US-12619221-B2 - Smart factory system

US12619221B2US 12619221 B2US12619221 B2US 12619221B2US-12619221-B2

Abstract

A smart factory system for being set up between a smart factory and a backend-system provider is disclosed. The smart factory system includes: a factory installation, being installed in the smart factory; a plurality of sensors, being in connection with the factory installation; a smart machine box, being signally connected to each of the sensors; a computing and storing apparatus, being set up at premises of the backend-system provider; and a query-making apparatus. With the most cost-intensive functions like computing and storing set up and maintained by the backend-system provider, a smart factory can be easily started and run by locally setting up and maintaining sensors and smart machine boxes while remotely subscribing the functions maintained by the backend-system provider as services with payment. The system significantly reduces the costs for stating and running a smart factory, thereby encouraging transformation into or establishment of smart factories.

Inventors

Chih-Neng Liu
Chih-Yung Liu

Assignees

Chih-Neng Liu
Chih-Yung Liu

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20230825

Claims (8)

1 . A smart factory system for being set up between a smart factory and a backend-system provider, the smart factory system comprising: a factory installation, being installed in the smart factory, and having a monitoring feature and a routine feature; a plurality of sensors, being connected to the factory installation to sense the monitoring feature and the routine feature of the factory installation, thereby generating a monitoring signal and a routine signal, respectively; a smart machine box, being signally connected to each of the sensors, and having a first receiving unit, a first computing unit, a first displaying unit, a first storing unit, a receiving and converting unit, a processing unit, and a first communicating unit; the first receiving unit being used to receive the routine signal and transmit the routine signal to the first computing unit; the first computing unit being used to receive the routine signal and generate a routine data set by means of computing according to the routine signal; the first displaying unit being used to display the routine data set; the first storing unit being used to store the routine data set; the receiving and converting unit being used to receive the monitoring signal and convert the monitoring signal into a monitoring data set; the processing unit, being signally connected to the first computing unit and the receiving and converting unit, and being used to reformat, classify and output the routine data set and the monitoring data set; the first communicating unit, being signally connected to the processing unit, and being used to output the reformatted and classified routine data set and monitoring data set; a computing and storing apparatus, being set up at premises of the backend-system provider, and having a second communicating unit, a second computing unit, a second storing unit, a real-time monitoring display module, and a real-time routine display module; the second communicating unit in communicative connection with the first communicating unit, and being used to receive the routine data set and the monitoring data set output by the first communicating unit; the second computing unit signally connected to the second communicating unit, being used to receive and perform computing on the routine data set so as to generate a real-time routine data set; the second storing unit being used to store the real-time routine data set of the second computing unit; the real-time routine display module being used to display the real-time routine data set in a real-time manner; the real-time monitoring display module being used to display the monitoring data set in a real-time manner; and a query-making apparatus, being signally connected to the computing and storing apparatus, and having a display interface that is used to display the real-time monitoring data set and the routine data set in a real-time manner.
2 . The smart factory system of claim 1 , wherein the processing unit is a gateway.
3 . The smart factory system of claim 1 , wherein the display interface has an alarm module, which generates an alarm signal when being activated, in which the alarm signal is displayed at the first displaying unit of the smart machine box through the computing and storing apparatus.
4 . The smart factory system of claim 3 , wherein the display interface sends the alarm signal to a factory installation provider providing the factory installation.
5 . The smart factory system of claim 1 , wherein the real-time routine data set generated by the second computing unit through computing includes data of production capacity analysis, progress estimation, efficiency analysis, cost analysis, energy and carbon-emission analysis, or inspection overtime notifications.
6 . The smart factory system of claim 1 , wherein the real-time routine display module displays height difference values, consumables lifetime values, environmental safety values, energy safety values, line support notifications, line idle notifications, or qualitative abnormality notifications.
7 . The smart factory system of claim 1 , wherein the real-time monitoring display module displays production overview, production capacity, or factory installation status.
8 . The smart factory system of claim 1 , wherein the smart factory system further comprises a plurality of extension factory installations, a plurality of extension sensors, and a plurality of extension smart machine boxes, in which each of the extension factory installations is similar to the factory installation for similarly having a monitoring feature and a routine feature, and each of the extension sensors is similar to the sensors for similarly being used to sense the monitoring feature and the routine feature of each of the extension factory installations, so as to generate monitoring signals and routine signals, respectively, in which each of the extension smart machine boxes has a first receiving unit, a first computing unit, a first displaying unit, a first storing unit, and a receiving and converting unit similar to those of the smart machine box, wherein the first computing unit and the receiving and converting unit of each of the extension smart machine boxes are signally connected to the processing unit of the smart machine box.

Description

BACKGROUND Field of the Invention The present invention relates to management systems for factories, and more particularly to a smart factory system. Description of Related Art A smart factory is built by having all factory installations therein connected to a network through the internet and features the ability to monitor and adjust these installations in a real-time manner. To be specific, by putting installations of a factory online and connecting them to production lines of the factory, the manufacturing process and workflows in the factory can be in full control. This ability allows a factory owner to collect accurate production data, to develop reasonable production plans, to monitor production progress, and to properly address any uncertainty between product designs and production results, thereby enhancing production performance and enabling automatic production, and eventually achieving manufacturing with improved flexibility in terms of factory process. Currently, a smart factory collects production-related data using sensors and a receiver. The sensors are installed throughout the production line for measuring or capturing data about, for example, abnormality, quantity, temperature, energy, environmental safety metrics, etc. These data, depending of their natures, may be first sent to a computing element where they are integrated and process before sent to the receiver or directly sent to the receiver as signals. At last, the receiver outputs its computing results to a backend system where the computing results are displayed and/or further analyzed for enabling prediction. Since the conventional practices for starting smart factories are mainly of a custom nature, to start a new smart factory, a factory owner has to discuss with manufacturers of involved factory installations one by one and repeatedly refine the factory layout. The whole process is thus both time-and cost-consuming. Particularly, performance of a smart factory highly relies on the support of data-based analysis and prediction, which necessitates a backend system with strong computing power. However, expensive infrastructure of such a backend can prevent owners of small-and middle factories from investing in transformation into or establishment of smart factories. SUMMARY The objective of the present invention is to provide a smart factory system, which is easy to build, highly compatible to various devices, favorable to energy recovery and environmental safety, and markedly cost-saving. To achieve the foregoing objective, the present invention provides a smart factory system for being set up between a smart factory and a backend-system provider. The smart factory system comprises: a factory installation, being installed in the smart factory, and having a monitoring feature and a routine feature; a plurality of sensors, being connected to the factory installation to sense the monitoring feature and the routine feature of the factory installation, thereby generating a monitoring signal and a routine signal, respectively; a smart machine box, being signally connected to each of the sensors, and having a first receiving unit, a first computing unit, a first displaying unit, a first storing unit, a receiving and converting unit, a processing unit, and a first communicating unit; the first receiving unit being used to receive the routine signal and transmit the routine signal to the first computing unit; the first computing unit being used to receive the routine signal and generate a routine data set by means of computing according to the routine signal; the first displaying unit being used to display the routine data set; the first storing unit being used to store the routine data set; the receiving and converting unit being used to receive the monitoring signal and convert the monitoring signal into a monitoring data set; the processing unit, being signally connected to the first computing unit and the receiving and converting unit, and being used to reformat, classify and output the routine data set and the monitoring data set; the first communicating unit, being signally connected to the processing unit, and being used to output the reformatted and classified routine data set and monitoring data set; a computing and storing apparatus, being set up at premises of the backend-system provider, and having a second communicating unit, a second computing unit, a second storing unit, a real-time monitoring display module, and a real-time routine display module; the second communicating unit in communicative connection with the first communicating unit, and being used to receive the routine data set and the monitoring data set output by the first communicating unit; the second computing unit signally connected to the second communicating unit, being used to receive and perform computing on the routine data set so as to generate a real-time routine data set; the second storing unit being used to store the real-time routine data set of the