Method and system for detecting equipment malfunctions and/or defects in a workpiece

A system for detecting malfunctions in an apparatus and/or defects in a workpiece with said apparatus, comprising:

• at least one transducer for acquiring a sound signal emitted by the apparatus during an operation cycle of the apparatus,
• a memory area adapted to preserve a plurality of audio tracks, wherein each audio track of said plurality of audio tracks comprises an audio component relating to acquired sound signals, and additional information data comprising at least one identifier of the work phase executed by the apparatus during the acquisition of the sound signals of the audio component, and
• a control unit operatively connected to the transducer and to the memory area and configured for
• identifying, among a plurality of work phases into which the operation cycle of the apparatus is subdivided, a work phase executed by the apparatus during the acquisition of the sound signal,
• selecting a plurality of audio tracks stored in the memory area on the basis of the identified work phase,
• comparing the sound signal with the audio component of the plurality of selected audio tracks, and
• determining a malfunction of the apparatus and/or a defectiveness of the workpiece processed by the apparatus based on the result of said comparison,
• wherein the identification data of the audio tracks additionally comprise at least one identifier of a plurality of components operated during the phase to which the audio component refers, and wherein the control unit is further configured for
• identifying a plurality of components operated during the work phase,
• on the basis of the operated components, identifying a set of comparison phases of the operation cycle with which a second plurality of audio tracks stored in the memory area is associated, and
• identifying as defective at least one component between said plurality of components operated during the work phase and/or the workpiece on the basis of the audio tracks relating to the set of comparison phases identified and/or on the basis of sound signals acquired during the identified comparison phases by
• acquiring a sound signal emitted by the apparatus during at least a first comparison phase of the set of comparison phases;
• comparing the acquired sound signal with a plurality of audio tracks relating to the at least a first comparison phase;
• and
• according to the outcome of the comparison, identifying as defective at least one component between said plurality of components operated both during the at least a first comparison phase and during the work phase, or the workpiece, wherein, if the outcome of the comparison identifies a malfunction of the at least a first comparison phase and during the at least a first comparison phase, a subset of the components operated during the work phase is operated, identifying as non-defective the components operated in the work phase, but not operated during the at least a first comparison phase and updating the set of the comparison phases, keeping only the comparison phases in which the components belonging to the subset of the components are operated.