Systems and Methods for Communicating in a Predictive Maintenance Program Using Remote Analysts

• US 20140222378A1
• Filed: 02/07/2013
• Published: 08/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/07/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Azima Holdings Incorporated (Fortive Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Azima Holdings Incorporated (Fortive Corp.)
• Inventors: Piety, Kenneth Ralph, Dahl, D. C.
• Granted Patent: US 10,310,496 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/183
• 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

Abstract

A vibration data analysis and communication system to analyze vibration measurements from one or more machines including a sensor to detect vibration signals from a machine-under-test according to a predetermined test, a data acquisition unit to receive the vibration signals and to process the vibration signals to generate vibration data, an input unit to selectively receive field notes information from an operator of the data acquisition unit, a communication unit to transmit the vibration data and the field notes information to a remote analyst over a communication network, and to receive feedback from the remote analyst via the communication network regarding health of the machine-under test based on characteristics of the transmitted vibration data and field notes information, and a control unit to control operations of the sensor, the data acquisition unit, the input unit, and the communication unit.

Claims

1. A vibration data analysis and communication system to analyze vibration measurements from one or more machines, comprising:

a sensor to detect vibration signals from a machine-under-test according to a predetermined test;

a data acquisition unit to receive the vibration signals and to process the vibration signals to generate vibration data;

an input unit to selectively receive field notes information from an operator of the data acquisition unit;

a communication unit to transmit the vibration data and the field notes information to a remote analyst over a communication network, and to receive feedback from the remote analyst via the communication network regarding health of the machine-under test based on characteristics of the transmitted vibration data and field notes information; and

a control unit to control operations of the sensor, the data acquisition unit, the input unit, and the communication unit.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the field notes information includes one or more of a pre-defined note, a typed or handwritten free-text note, a voice recording, a sound recording, a photograph, and a video recording.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the field notes information includes information regarding specific components or locations proximate the machine-under-test.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to prompt the operator to input an acknowledgement to confirm receipt of a received instruction from the remote analyst before any measurement tests can be performed on the machine-under-test.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the control unit is configured to instruct the communication unit to transmit the acknowledgment to the remote analyst.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a remote diagnostic unit connectable to the communication unit and the remote analyst, the remote diagnostic unit including a report generator to generate a diagnostic report based on the received vibration data, the remote diagnostic unit including an instruction unit to transmit an instruction to the remote analyst to review the field notes and to prompt the remote analyst to input an acknowledgement to confirm the field notes have been reviewed before the diagnostic report is generated, and to transmit the acknowledgment to the communication unit.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the control unit includes an expert system to screen the vibration data to identify one of more faults in the vibration data, and to instruct the control module to provide one or more additional test recommendations to the operator based on the one or more faults.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the sensor detects additional vibration signals from the machine-under-test according to the one or more additional tests, and the data acquisition unit receives and processes the additional vibration signals to generate additional vibration data according to the one or more additional tests, and the expert system is configured to screen the additional vibration data to determine whether the one or more identified faults exist in the additional vibration data.

9. The system of claim 8, further comprising:

a remote diagnostic unit in communication with the remote analyst to generate a diagnostic report based on received vibration data, the remote diagnostic unit including an instruction unit to transmit an instruction to the remote analyst to input an acknowledgement to confirm the additional vibration data has been reviewed before the diagnostic report is generated, and to transmit the acknowledgment to the communication unit.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the expert system instructs the control unit to provide one or more recommended maintenance events to the operator based on the one or more faults that exist in the vibration data.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the expert system instructs the control unit to record maintenance status information of the one or more recommended maintenance events, and to transmit an instruction to the remote analyst via the remote diagnostic unit to review the maintenance status information before the diagnostic report is generated.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the remote diagnostic unit is configured to prompt the remote analyst to input another acknowledgment to confirm the maintenance status information has been reviewed, and to transmit the another acknowledgment to the communication unit.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the diagnostic report includes the maintenance status information of the maintenance events for each machine-under-test, and the remote diagnostic unit includes an analysis module to modify the maintenance status information and/or maintenance events via a web portal of the communication network.

14. The system of claim 7, wherein the data acquisition unit expert system contains a list of special test measurements that can be selectively performed on the machine-under-test using predefined and/or customizable test parameters chosen by the operator.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein operator and/or remote analyst can add special tests to the list of special test measurements.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the field notes information includes priority flags to alert the remote analyst to review the received vibration data on a priority basis.

17. The system of claim 1, further comprising a remote control unit connectable to the communication unit over the communication network to enable the remote analyst to remotely control operations of the vibration data analysis and communication system.

18. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a data center to receive the field notes information and the vibration data; and

a processor to detect the presence of new vibration data at the data center, and to inform the remote analyst of its availability.

19. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a data center to receive the field notes information and the vibration data; and

a processor to screen the field notes information, and to inform the remote analyst of vibration data tagged as being in need of immediate attention by the operator.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the field notes information consists of a real-time text, voice, and/or video conversation between the analyst and field technician coupled with mutually accessible test data.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein the control unit includes an expert system to screen the vibration data to identify one of more faults in the vibration data, and automated screening may be controlled by the field notes information.

22. A method of collecting and analyzing vibration data, comprising

detecting vibration signals from a machine-under test according to a predetermined test;

processing the vibration signals to generate vibration data;

inputting field notes information from a field technician corresponding to the vibration data;

transmitting both the vibration data and the field notes information to a remote analyst via a communication network;

remotely accessing and analyzing the vibration data and the field notes information to identify health characteristics of the machine-under test; and

providing feedback to the operator from the remote analyst regarding the health characteristics of the machine-under-test.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the feedback includes instructions to perform additional tests on the machine-under-test.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the feedback includes instructions to perform certain maintenance activities on the machine-under-test.

25. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

generating a diagnostic report based on the health characteristics of the machine-under-test.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

prompting the remote analyst to input an acknowledgment to confirm the field notes information has been reviewed before the diagnostic report can be generated.

27. A vibration analyzer unit to collect data on a predefined set of machines at predefined test locations, comprising:

a sensor to detect vibration signals from a machine-under-test according to one or more predetermined tests;

a data acquisition unit to receive the vibration signals and to process the vibration signals to generate vibration data;

an input unit to receive field notes information from an operator of the data acquisition unit based on physical observations of the machine-under-test; and

a communication unit to transmit the vibration data and the field notes information to a remote analyst over a communication network, and to receive feedback from the remote analyst via the communication network regarding health of the machine-under test based on characteristics of the transmitted vibration data and field notes information.

28. A remote diagnostic center to receive vibration data and field notes information over a communication network from one or more portable or installed vibration analysis units located at one or many machine sites, comprising:

a data center to receive, store, and provide secure backup for the received vibration data and field notes information, the data center including a communication module, a database management module, a diagnostic analysis module, and a portal module to enable one or more remote analysts to review and collaborate on the received vibration data and field notes information, and to monitor and report to a diagnostic center manager whether the vibration data and field notes information corresponding to a particular machine-under-test is being processed by an analyst and will be completed within a specified time interval specific to the machine-under-test,

wherein the communication module includes a monitoring unit to monitor the receipt of prioritized data from the one or more vibration analysis units, and notifies the diagnostic center manager and one or more of the remote analysts of the need for priority review and report on a reduced time schedule of the prioritized data.

29. The remote diagnostic center of claim 28, wherein the communication module includes an alert unit to alert the one or more remote analysts that data from a machine-under-test is ready to be analyzed.

30. The remote diagnostic center of claim 28, wherein the communication module includes an alert unit to alert an operator of the vibration analysis unit that data from a particular machine-under-test or a specified set of machines is due or overdue for collection, and notifies the diagnostic center manager and a manager of the operator when periodic routine data collection is overdue.

31. The remote diagnostic center of claim 28, wherein the communication module is configured to send notifications via pagers, email, text messages, automated voice phone calls, visual representations, or combinations thereof.

32. The remote diagnostic center of claim 28, wherein the analysis module is configured to generate a diagnostic report based on the received vibration data, and the analysis module is configured to alert the one or more remote analysts to the presence of field notes information at the remote diagnostic center, and to prompt the one or more remote analysts to acknowledge the presence of the field notes information before the diagnostic report is completed.

33. The remote diagnostic center of claim 28, wherein the analysis module is configured to enable the one or more remote analysts to generate requested action notes to be executed by the operator of the vibration analysis unit.

34. The remote diagnostic center of claim 28, further comprising:

an operational dashboard module, accessible over the communication network, to report which of the one or more remote analysts are actively analyzing the vibration data, to identify the number of machines assigned to each analyst for review, and to identify overload states which will likely result in reports not being available based on the commitment schedules.

35. The remote diagnostic center of claim 34, wherein the operational dashboard module reports which particular machine is ready for analysis and/or which particular analysts are not active.

36. The remote diagnostic center of claim 28, further comprising:

an operational dashboard module, accessible over the communication network, to identify the state of scheduled data collection for plants being monitored at the data center, and to identify machines or routes of machines that are due or overdue for routine data collection.

37. The remote diagnostic center of claim 28, further comprising:

an operational dashboard module, accessible over the communication network, to identify a remaining time in a response commitment of prioritized data, and to indicate if the prioritized data is currently being analyzed.

38. The remote diagnostic center of claim 28, further comprising:

an operational dashboard module, accessible over the communication network, to estimate a current total analysis workload for all data received for analysis and currently available capacity of available analysts, and to identify a capacity surplus or shortfall.

39. The remote diagnostic center of claim 38, wherein the operational dashboard module presents a workload of each analyst, including total machines to be analyzed and a number of machines to analyze per hour.

40. The remote diagnostic center of claim 28, wherein the communication module generates alert messages to an assigned remote analyst and the diagnostic center manager at a set of checkpoints, including specified percentages of response time that has elapsed for routine and prioritized data.

41. The remote diagnostic center of claim 28, wherein the communication module generates alert messages to a maintenance planner indicating that machines in a particular plant have been reviewed, and generates reports identifying health status and recommended maintenance actions of the machines-under-test.

42. The remote diagnostic center of claim 28, wherein the analysis module the analysis module is configured to generate a diagnostic report based on the received vibration data and to generate events to be tracked for recommended maintenance actions based on review of received vibration data, and to prompt the one or more remote analysts to acknowledge any open maintenance events before the diagnostic report is generated.

43. The remote diagnostic center of claim 28, wherein the portal module is configured to provide a maintenance planner, via the communication network, to review or download requested maintenance events, to create new maintenance events to be tracked, and to provide follow-up information related to each maintenance event until the maintenance event is closed.

44. The remote diagnostic center of claim 28, wherein the portal module is configured to provide the operator, via the communication network, to review or download scheduled data collection routes and to upload data stored in the vibration analysis unit to the data center for review by the one or more remote analysts.

45. The remote diagnostic center of claim 28, wherein the communication module is configured to enable a database of the vibration analysis unit to replicate with a master database in the data center, via the communication network, for data redundancy.