a database. At...http://www.google.com/patents/US6907384?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US6907384 - Method and system for managing construction machine, and arithmetic processing apparatus
Publication number US6907384 B2
Application number US 10/240,202
PCT number PCT/JP2001/002741
Also published as CN1219947C, CN1416489A, EP1273718A1, EP1273718A4, EP1273718B1, US20030115020, WO2001073215A1
Publication number 10240202, 240202, PCT/2001/2741, PCT/JP/1/002741, PCT/JP/1/02741, PCT/JP/2001/002741, PCT/JP/2001/02741, PCT/JP1/002741, PCT/JP1/02741, PCT/JP1002741, PCT/JP102741, PCT/JP2001/002741, PCT/JP2001/02741, PCT/JP2001002741, PCT/JP200102741, US 6907384 B2, US 6907384B2, US-B2-6907384, US6907384 B2, US6907384B2
Inventors Hiroyuki Adachi, Toichi Hirata, Genroku Sugiyama, Hiroshi Watanabe, Koichi Shibata, Hideki Komatsu, Shuichi Miura, Koji Mitsuya, Yoshiaki Saito, Atsushi Sato
Patent Citations (11), Non-Patent Citations (1), Referenced by (40), Classifications (34), Legal Events (6)
US 6907384 B2
A method and system for managing a construction machine whereby working time for each of different parts of a hydraulic excavator is measured. Measured data is stored in a memory of a controller and then transferred to a base station computer via satellite communication to be stored in a database. At each repair/replacement of a part in each hydraulic excavator, the base station computer calculates, based on the operation data, a replacement time interval of the part on the basis of the working time per section to which the part belongs, and then stores and accumulates it. The base station computer also reads the stored data for each hydraulic excavator, determines, for each part, a replacement rate of the part having a substantially equal replacement time interval, and calculates a target replacement time interval of the part in accordance with the replacement time interval corresponding to a maximum replacement rate.
a first step of measuring a working time for each section in each of a plurality of construction machines, and storing and accumulating the measured working time as operation data for each construction machine in a database;
a second step of determining, based on repair/replacement data for each part of the construction machine and said operation data, an actual repair/replacement time interval of each part on the basis of the working time per section to which the relevant part belongs; and
a third step of statistically processing the actual repair/replacement time interval and setting a target repair/replacement time interval of the relevant part to be used for deciding a scheduled repair/replacement timing of a corresponding part of the particular construction machine using the statistically processed data and wherein:
said third step further includes steps of determining a relationship between the actual repair/replacement time interval of a part determined in said second step and the number of times of actual repair/replacement of said part, determining a repair/replacement time interval corresponding to a maximum number of times of repair/replacement from said relationship, and deciding the target repair/replacement time interval of said part based on the determined repair/replacement time interval.
2. A method for managing a construction machine according to claim 1, further comprising:
a fourth step of determining, based on the operation data accumulated in said first step, a working time of a corresponding part on the basis of the working time per section of the particular construction machine, and comparing the determined working time with said target repair/replacement time interval, thereby calculating a remaining time up to a next repair/replacement of the relevant part.
said first step further includes steps of measuring and collecting a load for each section in addition to the working time for each section, and storing and accumulating the measured working time and load for each section as the operation data for each construction machine in said database; and
said method further includes a fourth step of statistically processing the actual repair/replacement time interval of the part and the load both determined in said second step, and a fifth step of determining said target repair/replacement time interval, as a value modified depending on loads, based on the operation data of the particular construction machine and the statistically processed data.
4. A method for managing a construction machine according to claim 3, wherein:
said fourth step further includes steps of calculating, for each actual repair/replacement time interval of the part, a load factor of the relevant part and determining a correlation between the load factor and the repair/replacement time interval; and
said fifth step further includes steps of determining a working time of a corresponding part on the basis of the working time per section of the particular construction machine, calculating a load factor during the determined working time, and referring the calculated load factor to said correlation to determine a corresponding repair/replacement time interval as said target repair/replacement time interval.
5. A method for managing a construction machine according to claim 4, further comprising:
a sixth step of determining, based on the operation data accumulated in said first step, a working time of a corresponding part on the basis of the working time per section of the particular construction machine, and comparing the determined working time with said target repair/replacement time interval, thereby calculating a remaining time up to a next repair/replacement of the relevant part.
6. A method for managing a construction machine according to claim 3, wherein:
said fourth step further includes steps of modifying the actual repair/replacement time interval of the part depending on loads, collecting the repair/replacement time interval modified depending on loads, and setting a load-dependent modification index value for the target repair/replacement time interval; and
said fifth step further includes steps of calculating a working time of a corresponding part on the basis of the working time per section of the particular construction machine, modifying the calculated working time depending on loads, and comparing the working time modified depending on loads with said load-dependent modification index value, thereby determining said target repair/replacement time interval.
7. A method for managing a construction machine according to claim 6, wherein:
said fourth step further includes steps of determining an average value of the collected data of the repair/replacement time interval modified depending on loads, and setting the average value as said load-dependent modification index value.
8. A method for managing a construction machine according to claim 6, further comprising:
a sixth step of comparing the working time of the corresponding part of the particular construction machine determined in said fifth step with the target repair/replacement time interval modified depending on loads, thereby calculating a remaining time up to a next repair/replacement of the relevant part.
9. A method for managing a construction machine, the method comprising:
the method further comprises a fourth step of determining, based on the operation data accumulated in said first step, a working time of a corresponding part on the basis of the working time per section of a particular construction machine, determining a load factor during the determined working time, modifying the determined working time in accordance with the load factor, and comparing the modified working time with a preset target repair/replacement time interval, thereby calculating a remaining time up to a next repair/replacement of the relevant part.
operation data measuring and collecting means for measuring and collecting a working time for each section in each of a plurality of construction machines; and
said base station computer comprising first means for determining, based on repair/replacement data for each part of the construction machine and said operation data, an actual repair/replacement time interval of each part on the basis of the working time per section to which the relevant part belongs; and
second means for statistically processing the actual repair/replacement time interval and setting a target repair/replacement time interval of the relevant part to be used for deciding a scheduled repair/replacement timing of a corresponding part of the particular construction machine using the statistically processed data and wherein:
said second means further includes means for determining a relationship between the actual repair/replacement time interval of a part determined by said first means and the number of times of repairs/replacements of said part, means for determining a repair/replacement time interval corresponding to a maximum number of times of repairs/replacements from said relationship, and means for deciding the target repair/replacement time interval of said part based on the determined repair/replacement time interval.
11. A system for managing a construction machine according to claim 10, wherein:
said base station computer further comprises third means for determining, based on said accumulated operation data, a working time of a corresponding part on the basis of the working time per section of the particular construction machine, and comparing the calculated working time with said target repair/replacement time interval, thereby calculating a remaining time up to a next repair/replacement of the relevant part.
12. A system for managing a construction machine, the system comprising:
said operation data measuring and collecting means further includes means for measuring and collecting a load for each section in addition to the working time for each section;
said base station computer includes means for storing and accumulating the measured working time and load for each section as the operation data in said database; and
said system further includes third means for statistically processing the actual repair/replacement time interval of the part and the load both determined by said first means, and fourth means for determining said target repair/replacement time interval, as a value modified depending on loads, based on the operation data of the particular construction machine and the statistically processed data.
13. A system for managing a construction machine according to claim 12, wherein:
said third means includes means for calculating, for each actual repair/replacement time interval of the part, a load factor of the relevant part and means for determining a correlation between the load factor and the repair/replacement time interval; and
said fourth means includes means for determining a working time of a corresponding part on the basis of the working time per section of the particular construction machine, means for calculating a load factor during the determined working time, and means for referring to said correlation using the calculated load factor to determine a corresponding repair/replacement time interval which is set as said target repair/replacement time interval.
14. A system for managing a construction machine according to claim 13, wherein:
said base station computer further comprises fifth means for determining, based on said accumulated operation data, a working time of a corresponding part on the basis of the working time per section of the particular construction machine, and comparing the determined working time with said target repair/replacement time interval, thereby calculating a remaining time up to a next repair/replacement of the relevant part.
15. A system for managing a construction machine according to claim 12, wherein:
said third means further includes means for modifying the actual repair/replacement time interval of the part depending on loads, means for collecting the repair/replacement time interval modified depending on loads, and means for setting a load-dependent modification index value for the target repair/replacement time interval; and
said fourth means includes means for calculating a working time of a corresponding part on the basis of the working time per section of the particular construction machine, means for modifying the calculated working time depending on loads, and means for comparing the working time modified depending on loads with said load-dependent modification index value, thereby determining said target repair/replacement time interval.
16. A system for managing a construction machine according to claim 15, wherein:
said third means includes means for determining an average value of the collected data of the repair/replacement time interval modified depending on loads, and means for setting the average value as said load-dependent modification index value for the target repair/replacement time interval.
17. A system for managing a construction machine according to claim 15, wherein:
said base station computer further comprises fifth means for comparing the working time of the corresponding part of the particular construction machine determined by said fourth means with the target repair/replacement time interval modified depending on loads, thereby calculating a remaining time up to a next repair/replacement of the relevant part.
18. A system for managing a construction machine, the system comprising:
said operation data measuring and collecting means includes means for collecting and measuring a load for each section in addition to the working time for each section;
said base station computer further comprises third means for determining, based on said accumulated operation data, a working time of a corresponding part on the basis of the working time per section of a particular construction machine, for determining a load factor during the determined working time, for modifying the determined working time in accordance with the load factor, and for comparing the modified working time with a preset target repair/replacement time interval, thereby calculating a remaining time up to next repair/replacement of the relevant part.
19. A processing apparatus, comprising means for storing and accumulating, as operation data, a working time for each section in each of a plurality of construction machines means for determining, based on repair/replacement data for each part of the construction machine and said operation data, an actual repair/replacement time interval of each part on the basis of the working time per section to which the relevant part belongs, means for statistically processing the actual repair/replacement time interval, and means for setting a target repair/replacement time interval of the relevant part to be used for deciding a scheduled repair/replacement timing of a corresponding part of the particular construction machine using the statistically processed data and which further includes means for storing and accumulating, as the operation data, a load for each section in addition to the working time for each section, means for statistically processing the actual repair/replacement time interval of the part and the load, and means for determining said target repair/replacement time interval, as a value modified depending on loads, based on the operation data of the particular construction machine and the statistically processed data.
To determine the scheduled repair/replacement timing of a part in a construction machine such as a hydraulic excavator, it is required to know the target repair/replacement time interval of the part and the past working time of the part. Heretofore, the target repair/replacement time interval of each part has been decided based on design data and experiences with a safety factor taken into consideration. Accordingly, the target repair/replacement time interval has been set to a slightly shorter interval. Also, the working time of each part has been calculated on the basis of the engine running time. As a result, the scheduled repair/replacement timing of parts has been calculated on the basis of the engine running time.
In the above-described prior art, it has been general that the target repair/replacement time interval of each part is decided based on design data and experiences with a safety factor taken into consideration, and hence the target repair/replacement time interval is set to a slightly shorter interval. For that reason, the scheduled repair/replacement timing of the part, which is decided from such a target repair/replacement time interval, cannot be said as being proper one. This has resulted in that parts are often repaired or replaced in spite of being still satisfactorily usable, and substantial waste in use of parts is unavoidable.
Also, a hydraulic system 20 is mounted on the hydraulic excavator 1. The hydraulic system 20 comprises hydraulic pumps 21 a, 21 b; boom control valves 22 a, 22 b, an arm control valve 23, a bucket control valve 24, a swing control valve 25, and track control valves 26 a, 26 b; and a boom cylinder 27, an arm cylinder 28, a bucket cylinder 29, a swing motor 30, and track motors 31 a, 31 b. The hydraulic pumps 21 a, 21 b are driven for rotation by a diesel engine (hereinafter referred to simply as an “engine”) 32 to deliver a hydraulic fluid. The control valves 22 a, 22 b to 26 a, 26 b control flows (flow rates and flow directions) of the hydraulic fluid supplied from the hydraulic pumps 21 a, 21 b to the actuators 27 to 31 a and 31 b. The actuators 27 to 31 a and 31 b drive the boom 16, the arm 17. the bucket 18, the swing body 13, and the travel body 12. The hydraulic pumps 21 a, 21 b, the control valves 22 a, 22 b to 26 a, 26 b, and the engine 32 are installed in an accommodation room formed in a rear portion of the swing body 13.
i=1 to L (L is the number of times of replacements of the bucket prong in the No. N machine)
After completion of the process for collecting data of the bucket-prong replacement time interval ΔTFB for all hydraulic excavators, the processing section 51 executes processing to obtain correlation between bucket-prong replacement time intervals and bucket-prong replacement rates (step S304). The term “bucket-prong replacement rate” means a proportion (%) of the number of times NSAME of bucket prong replacements, which have the equal replacement time interval (i.e., the working time of the bucket prong up to replacement), with respect to the total number of times NTOTAL of bucket prong replacements. In other words, assuming the bucket-prong replacement rate to be RB, it is expressed by:
R B=(N SAME /N TOTAL)×100 (%)
Subsequently, the CPU proceeds to processing procedures, shown in FIG. 19, for creating the frequency distribution data of pump loads of the hydraulic pumps 21 a, 21 b.
First, the CPU determines based on the signal from the sensor 45 whether the fluid temperature is not lower than, e.g., 120° C. (step S168). If the fluid temperature is not lower than 120° C., the unit time (processing cycle time) ΔT is added to a cumulative time T01 for a temperature range of not lower than 120° C. and the resulted sum is set to a new cumulative time T01 (step S170). If the fluid temperature is lower than 120° C., the CPU determines whether the fluid temperature is not lower than 110° C. (step S172). If the fluid temperature is not lower than 110° C., the unit time (processing cycle time) ΔT is added to a cumulative time T02 for a temperature range of 110 to 120° C. and the resulted sum is set to a new cumulative time T02 (step S714). Similarly, for each of other temperature ranges of 100 to 110° C., −30 to −20° C. and lower than −30° C., if the fluid temperature falls in any of those temperature ranges, the unit time ΔT is added to a corresponding cumulative time T03, . . . , T0n−1, T0n and the resulted sum is set to a new cumulative time T03, . . . , T0n−1, T0n (steps S176 to S184).
ΔT FP(i)=T FP(i)−T FP(i−1)
i=1 to L (L is the number of replacements of the front pin in the No. N machine)
As another method, the centroid of an integral value of the frequency distribution of excavation loads during each front-pin replacement time interval ΔTFP(i) may be determined and then set as the excavation load factor. FIG. 29 shows, by way of example, a frequency distribution curve of excavation loads when the front-pin replacement time interval ΔTFP of the No. N machine is 1020 hr. In FIG. 29, the horizontal axis represents pump pressures as the excavation loads, and the vertical axis represents a time proportion (%) of each pump pressure during the period of 1020 hr. In that case, the centroid (denoted by a mark ×) of an integral value (area) of the frequency distribution curve is determined, and the time proportion at the centroid position is set as the excavation load factor.
ΔT M-FP =T M-FP −ΔT LFP
As a result, the remaining time up to next replacement of the front pin in the No. N machine of the set model is computed as ΔTM-FP.
ΔT′ LFP =ΔT LFP×α1
Also, the target replacement time interval of each part for the reference load is set beforehand in the target maintenance database per machine model shown in FIG. 9, and the front-pin target replacement time interval TM-FP for the reference excavation load is read from the target maintenance database (step S444). Thereafter, the remaining time ΔTM-FP up to next replacement of the front pin is computed from the following formula (step S446):
ΔT M-FP =T M-FP −ΔT′ LFP
In FIG. 35, the machine body/operation information processing section 50A reads in step S36A, out of the database 100, the operation data, actual maintenance data (described later) and target maintenance data (described later), and computes the remaining time up to next repair or replacement (hereinafter referred to as the “maintenance remaining time”) for each part on the basis of the working time per section to which the relevant part belongs. The other processing procedures are the same as those in the first embodiment shown in FIG. 7.
ΔT EN(i)=T EN(i)−T EN(i−1)
i=1 to L (L is the number of times of repairs of the engine in the No. N machine)
After completion of the process for collecting data of the engine repair time interval ΔTEN for all hydraulic excavators, the processing section 51A executes processing to obtain correlation between engine repair time intervals and engine repair rates (step S304A). The term “engine repair rate” means a proportion (%) of the number of times NSAME of engine repairs, which have the equal repair time interval (i.e., the engine running time up to repair), with respect to the total number of times NTOTAL of engine repairs. In other words, assuming the engine repair rate to be RB, it is expressed by:
Δ=k 0 T 0 +k 1 T 1 +k 2 T 2 +k 3 T 3 +k 4 T 4
Herein, the weighing coefficients k0 to k4 are each given as a value set, for example, by assuming the weighing coefficient for the delivery pressure in a reference delivery pressure unit range to be 1, and increasing or decreasing the value from 1 depending on an increase or decrease of the delivery pressure in each delivery pressure unit range. In other words, the deterioration index α of the front pin (replaced part) corresponds to a value that is obtained by modifying the replacement time interval ΔTFP thereof depending on the load condition during that time interval (i.e., the working time of the front pin modified depending on loads).
T M-FP=α0 ·S
The safety factor S is, for example, about 0.8.
FIG. 48 is a graph showing one example of a manner of determining the correlation between the actual working time and the deterioration index α. In FIG. 48, a mark × represents a position decided depending on the actual working time ΔTLFP and the deterioration index α (working time modified depending on loads) of the front pin at the present time, which are determined respectively in the above steps S436B and S438B. Then, α=fFP(ΔTLFP) is represented as a straight line passing that position and the coordinate origin is determined. As another example, as shown in FIG. 49, the correlation may be determined by storing the actual working time ΔTLFP and the deterioration index α of the front pin, which have been obtained at the time of each check performed in the past, in the database 100, reading and plotting those stored data along with ΔTLFP and α at the present time (as indicated by marks × in FIG. 48), and determining α=fFP(ΔTLFP) as a straight line passing the coordinate origin and extending in closest relation to those plotted points.
Subsequently, the processing section 50A reads the front-pin target replacement time interval TM-FP (=α0·S) for the reference load from the target maintenance database per machine model (step S442B). Then, it computes a target replacement time interval T′M-FP on the basis of the actual working time by referring to the correlation α=fFP(ΔTLFP) between the actual working time and the deterioration index α, which has been determined in the step S440B, using the target replacement time interval TM-FP (step S444B).
ΔT′ M-FP =T′ M-FP −ΔT LFP
As a result, the remaining time ΔT′M-FP up to next replacement of the front pin in the No. N machine of the set model is computed on the basis of the actual working time.
JPH03173321A Title not available
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U.S. Classification 702/184, 701/50, 702/34, 702/185
International Classification G06Q50/00, G06Q50/10, E02F9/22, E02F9/20, E02F9/26, G05B23/02, G07C5/00
Cooperative Classification G07C5/008, G05B2219/24055, G05B2219/24001, G05B23/0283, E02F9/26, E02F9/2296, E02F9/2292, E02F9/226, E02F9/2239, E02F9/2225, E02F9/205, E02F9/267
European Classification G05B23/02S6M, E02F9/20G12, E02F9/22Z10, E02F9/22Z8, E02F9/22F2, E02F9/22F6, E02F9/20G, G07C5/00T, E02F9/20, E02F9/22W, E02F9/26
Owner name: HITACHI CONSTRUCTION MACHINERY CO. LTD., JAPAN
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:ADACHI, HIROYUKI;HIRATA, TOICHI;SUGIYAMA, GENROKU;AND OTHERS;REEL/FRAME:015091/0207;SIGNING DATES FROM 20020801 TO 20020805