Maintenance management of a machine

• US 20080133178A1
• Filed: 11/30/2006
• Published: 06/05/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Solar Turbines Incorporated (Caterpillar Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Solar Turbines Incorporated (Caterpillar Incorporated)
• Inventors: Byrne, Brian Dara, Stack, Arthur, Brady, Kevin
• Granted Patent: US 7,496,475 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/184
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/32224 Identify parameters with highest probability of failure
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/32226 Computer assisted repair, maintenance of system components
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0235 based on a comparison with predetermined threshold or range, e.g. "classical methods", carried out during normal operation; threshold adaptation or choice; when or how to compare with the threshold
• 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

Methods of providing maintenance management of a machine are disclosed. In one embodiment, the method involves identifying a machine component failure that, if not repaired, will result in a functional failure of the machine. A criticality factor is assigned to the machine component failure based on at least a probability of occurrence of the functional failure and a consequence of the functional failure to a machine user. A maintenance task is generated to repair the machine component failure, and a triggering condition that activates the maintenance task is defined. The method further involves conducting a machine repair in response to a detection of the triggering condition, and maintaining a record that includes information relating to the conducted machine repair. The method of providing maintenance management is also modified based on at least the record.

Claims

1. A method of providing maintenance management of a machine comprising:

identifying a machine component failure that if not repaired will result in a functional failure of the machine;

assigning a criticality factor to the machine component failure based on at least a probability of occurrence of the functional failure and a consequence of the functional failure to a machine user;

generating a maintenance task to repair the machine component failure;

defining a triggering condition that activates the maintenance task;

conducting a machine repair in response to a detection of the triggering condition;

maintaining a record that includes information relating to the conducted machine repair;

calculating performance indicators based on at least the record, the performance indicators including at least a work order backlog; and

modifying the method of providing maintenance management based on at least the calculated performance indicators.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying a machine component failure includes creating a list of machine component failures that affect a functionality of the machine.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein assigning a criticality factor includes determination of the probability of occurrence and the consequence based on discussions between the machine user and a service contractor.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein generating a maintenance task includes generating the maintenance task based on the criticality factor.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein generating a maintenance task includes:

generating a preventive maintenance task;

generating a predictive maintenance task; and

generating a reactive maintenance task.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein generating a maintenance task further includes:

assigning the preventive maintenance task to a machine component failure with an assigned criticality factor that exceeds a predetermined value.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein generating a maintenance task further includes:

assigning the predictive maintenance task to a machine component failure with an assigned criticality factor that exceeds a predetermined value.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein generating a maintenance task further includes:

assigning the reactive maintenance task to a machine component failure that results in a functional failure of the machine.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein defining a triggering condition includes:

setting the triggering condition to activate the preventive maintenance task and the predictive maintenance task before the occurrence of the functional failure.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein defining a triggering condition includes:

setting the triggering condition to activate the reactive maintenance task after the occurrence of the functional failure.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the machine includes a turbine.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein maintaining a record includes:

recording one or more machine codes that include details of an unplanned machine failure.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein recording one or more machine codes includes:

recording information related to how the unplanned machine failure occurred and at least one symptom that was detected during or prior to the unplanned machine failure.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the performance indicators further includes at least one of inventory growth year-to-date, inventory value, and part consumption.

15. The method of claim 5, wherein modifying the method includes:

modifying the method to increase at least one of the predictive maintenance task and the preventive maintenance task and decrease the reactive maintenance tasks, based on at least the performance metric.

16. A method of maintenance management of a machine comprising:

classifying a machine failure as a critical failure or a non-critical failure based on at least a potential effect of the machine failure on a machine user and a probability of the machine failure;

identifying a critical failure of the machine based on an indicator reflecting a likelihood of the critical failure;

conducting a first machine maintenance before an occurrence of the critical failure;

conducting a second machine maintenance after an occurrence of the non-critical failure;

determining an effectiveness of the maintenance management, the effectiveness including at least a percentage representation of a total number of first machine maintenance divided by a total number of first and second machine maintenance; and

modifying the method of maintenance management to increase the percentage.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein determining an effectiveness includes:

recording one or more machine codes containing information on at least how the machine failure occurred and a symptom that was detected during or prior to the non-critical machine failure.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein determining an effectiveness further includes:

computation of performance indicators in at least one of the areas of work management, inventory management or failure management.

19. A method of providing maintenance management for machines located at a geographically separated worksites comprising:

classifying a failure of at least some of the machines based on a criticality of the failure to a functioning of the worksite, the machines including multiple first machines located at a first worksite and multiple second machines located at a second worksite geographically separated from the first worksite;

developing a predictive maintenance task based on the classification;

developing a preventive maintenance task based on the classification;

scheduling the preventive maintenance task to perform maintenance of a plurality of the first machines or a plurality of the second machines at a same time;

scheduling the predictive maintenance task to perform maintenance of a plurality of the first machines or a plurality of the second machines at a same time;

maintaining a record that includes information related to the performance of the maintenance;

calculating a performance metric based on the record; and

modifying the method of providing maintenance management based on at least the performance metric.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein, modifying the method includes modifying the method by comparing the performance metric to a second performance metric, the second performance metric being a previously calculated performance metric.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the performance metric and the second performance metric are calculated at two different worksites.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the first machine includes a plurality of turbines and the second machine includes a plurality of turbines.

23. The method of claim 19, further including scheduling the predictive maintenance task and a preventive maintenance task in one or more of an inventory management system and a personnel scheduling system.

24. The method of claim 19, wherein developing a predictive maintenance task includes estimating a time of failure based on readings from a sensor coupled to the machines.