# US 2021/0278832 A1 · Maintenance plan formulation device, method, and non-transitory medium > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2021/0278832 A1 - Document ID: US20210278832A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 16/314,239 - Filed: 2017-06-28 - Published: 2021-09-09 - Earliest claimed: 2016-06-30 - Assignees: NEC Corporation - Applicants: NEC Corporation - Inventors: Shigeru KOUMOTO; Rie IWASAKI; Eisuke SANEYOSHI; Akira SHOUJIGUCHI; Takahiro TOIZUMI; Ryota SUZUKI - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20210278832A1 ## CPC - B25J 9/1674: {characterised by safety, monitoring, diagnostic} - G05B 23/0283: {Predictive maintenance, e.g. involving the monitoring of a system and, based on the monitoring results, taking decisions on the maintenance schedule of the monitored system; Estimating remaining useful life [RUL] (preventive maintenance, i.e. planning maintenance according to the available resources without monitoring the system G06Q10/06)} - B23Q 17/00: Arrangements for {observing,} indicating or measuring on machine tools (for automatic control or regulation of feed movement, cutting velocity or position of tool or work B23Q15/00) - B23Q 17/12: for indicating or measuring vibration - G05B 19/406: characterised by monitoring or safety (G05B19/19 takes precedence) - G05B 19/4183: {characterised by data acquisition, e.g. workpiece identification} - G05B 19/4184: {characterised by fault tolerance, reliability of production system} - G05B 19/41885: {characterised by modeling, simulation of the manufacturing system} - G05B 23/0218: {characterised by the fault detection method dealing with either existing or incipient faults} - G05B 2219/32226: Computer assisted repair, maintenance of system components - G05B 2219/32234: Maintenance planning - G05B 2219/37351: Detect vibration, ultrasound - Y02P 90/02: Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS] - Y02P 90/80: Management or planning - B25J: MANIPULATORS; CHAMBERS PROVIDED WITH MANIPULATION DEVICES ({manipulators specially adapted for use in surgery A61B34/70; manipulators used in cleaning hollow articles B08B9/04}; manipulators associated with rolling mills B21B39/20; manipulators associated with forging machines B21J13/10; {manipulators associated with picking-up and placing mechanisms B23P19/007}; means for holding wheels or parts thereof B60B30/00; {vehicles with ground-engaging propulsion means, e.g. walking members B62D57/02, B62D57/032; devices for picking-up and depositing articles or materials between conveyors B65G47/90, B65G47/91; manipulators with gripping or holding means for transferring packages B65H67/065}; cranes B66C; {manipulators used in the protection or supervision of pipe-line installations F17D5/00; walking equipment adapted for nuclear steam-generators F22B37/006}; manipulators specially adapted for, or associated with, nuclear reactors G21C; {apparatus used for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor H10P72/50}) - G05B: CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS OR ELEMENTS (systems for controlling or regulating non-electric variables G05D; systems for regulating electric or magnetic variables G05F; control devices or systems insofar as characterised by mechanical features only G05G) - B23Q: DETAILS, COMPONENTS, OR ACCESSORIES FOR MACHINE TOOLS, e.g. ARRANGEMENTS FOR COPYING OR CONTROLLING (tools of the kind used in lathes or boring machines B23B27/00); MACHINE TOOLS IN GENERAL CHARACTERISED BY THE CONSTRUCTION OF PARTICULAR DETAILS OR COMPONENTS; COMBINATIONS OR ASSOCIATIONS OF METAL-WORKING MACHINES, NOT DIRECTED TO A PARTICULAR RESULT - Y02P: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION OR PROCESSING OF GOODS ## Abstract A maintenance plan formulation device includes: a failure sign detection unit that acquires a state of at least an apparatus and detects an abnormality indicating a sign that appears before a failure of the apparatus occurs; a maintenance limit timing calculation unit that calculates a maintenance limit timing that indicates a limit of a maintenance timing of the apparatus with the abnormality thereof being detected; a maintenance timing calculation unit that calculates a maintenance timing of the apparatus based on the maintenance limit timing of the apparatus; and a maintenance timing output part that outputs the maintenance timing to a display apparatus. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A maintenance plan formulation device comprising: a failure sign detection unit that acquires a state of at least a monitoring target apparatus and detects an abnormality indicating a sign that appears before a failure of the apparatus occurs; a maintenance limit timing calculation unit that calculates a maintenance limit timing that indicates a limit of a maintenance timing of the apparatus with the abnormality thereof being detected; a maintenance timing calculation unit that calculates a maintenance timing of the apparatus based on the maintenance limit timing of the apparatus; and a maintenance timing output unit that outputs the maintenance timing to a display apparatus. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The maintenance plan formulation device according to claim 1, wherein the maintenance limit timing calculation unit generates a maintenance grace period of the apparatus, the maintenance grace period having a starting point set to a time when the abnormality of the apparatus is detected by the failure sign detection unit and an end point set to the maintenance limit timing, and wherein the maintenance timing calculation unit sets the maintenance timing of the apparatus to a preset time within the maintenance grace period. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The maintenance plan formulation device according to claim 2, wherein, based on the maintenance grace period calculated for the apparatus and the maintenance grace period calculated for at least one other monitoring target apparatus, the maintenance timing calculation unit calculates a maintenance timing common to the apparatus and the at least one other monitoring target apparatus. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The maintenance plan formulation device according to claim 1, wherein the maintenance limit timing calculation unit calculates the maintenance limit timing based on a temporal transition after the abnormality of a state of the apparatus is detected and an acceptable value regarding the state of the apparatus. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The maintenance plan formulation device according to claim 1, comprising a storage apparatus that stores logged abnormality information related to an abnormality of the apparatus, wherein, based on the logged abnormality information related to the abnormality of the apparatus, the maintenance limit timing calculation unit calculates an acceptable value regarding the state of the apparatus in association with an acceptable value of a yield of a product produced by the apparatus. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The maintenance plan formulation device according to claim 5, wherein the logged abnormality information includes a correlation between the yield of the product produced by the apparatus and a signal value representing the state of the apparatus, wherein, based on at least one of a kind, a location, and a cause of the detected abnormality of the apparatus, the maintenance limit timing calculation unit selects logged abnormality information that corresponds to the at least one of a kind, a location, and a cause of the abnormality, and the maintenance limit timing calculation unit calculates an acceptable signal value corresponding to the acceptable value of a yield of the product produced by the apparatus with regard to the logged abnormality information selected and determines the acceptable signal value as the acceptable value regarding the state of the apparatus. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The maintenance plan formulation device according to claim 1, wherein the maintenance limit timing calculation unit determines the maintenance limit timing based on a temporal transition after detection of the abnormality of the state of the apparatus, the temporal transition being predicted based on production plan information about the product, production of which the apparatus with the abnormality thereof being detected is involved in and actual production information on the product, and the acceptable value regarding the state of the apparatus. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The maintenance plan formulation device according to claim 1, wherein the maintenance timing calculation unit calculates the maintenance timing of the apparatus based on, in addition to the maintenance limit timing of the apparatus, at least one of the maintenance limit timing of at least one other monitoring target apparatus, a non-operating period, and a production stage replacement period. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The maintenance plan formulation device according to claim 1, wherein the maintenance timing calculation unit calculates the maintenance timing of the apparatus based on, in addition to the maintenance limit timing of the apparatus and a maintenance limit timing for a different abnormality detected in the apparatus, at least one of the maintenance limit timing of at least one other monitoring target apparatus, a non-operating period, and a production stage replacement period. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The maintenance plan formulation device according to claim 1, wherein the failure sign detection unit detects the abnormality of the apparatus based on information acquired by at least one sensor which is one of a current sensor that acquires a power supply current of the apparatus, a vibration sensor that detects a vibration of the apparatus, and an image sensor that acquires image information about the apparatus. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The maintenance plan formulation device according to claim 1, wherein the failure sign detection unit acquires a power supply current waveform of the apparatus to detect an abnormality by comparing a feature amount of the power supply current waveform with a preset threshold. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The maintenance plan formulation device according to claim 1, wherein the failure sign detection unit acquires a power supply current waveform of the apparatus and detects an abnormality of the state of the apparatus by comparing a feature amount of the power supply current waveform with a preset threshold, and wherein the maintenance limit timing calculation unit calculates the maintenance limit timing based on an acceptable value preset to the feature amount of the power supply current waveform of the apparatus with the abnormality thereof being detected and a temporal transition after an abnormality about the feature amount of the power supply current waveform of the apparatus is detected. ### Claim 13 A maintenance plan formulation method performed by a computer, the method comprising: acquiring a state of at least a monitoring target apparatus and detecting an abnormality indicating a sign that appears before a failure of the apparatus occurs; calculating a maintenance limit timing that indicates a limit of a maintenance timing of the apparatus with the abnormality thereof being detected; calculating a maintenance timing of the apparatus based on the maintenance limit timing of the apparatus; and outputting the maintenance timing to a display apparatus. ### Claim 14 A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program causing a computer to perform processing, the processing comprising: acquiring a state of at least a monitoring target apparatus and detecting an abnormality indicating a sign that appears before a failure of the apparatus occurs; calculating a maintenance limit timing that indicates a limit of a maintenance timing of the apparatus with the abnormality thereof being detected; calculating a maintenance timing of the apparatus based on the maintenance limit timing of the apparatus; and outputting the maintenance timing to a display apparatus.