JPH0448526Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to an abnormality detection device for equipment, and particularly to an abnormality detection device suitable for use in remotely controlled equipment.

<Conventional technology> Traditionally, in various fields, work has been carried out under special environments such as high temperature, high humidity, dust, radiation, etc., but such work is gradually being performed by remote-controlled machines such as robots. They tend to be replaced. Equipment that must operate under such adverse environments requires higher reliability than robots and other equipment used in normal factories, and one of these requirements is to take measures against equipment abnormalities.

In other words, if the device is directly inhaled by a human (operator), the operator can detect abnormal noises, smells, etc. that occur during work and determine whether there is an abnormality, which can prevent a serious accident. It was possible to prevent this from happening. However, in the case of robots and remote-controlled machines such as those mentioned above, the operator himself or herself operates the machine from a remote location, so as mentioned above, the operator must use his or her ears or nose to detect abnormal noises or odors to determine abnormalities. It is impossible to detect anomalies using this method.

Therefore, as a means of increasing reliability, various attempts have been made to provide devices with a self-diagnosis function, that is, an abnormality monitoring function. In other words, the aim is to detect initial abnormalities before serious failures occur and to prevent accidents from occurring.

<Problems that the invention seeks to solve> However, although most of these are quantitative, the scope of monitoring is limited. For example, in the case of an abnormality in a servo amplifier system, monitoring the feedback current is a simple task, which is insufficient to detect a wide range of abnormalities within the equipment.

The present invention has been made in view of the problem that the monitoring range of conventional devices is limited, and an object of the present invention is to provide an abnormality detection device that can detect abnormalities over a wide range, even if they are qualitative.

<Means for Solving the Problems> In order to achieve the above object, the abnormality detection device of the present invention has a component part of the device where an abnormality is to be detected coated with a solvent that vaporizes at a predetermined temperature or higher; The present invention is characterized in that an odor sensor that responds to gas generated by vaporization of the solvent is provided as an abnormal heat generation detection sensor.

<Example> Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of an abnormality detection device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in the figure, the sealed casing 1 is a casing that houses an electronic device placed in a special environment B. Here, the special environment includes not only dust, radiation, and the like, but also the ocean. The above sealed case 1
Built in is an electronic board 2, an odor sensor 3 that detects odors, that is, a gas sensor (gas detector) that detects gas components of a certain odor, and a preamplifier 4 that amplifies the output of the gas sensor 3.
Furthermore, a solvent 5 is coated on the electronic board 2, which evaporates when the temperature exceeds a certain predetermined temperature, in this case a temperature at which the electronic board 2 is considered abnormal, and generates a gas component to which the gas sensor 3 responds.

The output of the preamplifier 4 is transmitted to the remote A side under normal environment using a cable 6. In this case, the cable 6 is connected to the seal 7.
The monitoring device 8 is pulled out from the sealed casing 1 through the
It is connected to the. This monitoring device 8 monitors the output of the preamplifier 4, and is capable of notifying the operator with an alarm if the output exceeds a set output.

Next, an explanation will be given of an abnormality detection operation by the embodiment apparatus having the above configuration.

First, while the electronic board 2 is operating normally, the temperature does not exceed the above-mentioned certain temperature. Therefore, in this case, the gas concentration in the sealed casing 1 is kept at a low level, and the output of the odor sensor 3 is also small.
The monitoring device 8 determines that the device is normal.

Next, if a component of the electronic board 2 fails, the abnormality is detected in the following manner. That is,
When a failure occurs, it generally causes abnormal heat generation. When abnormal heat generation occurs, the temperature around the heating part rises,
The applied solvent evaporates, thereby increasing the gas concentration level and the output of the odor sensor 3. The monitoring device 8 to which the output of the odor sensor 3 is supplied detects that the odor exceeds a preset level and issues an alarm to the operator.

In this way, the solvent 5 that vaporizes at a temperature higher than the allowable temperature is applied to the component, and the odor sensor 3 is used as an abnormal heat generation detection sensor. As a result, even if the device is remotely controlled, by providing the gas sensor 3 in the remote controlled device, abnormality (overheating state) within the device can be detected over a wide range. Further, since abnormal heat generation can be detected early, the occurrence of an abnormality can be reliably detected before a serious failure occurs.

In the case of FIG. 1, one electronic board 2 is shown, but if you use the application of the solvent 5 as described above, you can just install one odor sensor in one sealed casing. Abnormal heat generation can be detected early even when there are many components in the case, and the occurrence of an abnormality can be detected quickly, without the following inconveniences. In other words, when using a detection method using a temperature sensor, it is necessary to wait for the air inside the sealed enclosure to warm up due to convection, which causes a large time delay.Moreover, if the absolute heat generation amount of the abnormal component is small, Although detection would be even more difficult, this does not occur according to the present invention.

2 to 4 show another embodiment of the present invention, which is applied to a mobile robot.

Since this robot is assumed to be used under high temperature and high humidity conditions, the robot body has a sealed structure, and the inside of the robot housing 9 is divided into units 10 to 10 for each of the following elements as shown in Fig. 2. It is divided into 14 parts. That is, control unit 1
0 is a unit that mainly houses electronic circuit boards for control, and input/output unit 11 is a unit that mainly houses input/output interface boards between the robot and the outside world, such as sensors, and an amplifier unit. Reference numeral 12 is a unit housing a drive amplifier for a motor for driving manipulators, a motor unit 13 is a motor unit for driving the manipulators, and a power supply unit 14 is a unit for powering the robot.

The robot housing 9 has each of these units 10 to 14.
It accommodates. The robot also has a robot hand 15, an ITV and an ITV arm 16, and legs 17.
It is equipped with

Each of the units 10 to 14 is provided with an odor sensor, and FIG. 3 shows this using the control unit 10 as an example. That is, the connector 19 of the control unit 10 is attached to the control unit storage case 18, and an electronic circuit board 20 is disposed inside the case 18, as well as an odor sensor 3a. Similarly, odor sensors 3 are connected to other units 11 to 14.
It is provided in b to 3e.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the odor sensor signal processing circuit 21 that processes the signals from these odor sensors 3a to 3e, which includes the odor sensor detection level setter 22.
a to 22e, comparators 23a to 23e,
OR gate 24 and D type flip-flop 2
5, a tristate buffer 26, an address decoder 27, and an AND gate 28.

In the case of abnormality detection according to this embodiment, a solvent that evaporates at a temperature higher than an allowable temperature is applied to the constituent elements of each unit 10 to 14.

That is, since each of the units 10 to 14 is a set of substantially similar elements, the allowable operating temperature of each element is also at the same level. For example, in the case of the control unit 10, since ICs are the main components, the temperature is 70 to 125°C. Therefore, if a solvent that vaporizes at a temperature higher than the permissible temperature is applied in advance to the components of each unit 10 to 14, if any component malfunctions and abnormally heats up and exceeds the permissible temperature, The solvent is vaporized and detected by one of the odor sensors 3a to 3e.

The outputs of the odor sensors 3a to 3e are sent to the comparator 2.
Odor sensor detection level setter 2 at 3a to 23e
2a to 22e, the detection is performed as described above,
If it exceeds a certain set value, the control unit 10
An abnormal interrupt signal 29 is generated to the CPU. Upon receiving the abnormal interrupt signal 29, the CPU outputs the odor sensor unit address to the address bus 30, and outputs the odor sensor unit address to the D type flip-flop 25 via the address decoder 27 to each of the comparators 23a to 2.
3e is read, and the data is read from the data bus 31 through the tri-state buffer 26. From this data, the CPU can know which odor sensor detected the abnormality, that is, which unit is the faulty unit.

In this way, this embodiment uses the odor sensors 3a to 3 when detecting an abnormality in a robot.
3e is used as an abnormal heat generation sensor, and a different solvent or the same type of solvent that vaporizes at a temperature higher than an allowable temperature is applied to each component. By providing an odor sensor in the robot housing 9, an abnormality (overheating state) inside the robot can be detected over a wide range of locations, similar to the embodiment shown in FIG.

Focusing on each unit, it is the same as in the previous example that abnormal heat generation can be detected early on in many of the unit components by simply installing one odor sensor. This is similar to the case in which there is no time delay or difficulty in detection as in the case of a conventional method, but in addition to this, there are also the following advantages. In other words, when applying different solvents to each component, it is possible to identify abnormal elements by using different odor sensors for each solvent, and if several units become abnormal at the same time, they can be identified. In this case, it is easy to identify abnormal units.

The present invention is applicable not only to equipment that requires abnormality detection, but also to robots, extreme work robots (for nuclear power, ocean development, etc.), various radio-controlled machines, such as radio-controlled bulldozers, radio-controlled power shovels, and other remote-controlled machines. Applicable.

<Effects of the invention> As described above, according to the abnormality detection device of the present invention, abnormalities can be detected over a wide range by utilizing the odor sensor as an abnormal heat generation detection sensor, and can be detected at an early stage. , it is possible to quickly and reliably notify the occurrence of an abnormality, and it is possible to prevent serious failures from occurring, thereby achieving effects such as being able to improve reliability.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the abnormality detection device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a robot having an abnormality detection device according to another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a partial perspective view showing the internal structure of one unit, and a block diagram showing an example of an odor sensor signal processing circuit. In the drawings, 1... sealed casing, 2... electronic board,
3, 3a to 3e...Odor sensor, 5...Solvent, 9
...Robot housing, 18...Unit storage case, 20...Electronic circuit board.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] (1) A component of the device where an abnormality is to be detected is coated with a solvent that evaporates at a predetermined temperature or higher, and an odor sensor that responds to the gas generated by the evaporation of the solvent is provided. An abnormality detection device characterized in that it is provided as an abnormal heat generation detection sensor. (2) The abnormality detection device according to claim 1, wherein the device is a robot.