INDUSTRIAL PLANT EQUIPMENT, PROCESS AND MAINTENANCE OPTIMIZATION

• US 20140074260A1
• Filed: 09/12/2012
• Published: 03/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ABB Schweiz AG (ABB Limited)
• Original Assignee: ABB Technology AG (ABB Limited)
• Inventors: Schroeder, John P., Mulders, Eric
• Granted Patent: US 9,626,634 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/73
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 13/00 Adaptive control systems, i.e. systems automatically adjusting themselves to have a performance which is optimum according to some preassigned criterion G05B19/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/41865 characterised by job scheduling, process planning, material flow
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3457 Performance evaluation by simulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3466 Performance evaluation by tracing or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/1016 Performance improvement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06393 Score-carding, benchmarking or key performance indicator [KPI] analysis
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/80 Management or planning

Abstract

A method includes obtaining at least first, second and third data corresponding to an industrial plant, wherein the first data is indicative of a performance of equipment of the industrial plant, the second data is indicative of a process of the industrial plant, and third data is indicative of a reliability of the industrial plant, analyzing the first, second and third data with respect to predetermined metrics of the industrial plant, and generating a signal indicative of a recommendation for at least one of use of the equipment or implementation of the process based on a result of the analyzing.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

obtaining at least first, second and third data corresponding to an industrial plant, wherein the first data is indicative of a performance of equipment of the industrial plant, the second data is indicative of a process of the industrial plant, and third data is indicative of a reliability of the industrial plant;

analyzing the first, second and third data with respect to predetermined metrics of the industrial plant; and

generating a signal indicative of a recommendation for at least one of use of the equipment or implementation of the process based on a result of the analyzing.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining fourth data indicative of energy usage of the industrial plant;

analyzing the first, second, third and fourth data with respect to the predetermined metrics of the industrial plant; and

generating the signal indicative of the recommendation for at least one of the use of the equipment or the implementation of the process based on the result of the analyzing.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

obtaining fifth data indicative of an environmental characteristic of the industrial plant;

analyzing the first, second, third, fourth and fifth data with respect to the predetermined metrics of the industrial plant; and

generating the signal indicative of the recommendation for at least one of the use of the equipment or the implementation of the process based on the result of the analyzing.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

obtaining sixth data indicative of a safety characteristic of the industrial plant;

analyzing the first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth data with respect to the predetermined metrics of the industrial plant; and

generating the signal indicative of the recommendation for at least one of the use of the equipment or the implementation of the process based on the result of the analyzing.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first data is indicative of a performance of electrification or automation equipment of the industrial plant.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the analyzing of the first data includes diagnosing the electrical or automation equipment.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the second data is indicative of downtime, production rate, control performance or product quality of the industrial plant.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the signal includes information specific to the industrial plant.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the industrial plant is a mineral mining plant.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

scanning the plant after implementation of the recommendation, acquiring post-implementation data; and

generating a second signal indicative of a second recommendation for at least one of the maintenance of the equipment or the implementation of the process based on a result of analyzing of the post-implementation data.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

tracking the implementation of the recommendation.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first data is indicative of a performance of at least one of uptime, speed, efficiency, hardware component or a software revision of electrical equipment of the industrial plant.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the recommendation includes maintenance improvement recommendations for at least one of equipment, process performance, or reliability.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the equipment recommendation includes a recommendation for at least one of training, preventive maintenance, emergency maintenance, predictive maintenance, life cycle strategy or support availability.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the process performance recommendation includes a recommendation for at least one of control effectiveness, rate, or downtime.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the reliability recommendation includes a recommendation for at least one of maintenance strategy or maintenance process.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the recommendation includes an index profile of the industrial plant before implementation of the recommendation and forecasted index profiles of the industrial plant after the implementation of the recommendation.

18. A system, comprising:

a data collector that obtains at least first, second and third data corresponding to an industrial plant, wherein the first data is indicative of a performance of equipment of the industrial plant, the second data is indicative of a process of the industrial plant, and third data is indicative of a reliability of the industrial plant;

a data analyzer that analyzes the first, second and third data with respect to predetermined metrics of the industrial plant; and

a recommender that generates a signal indicative of a recommendation for at least one of maintenance of the equipment or improvement of the process performance based on a result of the analyzing.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the recommendation includes results from at least one of the data collector or the data analyzer.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the recommendations are for maintenance improvements, process improvements, or reliability improvements.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the data collector further collects one or more of data indicative of energy usage of the industrial plant, data indicative of an environmental characteristic of the industrial plant, or data indicative of a safety characteristic of the industrial plant.

22. The system of claim 18, wherein the first data is indicative of the performance of an electrification or automation equipment of the industrial plant or the second data is indicative of a downtime of the industrial plant.

23. The system of claim 18, further comprising:

a data scanner that scans the plant after implementation of the recommendation, acquiring post-implementation data and generates a second signal indicative of a second recommendation for at least one of the maintenance of the equipment or the implementation of the process based on a result of analyzing of the post-implementation data.

24. The system of claim 18, wherein the recommendation includes an index profile of the industrial plant before implementation of the recommendation and forecasted index profiles of the industrial plant after the implementation of the recommendation.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the index profile includes at least one of a preventive maintenance strategy index, an emergency maintenance strategy index, a training index, predictive maintenance strategy index, life cycle strategy index, or support availability index presented per equipment class for one or more plants for one or more customers.

26. The system of claim 24, wherein the index profile includes at least one of a preventive maintenance strategy index, an emergency maintenance strategy index, a training index, predictive maintenance strategy index, life cycle strategy index, or support availability index presented per equipment type between equipment classes for the plant for one or more plants for one or more customers.

27. The system of claim 24, wherein indexing is based on unique equipment specific data collection techniques and kpi'"'"'s.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein index information from multiple plants provides at least one benchmark across at least one of plants, regions, or industries.

29. A computer readable storage medium encoded with one or more computer executable instructions, which, when executed by a processor of a computing system, causes the processor to:

obtain at least first, second and third data corresponding to an industrial plant, wherein the first data is indicative of a performance of equipment of the industrial plant, the second data is indicative of a process of the industrial plant, and third data is indicative of a reliability of the industrial plant;

analyze the first, second and third data with respect to predetermined metrics of the industrial plant; and

generate a signal indicative of a recommendation for at least one of use of the maintenance of equipment, improvement of the process or improvement of reliability based on a result of the analyzing.