IP Library Granted Patent US 12678940
Granted Patent B2
US 12678940 · App. 18/251,825 · Granted Jul 14, 2026

Tension estimation device, life evaluation device, and robot system

Inventor: Ryouta Shimizu (Yamanashi, JP)
Assignee: FANUC CORPORATION
B25J9/1045
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12678940
App. No.
18/251,825
Filed
May 4, 2023
Granted
Jul 14, 2026
Kind
B2
Examiner
JOS, BASIL T
Art Unit
3658
USPC
700/258
Abstract

Provided are: a tension estimation device capable of accurately estimating the tension of a belt; a life evaluation device capable of accurately evaluating the life of a transmission mechanism, from the tension of the belt; and a robot system comprising these. The tension estimation device comprises: a transmission mechanism that transmits power via a belt; at least one motor disposed in the vicinity of the belt; a motor calorific value calculation unit that calculates the motor calorific value on the basis of at least one out of the current value or rotation speed for at least one motor; a frictional calorific value calculation unit that calculates the frictional calorific value of the transmission mechanism, on the basis of at least one among the current value or rotation speed for at least one motor and a friction coefficient for at least one shaft disposed in the vicinity of the belt; and a belt tension estimation unit that estimates the tension of the belt on the basis of the motor calorific value and the frictional calorific value.

Claims (85)

1 . A tension estimation device comprising:

a transmission mechanism that transmits power through a belt;

at least one motor disposed close to the belt;

a motor heating value calculation unit that calculates a motor heating value based on at least one of an electric current value and a rotation speed of the at least one motor input from a control device that controls the at least one motor;

a friction heating value calculation unit that calculates a friction heating value of the transmission mechanism, based on at least one of the electric current value and the rotation speed input from the control device that controls the at least one motor and a friction coefficient of at least one axis disposed close to the belt; and

a belt tension estimation unit that estimates tension of the belt based on the motor heating value and the friction heating value.

2 . The tension estimation device according to claim 1 , further comprising an air-cooling radiation amount calculation unit that calculates an air-cooling radiation amount based on a moving speed of the transmission mechanism, wherein

the belt tension estimation unit estimates the tension of the belt based on the motor heating value, the friction heating value, and the air-cooling radiation amount.

3 . The tension estimation device according to claim 2 , wherein the belt tension estimation unit estimates the tension of the belt using a belt tension estimation formula as follows:

[

Math

.

1

]

T

=

T

0

+

{

n

=

m

1

(

a

n

F

n

)

+

n

=

m

2

(

b

n

M

n

)

}

c

+

dV

wcp

n

=

m

3

F

n

where,

T: estimated tension of the belt,

T 0 : initial tension of the belt,

F n : friction heating value of an axis to be driven by an n-th motor,

M n : motor heating value of the n-th motor,

V wcp : moving speed rate of the transmission mechanism,

m: any combinatorial integer, and

a, b, c, d: coefficient.

4 . The tension estimation device according to claim 3 , wherein, in the belt tension estimation formula, at least one of the initial tension of the belt and the coefficient is a parameter that changes with room temperature.

5 . The tension estimation device according to claim 3 , wherein, in the belt tension estimation formula, at least one of the initial tension of the belt and the coefficient is a parameter that changes with a lapse of time or an operating time.

6 . The tension estimation device according to claim 2 , further comprising a transmission mechanism temperature estimation unit that estimates a temperature of the transmission mechanism based on the motor heating value, the friction heating value, and the air-cooling radiation amount, wherein

the belt tension estimation unit estimates the tension of the belt based on the temperature of the transmission mechanism estimated by the transmission mechanism temperature estimation unit.

7 . The tension estimation device according to claim 1 , wherein the transmission mechanism is made of a member, a life of which changes as the tension of the belt changes.

8 . The tension estimation device according to claim 1 , wherein the belt tension estimation unit generates a learned model for estimating the tension of the belt from the motor heating value and the friction heating value by machine learning using the motor heating value and the friction heating value.

9 . The tension estimation device according to claim 8 , further comprising a storage unit that stores the learned model generated by the machine learning, wherein

the belt tension estimation unit estimates the tension of the belt using the learned model stored in the storage unit, based on the motor heating value and the friction heating value.

10 . The tension estimation device according to claim 8 , wherein the machine learning is supervised learning using training data in which the motor heating value and the friction heating value used as input data are associated with an actually measured value of the tension of the belt used as a label.

11 . A life evaluation device comprising:

the tension estimation device according to claim 1 ; and

a life estimation unit that estimates life of the transmission mechanism based on the tension of the belt estimated by the tension estimation device.

12 . The life evaluation device according to claim 11 , further comprising a remaining life calculation unit that calculates remaining life of the transmission mechanism based on the life of the transmission mechanism estimated by the life estimation unit.

13 . The life evaluation device according to claim 11 , further comprising a replacement date calculation unit that calculates an estimated replacement date of the transmission mechanism based on the life of the transmission mechanism estimated by the life estimation unit.

14 . A robot system comprising:

a robot including a plurality of motors, a plurality of movable portions, and one or more transmission mechanisms that transmit power of at least one of the plurality of motors to the plurality of movable portions through a belt;

a control device that controls the plurality of motors of the robot; and

the life evaluation device according to claim 11 .