JPH10238920A - Operating state managing apparatus for equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To judge a fault with high accuracy by storing data regarding an operating state of an equipment at each operating condition, building a data base regarding a past operating state, comparing data regarding present operating state of the equipment with past data, and evaluating the present operating state of the equipment. SOLUTION: A central managing apparatus builds a data base 73 by calculating an operation factor of each low temperature display case, calculating a load in a store, sorting it according to the load, and sequentially storing the factors. A change detector 77 compares the present factor with past factor stored in the base 73, and evaluates it. This compared evaluated result is registered with an operating state register 78. If a day in which deteriorated amount of the factor becomes, for example, 0.2 or more due to certain cause is continued for three or more days, arrival of a fault of the case is predicted, a fault is predicted and displayed on a display, and a fault prediction is informed to a maintenance company by using a public channel.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for managing the operating state of equipment such as a low-temperature showcase or a commercial refrigerator or freezer installed in a supermarket or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, several to several tens of low-temperature showcases for storing and displaying foods are installed in supermarkets or the like according to the scale of the store. Such a low-temperature showcase, as shown in, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 7-1135 (F25B47 / 02) or Japanese Patent Publication No. 7-6713 (F25B47 / 02), stores air cooled by heat exchange with a refrigerant in a refrigerator. By circulating the food, the temperature of the air in the refrigerator is lowered below the temperature of the surrounding air, and the food is stored. The target set temperature varies depending on the target food.

[0003] That is, when the food to be displayed is frozen food, it is at a freezing temperature such as -20 ° C, and when the food is fresh food such as meat or fish, it is at an ice temperature such as -3 ° C to 0 ° C. Alternatively, in the case of vegetables, etc., a higher temperature (+ 5 ° C. to +10
° C) is the set temperature.

There are various types of low-temperature showcases, such as a multi-stage case having a plurality of upper and lower shelves and a flat case having a plurality of trays arranged at the bottom. Therefore, a variety of low-temperature showcases will be installed in a supermarket store. Further, a plurality of such low-temperature showcases are generally installed for one refrigerator.

That is, the refrigerator includes a compressor, a condenser, and the like, and the evaporators installed in the respective low-temperature showcases are connected in parallel to the compressors through refrigerant pipes to form a predetermined refrigeration cycle. It is. Then, depending on the store size, a plurality of systems of the refrigerator and a plurality of low-temperature showcases exist.

[0006] If such a low-temperature showcase breaks down for some reason and the food in the refrigerator cannot be stored at an appropriate temperature, the food deteriorates and cannot be sold, causing serious damage to the store. Therefore, in order to minimize damage to food in the event of a failure, supermarkets and the like of this type have concluded a maintenance contract with a maintenance company to respond to the occurrence of a failure.

[0007] In this case, since the repair must be performed promptly from the viewpoint of maintaining the freshness of the product (food), the maintenance company is usually forced to manage the system on a 24-hour basis. Therefore, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-61814 (F25B49 / 00), a plurality of thresholds such as a maximum temperature, a minimum temperature, and a permissible temperature difference in the refrigerator are predetermined and set.
By sequentially comparing the inside temperature of the freezer and refrigerated showcases with these, a failure occurring in the showcase is determined for each cause, and the operating state is managed.

[0008]

However, as described above, there are many types of low-temperature showcases, and there are a plurality of types of refrigerators depending on the horsepower of the compressor and the like. ) Is not uniform, and in the above-described method, it must be set for each low-temperature showcase, which makes the setting operation itself extremely difficult and complicated.

[0009] The operating condition of the low-temperature showcase may be deteriorated due to the above-mentioned failure or may be deteriorated depending on the load condition. It is generally known that the amount of air heat near the low-temperature showcase and the amount of air heat near the refrigerator become a load and affect the cooling degree of each showcase, that is, the temperature in the refrigerator. , The environment at each installation site is slightly different.

[0010] For example, the air temperature in the store is not uniform, and the amount of air heat varies depending on the arrangement of the air conditioners in the store and the air blowing direction thereof, the arrangement of entrances and exits of the store, and other heat sources. Different around the low temperature showcase. Therefore, even in the same store, the installation environment of the low-temperature showcase is not uniform, so that the load differs for each low-temperature showcase. Since there is no sensor capable of accurately detecting the change in the load at the present time, it is not possible to simply determine whether the deterioration of the operating state is due to a failure or a change in the load from the temperature in the refrigerator.

On the other hand, if the amount of air heat around the low-temperature showcase or the refrigerator is measured by attaching an outside air temperature sensor, an outside air humidity sensor, or the like, it is possible to judge to some extent the deterioration of the operation state due to the change in the load. However, practical use is difficult in terms of cost because the number of sensors increases.

Further, since the cooling capacity in the refrigerator is determined by the refrigerator and the low-temperature showcase combined with the refrigerator, there are cases where it is difficult to cool from the beginning of the installation if the cooling capability is not sufficient, and the temperature in the refrigerator and the above-mentioned temperature are reduced. It cannot be determined that a failure has occurred only from a simple comparison with a certain threshold value.

Further, if the failure occurrence state of the low-temperature showcase can be found at an early stage, or it can be predicted that the failure will occur in the near future, the burden on the maintenance company can be reduced. Although it is possible to prevent loss due to an unexpected failure as a store, the threshold value of the allowable temperature difference is narrowed in the case of determining by comparing the inside temperature with each threshold value as described in the above publication. If an attempt is made to quickly detect a failure, false alarms will occur extremely frequently this time, making it impractical.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional technical problem, and an apparatus for managing an operating state of a device capable of performing an accurate failure judgment based on data from a small number of sensors. The purpose is to provide.

[0015]

The device operating state management device of the present invention manages the device based on the data relating to the operating state of the device. Means for constructing a database relating to past operating conditions by classifying and storing the obtained operating conditions of the devices, and past data in the database under the same operating conditions as data relating to the current operating conditions of the devices. And a means for evaluating the current operating state of the device by comparing

According to the present invention, a database is constructed in which the operating conditions of the devices are classified for each operating condition, and the current operating conditions are compared with the past operating conditions in the database under the same operating conditions. Since the present operating state is evaluated, it is possible to make a failure determination in consideration of the variation of each device.

That is, since a database relating to the normal operating state at the beginning of the installation of the device is constructed and used to determine the subsequent deterioration of the operating state, the troublesome setting for each device is not performed in advance, and the number of operations is reduced. It is possible to accurately determine a failure from the sensor information.

As a result, it is possible to simplify equipment monitoring work and to speed up maintenance work.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a device operating state management apparatus comprising means for holding the evaluation result for a predetermined period and judging the operating state of the device when the same evaluation result occurs for a predetermined period. Is what it is.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the above, the evaluation result for a certain period is held, and when the same evaluation result occurs for a predetermined period, the operation state of the device is determined. Even if the operating state deteriorates due to a temporary environmental change, it can be prevented from being determined as a failure, so that erroneous determination can be avoided and more accurate device management can be realized.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the device operating state management apparatus includes means for estimating the cause of the failure when it is determined that the operating state of the device is a failure or a failure.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the above, when it is determined that the operating state of the equipment is a failure or a failure, the cause of the failure is estimated, so that the equipment can be repaired efficiently. Is what you can do.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a device operating state management device for updating data in a database when an evaluation result meeting a predetermined update condition is obtained in each of the above-mentioned inventions, and for updating the data. Means for storing information.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the above-mentioned inventions, when an evaluation result meeting predetermined update conditions is obtained, the data in the database is updated, so that the latest operation The failure can be determined based on the state. Therefore, even if the operating condition under the same operating condition is worse than the initial installation of the device, if the operating condition is within the range of the normal operation, erroneous determination can be avoided and appropriate management can be performed.

Also, since information relating to this update is stored, a long-term deterioration of the operating state is detected,
Based on this, it is possible to accurately predict the occurrence of a failure.

The device operating state management apparatus according to the fifth aspect of the present invention includes a means for outputting the priority of the device to be treated based on the information on updating the data in the database.

According to the fifth aspect of the invention, in addition to the above, the priority of the device to be treated is output based on the information on updating the data in the database.
This makes it possible to preferentially repair equipment that is expected to have a failure, thereby further accelerating work and improving accuracy.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus operating state management apparatus comprising means for adjusting the evaluation or judgment criteria in each of the above inventions.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, a means for adjusting the evaluation or judgment criteria is provided in addition to the above inventions.
The failure judgment result can be evaluated by a manager or a maintenance company, and the evaluation or judgment standard can be adjusted for each device. This makes it possible to optimize the evaluation / judgment criteria for each device-specific performance and installation environment, thereby realizing even more accurate device management.

[0030]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional side view of a low-temperature showcase 1 as an embodiment of a device for explaining the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a piping configuration in a supermarket where the low-temperature showcase 1 is installed, and FIG. The control device 56 of the showcase 1 and the central control device 6 installed in the store
FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an electric circuit of No. 9;

The low-temperature showcase 1 of the embodiment is a vertical open showcase, and includes a heat insulating wall 32 having a substantially U-shaped cross section.
And a side plate (not shown) attached to both sides of the heat insulating wall 32 at the installation site. An outer-layer partition plate 34 and an inner-layer partition plate 36 are attached to the inner side of the heat-insulating wall 32 at intervals, and an outer-layer duct 37, an inner-outer-layer partition plate 36, and a space between the heat-insulating wall 32 and the outer-layer partition plate 34 are provided.
An inner layer duct 38 is formed between the portions 34, and a storage chamber 39 is formed inside the inner layer partition plate 36.

In the storage room 39, a plurality of shelves 41 are provided.
Are mounted, and fluorescent lamps 40 are mounted in the front part of the lower surface of each shelf 41, the ceiling of the storage room 39, and the eaves 37. A deck pan 4 is provided at the bottom of the storage room 39.
The lower part of the deck pan 42 is a bottom duct 43 communicating with the two ducts 37 and 38. A fan case 44 having a blower 45 built therein is installed in the bottom duct 43. In addition, storage room 3
An evaporator 46 is provided vertically in the lower part of the inner layer duct 38 located behind the 9.

At the upper edge of the front opening 51 of the storage chamber 39, an outer layer discharge port 52 and an inner layer discharge port 53 are juxtaposed in front and rear, and the outer layer discharge port 52 is connected to the outer layer duct 37 by the inner layer discharge port 53.
Are respectively connected to the inner layer ducts 38. A suction port 54 is formed at a lower edge of the opening 51 and communicates with the bottom duct 43.

When the blower 45 in the fan case 44 is operated, the air in the bottom duct 43 is blown toward the inner and outer layer ducts 37 and 38 at the rear, and is blown up as it is in the outer layer duct 37. In the inner layer duct 38, the heat is exchanged with the evaporator 46 and then blown up, and then blown out from the inner and outer layer discharge ports 52 and 53 at the upper edge of the opening 51 toward the suction port 54 at the lower edge.

As a result, an inner cold air curtain and an outer air curtain for protecting the same are formed in the opening 51 of the storage chamber 39, and the invasion of outside air from the opening 51 is prevented or suppressed. A part of the inner cold air curtain circulates in the storage room 39 and the inside of the storage room 39 is cooled.

Then, the cool air returns to the bottom duct 43 from the suction port 54 and is sucked into the blower 45 again. The evaporator 46 has a defrost heater 6.
7, which generates heat and melts frost on the evaporator 46.

Next, in FIG. 2, reference numerals 1a... Denote low-temperature showcases (refrigerated cases for fruits and vegetables) for storing and displaying fruits and vegetables (commodities), three of which are arranged side by side. Also, 1b
... are low-temperature showcases (ice temperature cases for fresh fish) for storing and displaying fresh fish (products), and five units are arranged side by side.

Each low-temperature showcase 1a, 1b,.
Is installed along the wall of a supermarket store as shown in FIG. On the other hand, reference numerals 11 and 12 are separate-type refrigeration refrigerators and ice-temperature refrigerators installed (separately) in a machine room 13 formed outside the store.

Each of the refrigerators 11 and 12 is composed of a compressor and a condenser (not shown). The inlet side of the evaporator 46 of the low-temperature showcase 1a (refrigerated case) is a solenoid valve 14 and an expansion valve. It is connected in parallel to the liquid refrigerant pipe 17 of the refrigerator 11 via the valve 16, and the outlet side of the evaporator 46 is connected in parallel to the gas refrigerant pipe 18 of the refrigerator 11.

The inlet side of the evaporator 46... Of the low-temperature showcase 1 b (ice temperature case) is connected via the solenoid valve 19 and the expansion valve 21 to the liquid refrigerant pipe 22 of the ice temperature refrigerator 12. And the outlet side of the evaporator 46 is connected in parallel to the gas refrigerant pipe 23 of the ice temperature refrigerator 12.

Next, in FIG.
The control devices 56a and 1b are configured by a general-purpose microcomputer 57, and a control temperature setting switch 58 is connected to an input of the microcomputer 57.
Further, an illumination switch 61 is connected to an input of the microcomputer 57. An output of a defrost recovery temperature sensor 62 for detecting a defrost recovery temperature of the evaporator 46 is connected, and a control temperature sensor 63 for detecting a temperature of the air discharged from the inner layer duct 38 (discharge air temperature).
Output is input. The control temperature sensor 63
1 is provided in the inner layer duct 38 on the upstream side of the inner layer discharge port 53 as shown in FIG.

The output of the temperature control contact 64 of the microcomputer 57 is connected to the solenoid valve 14 or 19, and the output of the defrost contact 66 is connected to the defrost heater 67. The communication unit 68 of the microcomputer 57 is connected to a central management device 69 installed in a store via a communication line.

The central control device 69 is constituted by a personal computer or the like, and controls the low-temperature showcases 1a, 1b,... Installed in the store and the control devices (not shown) of the refrigerators 11, 12. Are connected via a communication line. The centralized control device 69 is provided with a keyboard 71 for performing various input operations such as adjusting each threshold value, which will be described later, which is an evaluation or judgment reference value, and a temperature / humidity sensor installed in the store. 7
2 is also input. The central control device 69 is connected to a computer (not shown) of a maintenance company via a public line or the like.

The operation of the above configuration will be described. The low-temperature showcase 1b and the chilled refrigerator 12 will be described below.
The solenoid valve 1 also differs only in the set temperature and the like.
4. The other operations of the expansion valve 16 are the same, and the description is omitted.

When the compressor of the chiller 12 is operated, the refrigerant is decompressed by the expansion valve 21 through the liquid refrigerant pipe 22, and then supplied to the evaporator 46 of each low-temperature showcase 1b. Evaporates there. At this time, evaporator 4
The air 6 (cooling air) which has exchanged heat with the evaporator 46 rises in the inner layer duct 38 and is discharged from the inner layer outlet 53 as described above.

Here, assuming that the set value of the temperature of the air (discharged air temperature) discharged from the inner layer discharge port 53 is set to -5 ° C. by the control temperature setting switch 58, the microcomputer 57 determines that the set temperature − The temperature control switch 64 controls the opening and closing of the solenoid valve 19 based on 5 ° C. and the discharge air temperature detected by the control temperature sensor 63.

That is, the microcomputer 57 opens the solenoid valve 19 when the temperature rises to, for example, −3 ° C. or more, and closes the solenoid valve 19 when the temperature drops to −5 ° C. or less, based on the discharge air temperature detected by the control temperature sensor 63. When all the solenoid valves 19 are closed, the compressor of the chiller 12 stops. By such a cooling operation, the temperature of the products displayed on the shelf 41 in the storage room 39 is maintained at approximately 0 ° C.

The microcomputer 57 has a clock function, and closes the solenoid valve 19 every 12 hours or 24 hours, for example, and energizes (closes) the defrost heater 67 through the defrost contact 66. The defrost heater 67 is energized and generates heat to melt and remove frost from the evaporator 46. When the defrosting of the evaporator 46 progresses and reaches a defrosting recovery temperature of, for example, + 8 ° C., the microcomputer 57
Is a contact 66 based on the output of the defrost recovery temperature sensor 62.
Is opened to stop energizing the defrost heater 67. After that, a predetermined draining time (the defrost heater 67 is OFF,
After the solenoid valve 19 is closed), the operation returns to the cooling operation described above.

Next, the central control device 69 shown in FIG.
, 1b,... Failure judgment by the centralized control device 69, with reference to the functional block diagram of FIG.
That is, a control operation for determining that a failure has occurred in the low-temperature showcase or predicting that a failure will occur will be described.

Now, the low-temperature showcase 1a or 1b
Is installed in the winter period, the central control device 69
Are information on ON / OFF (opening / closing) of the temperature control contact 64 sent from each of the low-temperature showcases 1a and 1b, discharge air temperature information detected by the control temperature sensor 63, and settings set by the control temperature setting switch 58. Temperature information (below,
Sensor information), and from the ON / OFF information of the temperature control contact 64 in this information, each low-temperature showcase 1a,
The operation rate of 1b is calculated. The driving rate in this case is
The opening time is divided by the sum of the opening time and the closing time of the solenoid valve 14 or 19.

The central control device 69 is provided with a temperature and humidity sensor 7.
The load (enthalpy) in the store is calculated on the basis of the information (also referred to as sensor information) from the second, and the above-mentioned driving rates are sequentially stored by classifying the loads (driving conditions) into the database 73 ( Figure 4) is constructed. in this case,
The central control device 69 is a low-temperature showcase 1 as shown in FIG.
The operating rates from the beginning of installation of a and 1b are sampled every 30 minutes, and classified and stored for each load.

FIG. 5 shows the arrangement of data in the database 73 in two dimensions. In this figure, the horizontal axis indicates time, and the vertical axis indicates load. In addition, as the operation rate, the average value of the values of three consecutive days under the same load, or the average value of the operation rates when the load is the same for three days in one week is stored.

Initially, low-temperature showcase 1
Since a and b are normal, if one year has passed in this way (from winter to spring, summer and autumn), the low temperature showcases 1a and 1b corresponding to various loads are stored in the database 73. Is established for each low-temperature showcase 1a, 1b.

As described above, the central control device 69 has constructed the database 73 from the beginning of the installation of each of the low-temperature showcases 1a and 1b. Will be described.

(1) Failure Judgment Operation The change detection unit 77 of the centralized control unit 69 determines that the deviation e between the discharge air temperature (discharge temperature) sent from each of the low-temperature showcases 1a and 1b and the set temperature is a threshold. In addition to comparing and determining whether the value is 2 ° C. or 3 ° C. (deg) or more,
A comparison is made to determine whether the operation rate is 0.9 or more. This comparison is made every 60 minutes, and the deviation e is determined by the average of three hours. In addition, the result is registered in the operation state registration unit 78. If the operation rate is 0.9 or less (0.8 in the figure) as shown on the left side of FIG. 6, it is determined that the state is normal.

On the other hand, the cooling becomes weaker for some reason, and the operating rate registered in the operating state registration unit 78 is 0.9 or more for three consecutive hours as shown on the right side of FIG. 6 (1.0 in the figure). Is twice and 0.9 is once), and when the average deviation e over three hours is equal to or greater than the threshold value, the failure determination / prediction unit 79 of the centralized management device 69 sets the low-temperature showcase 1a or 1b determines that it has fallen into a failure state, displays a failure determination display on its own display, and notifies the maintenance company of the failure determination using a public line.

In this case, the cause estimating unit 74 of the central control device 69 determines, for example, when the defrosting time (powering time of the defrosting heater 67) is the maximum value twice or more in the past four times before the failure determination. It is presumed that frost formation on the evaporator 46 may be the cause, and the indication and the notification are added to that effect.

If a plurality of low-temperature showcases 1a... Or 1b... In the same system are determined to be faulty, it is presumed that there is an abnormality in the refrigerant piping system, and display and notification are performed. The maintenance contractor repairs the low-temperature showcase 1a or 1b based on the notification / display. At this time, if no trouble has actually occurred, the maintenance contractor uses the keyboard 71 to display " Misinformation "
Is input, the failure determination prediction learning mechanism unit 76 of the centralized management device 69 increases the threshold value by 0.5 ° C.

On the other hand, if the failure determination is required earlier, the operator inputs "early" on the keyboard 71 in the same manner. Lower threshold by 0.5 ° C.

If a defrosting operation is performed during the above-described failure determination as shown in FIG. 7, the determination is made in a total of four hours with the defrosting operation interposed.

(2) Failure Prediction Operation The change detection unit 77 of the centralized control device 69 determines whether or not the temperature control contact 64 sent from each of the low-temperature showcases 1a and 1b as needed.
Current low temperature showcase 1a, 1 based on N / OFF information
b, and compares and evaluates the low-temperature showcases 1a and 1b stored in the database 73 with the past data (driving rate: operating state). In this case, the past operation rate at the same load as the current load (based on the temperature and humidity sensor 72) at which the operation rate was obtained is selected as the comparison target.

The result of this comparison and evaluation is registered in the operating state registration section 78. Then, as shown in FIG. 8, when days in which the deterioration rate of the operation rate becomes the threshold value, for example, 0.2 or more do not continue for three days or more, the failure determination / prediction unit 79 does not perform the failure prediction. In this way, by making a determination based on the changes over three days, false reports due to temporary changes can be prevented.

On the other hand, if the operating condition deteriorates for some reason and the day when the deterioration of the operation rate becomes 0.2 or more continues for, for example, three days or more as shown in FIG. 9, the low-temperature showcase 1a or 1b fails. And displays a failure prediction on its own display, and notifies the maintenance company of the failure prediction using a public line.

In the case where three or more consecutive days are not satisfied,
As shown in FIG. 10, the failure prediction is also performed when the operation rate is deteriorated by 0.2 or more for three days or more in one week. As described above, since the current operating state and the past operating state are compared, the transition of the operating state can be detected, and the occurrence of a failure can be predicted in advance. That is, even if the failure state has not been reached as described above, if the operation rate under the same load condition has deteriorated, it can be inferred that the state has fallen into such a state for some reason. This is because if left unchecked, it can be determined that a failure state will eventually occur.

In this case as well, the cause estimating unit 74 determines whether the defrosting time (the energizing time of the defrosting heater 67) is the maximum value in the past four defrost times before the failure prediction, for example, as described above. It is presumed that frost formation on the evaporator 46 may be the cause, and the indication and the notification are added to that effect.

If a plurality of low-temperature showcases 1a... Or 1b... In the same system are predicted to be in a failure state, it is presumed that there is an abnormality in the refrigerant piping system, and display and notification are performed. The maintenance contractor can perform the repair of the low-temperature showcase 1a or 1b based on the notification / display before the failure occurs, but at this time, if no abnormality has actually occurred, When the maintenance company inputs “false alarm” on the keyboard 71, the failure determination prediction learning mechanism unit 76 of the centralized management device 69 is input.
Adjusts the threshold value.

On the other hand, if the failure prediction is required earlier, if "early" is input on the keyboard 71 in the same manner, the failure determination prediction learning mechanism 76 of the centralized control device 69 will be described. Adjust to lower the threshold.

As described above, the central control device 69 determines the failure
Although the prediction unit 79 detects that the operation rate (operating state) is worse than before, the failure prediction may not be possible because the degree of deterioration is small.

In this case, for example, as shown in FIG. 11, if the days when the deterioration rate of the operation rate becomes, for example, 0.1 or more, which is the threshold value in this case, do not continue for three or more days, the database learning mechanism unit 81 Although the data of 73 is not updated, as shown in FIG. 12, when the days when the deterioration rate of the operation rate becomes 0.1 or more continue for, for example, three days or more, the learning mechanism unit 81 of the database 73 The past data on the low-temperature showcase 1a or 1b is updated to the operation rate (corresponding to the load) at that time.

In the case where it is not continuous for three days or more,
As shown in FIG. 13, the above update is also performed when the operation rate is deteriorated by 0.1 or more for three days or more in one week. Therefore, the worst operating state of each low-temperature showcase 1a, 1b under each load (operating condition) is stored in the database 73.

Further, when the database 73 is updated as described above, information on the update is stored in the data change history registration unit 82. The failure determination / prediction unit 79 detects long-term deterioration of the operating state from the registration information of the data change history registration unit 82 and predicts the occurrence of a failure.

The maintenance case extraction unit 83 of the centralized management device 69 is provided with a keyboard 71 by a maintenance company.
In response to the request from the server, based on the information in the data change history registration unit 82, a display is displayed so that the low-temperature showcases 1a and 1b in which the operating state deteriorates greatly are preferentially maintained. This allows the maintenance contractor to perform maintenance efficiently.

In the above-described embodiment, the failure determination is performed continuously and greatly due to the deterioration of the operating state.
By comparing with the past data in the database 73 as in the case of the failure prediction, for example, a failure determination may be made based on a large change in the operating state in a short time.

In the embodiment, the operation state of the low-temperature showcase is determined from the operation rate. However, the operation state is determined based on other information (deviation temperature, ON / OFF of the fluorescent lamp, etc.) or further considering other information. It is also possible to construct a state database and perform failure judgment / prediction.

Further, in the embodiment, the low-temperature showcase has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to the low-temperature showcase, but is applicable to various devices.

[0076]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, a database in which the operating states of the devices are classified for each operating condition is constructed, and the past operating states in the database under the same operating conditions as the current operating state are compared. Is compared to evaluate the current operating state of the device, so that it is possible to make a failure determination in consideration of the variation of each device.

That is, since a database relating to the normal operating state at the beginning of the installation of the device is constructed and the subsequent deterioration of the operating state is determined based on the database, the troublesome setting for each device is not performed in advance, and a small number is set. It is possible to accurately determine a failure from the sensor information.

As a result, it becomes possible to simplify the monitoring work of the equipment and to speed up the maintenance work.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the above, the evaluation result for a certain period is held, and when the same evaluation result occurs for a predetermined period, the operation state of the device is determined. Even if the operating state deteriorates due to a temporary environmental change, it can be prevented from being determined as a failure, so that erroneous determination can be avoided and more accurate device management can be realized.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the above, when it is determined that the operating state of the device is a failure or a failure is to be caused, the cause of the failure is estimated, so that the device can be repaired efficiently. Is what you can do.

According to the invention of claim 4, in addition to the above-mentioned inventions, when an evaluation result meeting a predetermined update condition is obtained, the data in the database is updated. The failure can be determined based on the state. Therefore, even if the operating condition under the same operating condition is worse than the initial installation of the device, if the operating condition is within the range of the normal operation, erroneous determination can be avoided and appropriate management can be performed.

Further, since the information relating to this update is stored, a long-term deterioration of the operating state is detected,
Based on this, it is possible to accurately predict the occurrence of a failure.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the above, the priority of the device to be treated is output based on the information on updating the data in the database.
This makes it possible to preferentially repair equipment that is expected to have a failure, thereby further accelerating work and improving accuracy.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, a means for adjusting the evaluation or judgment criteria is provided in addition to the above inventions.
The failure judgment result can be evaluated by a manager or a maintenance company, and the evaluation or judgment standard can be adjusted for each device. This makes it possible to optimize the evaluation / judgment criteria for each device-specific performance and installation environment, thereby realizing even more accurate device management.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical side view of a low-temperature showcase as an embodiment of a device for explaining the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a piping configuration in a store of a supermarket in which a low-temperature showcase is installed.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an electric circuit of a low-temperature showcase control device and a centralized control device installed in a store.

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of a centralized management device.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a procedure for constructing a database of a centralized management device.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a failure determination operation by the centralized management device.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a failure determination operation by the centralized management device.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a failure prediction operation by the centralized management device.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a failure prediction operation by the centralized management device.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a failure prediction operation by the centralized management device.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a database update operation by the central management device.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a database update operation performed by the centralized management device.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a database update operation performed by the centralized management device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1a, 1b Low-temperature showcase 11, 12 Refrigerator 14, 19 Solenoid valve 56 Control unit 63 Control temperature sensor 69 Central control unit 71 Keyboard 72 Temperature / humidity sensor 73 Database 74 Cause estimation unit 76 Failure determination prediction learning mechanism unit 77 Change detection Unit 78 operating state registration unit 79 failure judgment / prediction unit 81 database learning mechanism unit 82 data change history registration unit 83 required maintenance case extraction unit

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Ryuji Suzuki 2-5-5 Keihanhondori, Moriguchi City, Osaka Prefecture Inside Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Shigetomi Okamoto 2-5-5 Keihanhondori, Moriguchi City, Osaka Prefecture No. Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Toshio Sagara 2-5-5 Keihanhondori, Moriguchi-shi, Osaka Prefecture Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Ken Aoki 2-chome, Keihanhondori, Moriguchi-shi, Osaka No. 5 Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Megumi Otani 2-5-5 Keihan Hondori, Moriguchi-shi, Osaka 2-5 Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Masahiko Nagatake 2 Keihan-hondori, Moriguchi-shi, Osaka 5-5-5 Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Hiroyuki Kurihara 2-5-5 Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Takashi Matsuzaki Keihanmoto, Moriguchi, Osaka 2-5-5, Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An operation state management device for managing the device based on data on an operation state of the device, wherein the data on the operation state of the device is classified for each operation condition of the device from which the data was obtained. Means for constructing a database relating to past operating conditions, and comparing the data relating to the current operating conditions of the device with the past data in the database under the same operating conditions to save the Means for evaluating a current operation state. 2. The operating state of a device according to claim 1, further comprising means for holding an evaluation result for a predetermined period, and judging an operating state of the device when the same evaluation result occurs for a predetermined period. Management device. 3. The device operating state management device according to claim 2, further comprising means for estimating a cause of the failure when the operating state of the device is determined to be a failure or a failure. 4. A data processing apparatus comprising: means for updating data in a database when an evaluation result meeting predetermined update conditions is obtained; and means for storing information relating to the update. An operating state management device for a device according to claim 1, 2, or 3. 5. The device operating state management device according to claim 4, further comprising means for outputting a priority of the device to be treated based on information on updating data in the database. 6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising means for adjusting an evaluation or a criterion.
The operation state management device for a device according to claim 4 or 5.