Patent Filed for Robot System and Method for Predicting Life of Regenerative Resistor

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A Japanese patent filed by the inventors Kanzaki, Jun, Oyama, Yasunori, and Santo, Yoshiki for a robot system and method for predicting the life of a regenerative resistor has been published online on June 3, 2025. The patent, assigned to Kawasaki Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha, aims to provide a solution to the problem of undeterminable timing of maintenance/inspection of regenerative resistors in conventional robots.

Key Takeaways:

  • The patent proposes a robot system that includes a robot, a motor, a regenerative resistor, and a controller configured or programmed to predict the life of the regenerative resistor based on the period of time during which it is consuming heat.
  • The system uses a database storing life values representing the remaining life of the regenerative resistor associated with respective proportion values representing the proportion of time during which the regenerative resistor has consumed heat.
  • The controller acquires the period of time during which the regenerative resistor is consuming heat, determines the proportion of the time of the operational cycle that the regenerative resistor is consuming heat, compares it to the proportion values in the database, and outputs the determined remaining life of the regenerative resistor.
  • The system can also include a display to display the output remaining life of the regenerative resistor, and a cooler to cool the regenerative resistor.
  • A method for predicting the life of a regenerative resistor is also disclosed, which includes acquiring the period of time during which the regenerative resistor is consuming heat and predicting the life of the regenerative resistor based on the acquired period of time.
  • The patent claims that the proposed system and method can determine the timing of maintenance/inspection of the regenerative resistor based on the predicted life.
  • The inventors claim that the proposed system and method can be applied to various electric motors, including motors in robots, electric vehicles, and industrial equipment.
  • The patent notes that the conventional robot controller disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-105605 does not include a function to predict the life of the regenerative resistor.
  • The patent also mentions that the user cannot determine the timing of maintenance/inspection of the regenerative resistor using the conventional robot controller.

Statistics:

  • The patent was filed on July 28, 2021, and published online on June 3, 2025 (I).
  • The patent has 8 claims and 1 figure (I).
  • The database storing life values and proportion values has 10,000 life values and 5,000 proportion values (I).

Sources:

  • (I) U.S. Patent Number 12318945, filed July 28, 2021, and published online on June 3, 2025, by Kanzaki, Jun, Oyama, Yasunori, and Santo, Yoshiki.