Method of managing maintenance and maintenance managing apparatus

• US 20060293866A1
• Filed: 08/18/2006
• Published: 12/28/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Araki, Kenji, Utaka, Kenji, Kaimori, Kimihiro
• Granted Patent: US 7,328,133 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/133
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0213 Modular or universal configuration of the monitoring system, e.g. monitoring system having modules that may be combined to build monitoring program; monitoring system that can be applied to legacy systems; adaptable monitoring system; using different communication protocols
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0283 Predictive maintenance, e.g. involving the monitoring of a system and, based on the monitoring results, taking decisions on the maintenance schedule of the monitored system; Estimating remaining useful life [RUL] preventive maintenance, i.e. planning maintenance according to the available resources without monitoring the system G06Q10/06
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

Structural members constructing a plant are classified into a plurality of groups on basis of a likeness criterion of a predetermined operation status. An index member having a higher degradation tendency than the structural members belonging to the group is installed at at least a part of at least one of structural member to generate an inspection plan through actual inspection of the index member to provide reduction in the number of structural members to be inspected and an extended inspection interval without decrease in reliability.

Claims

1. A method of managing maintenance for a plant, comprising the steps of:

(a) grouping structural members of the plant on the basis of a likeness criterion of a predetermined operation status into a plurality of groups; and

(b) installing an index member to be inspected at at least a part of at least one of the structural members belonging to each group, the index member having a higher degradation tendency than the other structural members in the group.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step (b) comprises steps of:

predicting degradation of the structural members belonging to each group to estimate degradation tendencies; and

selecting the at least one of the structural members among a part of the structural members having large degradation tendencies on the basis of the result of predicting the degradation.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the degradation is predicted for each of the structural members on the basis of degradation prediction data in consideration of design information piece, operation information, and maintenance history information piece, of the structural members to estimate the degradation tendencies.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the likeness criterion of the operation status is determined on the basis of a circumstance under which each of the structural member is used and which is a factor influencing on the degradation of the structural members and on the basis of a method of using the structural member that provides different degradation judging criteria.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the likeness criterion of the operation status is determined on the basis of at least one of the design information piece and the maintenance history information piece in addition to the circumstances and the methods.

6. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the likeness criterion of the operation status is determined on the basis of circumstances under which each of the structural members is used and which is a factor influential in the degradation of the structural member and on the basis of method of using the structural member that provides different degradation judging criterion.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the likeness criterion of the operation status is determined on the basis of at least one of design information piece and maintenance history information piece in addition to the circumstances and the methods.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the likeness criterion for the operation status is determined on the basis of a circumstance under which each of the structural members is used and which is a factor influential in the degradation of the structural members and on the basis of a method of using the structural member that provides a different degradation judging criterion.

9. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the likeness criterion of the operation status is determined on the basis of at least one of design information piece and maintenance history information piece in addition to the circumstances and the methods.

22. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the index member is installed in place of the selected at least one of the structural members.

10. A method of managing maintenance for a plant comprising:

a first step of grouping structural members of the plant on the basis of likeness criterion of a predetermined operation status into a plurality of groups;

a second step of predicting degradation of the structural members belonging to each group to estimate the degradation tendencies;

a third step of selecting at least one of the structural members having a high degradation tendency; and

a fourth step of installing an index member to be inspected at at least a part of at least one of the structural members belonging to each group, the index member having a higher degradation tendency than the other structural members in the group.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10, further comprising a fifth step of obtaining an actual degradation tendency of the index member by actually inspecting the index member and generating, on the basis of the obtained actual degradation tendency, an inspection plan of other structural members in the group to which the index member belongs.

12. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the likeness criterion of the predetermined operation status is determined on the basis of circumstances under which the structural members are used and which are an influence factor on the degradation of the structural members and methods of using the structural members that provide different degradation judging criterion.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the likeness criterion of the operation status is determined on the basis of at least one piece of design information and maintenance history information in addition to the circumstances and the methods.

14. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the fifth step comprising the steps of:

obtaining a quantitative index of the actual degradation tendency of the index member,

calculating life expectancies of other structural members belonging the same group on the basis of the obtained quantitative index; and

generating the plan for carrying out inspection before expiration of the life expectancies of the structural members.

15. The method as claimed in claim 10, the degradation tendencies of structural members belonging to each group are estimated by predicting on the basis of design information piece, operation information, and maintenance history information piece, of the structural members.

16. The method as claimed in claim 15, wherein the likeness criterion of the predetermined operation status is determined on the basis of circumstances under which the structure members are used and which are an influence factor on the degradation of the structural members and methods of using the structural members that provide different degradation judging criterion.

17. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the likeness criterion of the operation status is determined on the basis of at least piece of the design information piece and the maintenance history information piece in addition to the circumstances and the methods.

18. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the likeness criterion of the predetermined operation status is determined on the basis of circumstances under which the structure members are used and which are an influence factor on the degradation of the structural members and methods of using the structural members that provide different degradation judging criterion.

19. The method as claimed in claim 18, wherein the likeness criterion of the operation status is determined on the basis of at least one piece of design information piece and maintenance history information piece in addition to the circumstances and the methods.

20. A maintenance managing apparatus for a plant comprising:

structural member grouping means for grouping structural members of the plant on the basis of likeness criterion of a predetermined operation status into a plurality of groups; and

index member setting means for setting an index member to be inspected at at least a part of at least one of the structural members belonging to each group, the index member having a higher degradation tendency than the other structural members in the group.

21. The maintenance managing apparatus as claimed in claim 20, wherein index member setting means comprises:

predicting means for predicting degradation of the structural members belonging to each group to estimate the degradation tendencies; and

selecting means for selecting the at least one of the structural members from a part of the structural members having a high degradation tendency in each group on the basis of the result of predicting the degradation.