Expert system for surveillance, diagnosis and prognosis of plant operation
First Claim
1. A method for analyzing operating conditions in a plant, comprising the steps of:
- (a) obtaining plant condition data indicative of the operating conditions in the plant;
(b) evaluating the plant condition data using an expert system rule base to determine probabilities of existence of abnormal circumstances;
(c) predicting effects of the abnormal circumstances in dependence upon the plant condition
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An expert system is used to perform surveillance, diagnosis and prognosis of a plant such as a nuclear reactor used in electrical power generation. The expert system uses one of current actual plant data, previously stored actual plant data or simulated plant data as plant condition data to perform an evaluation of operating conditions in the plant. When current actual plant data is used, a data acquisition system supplies the plant condition data. The expert system accesses the plant condition data, regardless of its source, periodically as a surveillance frame is triggered by the rules in the root frame controlling the expert system. Other frames in the expert system perform diagnosis and prognosis of the plant condition.
80 Citations
14 Claims
-
1. A method for analyzing operating conditions in a plant, comprising the steps of:
-
(a) obtaining plant condition data indicative of the operating conditions in the plant; (b) evaluating the plant condition data using an expert system rule base to determine probabilities of existence of abnormal circumstances; (c) predicting effects of the abnormal circumstances in dependence upon the plant condition - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
-
-
8. A method of analyzing operating conditions in a plant, comprising the steps of:
-
(a) providing alternative methods for obtaining plant condition data indicative of the operating conditions in the plant, the alternative methods including (a1) monitoring operational units in the plant to obtain current actual plant data as the plant condition data; (a2) inputting previously recorded actual plant data as the plant condition data; and (a3) receiving simulated plant data as the plant condition data; (b) selecting one of said monitoring of step (a1), said inputting of step (a2) and said receiving of step (a3) to obtain the plant condition data; and (c) evaluating the plant condition data, concurrently with said monitoring in step (a1), using an expert system rule base to determine probabilities of existence of abnormal circumstances. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11)
-
-
12. An apparatus for analyzing operating conditions in a plant, comprising:
-
data input means for obtaining plant condition data indicative of the operating conditions in the plant by continuously monitoring operational units in the plant to obtain current actual plant data as the plant condition data; storage means for storing an expert system rule base; and evaluation means for evaluating, concurrently with the monitoring performed by said data input means, the plant condition data using the expert system rule base to determine probabilities of existence of abnormal conditions. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14)
-
Specification