WO2020099122A1

WO2020099122A1 - Maintenance management system

Info

Publication number: WO2020099122A1
Application number: PCT/EP2019/079518
Authority: WO
Inventors: Matthias Wendt; Peter Deixler
Original assignee: Signify Holding BV
Current assignee: Signify Holding BV
Priority date: 2018-11-13
Filing date: 2019-10-29
Publication date: 2020-05-22
Anticipated expiration: 2021-05-13

Abstract

The present invention relates to maintenance management. A maintenance management system (100) with functional devices (10, 10a, 10b) is operated based on functional device specific local health status determination algorithms and a global health status determination algorithm. The local health status determination algorithms run on the functional devices (10, 10a, 10b) and exchange data with the global health status determination algorithm running on a server (12). The exchanged data includes functional device health status and values of operation parameters of the functional devices (10, 10a, 10b). Values of parameters of the local and global health status determination algorithms are adjusted based on the functional device health statuses and functional device health status statistics for adjusting determination of functional device health statuses. The functional device health status can be determined locally by the functional device (10, 10a, 10b) or globally by the server (12) for optimizing processing power and bandwidth usage.

Description

Maintenance management system

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a maintenance management system, a functional device for a maintenance management system, a method for operating a maintenance management system, and a computer program product.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

US 2018/0070422 A1 shows a system to predict a lifespan of a luminaire driver. A sensor subsystem collects data regarding color content and color intensity and aspects of an environment in which the luminaire is installed and transmits the data via a gateway to a server. The server calculates at least one of half-life and end-of-life (EoL) for the driver based at least in part on the collected data.

US20180139818A1 discloses devices, systems, and methods to set, adjust, and/or maintain lumen levels of luminaires in a lighting system, for example. The lights may be a plurality of Light Emitting Diode (LED)-based luminaires, which are part of a smart illumination system. In certain exemplary embodiments, sensor subsystems detect degradation of luminaire lumen levels and servers/gateways are used to adjust dimming controls to reestablish proper lumen levels and predict a half-life or end of life for the luminaires. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It can be seen as an object of the present invention to provide a maintenance management system, a functional device for a maintenance management system, a method for operating a maintenance management system, and a computer program product which allow to improve the determination of functional device health statuses in the maintenance management system.

In a first aspect of the present invention a maintenance management system is presented. The maintenance management system comprises a plurality of functional devices including a processor and a transceiver. Furthermore the maintenance management system comprises a server with a processor and a transceiver. The processors of the functional devices are configured for processing measured values of operation parameters based on an adjustable local health status determination algorithm in order to determine a functional device health status. The transceivers of the functional devices are configured for

transmitting and receiving data and for transmitting the functional device health status and values of the operation parameters in dependence of the local health status determination algorithm. The transceiver of the server is configured for transmitting and receiving data and for receiving the functional device health status and the values of the operation parameters in dependence of a global health status determination algorithm. The processor of the server is configured for processing the received data and for adjusting values of parameters of the local and global health status determination algorithms based on the functional device health statuses of the functional devices and based on functional device health status statistics. The transceiver of the server is configured for providing adjusted values of the parameters of the local health status determination algorithms to respective functional devices in order to adjust the local health status determination algorithms of the respective functional devices.

The maintenance management system allows managing the processing and transmitting of maintenance data, such as functional device health status and values of operation parameters, in a system with limited processing power and transmission bandwidth, such that the available processing power and bandwidth can be optimally used. The maintenance management system allows to reduce the required bandwidth for data exchange between the server and the functional devices, as the functional device health status can be locally determined by the processor of the respective functional device or any other functional device that has the values of the operation parameters and the respective local health status determination algorithm for the respective functional device. This allows to overcome the problem that a large amount of data needs to be transmitted to the server for processing the data at the server and to determine the functional device health status. Instead of transmitting the data to the server, local processing of the data can be performed in order to determine the functional device health status locally. The data flow between the functional devices and the server can by dynamically influenced in order to optimize the operation of the maintenance management system.

Functional devices can for example be luminaires, sensors, gateways or any other type of functional device that performs a function.

The functional devices can include a plurality of functional units, such as the processor of a respective functional device, the transceiver of the respective functional device, a constant current driver, a lighting element, a sensing element, or any other type of functional unit that performs a function of the functional devices.

The operation parameters can include current, voltage, temperature, leakage current, current ripple, voltage ripple, switching frequency, failure rate, light flux, isolation resistance, air pressure, standby circuitry efficiency, brightness, or any other operation parameter which can be indicative of the functional device health status.

The functional device health status can include estimated EoL probability, estimated half-life, predicted EoL, percentage of estimated total run time of the functional device until it needs to be maintained due to failure, failure data, and/or any other

information indicative of the health status of the functional device. Failure data can for example include the run time until failure of the functional device, one of the functional units or more of the functional units.

The values of the operation parameters can include sums, counts, averages, local trend analysis data, encoded values, run length encoded data, or any other processed values of the operation parameters that reduce the storage space, required bandwidth for transmission and/or required processing power for determining the functional device health status. The values of the operation parameters transmitted by the transceiver in dependence of the local health status determination algorithm can also be the measured values of the operation parameters, i.e., the values are processed by the processor of the respective functional device by forwarding them to the transceiver of the respective functional device.

The functional device health status can include one or more functional unit health statuses of which each functional unit health status provides a health status of a functional unit of the functional device. The functional device health status can allow to provide information about the health status of one or more of the functional units, e.g., all of the functional units of the functional device. The functional device health status can also for example provide information only about the functional unit with the worst functional unit health status that leads to a failure of the functional device when that functional unit fails.

The local health status determination algorithm of a respective functional device is specific to the respective functional device. The local health status determination algorithm of a respective functional device is adjusted by changing its parameters. The parameters can for example depend on the functional units, e.g., depending on the

manufacturing batch of different functional units of the functional device.

The maintenance management system can comprise one or more sensors for measuring values of at least one of the operation parameters which is indicative of the functional device health status of one of the functional devices. The sensor can be a functional device or a part of a functional device. The sensor can include one or more sensing elements, e.g., different sensing elements for measuring different operation parameters, such as one sensing element for measuring temperature and other sensing elements for measuring current, voltage, light flux, or any other operation parameter. Sensors for measuring values of the operation parameters allow to improve the determination of the functional device health status.

One or more of the measured values of the operation parameters can be provided to one or more functional devices by the sensor. This allows to provide values of the operation parameters to functional devices without sensing elements and to improve the determination of the functional device health status.

The maintenance management system can comprise one or more sensors. The sensors can be arranged at different locations of the maintenance management system, e.g., for measuring parameters of the functional devices at the different locations. This allows to provide values of operation parameters of different functional units of different functional devices of the maintenance management system.

The transceivers of the functional devices can be configured for transmitting and receiving data to and from other functional devices. For example, a sensor can transmit measured values of the operation parameters, e.g., a temperature to one or more luminaires, one or more gateways, and/or the server. Each functional device can process the values of the operation parameters in order to determine the respective functional device health status or it can transmit them to one or more other functional devices or the server. This allows an efficient management of available processing power and bandwidth, as processing can be performed locally when processing power is available in order to determine the functional device health status or the values of the operation parameters can be transmitted to the server for processing if bandwidth is available.

The adjusted values of the parameters can include one or more of the following: adjusted values of the parameters for determining the functional device health status, a timing setting for the functional device to request adjusted values of the parameters of the local health status determination algorithm from the server, a timing setting for the functional device to provide the functional device health status and/or the values of the operation parameters to the server, a timing setting for the server to request the functional device health status and/or the values of the operation parameters from a respective functional device, a timing setting for the server to provide the adjusted values of the parameters of the local health status determination algorithm to a respective functional device, a data setting for the functional device which data the functional device provides to the server, a data setting for the server which data to request from the functional device, and a control setting for the functional device for adjusting target values of the operation parameters of the functional device.

The adjusted values of the parameters for determining the functional device health status can for example change weights of the local health status determination algorithm of a respective functional device for determining the functional device health status in dependence of the measured values of the operation parameters. If for example the functional device health status is the EoL probability, the adjusted values of the parameters for determining the functional device health status can be adjusted values for parameter weights for determining the EoL probability. This allows to adapt the local health status determination algorithm based on information available on the server, such as functional device health status statistics.

The adjusted values of the parameters for determining the functional device health status can for example also change weights of the global health status determination algorithm for determining the functional device health status of the respective functional device in dependence of the measured values of the operation parameters. This allows to adapt the global health status determination algorithm based on information from the functional devices, such as functional device health statuses from other functional devices and/or measured values of the operation parameters.

The timing setting can include a frequency and/or point of time. The data setting includes a setting which data is requested and/or provided. The data setting can for example include a granularity of data. The data which is requested and/or provided based on the data setting can include the functional device health status and the values of the operation parameters. Depending on the data setting, the functional device health status, the values of the operation parameters or the functional device health status and the values of the operation parameters can be provided and/or requested. The data setting can also cause the processor of the respective functional device to not process the measured values of the operation parameters, if they are provided to the server as measured or to pre-process the values of the operation parameters by compressing them such that they require less bandwidth. This allows to adapt the bandwidth usage, as the required and used bandwidth depends on the amount of data transmitted. The amount of data transmitted is lower for transmitting the functional device health status than the values of the operation parameters. Furthermore the usage of processing power of the maintenance management system can be optimized, as local processing power as well as the processing power of the server can be used, wherever processing power is available.

The control settings for the functional device can include an operation parameter setting for adjusting target values of the operation parameters of the functional device, such as a brightness or color of a functional unit in form of a lighting element.

Adjusting target values of the operation parameters allows to influence the EoL probability, e.g., by reducing temperature of the functional unit in order to extend the lifetime of the functional unit. This allows to adapt the remaining lifetime of the functional device in dependence of the functional device health status.

The maintenance management system can include a user interface. The user interface can be configured for adjusting the values of the parameters of the local and global health status determination algorithms, e.g. in order to adjust the data setting, such as the granularity of data transmitted from the functional devices and/or requested from the server in dependence of point in time and context. The context can for example be values of environmental parameters of the respective functional device, e.g., environmental temperature, humidity, vibrations, geographic location, or the like. The user interface can also be configured for adjusting the timing settings and/or the control setting.

At least one of the timing settings, the data settings, and the control setting can depend on environmental parameters of the functional device, and/or a production batch of the functional device or one or more functional units of the functional device, and/or a difference between a predicted EoL of the functional device and a target EoL of the functional device. The functional device health status can include the predicted EoL of the functional device. Environmental parameters can include environmental temperature, humidity, vibrations, geographic location, or the like of the functional device. This allows to adjust the timing and the amount of data to be transmitted between the server and the functional devices in dependence of external factors. Furthermore the control setting can be adapted to for example increase the lifetime of the functional device. The target EoL of the functional device can for example be 10 years. In case that the predicted EoL is only 9 years, control settings can be adjusted in order to extend the expected lifetime of the functional device, e.g., by adjusting target values of one or more of the operation parameters of the functional device, such as the temperature of a functional unit, for example by reducing the brightness of a functional unit in form of a lighting element. The data provided from the functional device to the server or requested from the server to the functional device can include one of the following: the values of the operation parameters, the values of at least one of the operation parameters and the functional unit health status of at least one functional unit of the functional device, and the functional device health status. The values of the operation parameters can include measured values of the operation parameters and processed values of the operation parameters. The data provided from the functional device to the server or requested from the server to the functional device can be controlled by the local and global health status determination algorithm. This allows to adjust the data transmitted between the functional devices and the server in order to allow optimization of the bandwidth usage and usage of processing power.

The functional device health status statistics can include product batch statistics and functional device failure statistics. The functional device failure statistics can include data about how environmental parameters, such as temperature, humidity, vibrations, geographic location or the like influence the functional device health status and/or the functional unit health status. The functional device failure statistics can be generated based on the functional device health statuses of the functional devices. The product batch statistics include failure statistics about functional units and/or functional devices from the same production batch. The functional device health status statistics allow to account for the influence of the production batch as well as to account for the influence of environmental parameters on the functional device health statuses and/or functional unit health statuses of the functional devices.

The server can be configured to generate the functional device failure statistics based on failure data provided to the server from the functional devices. The failure data can be derived from functional devices that do not provide functional device health status and/or operation parameters when the server requests them, i.e., non-responding functional devices that failed. The failure data can alternatively or additionally be based on the functional device health status of the functional device, wherein the functional device health status includes failure data, e.g., failure of one of the functional units of the functional device. This allows to improve the determination of the functional device health status of other functional devices of the maintenance management system. One of the functional units of the server, for the example the processor, can be configured to generate the functional device failure statistics based on the failure data provided to the server from the functional devices.

In an embodiment, the processor of the server is configured for processing the received data and for adjusting values of parameters of the local and global health status determination algorithms based on one or more of: the functional device health statuses of the functional devices, functional device health status statistics.

The server can be configured to request maintenance for a respective functional device in dependence of the functional device health status of the respective functional device. This allows just in time service and maintenance calls and just in time exchange material delivery. Just in time maintenance allows to reduce the risk of failures and allows to save costs.

The server can be configured to monitor transmissions between the

transceivers of the maintenance management system, to determine an available bandwidth, and to optimize the usage of the available bandwidth by adjusting the values of the parameters of the local and global health status determination algorithms. The processor of the server can be configured to determine planned transmissions between functional devices and the server or other functional devices, to calculate the available bandwidth, and/or to adjust the values of the parameters of the local and global health status determination algorithms in order to optimize the usage of the available bandwidth. Optimization of the bandwidth allows reducing overflow due to parallel transmission of too many functional devices and allows to increase the usage of the available bandwidth as previously non-used timeslots for transmission can be used.

The processor of the server can be configured to determine the functional device health status of a respective functional device based on the global health status determination algorithm and values of operation parameters received from the respective functional device. This allows to use the processing power of the server, in particular when bandwidth for providing the server with values of the operation parameters is available.

The maintenance management system can be a connected lighting system. The connected lighting system can include at least one functional device in form of a lighting device with a lighting element. The lighting element can for example be a light emitting diode (LED), an array of LEDs, an organic light emitting diode (OLED), an array of OLEDs, a laser, an array of lasers, or any other type of lighting element. The connected lighting system can additionally include at least one functional device in form of a gateway for transmitting data between other functional devices and the server. This allows to provide a connected lighting system that can provide lighting and that can be easily maintained.

The connected lighting system can also include at least one functional device in form of a sensor. The sensor can be configured to measure values of the operation parameters of the lighting device and to determine the functional device health status of the lighting device. The sensor can include a sensing element for measuring values of the operation parameters of a functional device, e.g., the lighting device. The sensor can also include a processor for processing the measured values of the operation parameters by determining the functional device health status based on a local health status determination algorithm. The processor can be configured to use the specific local health status

determination algorithm for a respective functional device to determine the functional device health status of the respective functional device. This allows to use various processors and their processing power in order to determine the functional device health status and to operate the maintenance management system.

The transceiver of the gateway can be configured for receiving data from and transmitting data to other functional devices and the server. The transceivers of other functional devices of the connected lighting system can be configured for transmitting data to and receiving data from the gateway and other functional devices. The gateway can be configured to use a long-range data transmission protocol for transmitting data to the server and receiving data from the server. The gateway can be configured to use a short-range low energy data transmission protocol for transmitting data to other functional devices and for receiving data from other functional devices. The short-range low energy data transmission protocol can for example be based on Bluetooth, ZigBee, digital addressable lighting interface (DALI) link, or any other short-range low energy data transmission protocol. This allows to operate the gateway as a proxy for the other functional devices. Operating the connected lighting system with a proxy allows to reduce costs. Furthermore energy consumption can be reduced.

In an embodiment, the functional device health status may comprise estimated EoL probability, estimated half-life, predicted EoL, and/or estimated total run time of the functional device until it needs to be maintained due to failure.

In a further aspect of the present invention a functional device for the maintenance management system according to claim 1 or any embodiment of the

maintenance management system is presented. The functional device comprises at least one functional unit, a processor, and a transceiver. The functional unit is configured for performing a function of the functional device. The processor is configured for processing measured values of operation parameters based on an adjustable local health status determination algorithm in order to determine a functional device health status of the functional device. The transceiver is configured for transmitting and receiving data which includes transmitting the functional device health status and values of the operation parameters in dependence of the local health status determination algorithm, and receiving adjusted values of parameters of the local health status determination algorithm for adjusting the local health status determination algorithm of the functional device.

The functional device can comprise a functional unit in form of a sensing element for measuring values of the operation parameters which are indicative for a functional device health status. The functional device can be used in a maintenance management system according to claim 1 or according to any embodiment of the

maintenance management system.

In a further aspect of the present invention a method for operating the maintenance management system according to claim 1 or any embodiment of the

maintenance management system is presented. The method comprises the steps:

providing measured values of operation parameters of at least one of the functional devices,

processing the measured values of the operation parameters based on an adjustable local health status determination algorithm by determining a functional device health status, by generating values with less bandwidth usage based on the measured values of the operation parameters, or by providing the measured values to a transceiver, wherein the local health status determination algorithm runs on at least one of the functional devices,

transmitting the functional device health status and/or values of the operation parameters in dependence of the local health status determination algorithm to the server, receiving the functional device health status and/or the values of the operation parameters in dependence of a global health status determination algorithm at the server, wherein the global health status determination algorithm runs on the server,

processing the received functional device health status and/or the values of the operation parameters in dependence of the global health status determination algorithm by determining a functional device health status of the at least one of the functional devices by processing the received values of the operation parameters based on the global health status determination algorithm and adjusting values of parameters of the local and global health status determination algorithms based on functional device health statuses of the functional devices and based on functional device health status statistics or

adjusting the values of the parameters of the local and global health status determination algorithms based on the functional device health statuses of the functional devices and based on the functional device health status statistics, adjusting the global health status determination algorithm based on the adjusted values of the parameters of the global health status determination algorithm,

providing the adjusted values of the parameters of the local health status determination algorithm to the at least one of the functional devices in order to adjust the local health status determination algorithm of the at least one of the functional devices.

Since the local health status determination algorithm can run on more than one functional device, the processing of the operation parameters of one of the functional devices can be shared between the functional devices. This allows using processing power of the functional devices of the maintenance management system, in particular when bandwidth for transmission of data between functional devices is available. The functional devices can for example be connected via a wireless or wired connection, such as for example ZigBee, DALI link, WiFi, SPI, I2C, or USB. For example functional devices in form of sensors can be connected to other functional devices, such as lighting devices and the processing power of the sensors can be used in order to process the measured values of the operation parameters of the lighting devices.

The method can comprise a step of measuring and storing measured values of operation parameters on the functional device. The measured values can be processed locally in order to determine the functional device health status or they can be transmitted to the server in order to be processed on the server.

In a further aspect of the present invention a computer program for operating the maintenance management system according to claim 1 or any embodiment of the maintenance management system is presented. The computer program product comprises program code means for causing a processor to carry out the method as defined in claim 12 or any embodiment of the method, when the computer program is run on the processor. The processors of the functional devices and the server can be configured for carrying out the method as defined in claim 12 or any embodiment of the method, when the computer program is run on them.

In a further aspect a computer readable medium having stored the computer program product of claim 14 is presented. Alternatively or additionally the computer readable medium can have the computer program product according to any embodiment of the computer program product stored.

It shall be understood that the maintenance management system of claim 1 , the functional device of claim 12, the method of claim 13, the computer program of claim 14, and the computer readable medium of claim 15 have similar and/or identical preferred embodiments, in particular, as defined in the dependent claims.

It shall be understood that a preferred embodiment of the present invention can also be any combination of the dependent claims or above embodiments with the respective independent claim.

These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following drawings:

Fig. 1 shows schematically and exemplarily a first embodiment of a maintenance management system,

Fig. 2 shows schematically and exemplarily an embodiment of a functional device for the maintenance management system,

Fig. 3 shows schematically and exemplarily a second embodiment of the maintenance management system, and

Fig. 4 shows a flow chart of an embodiment of a method for operating the maintenance management system.

DETAIFED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Fig. 1 shows schematically and exemplarily a first embodiment of a maintenance management system in form of a connected lighting system 100 (CL system). The CL system 100 in this embodiment includes three functional devices in form of luminaires 10, 10a, and 10b and a server 12. In other embodiments the maintenance management system can include one or more functional devices, such as luminaires, sensors, gateways, or any other type of functional device and the server.

The CL system 100 is operated based on local health status determination algorithms running on each of the luminaires 10, 10a, and 10b and a global health status determination algorithm running on the server 12. The local health status determination algorithms are adapted to the respective luminaire 10, 10a, and 10b and allow to determine a functional device health status of the respective luminaire 10, 10a, and 10b. The functional device health status of the respective luminaire 10, 10a, and 10b can also be determined on the server 12 using the global health status determination algorithm. The functional device health status in this embodiment includes functional unit health statuses of all functional units of the luminaires 10, 10a, and 10b that are critical for the operation of the respective luminaire 10, 10a, and 10b. The functional device health status in this embodiment includes an EoL probability of the functional unit with the highest EoL probability in a certain period of time, i.e., the functional unit that has the highest probability for a failure in a certain period of time. If that functional unit fails, also the luminaire fails. This allows to predict EoL of the luminaires 10, 10a, and 10b, as well as determining a difference to a target EoL of the luminaires 10, 10a, and 10b. The CL system 100 allows to reduce a risk of failure of luminaires, by calling maintenance service for replacing the functional unit of a respective luminaire or the respective luminaire before the respective luminaire probably fails. It is also possible to adjust target values of the operation parameters of the luminaires 10, 10a, and 10b in dependence of the functional device health status, in particular based on the EoL probability, to extend their lifetimes, e.g., by reducing temperature.

Furthermore bandwidth usage and processing usage is monitored by the server 12. The CL system 100 can adjust the local and global health status determination algorithms in order to optimize bandwidth and processing usage. In particular, the CL system 100 can optimize usage of processing power and bandwidth by either determining the functional device health status locally on the respective luminaire 10, 10a, or 10b or by transmitting data to the server 12 in order to determine the functional device health status of the respective luminaire 10, 10a, or 10b on the server 12.

The CL system 100 furthermore generates functional device failure statistics based on failure data received from the luminaires 10, 10a, and 10b and combines it with product batch statistics in order to use them as functional device health status statistics for improving the determination of the functional device health status of the luminaires 10, 10a, and 10b. In particular the functional device health status statistics are used to change the probability calculation for determining the EoL probability and to determine how monitoring of the luminaires 10, 10a, and 10b is performed, i.e., how frequent and which data is exchanged between the luminaires 10, 10a, 10b and the server 12. The frequency of data exchange and which data is exchanged is adjusted by adjusting the local and global health status determination algorithms. The failure data can be received as part of the functional device health status, e.g., if the functional device can still transmit data to the server, it can transmit the failure data or if the server requests data from a respective functional device and does not receive feedback, the server can determine that the functional device failed. If the functional device did not fail but only lost a connection, the failure data for the respective functional device can be amended upon reconnection of the respective functional device with the server.

Each of the luminaires 10, 10a, and 10b comprises (cf. Fig. 2) a processor 14, a transceiver 16 with an antenna 18, a lighting element in form of a light emitting diode 20 (LED), a constant current driver in form of an LED driver 22, a buffer capacitor 24, a switched-mode power supply 26 (SMPS), and a sensor 28 with various sensing elements (not shown), as well as a computer readable medium in form of memory 40. These functional units 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, and 40 of the luminaires 10, 10a, and 10b are integrated in a housing 30. In other embodiments parts of the luminaire can also be arranged separately, such as connected to the housing or arranged at a surface of the housing. Instead of an LED also another lighting element, such as an OLED, a laser, or any other type of lighting element may be used as lighting element of the luminaires.

The memory 40 stores the local health status determination algorithm of the respective luminaire 10, 10a, and 10b, as well as a method for operating the CL system 100. In another embodiment the memory stores an embodiment of a method for operating the CL system as described with regard to Fig. 4. In yet another embodiment the memory 40 can store a computer program product comprising program code means for causing the processor 14 to at least partly operate the CL system 100. The CL system 100 is operated in interaction of the processing performed on the server 12 and on the luminaires 10, 10a, and 10b. In yet further embodiments the memory can store the local health status determination algorithm of other functional devices in order to be able to determine the functional device health status of another functional device based on the local health status determination algorithm of the other functional device.

The SMPS 26 converts main power to an intermediate circuit voltage and provides the intermediate circuit voltage to the other functional units, i.e., processor 14, buffer capacitor 24, transceiver 16, and LED driver 22. The intermediate circuit voltage is buffered by the buffer capacitor 24. The intermediate circuit voltage supplies the functional units in the luminaire 10 with power. The LED driver 22 provides a current to the LED 20 in order to operate it. The processor 14 can control the operation of the LED 20 based on control commands received via the transceiver 16.

The server 12 (cf. Fig. 1) includes a transceiver 32 with an antenna 34, a processor 36, and a computer readable medium in form of memory 38. The transceiver 32 of the server 12 transmits data to the luminaires 10, 10a, and 10b via antenna 34 and receives data from them. The processor 36 processes data including the received data. The processor 36 can generate control commands that can be transmitted to the luminaires 10, 10a, and 10b via transceiver 32 in order to control the operation of their LEDs 20.

The memory 38 of the server 12 stores data. The stored data can be used for processing received data. The memory 38 furthermore stores the global health status determination algorithm, as well as a method for operating the CL system 100. In another embodiment the memory stores the embodiment of the method for operating the CL system as described with regard to Lig. 4. In yet another embodiment the memory 38 can store a computer program product comprising program code means for causing the processor 36 to at least partly operate the CL system 100.

Besides operating the CL system 100 in order to provide lighting, the CL system 100 is also operated in order to provide maintenance management.

The functional units 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, and 40 of the luminaires 10, 10a, and 10b are monitored by the sensing elements of the sensor 28 for early failure indications, i.e. indications that allow to determine the functional device health status and in particular the EoL probability of the respective functional unit and the luminaire. The functional device health status can be used in order to decide when maintenance has to be performed for the respective luminaire 10, 10a, and 10b.

An early indication for a failure of the buffer capacitor 24 is for example provided by a capacity drop and/or series resistance increase. This results in a drop of the filter ability. This can be caused by aging and is typically provoked by self-heating of the buffer capacitor 24 during operation. The indication for the failure of the buffer capacitor 24 can for example be observed by measuring current ripple or voltage ripple on its input and output. The EoL probability for the buffer capacitor 24 is furthermore influenced by the environmental temperature and production batch characteristics. If the buffer capacitor 24 fails, a failure of the luminaire can result and there is a risk of explosion for the buffer capacitor 24 if no fuses are in operation.

An early indication for a failure of the SMPS 26 and the LED driver 22 is for example provided by reduction of efficiency. This can be caused by temperature rise during current switching and material migration. The indication for the failure of the SMPS 26 and the LED driver 22 can for example be observed by measuring temperature and switching frequency. Lailure of one of these functional units, i.e., the SMPS 26 or the LED driver 22, can lead to a failure of the luminaire 10, 10a, or 10b, or to a reduced luminaire efficacy causing increased self-heating. An early indication for a failure of overvoltage protection elements (not shown) is for example provided by lowering of triggering voltage and increase of leakage currents and temperature. The indication for the failure of the overvoltage protection elements can for example be observed by measuring temperature caused by the increase of self-heating and/or leakage current. Furthermore standby consumption can be an early indication for failure of overvoltage protection elements. Typically metal oxide varistors (MOVs) are used as overvoltage protection elements. MOVs have a finite life expectancy and degrade when they are exposed to a few large transients, or many small transients. The life expectancy depends on the conditions during the operation of the overvoltage protection elements.

An early indication for a failure of the LED 22 is for example provided by a changed voltage or noisy behavior, e.g. caused by randomly changing contact quality. The indication for failure of the LED 22 can for example be observed by measuring current and voltage. Broken connection due to LED bondwire or contact joint failure can lead to randomly changing contact quality and a degradation of contact quality. This is typically caused by temperature cycling of the luminaire and depends on the number of LED activations and cumulative operation time of the LED. Failure of the LED can lead to failure of the luminaire.

In this embodiment the sensor 28 measures one or more of the following operation parameters: current, voltage, temperature, leakage current, current ripple, voltage ripple, switching frequency, failure rate, light flux, standby circuitry efficiency, isolation resistance, and air pressure. The current and voltage can for example be measured for the processor 14, the transceiver 16, the LED driver 22, the SMPS 26, in filters, and overvoltage protection elements (not shown). The temperature can for example be measured for the processor 14, the transceiver 16, the LED 20, the LED driver 22, the SMPS 26, the buffer capacitor 24, in filters and in overvoltage protection elements (not shown). The leakage current can for example be measured for the buffer capacitor 24. The current and the voltage ripple can for example be measured as output of the SMPS 26 and the LED driver 22. The switching frequency can be measured in the SMPS 26 and the LED driver 22. The failure rate can be measured in the processor 14 and the transceiver 16, i.e., during processing and during transmitting or receiving. The light flux can be measured as output of the LED 20. The isolation resistance and the air pressure can be measured with respect to the housing 30 of the luminaires 10, 10a, and 10b. The sensor 28 generates measured values of the operation parameters and provides them to the processor 14. Optionally they can be stored in memory 40. In other embodiments the measured values can be transmitted to another functional device or to the server for processing.

In other embodiments the maintenance management system can include one or more sensors for measuring values of one or more operation parameters which is indicative of the functional device health status of one of the functional devices of the maintenance management system.

The processor 14 processes the measured values of the operation parameters based on the adjustable local health status determination algorithm of the respective luminaire 10, 10a and 10b in order to determine the functional device health status of the respective luminaire 10, 10a, and 10b. The processor 14 uses the measured values of the operation parameters as input to the local health status determination algorithm which can determine the functional device health status, compress the values in order to generate processed values that require less bandwidth for transmitting them or provide the measured values to the transceiver 16.

The processing of the measured values performed by the processor 14 depends on the local health status determination algorithm and the functional device health status. In this embodiment the functional device health status is determined on the luminaire 10, 10a, and 10b, if the EoL probability of the respective luminaire 10, 10a, and 10b is above a predetermined threshold EoL probability value. In other embodiments the processing of the measured values can depend on the functional device health status, such that less data is processed locally and more data is provided to the server with a higher frequency with increasing EoL probability. In particular the number of operation parameters and functional units for which data is processed locally or on the server can be adjusted. This allows to increase the accuracy of predicting a date when the luminaire will fail. For a user, such as a facility manager, accurately knowing that a luminaire will fail for example within 3 days is much more valuable than knowing that another luminaire will fail within 1 year +/- a month as maintenance can be called just in time when needed for replacing one or more functional units of the luminaire or the whole luminaire.

The adjustable local health status determination algorithm is adapted to the respective luminaire 10, 10a, and 10b and values of parameters of the local health status determination algorithm depend on the functional units of the luminaire, e.g., from which production batch the functional units originate and on environmental parameters, such as temperature, humidity, vibration, and geographic location of the luminaire 10, 10a, and 10b. The environmental parameters affect the life time of the luminaire and its functional units. The functional device health status is collected at the server 12 and the global health status determination algorithm learns how the environmental parameters affect the life time of the luminaires in order to adjust the values of the parameters of the local health status

determination algorithms. The values of the parameters of the local health status

determination algorithm are adjusted in order to control the processing of the measured values performed by the processor 14. Adjusted values of the operation parameters of the local health status determination algorithm are received from the server 12 via transceiver 16. The local health status determination algorithm is adjusted according to the adjusted values of the operation parameters of the local health status determination algorithm, e.g., weights for determining the functional device health status are adjusted.

The adjusted values are generated by the processor 36 of the server 12 based on the functional device health status received from the respective luminaire 10, 10a, and 10b, as well as on the functional device health status statistics.

The transceiver 16 of the respective luminaire 10, 10a, and 10b can transmit and receive data. In this embodiment the transceiver 16 transmits the functional device health status or values of the operation parameters to the server 12 in dependence of the local health status determination algorithm. The parameters of the local health status determination algorithm include a data setting which determines whether the functional device health status, processed values of the operation parameters or measured values of the operation parameters are transmitted. The parameters of the local health status determination algorithm

furthermore include a timing setting which determines a frequency and points in time at which the data is transmitted. The parameters of the local health status determination algorithm furthermore include a control setting which determines target values of the operation parameters of the luminaires 10, 10a, and 10b. Furthermore the data setting and timing setting also influence which data is requested from the server 12 by the luminaires 10, 10a, and 10b at which frequency and at which points in time. In this embodiment the luminaires 10, 10a, and 10b, regularly, e.g. once or twice a day, request adjusted values of the parameters of their respective local health status determination algorithms in order to improve the determination of the functional device health status. The timing settings, the data settings, and the control setting in this embodiment depend on environmental parameters of the luminaire 10, 10a, or 10b, production batch of the functional units of the luminaire 10, 10a, or 10b, and on a difference between the predicted EoL of the luminaires 10, 10a, and 10b and a target EoL of the luminaires 10, 10a, and 10b. In other embodiments the timing settings, and/or the data settings, and/or the control setting can also be independent of the environmental parameters, and/or the production batch of the functional units or production batch of the luminaire, and/or the difference between the predicted EoL of the luminaires 10, 10a, and 10b and the target EoL of the luminaires 10, 10a, and 10b.

The transceiver 32 of the server 12 transmits data to and receives data from the luminaires 10, 10a, and 10b in dependence of the global health status determination algorithm. The received data includes the functional device health status and/or values of the operation parameters of the respective luminaire 10, 10a, and 10b. The global health status determination algorithm causes the transceiver 32 to request functional device health statuses or values of the operation parameters regularly in dependence of the timing setting and data setting for the global health status determination algorithm.

The processor 36 of the server 12 processes the received data in dependence of the global health status determination algorithm. When the server 12 received values of the operation parameters of one of the luminaires 10, 10a, or 10b, the processor 36 determines the functional device health status of the respective luminaire 10, 10a, or 10b based on the global health status determination algorithm and the values of the operation parameters received from the luminaire 10, 10a, or 10b. The global health status determination algorithm can use the values of the parameters of the local health status determination algorithms of the respective luminaire 10, 10a, or 10b in order to determine the functional health status of the respective luminaire 10, 10a, or 10b. The values of the parameters of the local health status determination algorithms can be transmitted to the server 12 or another luminaire 10, 10a, or 10b. In other embodiments also the values of the parameters of the global health status determination algorithm can be transmitted to the luminaires 10, 10a, and 10b from the server 12.

The processor 36 of the server 12 adjusts the values of the parameters of the local and global health status determination algorithms based on the functional device health statuses of the luminaires 10, 10a, and 10b and based on the functional device health status statistics. The adjusted values of the parameters of the local and global health status determination algorithms include adjusted values of the parameters for determining the functional device health status. They furthermore can include a timing setting for the luminaires 10, 10a, and 10b to request adjusted values of the parameters of the local health status determination algorithm from the server 12, a timing setting for the luminaires 10, 10a, and 10b to provide the functional device health status and/or the values of the operation parameters to the server 12, a timing setting for the server 12 to request the functional device health status and/or the values of the operation parameters from a respective luminaire 10, 10a, or 10b, a timing setting for the server 12 to provide the adjusted values of the parameters of the local health status determination algorithm to a respective luminaire 10, 10a, or 10b, a data setting for the luminaires 10, 10a, and 10b which data the luminaire 10, 10a, or 10b provides to the server 12, a data setting for the server 12 which data to request from the luminaires 10, 10a, and 10b and/or a control setting for the luminaires 10, 10a, and 10b for adjusting the target values of the operation parameters of the luminaires 10, 10a, and 10b.

The global health status determination algorithm is adapted according to the adjusted values of the parameters of the global health status determination algorithm by the processor 36.

The transceiver 32 of the server 12 provides the adjusted values of the parameters of the local health status determination algorithms to the respective luminaire 10, 10a, or 10b in order to adjust the local health status determination algorithms of the respective luminaire 10, 10a, or 10b. The local health status determination algorithms use the adjusted values of their parameters in order to process the measured values of the operation parameters using the processor 14.

The server 12 requests maintenance for the respective luminaire 10, 10a, or 10b in dependence of the functional device health status of the respective luminaire 10, 10a, or 10b, i.e., if the EoL probability is high and failure is expected within a certain number of days, e.g. 3 days, maintenance is requested in order to repair or replace the luminaire 10, 10a, or 10b. This allows just in time replacement and reduces costs.

The transceiver 32 and the processor 36 of the server 12 furthermore monitor transmissions between the transceivers of the CL system 100 and determine an available bandwidth for transmissions. The processor 36 optimizes the usage of the available bandwidth by adjusting the values of the parameters of the local and global health status determination algorithms.

In other embodiments the processor of the functional device can detect abnormalities in the values of the operation parameters, e.g., after a lightning strike in the vicinity of the functional device or a very high ambient temperature. Upon detecting the abnormality, the processor adjusts the values of the parameters of the local health status determination algorithm, e.g., changing weights for EoL probability determination, data settings, and/or timing settings. In particular the data setting can be adjusted in order to increase a granularity of the data transmitted from the functional devices to the server. In yet another embodiment the values measured during the abnormality can be provided to the server. The processor of the server can perform a risk analysis and depending on the outcome the processor of the server can adjust the values of the parameters of the local and global health status determination algorithms, in particular values related to certain functional devices or functional units that showed the abnormality, e.g., functional units from a certain product batch or within a certain geographic location. For example a luminaire used as a streetlight in Saudi Arabian desert with high ambient temperature can be expected to typically have a high temperature which affects the EoL probability. Furthermore the EoL probability of a luminaire used as a streetlight in Florida may also be affected, as there is an increased probability of lightning strikes. The values of the parameters of the local and global health status determination algorithms can also be adjusted for an application segment of the functional device, for example an LED troffer deployed in a warehouse in Italy faces more life-time adverse conditions than an LED troffer mounted in the climate-controlled office in the same warehouse.

In yet another embodiment data-transmission priorities can be assigned to the functional devices. In particular certain functional devices such as emergency luminaires can have a higher priority for transmitting data to and receiving data from the server. This allows to improve the bandwidth usage, while emergency and safety aspects are considered. The data setting, and timing setting can for example be adjusted for emergency luminaires such that they transmit more data with higher frequency. Furthermore the control setting can be adapted, e.g., adjusting target values of operation parameters in order to reduce risk of failure during an emergency. For example the emergency luminaires can have batteries and data in form of battery health, detailed characteristics of de-charging cycles, and health of its functional units can be transmitted to the server.

Fig. 3 shows schematically and exemplarily a second embodiment of a maintenance management system in form of a CL system 100a. The CL system 100a comprises a server 12 and three functional devices, i.e., a luminaire 10c, a sensor 42, and a gateway 46. The operation of the CL system 100a is similar to the one of the operation of the CL system 100. In contrast to the CL system 100 according to the first embodiment, the server 12 communicates only with the gateway 46 while the functional devices communicate with each other locally. The sensor 42 and the gateway 46 provide additional processing power that can be used in order to determine the functional device health status of the luminaire 10c. Additionally they can also determine their own functional device health status. The processing can be performed on the functional device that has processing power available if bandwidth is available for locally transmitting the required data for performing the processing of values of the operation parameters of the functional device in order to determine the functional device health status.

The server 12 includes a transceiver 32 with an antenna 34, a processor 36, and a computer readable medium in form of memory 38.

The luminaire 10c comprises a processor 14c, a transceiver 16c with an antenna 18c, a lighting element in form of an LED array unit 20c, and a memory 40c for storing data.

The sensor 42 comprises a processor 14a, a transceiver 16a with an antenna 18a, a sensing element array 44 with various sensing elements (not shown), and a memory 40a for storing data.

The gateway 46 comprises a processor 14b, a transceiver module 48 including a short-range low energy transceiver 16b with antenna 18b and a long-range transceiver 32a with antenna 34a. Additionally the gateway 46 includes a memory 40b for storing and buffering data. The gateway 46 serves to transmit data between the luminaire 10c, the sensor 42 and the server 12.

The transceiver module 48 of the gateway 46 receives data from and transmits data to the sensor 42, the luminaire 10c and the server 12. The transceiver 32a with antenna 34a is used for a long-range communication with the server 12. The transceiver 16b with antenna 18b is used for short-range low energy communication. In this embodiment ZigBee is used for local communication, i.e., the short-range low energy communication. In other embodiments other communication protocols can be used, e.g. Bluetooth, DALI link, or any other short-range low energy data communication protocol. In other embodiments the sensor can be connected to the luminaire via a DALI link and the luminaire with the gateway via ZigBee.

The transceivers 16a and 16c of the sensor 42 and the luminaire 10c can communicate with each other and the transceiver 16b of the gateway 46 for transmitting and receiving data.

The transceiver 32 of the server 12 can communicate with the transceiver 32a of the gateway 46. The gateway 46 in this way serves as a proxy for the other functional devices of the CL system 100a. This allows to save energy consumption and costs, as short- range low energy consumption can be used locally.

In other embodiments one or more of the functional devices can be determined to be a weak device based on the functional device health status. If the functional device is determined to be weak, the values of the parameters of the local health status determination algorithm are adjusted or the local health status determination algorithm is replaced by a local health status determination algorithm optimized for weak functional devices.

In other embodiments the CL system can for example be included in a Philips InterAct Office system. The Philips InterAct Office system can include functional devices in form of a luminaire with an LED driver and a luminaire-based sensor, and a gateway, e.g., a floor-controller. The luminaire-based sensor can for example be a luminaire-based EasySense sensor. Additionally the Philips InterAct Office system includes a server. All of the functional devices and the server can perform some of the EoL probability determination.

The LED driver can for example be a Xitanium SR LED driver. The functional devices can include processors with different processing capabilities. For example, the LED driver can include a processor, such as a SiliconLabs MG 13 processor with limited amount of free memory, while the luminaire-based EasySense sensor, can include a SiliconLabs MG 12 processor, which has more processing capability and can thus perform a larger amount of processing than the MG 12 processor within the LED driver. The LED driver can for example perform processing that requires lower processing capability, e.g., compressing data. The data can be transmitted between the functional devices. In some embodiments measured values of the operation parameters can be transmitted between LED driver and luminaire- based EasySense sensor via a DALI link. The luminaire-based EasySense sensor can for example transmit data to the gateway via ZigBee.

In other embodiments the values of the parameters of the local and global health status determination algorithms can be context dependent, e.g., the local and global health status determination algorithms can cause the functional devices to transmit the measured values to the server for processing during a lightning storm.

In yet other embodiments a user interface can be provided that allows to adjust the values of the parameters of the local and global health status determination algorithms in order to adjust where the processing is performed and which data is transmitted with which frequency and at which point of time.

In other embodiments the processing of measured values of the operation parameters for the determination of the functional device health status can depend on the functional device health status, e.g., the frequency for determining the EoL probability can be lower for a lower EoL probability than for a higher EoL probability. Furthermore the EoL probability of a different set of functional units can be determined in dependence of the functional device health status, i.e., depending on the functional device health status the EoL probability can be determined for different functional units. Furthermore other functional device health status information can be provided, e.g., a simple trend analysis can be provided for lower EoL probability and additional values for higher EoL probability.

In other embodiments the functional device health status of the functional device can be determined locally if the functional device is not connected to the server. The functional device can transmit its functional device health status to the server as soon as a connection is established. The functional device can erase data transmitted to the server from its memory in order to free up storage space if the data is not required for operation anymore.

In other embodiments the functional device can also provide a local warning signal when EoL probability is high, e.g., for a lighting device a certain blinking signal or color signal can be provided to the user.

Fig. 4 shows a flow diagram of an embodiment of a method for operating a maintenance management system, e.g. the CL system 100 or the CL system 100a.

In step 200 measured values of operation parameters of a respective functional device are provided.

In step 210 the measured values of the operation parameters are processed based on an adjustable local health status determination algorithm. The local health status determination algorithm runs on the respective functional device. In other embodiments the local health status determination algorithm can also run on a functional device connected to the respective functional device or the local health status determination algorithm can run on the respective functional device and one or more other functional devices connected to the respective functional device. Step 210 has substeps 212, 214, and 216. One or more of the substeps 212, 214, and 216 is performed in order to process the measured values of the operation parameters.

In substep 212 a functional device health status is determined based on the measured values of the operation parameters using the local health status determination algorithm and the functional device health status is provided to the transceiver of the respective functional device. In other embodiments the functional device health status is provided to the transceiver of the functional device that determined the functional device health status.

In substep 214 processed values with less bandwidth usage are generated based on the measured values of the operation parameters and the processed values are provided to the transceiver of the respective functional device. In other embodiments the processed values are provided to the transceiver of the functional device that generated the processed values. In substep 216 the measured values are provided to the transceiver of the respective functional device as measured. In other embodiments the measured values are provided to the transceiver of the functional device that stores or measured the measured values.

The substep of step 210 performed for different operation parameters can be different, e.g., measured voltage values of the processor can be used for determining the functional device health status, while measured voltage values of the transceiver can be provided to the transceiver as measured. The functional device health status includes the functional unit health status of the functional units of the functional device. The local health status determination algorithm decides how the operation parameters of the functional device and in particular of each of the functional units is processed, i.e., which substep is performed for which operation parameter. In other embodiments in which more than one functional devices process the operation parameters, the local health status algorithm can also decide which operation parameters are processed by which functional device.

In step 220 data is transmitted from the respective functional device to the server in dependence of the local health status determination algorithm. The local health status determination algorithm determines the timing for transmitting the data, i.e., the frequency and/or the point of time for the transmission. In other embodiments the data can be transmitted from the functional device that processed the data to the server in dependence of the local health status determination algorithm. Step 220 includes the substeps 222 and 224. One or both substeps 222 and 224 are performed in order to transmit the data from the respective functional device to the server.

In substep 222 the functional device health status is transmitted to the server.

In substep 224 values of the operation parameters are transmitted in dependence of the local health status determination algorithm to the server.

In step 230 the data is received in dependence of a global health status determination algorithm at the server. The global health status determination algorithm runs on the server. Step 230 includes the substeps 232 and 234. One or both substeps 232 and 234 are performed in order to receive the data at the server.

In substep 232 the functional device health status is received at the server.

In substep 234 the values of the operation parameters are received at the server.

In step 240 the received data is processed in dependence of the global health status determination algorithm. Step 240 includes the substeps 242 and 244. If the functional device health status was not received and values of the operation parameters were received, substep 244 is performed. Substep 242 follows substep 244. If substep 244 is not performed, as the functional device health status was determined locally on the respective functional device and was received at the server, substep 242 is performed without optional substep 244. In other embodiments the functional device health status can be determined locally by one or more of the functional devices, which can include the respective functional device.

In substep 244 a functional device health status of the respective functional device is determined by processing the received values of the operation parameters based on the global health status determination algorithm. The global health status determination algorithm uses the parameters of the local health status determination algorithm of the respective functional device in order to determine the functional device health status of the respective functional device.

In substep 242 values of parameters of the local and global health status determination algorithms are adjusted based on functional device health statuses of functional devices and based on functional device health status statistics.

In step 250 the global health status determination algorithm is adjusted based on the adjusted values of the parameters of the global health status determination algorithm.

In step 260 the adjusted values of the parameters of the local health status determination algorithm are provided to the respective functional device in order to adjust the local health status determination algorithm of the respective functional device. In other embodiments the values of the parameters of the local health status determination algorithm are provided to the functional devices that process operation parameters of the respective functional device in order to adjust the local health status determination algorithm of the respective functional device running on the functional devices.

In step 270 the local health status determination algorithm of the respective functional device is adjusted based on the adjusted values of the parameters of the local health status determination algorithm of the respective functional device. In other

embodiments the local health status determination algorithm of the respective functional device is adjusted based on the adjusted values of the parameters of the local health status determination algorithm of the respective functional device on the functional devices that process operation parameters of the respective functional device.

In other embodiments the method comprises a step of measuring and storing measured values of operation parameters of a respective functional device on the respective functional device or on other functional devices, such as sensors. The measured values can be processed locally on the respective functional device or the other functional devices, in order to determine the functional device health status or they can be transmitted to the server in order to be processed on the server.

The local and global health status determination algorithms can control the frequency and amount of data to be transmitted, as either the local health status determination algorithm causes the transceiver of the respective functional device or other functional devices to transmit the data or the global health status determination algorithm requests the data from the respective functional device(s) or other functional devices.

While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, such illustration and description are to be considered illustrative or exemplary and not restrictive; the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. For example, it is possible to operate the invention in an embodiment wherein the functional devices are solar energy panels of a solar power plant or wind energy turbines of a wind energy power plant. The maintenance management system may also be an automotive system or part of an automotive system, e.g., a lighting system of the automotive system. The automotive system may for example be a car, a bus, a truck, or any other kind of land operating vehicle. Furthermore the maintenance management system may be included in an automotive network of devices, e.g. for performing maintenance management of the automotive network, for example for a sensor network. The maintenance management system may also be part of any kind of vehicle, such as an airplane, a ship, or any other kind of vehicle. The maintenance management system may also be operated in body and actuation electronics. Furthermore the maintenance management system may be operated in networked components, e.g., of a heating ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) system, e.g., for maintaining valves, fans, and/or sensors. The maintenance management system may also be a networked industrial control system or part of a networked industrial control system.

Other variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art in practicing the claimed invention, from a study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims.

In the claims, the word“comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article“a” or“an” does not exclude a plurality.

A single unit, processor, or device may fulfill the functions of several items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage. Operations like providing measured values of operation parameters of a at least one of the functional devices, processing the measured values of the operation parameters based on an adjustable local health status determination algorithm by determining a functional device health status, by generating values with less bandwidth usage based on the measured values of the operation parameters, or by providing the measured values to a transceiver, running the local health status determination algorithm on at least one of the functional devices, transmitting the functional device health status and/or values of the operation parameters in dependence of the local health status determination algorithm to the server, receiving the functional device health status and/or the values of the operation parameters in dependence of a global health status determination algorithm at the server, running the global health status determination algorithm on the server, processing the received functional device health status and/or the values of the operation parameters in dependence of the global health status determination algorithm by determining a functional device health status of the at least one of the functional devices by processing the received values of the operation parameters based on the global health status determination algorithm and by adjusting values of parameters of the local and global health status determination algorithms based on functional device health statuses of functional devices and based on functional device health status statistics or by adjusting the values of the parameters of the local and global health status determination algorithms based on the functional device health statuses of the functional devices and based on the functional device health status statistics, adjusting the global health status determination algorithm based on the adjusted values of the parameters of the global health status determination algorithm, providing the adjusted values of the parameters of the local health status determination algorithm to the at least one of the functional devices in order to adjust the local health status determination algorithm of the at least one of the functional devices, et cetera performed by one or several units or devices can be performed by any other number of units or devices. These operations and/or the method can be implemented as program code means of a computer program and/or as dedicated hardware.

A computer program may be stored/distributed on a suitable medium, such as an optical storage medium, or a solid-state medium, supplied together with or as part of other hardware, but may also be distributed in other forms, such as via the Internet, Ethernet, or other wired or wireless telecommunication systems.

Any reference signs in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope. The present invention relates to maintenance management. A maintenance management system with functional devices is operated based on functional device specific local health status determination algorithms and a global health status determination algorithm. The local health status determination algorithms run on the functional devices and exchange data with the global health status determination algorithm running on a server. The exchanged data includes functional device health status and values of operation parameters of the functional devices. Values of parameters of the local and global health status

determination algorithms are adjusted based on the functional device health statuses and functional device health status statistics for adjusting determination of functional device health statuses. The functional device health status can be determined locally by the functional device or globally by the server for optimizing processing power and bandwidth usage.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A maintenance management system (100, 100a) comprising:

a plurality of functional devices (10, ..., 10c, 42, 46); each comprising:

a processor (14) for processing measured values of operation parameters based on an adjustable local health status determination algorithm in order to determine a functional device health status, wherein the functional device health status comprises estimated EoL probability, estimated half-life, predicted EoL, and/or estimated total run time of the functional device until it needs to be maintained due to failure; and

a transceiver (16) for transmitting and receiving data, wherein the transceiver (16) is configured for transmitting the functional device health status and values of the operation parameters in dependence of the local health status determination algorithm, and

a server (12) with

a transceiver (32) configured for transmitting and receiving data, wherein the transceiver (32) is configured for receiving the functional device health status and the values of the operation parameters in dependence of a global health status determination algorithm,

a processor (36) for processing the received data, wherein the processor (36) of the server (12) is configured for adjusting values of parameters of the local and global health status determination algorithms based on the functional device health statuses of the functional devices (10, ..., 10c, 42, 46) and based on functional device health status statistics, and

wherein the transceiver (32) of the server (12) is configured for providing the adjusted values of the parameters of the local health status determination algorithms to respective functional devices (10, ..., 10c, 42, 46) in order to adjust the local health status determination algorithms of the respective functional devices (10, ..., 10c, 42, 46).

2. The maintenance management system (100, 100a) according to claim 1, comprising

one or more sensors (28, 42) for measuring values of at least one of the operation parameters which is indicative of the functional device health status of one of the functional devices (10, ..., 10c, 42, 46).

3. The maintenance management system (100, 100a) according to claim 1, wherein the adjusted values of the parameters include one or more of the following:

adjusted values of the parameters for determining the functional device health status,

a timing setting for the functional device (10, ..., 10c, 42, 46) to request adjusted values of the parameters of the local health status determination algorithm from the server (12),

a timing setting for the functional device (10, ..., 10c, 42, 46) to provide the functional device health status and/or the values of the operation parameters to the server (12),

a timing setting for the server (12) to request the functional device health status and/or the values of the operation parameters from a respective functional device (10, ..., 10c, 42, 46),

a timing setting for the server (12) to provide the adjusted values of the parameters of the local health status determination algorithm to a respective functional device (10, ..., 10c, 42, 46),

a data setting for the functional device (10, ..., 10c, 42, 46) which data the functional device (10, ..., 10c, 42, 46) provides to the server (12),

a data setting for the server (12) which data to request from the functional device (10, ..., 10c, 42, 46), and

a control setting for the functional device (10, ..., 10c, 42, 46) for adjusting target values of the operation parameters of the functional device (10, ..., 10c, 42, 46).

4. The maintenance management system (100, 100a) according to claim 3, wherein at least one of the timing settings, the data settings, and the control setting depends on environmental parameters of the functional device (10, ..., 10c, 42, 46), and/or

a production batch of the functional device (10, ..., 10c, 42, 46) or one or more functional units (14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 40) of the functional device (10, ..., 10c, 42, 46), and/or

a difference between a predicted end-of-life of the functional device and a target end-of-life of the functional device, wherein the functional device health status includes the predicted end-of-life of the functional device.

5. The maintenance management system (100, 100a) according to claim 1, wherein the functional device health status statistics include product batch statistics and functional device failure statistics.

6. The maintenance management system (100, 100a) according to claim 5, wherein the server (12) is configured to generate the functional device failure statistics based on failure data provided to the server (12) from the functional devices (10, ..., 10c, 42, 46).

7. The maintenance management system (100, 100a) according to claim 1, wherein the server (12) is configured to request maintenance for a respective functional device (10, ..., 10c, 42, 46) in dependence of the functional device health status of the respective functional device (10, ..., 10c, 42, 46).

8. The maintenance management system (100, 100a) according to claim 1, wherein the server (12) is configured

to monitor transmissions between the transceivers (16, ..., 16c, 32, 32a) of the maintenance management system (100, 100a),

to determine an available bandwidth, and

to optimize the usage of the available bandwidth by adjusting the values of the parameters of the local and global health status determination algorithms.

9. The maintenance management system (100, 100a) according to claim 1, wherein the processor (36) of the server (12) is configured to determine the functional device health status of a respective functional device (10, ..., 10c, 42, 46) based on the global health status determination algorithm and values of operation parameters received from the respective functional device (10, ..., 10c, 42, 46).

10. The maintenance management system (100a) according to claim 1, wherein the maintenance management system (100a) is a connected lighting system (100a) which includes at least one functional device (10c) in form of a lighting device (10c) with a lighting element (20c) and at least one functional device (46) in form of a gateway (46) for transmitting data between other functional devices (10c, 42) and the server (12).

11. The maintenance management system (100a) according to claim 10, wherein the transceiver (48) of the gateway (46) is configured for receiving data from and

transmitting data to other functional devices (10c, 42) and the server (12) and

wherein the transceivers (16a, 16c) of other functional devices (10c, 42) of the connected lighting system (100a) are configured for transmitting data to and receiving data from the gateway (46) and other functional devices (10c, 42).

12. A functional device (10, ..., 10c, 42, 46) for the maintenance management system (100, 100a) according to claim 1, comprising:

a functional unit (20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 40, ..., 40c) for performing a function of the functional device (10, ..., 10c, 42, 46),

a processor (14, ... , 14c) for processing measured values of operation parameters based on an adjustable local health status determination algorithm in order to determine a functional device health status of the functional device (10, ..., 10c, 42, 46); wherein the functional device health status comprises estimated EoL probability, estimated half-life, predicted EoL, and/or estimated total run time of the functional device until it needs to be maintained due to failure, and

a transceiver (16, ..., 16c, 32a, 48) for transmitting and receiving data, wherein the transceiver (16, ..., 16c, 32a) is configured for transmitting the functional device health status and values of the operation parameters in dependence of the local health status determination algorithm, and for receiving adjusted values of parameters of the local health status determination algorithm for adjusting the local health status determination algorithm of the functional device (10, ..., 10c, 42, 46).

13. A method for operating the maintenance management system (100, 100a) according to claim 1 comprising the steps:

providing measured values of operation parameters of at least one of the functional devices (10, ..., 10c, 42, 46),

processing the measured values of the operation parameters based on an adjustable local health status determination algorithm by determining a functional device health status, by generating values with less bandwidth usage based on the measured values of the operation parameters, or by providing the measured values to a transceiver (16, 16a, 16c, 32a), wherein the functional device health status comprises estimated EoL probability, estimated half-life, predicted EoL, and/or estimated total run time of the functional device until it needs to be maintained due to failure;

wherein the local health status determination algorithm runs on at least one of the functional devices (10, ..., 10c, 42, 46),

transmitting the functional device health status and/or values of the operation parameters in dependence of the local health status determination algorithm to the server (12),

receiving the functional device health status and/or the values of the operation parameters in dependence of a global health status determination algorithm at the server (12), wherein the global health status determination algorithm runs on the server (12),

processing the received functional device health status and/or the values of the operation parameters in dependence of the global health status determination algorithm by determining a functional device health status of the at least one of the functional devices (10, ..., 10c, 42, 46) by processing the received values of the operation parameters based on the global health status determination algorithm and adjusting values of parameters of the local and global health status determination algorithms based on functional device health statuses of the functional devices (10, ..., 10c, 42, 46) and based on functional device health status statistics or

adjusting the values of the parameters of the local and global health status determination algorithms based on the functional device health statuses of the functional devices (10, ..., 10c, 42, 46) and based on the functional device health status statistics,

adjusting the global health status determination algorithm based on the adjusted values of the parameters of the global health status determination algorithm,

providing the adjusted values of the parameters of the local health status determination algorithm to the at least one of the functional devices (10, ..., 10c, 42, 46) in order to adjust the local health status determination algorithm of the at least one of the functional devices (10, ..., 10c, 42, 46).

14. A computer program product comprising instructions which, when the program is executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the steps of the method of claim 13.

15. A computer readable medium (38, 40) having stored the computer program product of claim 14.