Classifications

• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F16—ENGINEERING ELEMENTS AND UNITS; GENERAL MEASURES FOR PRODUCING AND MAINTAINING EFFECTIVE FUNCTIONING OF MACHINES OR INSTALLATIONS; THERMAL INSULATION IN GENERAL
  • F16N—LUBRICATING
  • F16N29/00—Special means in lubricating arrangements or systems providing for the indication or detection of undesired conditions; Use of devices responsive to conditions in lubricating arrangements or systems
  • F16N29/04—Special means in lubricating arrangements or systems providing for the indication or detection of undesired conditions; Use of devices responsive to conditions in lubricating arrangements or systems enabling a warning to be given; enabling moving parts to be stopped
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01F—MEASURING VOLUME, VOLUME FLOW, MASS FLOW OR LIQUID LEVEL; METERING BY VOLUME
  • G01F11/00—Apparatus requiring external operation adapted at each repeated and identical operation to measure and separate a predetermined volume of fluid or fluent solid material from a supply or container, without regard to weight, and to deliver it
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F16—ENGINEERING ELEMENTS AND UNITS; GENERAL MEASURES FOR PRODUCING AND MAINTAINING EFFECTIVE FUNCTIONING OF MACHINES OR INSTALLATIONS; THERMAL INSULATION IN GENERAL
  • F16N—LUBRICATING
  • F16N29/00—Special means in lubricating arrangements or systems providing for the indication or detection of undesired conditions; Use of devices responsive to conditions in lubricating arrangements or systems
  • F16N29/02—Special means in lubricating arrangements or systems providing for the indication or detection of undesired conditions; Use of devices responsive to conditions in lubricating arrangements or systems for influencing the supply of lubricant

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a control device and validation of the manual greasing operation in an installation with many lubrication points.
• This device makes it possible to increase the reliability of the lubrication operation, to restrict failures due to a lack of lubrication and to perform predictive maintenance.
• the present invention also relates to the control and validation method implemented using the aforementioned device.
• the present invention aims to provide a device for reliability of manual greasing operations by a quantitative and qualitative control of these operations.
• It also aims to provide a device for keeping a history of these operations to detect any drift on the various organs greased and thus to be able to deduce a degradation leading to a predictive maintenance solution.
• the present invention relates to a device for controlling and validating manual greasing for an installation provided with at least one greasing point, said device comprising:
• means for determining whether the injected grease is correctly conveyed to the greasing point comprising a pressure sensor and / or an ultrasonic sensor.
• the device comprises at least one or a suitable combination of the following characteristics:
• the means for measuring the quantity of injected grease comprise a flow sensor
• said means for identifying the lubrication point comprise an identification system located on the nozzle and an identifying element placed next to the lubrication point, said means being configured so that, in use, the identification system interacts with the identifying element so as to identify said lubrication point;
• means for identifying the type of fat contained in a reservoir said means comprising a radio identification system communicating with an identifier placed on the reservoir grease or a sensor for measuring the viscosity of the grease;
• a display system indicating the information relating to the lubrication point connected to the mouthpiece and an input device making it possible to interact with the information provided on the display system;
• controller said controller being connected to the means for measuring the quantity of grease injected, to the identification system, to the display system, to the input device, to the means for determining whether the injected grease is well conveyed to at the point of greasing and the means of identification of the type of grease;
• the present invention also relates to a method for controlling and validating manual greasing using the device described above, said method comprising the steps of:
• the method comprises at least one or an appropriate combination of the following characteristics:
• the evaluation of the injection stress is carried out on the basis of pressure, flow rate and / or ultrasound level measurements
• the present invention further relates to the manual lubrication device comprising the control device and validation as described above.
• Figure 1 is a front view of the portable device and the base station according to the invention.
• Figure 2 is a view of the interior of the housing comprising the controller, the measurement systems and the battery.
• Figure 3 is a front view of the system identifying a lubrication point uniquely.
• the present invention relates to a control device and validation of manual greasing for an installation provided with one or more lubrication points. It can be adapted to any standard manual greasing device whether it is hand-held, electric, pneumatic ... or integrated with the manual greasing device.
• the device according to the invention must include means for measuring the amount of grease injected into the body being lubricated, means for evaluating the quality of the lubrication which is performed on a point of given lubrication as well as means for identifying the lubrication point. These enable the lubrication point to be safely associated with quantitative and qualitative parameters of the lubrication to be performed, such as the type of grease and the amount of grease to be injected.
• the device according to the invention must also comprise: a display system containing all the indications necessary for carrying out the lubrication round by an operator knowing the installation and operation of the device;
• non-volatile memory making it possible to store all the information necessary for lubrication and to record the physical parameters measured during lubrication
• controller managing all the functionalities set out above in order to control the lubrication operation and to carry out a validation of the quality of the operation;
• a base station installed on a computer making it possible to reliably record the data concerning the greasing operations carried out, a detection of the parts which are the object of a fault of lubrication, a detection of a drift of the nominal parameters of lubrication for a point announcing the presence of an anomaly on the organ and assisted generation of lubrication round at a period determined in advance;
• the device comprises a housing 1 connected at one end to a grease nipple 3 via a pipe 2 in which the grease flows and to the other end to adaptation means on the manual greasing device (gun, reservoir, ...), the latter not being shown.
• the nozzle 3 is connected to a lubrication point 12 shown in FIG.
• the housing 1 comprises on an outer face a display system 5 on which are indicated the information relating to the lubrication point connected to the nozzle and an input device 6 for entering data.
• a display system 5 on which are indicated the information relating to the lubrication point connected to the nozzle and an input device 6 for entering data.
• the means 8 for measuring the amount of grease injected Inside the housing 1 shown in Figure 2, are the means 8 for measuring the amount of grease injected, the means 9 to evaluate the quality of the lubrication and a controller 7. The latter is connected to the means 8 to measure the amount of grease injected, means 9 for evaluating the quality of the greasing, an identification system 4 of the grease point located on the grease fitting 3, the display system 5, the input device 6 and the means for identifying the type of grease.
• the means 8 for measuring the amount of fluid injected comprise a flow sensor and the means 9 for evaluating the quality of the lubrication comprise one or more sensors. These are preferably arranged on the connecting tube 10 disposed upstream of the pipe 2.
• the qualitative sensors 9 may comprise a pressure sensor and / or an ultrasound level sensor.
• the flow sensor makes sure that the quantity of fluid injected is the requested one. This single sensor is generally insufficient because it does not identify a leak or a large plug that would divert the grease to another location (eg, a leak in a fitting). It is then preferable to add a pressure sensor to evaluate the quality of the lubrication. A too low pressure level indicates that there is a large leak in the device upstream of the member to be lubricated, e.g.
• a bearing while a pressure level far too high indicates that a plug or other obstacle prevents grease from reaching the bearing.
• a pressure level far too high indicates that a plug or other obstacle prevents grease from reaching the bearing.
• an ultrasonic sensor is used to know if the grease has arrived at the level of the bearing to be greased. This is found qualitatively but also quantitatively by the decrease in decibel ultrasonic noise produced by the bearing.
• the means for identifying the lubrication point comprise the above-mentioned identification system 4 and an identifying element 11 placed next to the lubrication point 12 on which the grease fitting 3 comes to connect (see FIG. 3). ).
• the identification system 4 interacts with the identifying element 11 thus realizing an identification safe and unique from the point of lubrication 12 in question.
• This identification makes it possible to connect the information contained in the memory of the controller 7 to the identifier 11 of the lubrication point and, consequently, to display the information necessary for the operator to carry out a correct lubrication.
• the memory of the controller 7 must be previously loaded with the data necessary for the realization of the greasing of the different points of 1 ⁇ installation to be greased. To do this, the controller must communicate with a base station 13 installed on a computer which contains information relating to all the lubrication points of the installation (see Figure 1).
• the operator can see in real time points that require lubrication thus avoiding to forget points during a lubrication tour.
• the controller 7 stores in memory not only the data relating to the quantity injected for each point, but also the information from the qualitative sensors 9. This data is repatriated to the base station 13 on the computer to update the lubrication history, schedule, and lubrication quality data.
• the device according to the invention may further comprise means for identifying the type of fat to be injected (not shown). It may be a viscosity sensor or a radio-identification system similar to that described for the identification of the lubrication point. In the latter case, the identifier element disposed on the grease reservoir communicates with a system identification device disposed on the control device and validation according to the invention.
• the device according to the invention eliminates the risk present due to a lack of lubrication by controlling that the manual greasing operations are carried out optimally while allowing the maintenance of a reliable history of the greasing operations carried out for each lubrication point authenticated in the system. It also makes it possible to compare the evolution over time of the quality of the lubrication on each greasing point of the installation.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Fluid Mechanics (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Testing Of Devices, Machine Parts, Or Other Structures Thereof (AREA)
• Measuring Volume Flow (AREA)

Priority Applications (1)

Applications Claiming Priority (4)

Publications (1)

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• 2013
  • 2013-03-13 EP EP13709421.5A patent/EP2825810A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2013-03-13 WO PCT/EP2013/055075 patent/WO2013135742A1/fr active Application Filing
  • 2013-03-13 RU RU2014140684A patent/RU2620461C2/ru not_active IP Right Cessation
• 2014
  • 2014-09-08 ZA ZA2014/06585A patent/ZA201406585B/en unknown

Patent Citations (1)

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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