Draining pump system and drainage preference operating method therefor

• US 5,287,875 A
• Filed: 11/25/1991
• Issued: 02/22/1994
• Est. Priority Date: 11/27/1990
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Otani, Kenji
• Primary Examiner(s): Nilson, Robert G.
• Application Number:
  US07/796,682
• Time in Patent Office: 820 Days
• Field of Search: 364/184, 364/508, 364/509, 364/511, 137/15, 137/565, 137/566, 137/567, 417/53
• US Class Current: 137/15.01
• CPC Class Codes: F04B 2207/703 Stopping
• CPC Class Codes: F04B 49/10 Other safety measures
• CPC Class Codes: F04D 15/02 Stopping of pumps, or operating valves, on occurrence of unwanted conditions
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 137/0402 Cleaning, repairing, or assembling
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 137/86163 Parallel

Abstract

When any component equipment of a draining pump plant is failed, the present necessity of drainage and a failure level of a drain pump involved with the failure are evaluated to determine conditions of continuing or stopping operation of the drain pump involved with the failure on the basis of the evaluated values. When the necessity of continuing the drainage operation is high, the operation is continued as far as possible, taking into account the pump failure level. The possibility of the drainage preference operation is thus maximized in the case of not only a minor failure but also a major failure of the pump, for preventing damage from a flood.

Claims

1. In a draining pump system which includes a drain pump for discharging drained water, flowing into an influent tank, to a river or other watercourse,

a drainage preference operating method for such a draining pump system comprises the steps of evaluating the necessity of drainage when a failure occurs in said draining pump system, and determining conditions of continuing or stopping operation of said drain pump on the basis of said evaluation.

2. In a draining pump system which includes a plurality of drain pumps for discharging drained water, flowing into an influent tank, to a river or other watercourse, prime movers for respectively driving said drain pumps, and a group of auxiliaries for said drain pumps and said prime movers,

a drainage preference operating method for such a draining pump system comprises the steps of, upon the occurrence of a failure in said draining pump system, predicting a period of time taken for a water level in said influent tank to reach an upper limit if operation of the drain pump involved with the failure is stopped, evaluating the necessity of drainage depending on a length of the predicted period of time, and determining conditions of continuing or stopping operation of the failed equipment on the basis of said evaluation.

12. Ad drainage preference operating method for a draining pump system according to claim 2, further comprising the step of indicating a message inclusive of the respective evaluation results necessary for decision of whether to continue or stop operation of the drain pump involved with the failure.

3. In a draining pump system which includes a plurality of drain pumps for discharging drained water, flowing into an influent tank, to a river or other watercourse, prime movers for respectively driving said drain pumps, and a group of auxiliaries for said drain pumps and said prime movers,

a drainage preference operating method for such a draining pump system comprises the steps of, upon the occurrence of a failure in said draining pump system, predicting a time-dependent change in the data relating to the failure based on the operation data of the drain pump involved with the failure, calculating a period of time taken for the predicted data to reach a preset reference value for emergency stop relating to the failure, evaluating a failure level depending on a length of the calculated period of time, and determining conditions of continuing or stopping operation of the failed equipment on the basis of said evaluation.

5. A drainage preference operating method for a draining pump system according to claim 3, further comprising the steps of diagnosing the occurred failure to determine failure causes and probabilities of the causes, finding out the failure cause with the highest probability, and correcting said evaluation of the failure level depending on a risk factor set corresponding to the failure cause found out.

4. In a draining pump system which includes a plurality of drain pumps for discharging drained water, flowing into an influent tank, to a river or other watercourse, prime movers for respectively driving said drain pumps, and a group of auxiliaries for said drain pumps and said prime movers,

a drainage preference operating method for such a draining pump system comprises the steps of, upon the occurrence of a failure in said draining pump system, predicting a change in the data relating to the failure based on both the present operation data of the drain pump involved with the failure and the operation record data for the same failure occurred before, calculating periods of time taken for the predicted data to respectively reach a preset reference value for emergency stop relating to the failure and a limit value in the past operation record, evaluating a failure level depending on larger one of the two calculated periods of time, and determining conditions of continuing or stopping operation of the failed equipment on the basis of said evaluation.

6. In a draining pump system which includes a plurality of drain pumps for discharging drained water, flowing into an influent tank, to a river or other watercourse, prime moves for respectively driving said drain pumps, and a group of auxiliaries for said drain pump and said prime movers,

a drainage preference operating method for such a draining pump system comprises the steps of, upon the occurrence of a failure in said draining pump system, calculating a proportion of the remaining lifetime with respect to the rated lifetime of each equipment part of the drain pump involved with the failure, evaluating a normality level of the ailed equipment depending on the calculated proportion of the remaining lifetime, and determining conditions of continuing or stopping operation of the failed equipment on the basis of said evaluation.

7. In a draining pump system which includes a plurality of drain pumps for discharging drained water, flowing into an influent tank, to a river or other watercourse, prime movers for respectively driving said drain pumps, and a group of auxiliaries for said drain pumps and said prime movers,

a drainage preference operating method for such a draining pump system comprises the steps of, upon the occurrence of a failure in said draining pump system, predicting a period of time taken for a water level in said influent tank to reach an upper limit if operation of the drain pump involved with the failure is stopped, evaluating the necessity of drainage depending on a length of the predicted period of time, and determining conditions of continuing or stopping operation of the failed equipment on the basis of said evaluation, and

further comprises the steps of, when said determination indicates the operation to be continued, predicting a time-dependent change in the data relating to the failure based on the operation data of the drain pump involved with the failure, calculating a period of time taken for the predicted data to reach a preset reference value for emergency stop relating to the failure, evaluating a failure level depending on a length of the calculated period of time, and determining conditions of continuing or stopping operation of the failed equipment on the basis of said evaluation.

9. A drainage preference operating method for a draining pump according to claim 7, further comprising the steps of diagnosing the occurred failure to determine failure causes and probabilities of the causes, finding out the failure cause with the highest probability, and correcting said evaluation of the failure level depending on a risk factor set corresponding to the failure cause found out.

8. In a draining pump system which includes a plurality of drain pumps for discharging drained water, flowing into an influent tank, to a river or other watercourse, prime movers for respectively driving said drain pumps, and a group of auxiliaries for said drain pumps and said prime movers,

a drainage preference operating method for such a draining pump system comprises the steps of, upon the occurrence of a failure in said draining pump system, predicting a period of time taken for a water level in said influent tank to reach an upper limit if operation of the drain pump involved with the failure is stopped, evaluating the necessity of drainage depending on a length of the predicted period of time, and determining conditions of continuing or stopping operation of the failed equipment on the basis of said evaluation, and

further comprises the steps of, when said determination indicates the operation to be continued, predicting a change in the data relating to the failure based on both the present operation data of the drain pump involved with the failure and the operation record data for the same failure occurred before, calculating periods of time taken for the predicted data to respectively reach a preset reference value for emergency stop relating to the failure and a limit value in the past operation record, evaluating a failure level depending on larger one of the two calculated periods of time, and determining conditions of continuing or stopping operation of the failed equipment on the basis of said evaluation.

10. In a draining pump system which includes a plurality of drain pumps for discharging drained water, flowing into an influent tank, to a river or other watercourse, prime movers for respectively driving said drain pumps, and a group of auxiliaries for said drain pumps and said prime movers,

a drainage preference operating method for such a draining pump system comprises the steps of, upon the occurrence of a failure in said draining pump system, a predicting period of time taken for a water level in said influent tank to reach an upper limit if operation of the drain pump involved with the failure is stopped, evaluating the necessity of drainage depending on a length of the predicted period of time, and determining conditions of continuing or stopping operation of the failed equipment on the basis of said evaluation, and

further comprises the steps of, when said determination indicates the operation to be continued, calculating a proportion of the remaining lifetime with respect to the rated lifetime of each equipment part of the drain pump involved with the failure, evaluating a normality level of the failed equipment depending on the calculated proportion of the remaining lifetime, and determining conditions of continuing or stopping operation of the failed equipment on the basis of said evaluation.

11. In a draining pump system which includes a plurality of drain pumps for discharging drained water, flowing into an influent tank, to a river or other watercourse, prime movers for respectively driving said drain pumps, and a group of auxiliaries for said drain pumps and said prime movers,

a drainage preference operating method for such a draining pump system comprises the steps of, upon the occurrence of a failure in said draining pump system, predicting a period of time taken for a water level in said influent tank to reach an upper limit if operation of the drain pump involved with the failure is stopped, evaluating the necessity of drainage depending on a length of the predicted period of time, and determining conditions of continuing or stopping operation of the failed equipment on the basis of said evaluation,

further comprises the steps of, when said determination indicates the operation to be continued, predicting a change in the data relating to the failure based on both the present operation data of the drain pump involved with the failure and the operation record data for the same failure occurred before, calculating periods of time taken for the predicted data to respectively reach a preset reference value for emergency stop relating to the failure and a limit value in the past operation record, evaluating a failure level depending on larger one of the two calculated periods of time, diagnosing the occurred failure to determine failure causes and probabilities of the causes, finding out the failure cause with the highest probability, correcting said evaluation of the failure level depending on a risk factor set corresponding to the failure cause found out, and determining conditions of continuing or stopping operation of the failed equipment on the basis of said corrected evaluation, and

still further comprises the steps of, when said last determination indicates the operation to be continued, calculating a proportion of the remaining lifetime with respect to the rated lifetime of each equipment part of the drain pump involved with the failure, evaluating a normality level of the ailed equipment depending on the calculated proportion of the remaining lifetime, and determining conditions of continuing or stopping operation of the failed equipment on the basis of said evaluation.

13. In a draining pump system which includes a plurality of drain pumps for discharging drained water, flowing into an influent tank, to a river or other watercourse, prime movers for respectively driving said drain pumps, and a group of auxiliaries for said drain pumps and said prime movers,

said draining pump system also includes a drainage preference operating and managing apparatus comprising drainage necessity evaluating means for, upon the occurrence of a failure in said draining pump system, predicting a period of time taken for a water level in said influent tank to reach an upper limit if operation of the drain pump involved with the failure is stopped, evaluating the necessity of drainage depending on a length of the predicted period of time, and determining conditions of continuing or stopping operation of the failed equipment on the basis of said evaluation.

24. A draining pump system according to claim 13, wherein said drainage preference operating and managing apparatus further comprises display means for outputting and indicating a message and at least one of the necessity of drainage, the presence or absence of a spare of the drain pump involved with the failure, the presence or absence of the operation record under the failed condition, the failure level, the operation continuable time, the failure causes, the risk factor and the normality level which are necessary for decision of whether to continue or stop operation of the drain pump involved with the failure.

14. In a draining pump system which includes a plurality of drain pumps for discharging drained water, flowing into an influent tank, to a river or other watercourse, prime movers for respectively driving said drain pumps, and a group of auxiliaries for said drain pumps and said prime movers,

said draining pump system also includes a drainage preference operating and managing apparatus comprising:

an operation data table prepared by collecting operating state data of said draining pump system, and

failure level evaluating means for, upon the occurrence of a failure in said draining pump system, searching said operation data table to extract the operation data of the drain pump associated equipment involved with the failure, predicting a time-dependent change in the data relating to the failure based on the extracted operation data, calculating a period of time taken for the predicted data to reach a preset reference value for emergency stop relating to the failure, evaluating a failure level depending on a length of the calculated period of time, and determining conditions of continuing or stopping operation of the failed equipment on the basis of said evaluation.

16. A draining pump system according to claim 14, wherein said drainage preference operating and managing apparatus further comprises failure diagnosing means for diagnosing the occurred failure to determine failure causes and probabilities of the causes, and finding out the failure cause with the highest probability, and

said failure level evaluating means serves to correct said evaluation of the failure level depending on a risk factor set corresponding to the failure cause found out.

15. In a draining pump system which includes a plurality of drain pumps for discharging drained water, flowing into an influent tank, to a river or other watercourse, prime movers for respectively driving said drain pumps, and a group of auxiliaries for said drain pumps and said prime movers,

said draining pump system also includes a drainage preference operating and managing apparatus comprising:

an operation data table prepared by collecting operating state data of said draining pump system,

an operation record data table prepared by collecting past emergent operation data of the drain pump which have been recorded under a failed condition of said draining pump system, and

failure level evaluating means for, upon the occurrence of a failure in said draining pump system, searching said operation data table and said operation record data table, comparing the present operation data of the drain pump involved with the failure with the past operation record data under the same failed condition of the same or similar equipment, to thereby predict a change in the data relating to the failure, calculating periods of time taken for the predicted data to respectively reach a preset reference value for emergency stop relating to the failure and a limit value in the past operation record, evaluating a failure level depending on larger one of the two calculated periods of time, and determining conditions of continuing or stopping operation of the failed equipment on the basis of said evaluation.

17. In a draining pump system which includes a plurality of drain pumps for discharging drained water, flowing into an influent tank, to a river or other watercourse, prime movers for respectively driving said drain pumps, and a group of auxiliaries for said drain pumps and said prime movers,

said draining pump system also includes a drainage preference operating and managing apparatus comprising normality level evaluating means for, upon the occurrence of a failure in said draining pump system, calculating a proportion of the remaining lifetime with respect to the rated lifetime of each equipment part of the drain pump involved with the failure, evaluating a normality level of the failed equipment depending on the calculated proportion of the remaining lifetime, and determining conditions of continuing or stopping operation of the failed equipment on the basis of said evaluation.

18. In a draining pump system which includes a plurality of drain pumps for discharging drained water, flowing into an influent tank, to a river or other watercourse, prime movers for respectively driving said drain pumps, and a group of auxiliaries for said drain pumps and said prime movers,

an operation data table prepared by collecting operating state data of said draining pump system,

drainage necessity evaluating means for, upon the occurrence of a failure in said draining pump system, predicting a period of time taken for a water level in said influent tank to reach an upper limit if operation of the drain pump involved with the failure is stopped, and determining the necessity of drainage depending on a length of the predicted period of time, and

failure level evaluating means for, when said necessity of drainage is not less than a setting value, searching said operation data table to extract the operation data of the drain pump associated equipment involved with the failure, predicting a time-dependent change in the data relating to the failure based on the extracted operation data, calculating a period of time taken for the predicted data to reach a preset reference value for emergency stop relating to the failure, evaluating a failure level depending on a length of the calculated period of time, and determining conditions of continuing or stopping operation of the failed equipment on the basis of said evaluation.

20. A draining pump system according to claim 18, wherein said drainage preference operating and managing apparatus further comprises failure diagnosing means for diagnosing the occurred failure to determine failure causes and probabilities of the causes, and finding out the failure cause with the highest probability, and

said failure level evaluating means serves to correct said evaluation of the failure level depending on a risk factor set corresponding to the failure cause found out.

19. In a draining pump system which includes a plurality of drain pumps for discharging drained water, flowing into an influent tank, to a river or other watercourse, prime movers for respectively driving said drain pumps, and a group of auxiliaries for said drain pumps and said prime movers,

said draining pump system also includes a drainage preference operating and managing apparatus comprising:

an operation data table prepared by collecting operating state data of said draining pump system,

an operation record data table prepared by collecting emergent operation data of the drain pump which have been recorded under a failed condition of said draining pump system,

drainage necessity evaluating means for, upon the occurrence of a failure in said draining pump system, predicting a period of time taken for a water level in said influent tank to reach an upper limit if operation of the drain pump involved with the failure is stopped, and determining the necessity of drainage depending on a length of the predicted period of time, and

failure level evaluating means for, when said necessity of drainage is not less than a setting value, searching said operation data table and said operation record data table, comparing the present operation data of the drain pump involved with the failure with the past operation record data under the same failed condition of the same or similar equipment, to thereby predict a change in the data relating to the failure, calculating periods of time taken for the predicted data to respectively reach a preset reference value for emergency stop relating to the failure and a limit value in the past operation record, evaluating a failure level depending on larger one of the two calculated periods of time, and determining conditions of continuing or stopping operation of the failed equipment on the basis of said evaluation.

21. In a draining pump system which includes a plurality of drain pumps for discharging drained water, flowing into an influent tank, to a river or other watercourse, prime movers for respectively driving said drain pumps, and a group of auxiliaries for said drain pumps and said prime movers,

said draining pump system also includes a drainage preference operating and managing apparatus comprising:

drainage necessity evaluating means for, upon the occurrence of a failure in said draining pump system, predicting a period of time taken for a water level in said influent tank to reach an upper limit if operation of the drain pump involved with the failure is stopped, and determining the necessity of drainage depending on a length of the predicted period of time, and

normality level evaluating means for, when said necessity of drainage is not less than a setting value, calculating a proportion of the remaining lifetime with respect to the rated lifetime of each equipment pat of the drain pump involved with the failure, evaluating a normality level of the failed equipment depending on the calculated proportion of the remaining lifetime, and determining conditions of continuing or stopping operation of the failed equipment on the basis of said evaluation.

22. A draining pump system according to claim 21, wherein said drainage preference operating and managing apparatus further comprises a maintenance operation data table prepared by collecting trial operation data and subsequent maintenance operation data of said draining pump system, and

said normality level evaluating means searches said maintenance operation data table, determine a change in performance of said drain pump associated equipment involved with failure from the data relating to the failure, and correct said evaluation of the normality level depending on said determined change in performance.

23. In a draining pump system which includes a plurality of drain pumps for discharging drained water, flowing into an influent tank, to a river or other watercourse, prime movers for respectively driving said drain pumps, and a group of auxiliaries for said drain pumps and said prime movers,

said draining pump system also includes a drainage preference operating and managing apparatus comprising:

an operation data table prepared by collecting operating state data of said draining pump system,

an operation record data table prepared by collecting emergent operation data of the drain pump which have been recorded under a failed condition of said draining pump system,

a repair data table storing data of the delivery date and the repair contents of component equipment of said draining pump system,

a maintenance operation data table prepared by collecting trial operation data and subsequent maintenance operation data of said draining pump system,

drainage necessity evaluating means for, when a failure detection signal of said draining pump system is applied, predicting a period of time taken for a water level in said influent tank to reach an upper limit if operation of the drain pump involved with the failure is stopped, and determining the necessity of drainage depending on a length of the predicted period of time,

failure level evaluating means for, when said necessity of drainage is not less than a setting value, searching said operation data table and said operation record data table, comparing the present operation data of the drain pump involved with the failure with the past operation record data under the same failed condition of the same or similar equipment, to thereby predict a change in the data relating to the failure, calculating periods of time taken for the predicted data to respectively reach a preset reference value for emergency stop relating to the failure and a limit value in the past operation record, and determining a failure level depending on larger one of the two calculated periods of time, and

normality level evaluating means for, when said failure level is not less than a setting value, searching said repair table, calculating a proportion of the remaining lifetime with respect to the rated lifetime of each equipment part of the drain pump involved with the failure, evaluating a first normality level of the failed equipment depending on the calculated proportion of the remaining lifetime, searching said maintenance operation data table, determining change in performance of the failed equipment from the data relating to the failure, evaluating a second normality level depending on said determined change in performance, and determining conditions of continuing or stopping operation of the failed equipment on the basis of said first and second normality levels.

25. In a draining pump system which includes a drain pump for discharging drained water, flowing into an influent tank, to a river or other watercourse, a prime mover for driving said drain pump, and a group of auxiliaries for said drain pump and said prime mover,

said draining pump system also includes a drainage preference operating and managing apparatus comprising:

an operation data table prepared by collecting operating state data of the drain pump associated equipment inclusive of said drain pump, said prime mover and said group of auxiliaries,

an operation record data table prepared by collecting emergent operation data which have been recorded under a failed condition of said drain pump associated equipment,

drainage necessity evaluating means for, when a failure detection signal of said drain pump associated equipment is applied, predicting an influence given to a drainage function of said draining pump system, and determining the necessity of drainage based on said prediction,

operation record evaluating means for, when said necessity of drainage is not less than a setting value, searching said operation record data table and indicating the presence of the operation record if the present state of the failure falls within a range of the operation record data recorded under the same failed condition of the same or similar equipment as or to said drain pump associated equipment involved with the failure, and

failure level evaluating means for, when said operation record is present, searching said operation data table and said operation record data table, comparing the present operation data of said drain pump associated equipment involved with the failure with the past operation record data under the same failed condition of the same or similar equipment, to thereby predict a change in the data relating to the relevant failure item, calculating periods of time taken for the predicted data to respectively reach a preset reference value for emergency stop relating to the failure and a limit value in the past operation record, evaluating a failure level depending on a value of larger one of the two calculated periods of time, and determining conditions of continuing or stopping operation of the failed equipment on the basis of said evaluation.

27. A draining pump system according to claim 25, wherein said drainage preference operating and managing apparatus further comprises display means for outputting and indicating a message and at least one of the necessity of drainage, the presence or absence of a spare of the drain pump involved with the failure, the presence or absence of the operation record under the failed condition, the failure level, the operation continuable time, the failure causes, the risk factor and the normality level.

26. In a draining pump system which includes a drain pump for discharging drained water, flowing into an influent tank, to a river or other watercourse, a prime mover for driving said drain pump, and a group of auxiliaries for said drain pump and said prime mover,

said draining pump system also includes a drainage preference operating and managing apparatus comprising:

an operation data table prepared by collecting operating state data of the drain pump associated equipment inclusive of said drain pump, said prime mover and said group of auxiliaries,

an operation record data table prepared by collecting emergent operation data which have been recorded under a failed condition of said drain pump associated equipment,

a repair data table storing data of the delivery date and the repair contents of said drain pump associated equipment,

a maintenance operation data table prepared by collecting trial operation data and subsequent maintenance operation data of said drain pump associated equipment,

failure diagnosing means for, when a failure occurs in said drain pump associated equipment, diagnosing the occurred failure to determine failure causes and probabilities of the causes, finding out the failure cause with the highest probability, extracting a risk factor set corresponding to said failure cause found out, and storing the extracted risk factor in a diagnosis result table,

drainage necessity evaluating means for, when a failure detection signal of said drain pump associated equipment is applied, predicting an influence given to a drainage function of said draining pump system, and determining the necessity of drainage based on said prediction,

operation record evaluating means for, when said necessity of drainage is not less than a setting value, searching said operation record data table and indicating the presence of the operation record if the present state of the failure falls within a range of the operation record data recorded under the same failed condition of the same or similar equipment as or to said drain pump associated equipment involved with the failure,

failure level evaluating means for, when said operation record is present, searching said operation data table and said operation record data table, comparing the present operation data of said drain pump associated equipment involved with the failure with the past operation record data under the same failed condition of the same or similar equipment, to thereby predict a change in the data relating to the relevant failure item, calculating periods of time taken for the predicted data to respectively reach a preset reference value for emergency stop relating to the failure and a limit value in the past operation record, determining a failure level depending on a value of larger one of the two calculated periods of time, and correcting the failure level based on the risk factor in said diagnosis result table, and

normality level evaluating means for, when said failure level i snot less than a setting value, searching said repair table, calculating a proportion of the remaining lifetime with respect to the rated lifetime of each equipment part of said drain pump associated equipment involved with the failure, evaluating a first normality level of said failed equipment depending on the calculated proportion of the remaining lifetime, searching said maintenance operation data table, determining a change in performance of the failed equipment form the data relating to the relevant failure item, evaluating a second normality level depending on said determined change in performance, and determining conditions of continuing or stopping operation of said drain pump on the basis of said first and second normality levels.

28. In a draining pump system which includes a drain pump for discharging drained water, flowing into an influent tank, to a river or other watercourse,

in a draining preference operating method for such a draining pump system comprises the step of determining, when a failure occurs in said draining pump system, conditions of continuing or stopping operation of said drain pump involved with the failure pump on the basis of the present necessity of drainage.