Method and apparatus for predictive maintenance of HVACR systems
First Claim
1. A computer-assisted method of performing predictive maintenance on a heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and/or refrigeration (HVACR) system, the method comprising the steps of:
- storing a plurality of defined HVACR system parameters--in a memory location in the computer, such defined parameters including system temperature and system pressure parameters;
defining at least one preventive maintenance instruction;
storing said instruction(s) in a computer-accessible memory;
measuring a HVACR system variable which corresponds to at least one stored system parameter;
comparing the defined parameter with the system variable to assess whether the variable is sufficiently highly correlated with the system parameter;
responsive to said comparing, accessing at least one of said stored instructions if the system parameter and the measured variable are not sufficiently highly correlated; and
displaying said accessed instruction(s) so that a user will understand the type of maintenance required.
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Abstract
Predictive maintenance method and apparatus for use with heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and/or refrigeration (HVACR) systems are disclosed. The preferred apparatus includes a dozen temperature sensors strategically located within and HVACR system to sense various operating temperatures and three electrical current sensors to sense various operating electrical currents. HVACR system conditions are measured periodically by an on-site service technician and inputted to a computer that identifies and reports the potential trouble spots represented by out-of-range measurements. The computer is programmed to produce graphs, tables and prediction commentary.
284 Citations
26 Claims
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1. A computer-assisted method of performing predictive maintenance on a heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and/or refrigeration (HVACR) system, the method comprising the steps of:
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storing a plurality of defined HVACR system parameters--in a memory location in the computer, such defined parameters including system temperature and system pressure parameters; defining at least one preventive maintenance instruction; storing said instruction(s) in a computer-accessible memory; measuring a HVACR system variable which corresponds to at least one stored system parameter; comparing the defined parameter with the system variable to assess whether the variable is sufficiently highly correlated with the system parameter; responsive to said comparing, accessing at least one of said stored instructions if the system parameter and the measured variable are not sufficiently highly correlated; and displaying said accessed instruction(s) so that a user will understand the type of maintenance required. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A computer assisted method for maintaining a heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and/or refrigeration (HVACR) system having at least one operating variable, the method comprising the steps of:
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measuring at least one operating variable of the HVACR system to derive present performance data; looking up stored data; storing the present performance data; generating a flag trigger statistic that includes preselected present performance data and stored data that corresponds to the preselected present performance data; checking a flag trigger condition that points to at least one predictive maintenance instruction, wherein checking of the flag trigger condition is executed by comparing the flag trigger statistic with stored data that corresponds to the flag trigger statistic to determine whether the flag trigger statistic is sufficiently highly correlated with the stored data that corresponds to the flag trigger statistic; and
if not thengenerating a report for a user that includes at least the predictive maintenance instruction pointed to by the flag trigger condition. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A computerized apparatus for generating predictive maintenance instructions for a heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and/or refrigeration (HVACR) system comprising:
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at least one sensor for sensing a variable of the HVACR system; a meter operatively coupled to the sensor, the meter capable of producing an output sample corresponding to a value of the variable sensed by the sensor; a special purpose computer operatively coupled to the meter and capable of inputting the output sample produced by the meter, the computer having an output device, a memory for storing data, and a look-up table stored in the memory, the look-up table having flag trigger condition entries that correspond to preselected correlations between measured data and stored data, the look-up table further having sets of maintenance instructions entries corresponding to the flag trigger condition entries, the computer being capable of making calculations, the preselected correlations between measured data and stored data, and decisions as to whether the HVACR system requires maintenance based upon the correlations, and, if a specific correlation fails, the corresponding flag trigger condition of the look-up table being addressed, thereby to cause the corresponding set of maintenance instructions to be outputted on the output device. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification