Digital design and maintenance system and method

• US 20040024788A1
• Filed: 08/05/2002
• Published: 02/05/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Todd E Vander Hill
• Original Assignee: Todd E Vander Hill
• Inventors: Hill, Todd Vander, Bellasperanza, Joe
• Granted Patent: US 7,333,991 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/200
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A web-based plant maintenance system and method for organizing, retrieving, and displaying information relevant to plant maintenance which utilizes a database and a software application. Information relevant to plant maintenance is stored in the database. The software application utilizes the information to create a hierarchy of pages capable of being viewed in a web-browser. An end user can then access the appropriate page by navigating through the hierarchy, or by associating the web pages with design entities in a computer-aided drafting model.

Claims

1. A web-based maintenance system, comprising:

a) a database containing information relevant to plant maintenance;

b) a software application which is configured to access the information from the database to create pages which are viewable in a web browser; and

c) a plurality of selectively viewable pages created by the software application displaying information from said database relevant to plant maintenance, wherein each page created by the software application contains links to other pages that also display information relevant to plant maintenance.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the pages created by the software application creates associations between plant entities.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the pages created by the software application is a document list page;

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the database is structured in a manner that enables a user, through the software application, to

a) associate information in the database with corresponding plant entities;

and

b) create pages so that each page will contain information and links regarding a corresponding plant entity.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the maintenance information stored in the database includes one or more of:

a) images of plant entities;

b) technical drawings;

c) maintenance manuals;

d) assembly instructions;

e) field notes;

f) purchase orders;

g) elevation drawings;

h) supplier documents;

i) fabrication drawings;

j) supplier web site locations;

k) plant entity names and numbers;

l) associations between plant entities.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the information displayed on the web pages relates to one or more of the following entities within a plant:

a) a model of machinery within the plant;

b) a unit of a model of machinery within the plant;

c) a piece of equipment of a unit within the plant;

d) a component of a piece of equipment within the plant;

e) a piping line associated with a unit within the plant;

or

f) a part of a piping line within the plant.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the software application pages are arranged to link to each other in a hierarchical manner from a broad plant entity to a more specific plant entity.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a model of a plant created in a computer-aided drafting software application, wherein a software application page containing information regarding an entity within the plant will be displayed upon the selection of an image of that entity within the model of the plant.

9. The system of claim 8, further comprising a software tree, wherein

a) the nodes of the software tree are associated with entities in the model;

b) upon the selection of an entity within the model, the software tree will expand to display the node associated with the selected entity; and

c) by selecting the node the page depicting maintenance information relevant to the selected entity will be enabled.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising a software tree, wherein

a) each node of the tree is associated with a page containing information regarding a corresponding entity within the plant;

and

b) a page containing information regarding a particular entity within the plant can be displayed upon the selection of a corresponding node of the tree.

11. A method for accessing information relevant to plant maintenance, comprising the steps of:

a) displaying a web page containing textual information and/or graphic representations of at least one plant entity;

b) selecting a plant entity on the web page via a text or graphic link; and

c) displaying information and/or further links about the selected plant entity related to maintenance of said plant entity.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein steps (a)-(c) are repeated through a hierarchy of pages.

13. The method of claim 11, further including the step of selecting a software node which relates to a particular plant entity.

14. The method of claim 11, further including the step of selecting a graphic image of an entity in a computer-aided drafting model.

15. A method for creating a web-based digital maintenance system, comprising the steps of:

a) defining a hierarchy of entities within a plant;

b) creating a database of plant component identifiers;

c) structuring the database in accordance with the defined hierarchy;

d) entering information relevant to maintenance of each plant entity into the database in the appropriate hierarchical location;

e) accessing the information from the database;

f) creating pages capable of being viewed in a web browser based upon the information accessed from the database; and

g) linking the web pages to one another in the defined hierarchical order.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein at least one of the pages created is a gateway page.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein at least one of the pages created is a document list page.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising the steps of:

a) creating a model of the plant using a computer-aided design software application;

b) linking entities within the model to pages containing maintenance information relative to said entities.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising the steps of:

a) creating a model of the plant using a computer-aided design software application;

b) creating a software tree within the model;

c) linking nodes of the software tree to pages containing maintenance information relative to said nodes.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising the steps of:

a) creating a model of the plant using a computer-aided design software application;

b) creating a software tree within the model;

c) associating nodes of the software tree to entities within the model;

d) linking nodes of the software tree to pages containing maintenance information relative to said nodes.