METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DETERMINING ASSET RELIABILITY

• US 20070288295A1
• Filed: 05/24/2006
• Published: 12/13/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/24/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: O'Brien, Kirk G., Nold, Robert
• Application Number:
  US11/420,022
• Publication Number:
  US 20070288295A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0635 Risk analysis of enterprise or organisation activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations

Abstract

A method and system for determining asset reliability is provided. The method includes receiving a request to evaluate a component from a requester. The component includes at least a portion of the asset that is operated by the requester. The method also includes acquiring current and historical component-specific data for the component and identifying factors from the current and historical component-specific data. The factors reflect events, the occurrence of which are known to have an effect on asset health. The method further includes determining a component-specific value for the component by applying the factors to a fleet-wide value assigned to a component class to which the component belongs. The method also includes presenting the component-specific value to the requester. The component-specific value is indicative of a potential event with respect to the component.

Claims

1. A method for determining asset reliability, comprising:

receiving a request to evaluate a component from a requester, the component comprising at least a portion of the asset that is operated by the requester;

acquiring at least one of current and historical component-specific data for the component;

identifying factors from the current and historical component-specific data, the factors reflecting events, the occurrence of which are known to have an effect on asset health;

determining a component-specific value for the component by applying the factors to a fleet-wide value assigned to a component class to which the component belongs; and

presenting the component-specific value to the requester, the component-specific value indicative of a potential event with respect to the component.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the historical component-specific data includes results of past inspections and repair histories.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the historical component-specific data includes at least one of:

component age;

component usage; and

component composition.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

defining components of the asset and assigning the factors to each of the components using fleet-wide inspection and repair history information;

quantifying the fleet-wide value for each of the factors based upon at least one of a likelihood of occurrence and measure of risk;

storing the factors and corresponding fleet-wide values in a fleet-wide component database;

generating questions for assessing potential vulnerabilities of the components based upon the factors, the questions addressing symptoms with causal connections to the factors; and

storing the questions in an indicator database.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the acquiring current component-specific data includes:

retrieving at least one question directed to the component from the indicator database in response to the request;

presenting the at least one question to the requester; and

receiving a response that includes current observations and component-specific performance measurements.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

updating the fleet-wide component database to reflect the component-specific value.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a recommended course of action based upon the component-specific value and presenting the recommended course of action to the requester, the recommended course of action including at least one of;

inspection of at least one of the component and asset; and

repair of at least one of the component and asset.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining an asset-specific value for the asset by comparing an aggregate value of the component-specific values determined for a plurality of components of the asset to a fleet-wide value assigned to an asset class to which the asset belongs; and

presenting the asset-specific value to the requester.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

presenting at least one of the component-specific values and the asset-specific value to the requester in graphical form.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the asset comprises an electro-mechanical device.

19. The system of claim 8, wherein the maintenance evaluation application further performs:

presenting at least one of the component-specific values and the asset-specific value to the requester in graphical form.

11. A system for determining asset reliability, comprising:

a computer processing device;

a unit history database in communication with the computer processing device;

a fleet-wide component database in communication with the computer processing device; and

a maintenance evaluation application executing on the computer processing device, the maintenance evaluation application performing;

receiving a request to evaluate a component from a requester, the component comprising at least a portion of the asset that is operated by the requester;

acquiring at least one of current component-specific data for the component from the requester;

acquiring historical component-specific data for the component from the unit history database;

identifying factors from the current and historical component-specific data, the factors reflecting events, the occurrence of which are known to have an effect on asset health;

determining a component-specific value for the component by applying the factors to a fleet-wide value assigned to a component class to which the component belongs, the fleet-wide value retrieved from the fleet-wide component database; and

presenting the component-specific value to the requester, the component-specific value indicative of a potential event with respect to the component.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the historical component-specific data includes results of past inspections and repair histories.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the historical component-specific data includes at least one of:

component age;

component usage; and

component composition.

14. The system of claim 11, further comprising an indicator database in communication with the computer processing device;

wherein the maintenance evaluation application further performs;

defining components of the asset and assigning the factors to each of the components using fleet-wide inspection and repair history information;

quantifying the fleet-wide value for each of the factors based upon at least one of a likelihood of occurrence and measure of risk;

storing the factors and corresponding fleet-wide values in the fleet-wide component database;

generating questions for assessing potential vulnerabilities of the components based upon the factors, the questions addressing symptoms with causal connections to the factors; and

storing the questions in the indicator database.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the acquiring current component-specific data includes:

retrieving at least one question directed to the component from the indicator database in response to the request;

presenting the at least one question to the requester; and

receiving a response that includes current observations and component-specific performance measurements.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the maintenance evaluation application further performs:

updating the fleet-wide component database to reflect the component-specific value.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the maintenance evaluation application further performs:

determining a recommended course of action based upon the component-specific value and presenting the recommended course of action to the requester, the recommended course of action including at least one of;

inspection of at least one of the component and asset; and

repair of at least one of the component and asset.

18. The system of claim 11, further comprising a fleet-wide history database in communication with the computer processing device, wherein the maintenance evaluation application further performs:

determining an asset-specific value for the asset by comparing an aggregate value of the component-specific values determined for a plurality of components of the asset to a fleet-wide value assigned to an asset class to which the asset belongs, the fleet-wide value assigned to the asset received from the fleet-wide history database; and

presenting the asset-specific value to the requester.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the asset comprises an electro-mechanical device.