Plant maintenance method and apparatus
First Claim
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1. An apparatus for maintaining plant equipment comprising:
- an input it configured to receive information on targets and ranges of plant equipment to be maintained, that constitute a plant, inspection information and operation-history information;
a failure-event tree breakdown unit configured to perform tree-breakdown on failures to be expected from a failure event to be inspected, in order to obtain a failure-event tree;
a failure-unreliability function calculation unit configured to calculate unreliability of a resultant event in the failure-event tree with respect to a causal event in the failure-event tree preceding the resultant event;
a failure-derived monetary loss calculation unit configured to multiply each unreliability and a cost of recovery from each event and accumulate results of multiplication in accordance with the failure-event tree breakdown, thus obtaining a recovery cost;
a preventive-maintenance expense calculation unit configured to calculate preventive maintenance expenses for preventing failure events; and
a maintenance decision-making unit configured to decide maintenance timing and technique through comparison between the recovery cost and the preventive maintenance expenses.
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Abstract
An apparatus for maintaining plant equipment incorporates an input unit to receive information on targets and ranges of plant equipment to be maintained and a failure-event tree breakdown unit to perform tree-breakdown on failures to be expected from events to be inspected. A failure-unreliability function calculation unit calculates unreliability of each item in failure-event tree breakdown and a failure-derived monetary loss calculation unit multiplies each unreliability and a cost of recovery from each event in accordance with the failure-event tree breakdown. A preventive maintenance expense calculation unit calculates preventive maintenance expenses for preventing failure events and a maintenance decision-making unit decides maintenance timing and technique through comparison between the recovery cost and the preventive maintenance expense.
11 Citations
23 Claims
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1. An apparatus for maintaining plant equipment comprising:
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an input it configured to receive information on targets and ranges of plant equipment to be maintained, that constitute a plant, inspection information and operation-history information;
a failure-event tree breakdown unit configured to perform tree-breakdown on failures to be expected from a failure event to be inspected, in order to obtain a failure-event tree;
a failure-unreliability function calculation unit configured to calculate unreliability of a resultant event in the failure-event tree with respect to a causal event in the failure-event tree preceding the resultant event;
a failure-derived monetary loss calculation unit configured to multiply each unreliability and a cost of recovery from each event and accumulate results of multiplication in accordance with the failure-event tree breakdown, thus obtaining a recovery cost;
a preventive-maintenance expense calculation unit configured to calculate preventive maintenance expenses for preventing failure events; and
a maintenance decision-making unit configured to decide maintenance timing and technique through comparison between the recovery cost and the preventive maintenance expenses. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. An apparatus for maintaining plant equipment comprising:
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an input it configured to receive information on targets and ranges of plant equipment to be maintained, that constitute a plant, inspection information and operation-history information;
an inspection-priority item selection unit configured to select a failure event as a priority item to be inspected which is stored in a failure event tree database;
an inspection unit configured to inspect the selected failure event;
a failure-event tree breakdown unit configured to perform tree-breakdown on failures to be expected from the failure event to be inspected, in order to obtain a failure-event tree;
a failure-unreliability function calculation unit configured to calculate unreliability of a resultant event in the failure-event tree with respect to a causal event in the failure-event tree preceding the resultant event;
a failure-derived monetary loss calculation unit configured to multiply each unreliability and a cost of recovery from each resultant event and accumulate results of multiplication in accordance with the failure-event tree breakdown, thus obtaining a recovery cost;
a preventive-maintenance expense calculation unit configured to calculate preventive maintenance expenses for preventing failure events; and
a maintenance decision-making unit configured to decide maintenance timing and technique through comparison between the recovery cost and the preventive maintenance expenses. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. An apparatus for maintaining plant equipment comprising:
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an input unit configured to receive information on targets and ranges of plant equipment to be maintained, that constitute a plant, inspection information and operation-history information;
a monitoring-item selection unit configured to select a failure event as a priority item to be monitored which is stored in a failure event tree database;
an on-line monitoring unit configured to monitor the selected failure event;
a failure-event tree breakdown unit configured to perform tree-breakdown on failures to be expected from the failure event to be inspected, in order to obtain a failure-event tree;
a failure-unreliability function calculation unit configured to calculate unreliability of a resultant event in the failure-event tree with respect to a causal event in the failure-event tree preceding the resultant event;
a failure-derived monetary loss calculation unit configured to multiply each unreliability and a cost of recovery from each event and accumulate results of multiplication in accordance with the failure-event tree breakdown, thus obtaining a recovery cost;
a preventive-maintenance expense calculation unit configured to calculate preventive maintenance expenses for preventing failure events; and
a maintenance decision-making unit configured to decide maintenance timing and technique through comparison between the recovery cost and the preventive maintenance expenses. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method of maintaining plant equipment comprising the steps of:
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receiving information on targets and ranges of plant equipment to be maintained, that constitute a plant, inspection information and operation-history information;
performing tree-breakdown on failures to be expected from a failure-event to be inspected, thereby obtaining a failure-event tree;
calculating unreliability of every resultant event in the failure-event tree with respect to corresponding causal event in the failure event tree;
multiplying each unreliability and a cost of recovery from each event to and accumulating results of multiplication in accordance with the failure-event tree breakdown, thereby obtaining a recovery cost;
calculating preventive maintenance expenses for preventing failure events; and
deciding maintenance timing and technique through comparison between the recovery cost and the preventive maintenance expenses.
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21. A method of maintaining plant equipment comprising the steps of:
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receiving information on plant equipment to be maintained, that constitute a plant, inspection information and operation-history information;
selecting failure event as a priority item to be inspected which is stored in a failure event tree database;
inspecting the selected failure event;
performing tree-breakdown on failures to be expected from the failure event to be inspected, thereby obtaining a failure-event tree;
calculating unreliability of every resultant event in the failure-event tree with respect to corresponding causal event in the failure event tree;
multiplying each unreliability and a cost of recovery from each resultant event and accumulating results of multiplication in accordance with the failure-event tree breakdown, thereby obtaining a recovery cost;
calculating preventive maintenance expenses for preventing failure events; and
deciding maintenance timing and technique through comparison between the recovery cost and the preventive maintenance expenses.
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22. A method of maintaining plant equipment comprising the steps of:
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receiving information on targets and ranges of plant equipment to be maintained, that constitute a plant, inspection information and operation-history information;
selecting a failure event as a priority item to be inspected which is stored in a failure event tree database;
monitoring the selected failure event;
performing tree-breakdown on failures to be expected from the failure event to be inspected;
calculating unreliability of each item in the failure-event tree breakdown;
multiplying each unreliability and a cost of recovery from each resultant event and accumulating results of multiplication in accordance with the failure-event tree breakdown, thus obtaining a recovery cost;
calculating preventive maintenance expenses for preventing failure events; and
deciding maintenance timing and technique through comparison between the recovery cost and the preventive maintenance expenses.
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23. A method of maintaining plant equipment comprising the steps of:
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transmitting, over a network, data from inspection and monitoring units for equipment that constitute each of a plurality of plants, each plant having a plurality of units;
processing the transmitted data through failure-event tree breakdown, failure-unreliability function calculation, failure-derived monetary loss calculation, failure-derived monetary loss calculation and preventive-maintenance expense calculation;
storing the processed data in a failure-event tree database and a failure-unreliability function database or learning, for providing the accuracy of failure-unreliability function calculation in maintenance decision making; and
transmitting results of maintenance decision making to the plants.
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Specification
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Current AssigneeKabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
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Original AssigneeKabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
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InventorsNagai, Satoshi, Kichise, Hitoshi, Okazaki, Mitsuyoshi, Harada, Shigeru, Minowa, Masanori, Kodama, Hirotsugu, Ishii, Fumiharu, Sudo, Mamoru, Hirawawa, Taiji, Iwahashi, Takayuki, Asatsu, Seiichi, Fujiyama, Kazunari, Saito, Kazuhiro, Fujiwara, Toshihiro
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Primary Examiner(s)Bui, Bryan
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Application NumberUS10/409,277Publication NumberTime in Patent Office846 DaysField of Search702/183, 702/186, 702/35, 702/182, 702/185, 702/187, 702/188, 376215-217, 700/83, 700/96, 700/109US Class Current702/184CPC Class CodesG06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human...
