Method of and apparatus for lubricating an apparatus having a number of lubricant locations
Assigneeperma-tec GmbH & Co. KG
InventorsWalter Graf, Anton May
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A plurality of lubricant dispensers with respective microprocessor controllers are connected to a central microcomputer and can count up the number of revolutions of the respective spindle so that local lubrication at different sites of a machine will satisfy the site requirement even if the machine operation and lubrication have been interrupted. The controller of the dispenser includes a data store responsive to the dispensing time which is reset when a new reservoir is hooked up.
Claims14
A central lubrication control system for lubricating at least one apparatus having a plurality of locations to be lubricated, comprising:
- at each of said locations a respective lubricant dispenser having an electric motor drive coupled to a spindle, a piston movable by said spindle, a supply of lubricant dispensed by movement of said piston, and an electronic controller for controlling the respective drive, whereby each of said dispensers is actuated for a sequence of dispensing intervals at dispensing time points determined at least in part by the respective electronic controllers to discharge lubricant at each of said locations;
- a central control unit operatively coupled to said controllers for switching all of the controllers of said dispensers to operational readiness in response to the apparatus to be lubricated;
- and
- means for accumulating a value of operational-readiness time for each of said dispensers in the controller of each dispenser and permanently storing the respective value, and for initiating a lubricant discharge by each controller from the respective dispenser when the respective operational-readiness time corresponds to a respective dispensing time point given by the respective controller.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.