Method for determining operational information of a metering pump

Abstract

Disclosed herein are embodiments of a method for determining operational information of a metering pump, the metering pump comprising a dosing chamber, a displacement member and a drive motor for driving the displacement member, wherein the method comprises: receiving a plurality of detected values of an indicator quantity indicative of a strength of activation of the displacement member at respective positions of the displacement member during operation of the metering pump; computing the operational information from a machine-learning model trained to output said operational information responsive to receiving a plurality of input values derived from detected values of the indicator quantity.

1 . A method for determining operational information of a metering pump, the metering pump comprising a dosing chamber, a displacement member and a drive motor for driving the displacement member, wherein the method comprises:
 a) receiving a plurality of detected values of an indicator quantity indicative of a strength of activation of the displacement member at respective positions of the displacement member during operation of the metering pump;   b) computing the operational information from a machine-learning model trained to output said operational information responsive to receiving a plurality of input values derived from detected values of the indicator quantity.   
     
     
         2 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the indicator quantity comprises a pressure inside the dosing chamber and/or a torque of the drive motor. 
     
     
         3 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the operational information includes a classification of an operational condition of the metering pump, in particular classification of an error condition of the metering pump. 
     
     
         4 . A method according to  claim 3 , wherein the machine-learning model includes a classification model trained to output an identifier of one of a plurality of discrete classes. 
     
     
         5 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the operational information includes a value of an operational parameter. 
     
     
         6 . A method according to  claim 5 , wherein the machine-learning model includes a regression model trained to output a value of a continuous-valued operational parameter. 
     
     
         7 . A method according to  claim 5 , wherein the operational parameter is indicative of one or more of the following operational parameters: a discharge pressure, an effective stroke length, and a discharge flow. 
     
     
         8 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the machine-learning model is configured to receive a plurality of input values of the indicator quantity, each of the plurality of input values being associated with a respective position of the displacement member, and wherein the machine-learning model is configured to output said operational information responsive to receiving at least said plurality of input values. 
     
     
         9 . A method according to  claim 8 , comprising:
 receiving position data indicative of monitored positions of the displacement member during operation of the metering pump, or computing position data from at least the received detected values of the indicator quantity;   computing the plurality of input values from the received detected values of the indicator quantity and from the received or computed position data.   
     
     
         10 . A method according to  claim 8 , wherein the machine-learning model is configured to receive a plurality of pairs of input data, each pair of input data comprising a position of the displacement member and a corresponding value of the indicator quantity at said position, and wherein the machine-learning model is configured to output said operational information responsive to receiving said plurality of pairs of input data. 
     
     
         11 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the machine-learning model is configured to receive a time series of detected values of the indicator quantity at respective points in time and to output said operational information responsive to receiving said time series of detected values of the indicator quantity. 
     
     
         12 . A method according to  claim 11 , wherein the machine-learning model includes a first machine-learning model and a second machine-learning model, the first machine-learning model being configured to compute a plurality of input values of the indicator quantity based on the received time series of detected values of the indicator quantity at respective points in time during the operation of the metering pump, each input value being indicative of a value of the indicator quantity at a respective position of the displacement member; the second machine-learning model being configured to output the operational information responsive to receiving the computed plurality of input values. 
     
     
         13 . A computer-implemented method for creating a trained machine-learning model for use in a method according to  claim 1 , the training method comprising:
 a) obtaining a set of training data items, each training data item including a plurality of input values and a corresponding target output, the plurality of input values being indicative of an indicator quantity indicative of a strength of activation of a displacement member of a metering pump at respective positions of the displacement member during operation of said metering pump, the corresponding target output being indicative of operational information observable during said operation of said metering pump;   b) training a machine-learning model from the obtained set of training data to output operational information responsive to receiving a plurality of input values.   
     
     
         14 . A data processing system configured to perform the steps of the method defined in  claim 1 . 
     
     
         15 . A metering pump comprising a dosing chamber, a displacement member, a drive motor for driving the displacement member, and a data processing system as defined in  claim 14 . 
     
     
         16 . A system comprising a metering pump and a data processing system as defined in  claim 15 ;
 wherein the metering pump comprises a dosing chamber, a displacement member, a drive motor for driving the displacement member.   
     
     
         17 . A system according to  claim 16 , wherein the data processing system is separate from the metering pump and comprises an interface for receiving a plurality of detected values of an indicator quantity indicative of a strength of activation of the displacement member at respective positions of the displacement member during operation of the metering pump. 
     
     
         18 . A system according to  claim 16 , wherein the metering pump further comprises the data processing system. 
     
     
         19 . A computer program comprising computer program code configured, when executed by a data processing system, to cause the data processing system to perform the steps of the method according to  claim 1 .