System for administering life of plant

• US 5,027,268 A
• Filed: 10/12/1989
• Issued: 06/25/1991
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/1988
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Miyata, Hiroshi, Sakurai, Shigeo, Kaneko, Ryoichi, Tan, Toshimi
• Primary Examiner(s): RUGGIERO, JOSEPH F
• Application Number:
  US07/420,520
• Time in Patent Office: 621 Days
• Field of Search: 364/184-187, 364/506-508, 364/550, 364/551.01, 364/551.02, 364/474.17, 340/679, 73/799, 73/760, 73/763
• US Class Current: 700/79
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 3/00 Registering or indicating the condition or the working of machines or other apparatus, other than vehicles

Abstract

A system clarifies the damaged state of a plant, and estimates the life expectancy of the plant so as to administer the integrity of the plant. The system includes an apparatus for estimating the life expectancy of each of various pieces of component constituting the plant, a data base controlling apparatus, an apparatus for estimating the life expectancy of the entire plant, and a plant life extension and evaluation apparatus. The system is capable of making a specific proposal of a life extension plan which is necessary to and effective for the extension of the entire plant, and which is proposed including economical evaluation, thereby facilitating the conservation of the integrity of the plant, and also facilitating the maintenance and control thereof.

Claims

1. A system for administering the life of a plant comprising:

a data controlling apparatus for storing and controlling at least the data on the design conditions of the plant, the operation history of the plant, the characteristics of the materials forming members of the plant, and the history of repair and troubles of the plant;

a component-corresponding life expectancy estimating apparatus for estimating the life expectancy of various pieces of component constituting the plant on the basis of the damaged state of each piece of the component, and on the basis of data on the history of each piece of the component which is stored in said data controlling apparatus;

a plant life expectancy estimating apparatus for making an overall judgement of the result of the estimation of said component-corresponding life expectancy estimating apparatus, and for estimating the life expectancy of the entire plant;

a plant life extension and evaluation apparatus for determining, on the basis of the result of the estimation of said plant life expectancy estimating apparatus, the optimum plan for the extension of the life of each of certain pieces of component selected on the basis of the degree of importance, and for evaluating the grading-up of the component, including the economical value thereof; and

an output apparatus for outputting and displaying information on the result of the determination of said plant life extension and evaluation apparatus.

2. A system for administering the life of a plant according to claim 1, wherein said component-corresponding life expectancy estimating apparatus estimates the life expectancy of the various pieces of component while taking into consideration both non-destructive damage detection values obtained with respect to members of each piece of the component and damage detection values resulting from destructive tests of samples collected from the members of the component.

3. A system for administering the life of a plant according to claim 1, wherein said data controlling apparatus stores data recorded therein and concerning at least the design specification of the various pieces of component of the plant, the operation history of the same, the history of periodical inspection of the same, the history of repair of the same, and the history of troubles of the same, and said data controlling apparatus controls data on changes of the various pieces of component with passage of time in such a manner that said data are filed as falling under the above-listed items.

4. A system for administering the life of a plant according to claim 1, wherein said plant life extension and evaluation apparatus determines the optimum life extension plan while taking into consideration, as the necessary conditions, at least a future operation schedule and the service life required of the plant.

5. A system for administering the life of a plant according to claim 1, wherein said plant life extension and evaluation apparatus selects, as the optimum life extension plan, one of the change of the operation mode, partial repair, and the renewal or replacement of members or component of the plant.

6. A system for administering the life of a plant comprising:

a data controlling apparatus for storing and controlling at least the data on the design conditions of the plant, the operation history of the plant, the characteristics of the materials forming members of the plant, and the history of repair and troubles of the plant;

a damage detecting means for detecting the damaged state of members of various pieces of component constituting the plant;

a component-corresponding life expectancy estimating apparatus for estimating the life expectancy of the various pieces of component on the basis of values resulting from the detection of said damage detecting means and on the basis of data on the history of each piece of the component which is stored in said data controlling apparatus;

a plant life expectancy estimating apparatus for making an overall judgement of the result of the estimation of said component-corresponding life expectancy estimating apparatus, and for estimating the life expectancy of the entire plant;

a plant life extension and evaluation apparatus for determining, on the basis of the result of the estimation of said plant life expectancy estimating apparatus, the optimum plan for the extension of the life of each of certain pieces of component selected on the basis of the degree of importance, and for evaluating the grading-up of the component, including the economical value thereof; and

an output apparatus for outputting and displaying information on the result of the determination of said plant life extension and evaluation apparatus.

7. A system for administering the life of a plant according to claim 6, wherein said damage detecting means has a non-destructive damage detecting means and a destructive damage detecting means employing fine test pieces prepared as samples collected from the actual component of the plant, said damage detecting means makes three different component-corresponding life expectancy estimations with respect to each piece of the component on the basis of detection data provided by said destructive damage detecting means, detection data provided by said non-destructive damage detecting means, and the operation history data stored in said data controlling apparatus, said damage detecting means being capable of recommending detailed estimation of the life expectancy of component if at least one of the results of the three different estimations of the life expectancy of this component falls outside an allowable range.

8. A system for administering the life of a plant according to claim 6, wherein said plant life expectancy estimating apparatus makes an overall judgement of the result of the estimation of said component-corresponding life expectancy estimating apparatus, while evaluating each of the various pieces of component in accordance with their degrees of importance from the viewpoint of the integrity of the entire plant, said plant life expectancy estimating apparatus being capable of generating an output recommending the adoption of future maintenance and control measures if the level of damage of the component corresponds to an early stage, capable of generating an output proposing the abandonment of the plant if the level of damage of the component corresponds to a stage where proper functions as component are lost, and capable of generating an output to said plant life extension and evaluation apparatus so that the integrity of the plant will be improved and the life of the plant is extended if the level of damage of the component corresponds to a stage before these functions are lost.

9. A system for administering the life of a plant in which the damaged state of each of various pieces of component constituting the plant is detected by detecting damage thereof, the life expectancy of each of the pieces of component is assessed, and, on the basis of this assessment, the life of the component is administered, comprising:

a data base controlling apparatus for storing and controlling at least the data on the design conditions of the plant, the operation history of the plant, the characteristics of the materials forming members of the plant, and the history of repair and troubles of the plant;

a component-corresponding life expectancy estimating apparatus for estimating the life expectancy of each piece of the component by detecting the damaged state of the piece of the component constituting the plant, and by employing the result of this detection and said data base controlling apparatus storing data on the history of each piece of the component;

a plant life expectancy estimating apparatus for estimating, on the basis of the result of the estimation of said component-corresponding life expectancy estimating apparatus, the life expectancy of the entire plant; and

a plant life extension and evaluation apparatus for determining, on the basis of the result of the estimation of said plant life expectancy estimating apparatus, the optimum plan for the extension of the life of each of certain pieces of component selected on the basis of the degree of importance, and for evaluating the grading-up of the component, including the economical value thereof.

10. A system for administering the life of a plant according to claim 9, wherein said data base controlling apparatus stores data recorded therein and concerning at least the design specification of the various pieces of component of the plant, the operation history of the same, the history of periodical inspection of the same, the history of repair of the same, and the history of troubles of the same, and said data base controlling apparatus controls data on changes of the various pieces of component with passage of time in such a manner that said data are filed as falling under the above-listed items.