Maintenance support method, storage medium, and maintenance support apparatus

• US 7,082,384 B2
• Filed: 12/09/2004
• Issued: 07/25/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Kodera, Shigehito, Sawada, Akira, Sasaki, Keiichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Raymond, Edward
• Application Number:
  US11/007,759
• Publication Number:
  US 20050149570A1
• Time in Patent Office: 593 Days
• Field of Search: 702/184, 702/185, 702/188, 714/2, 714/25
• US Class Current: 702/184
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

In an embodiment of this invention, a diagnosis engine refers to a risk assessment DB and anti-risk measure DB, calculates along the time sequence a risk estimate amount in case of failure for each device and a maintenance cost in executing a measure method in advance, and adds the risk estimate amount and maintenance cost along the time sequence to calculate an optimum maintenance period of the device. When a failure has occurred in the device, the diagnosis engine refers to a failure diagnosis DB on the basis of the identification information of the device and the failure mode and analyzes, on the basis of an operation record, a failure which is different from a secular change.

Claims

1. A maintenance support method of causing a database creation unit and a diagnosis engine to support maintenance of a device on the basis of equipment maintenance information to manage an operation record containing a working record, a failure record, and a renewal record of the device, comprising:

causing the database creation unit to create a risk assessment database in which “

device part unit price”

, “

maintenance personnel data”

, “

labor cost unit price data”

, and “

equipment stop loss for failure mode”

, which are related to the working record contained in the equipment maintenance information, and “

failure mode” and

“

failure occurrence frequency”

, which are related to the failure record, are associated with identification information of the device;

causing the database creation unit to create an anti-risk measure database in which “

failure mode”

related to the failure record contained in the equipment maintenance information and “

measure method for failure mode”

related to the renewal record are associated with the identification information of the device and identification information of each part of the device;

causing the database creation unit to execute at least one of event tree analysis and failure tree analysis for each part of the device on the basis of the identification information of each part of the device and the failure mode contained in the equipment maintenance information and acquire an analysis result;

causing the database creation unit to create a failure diagnosis database in which “

failure occurrence frequency”

, “

failure sign phenomenon”

, and “

failure cause”

contained in the equipment maintenance information are associated with the identification information of the device and the identification information of each part of the device for the analysis result and each failure mode in the analysis result;

causing the diagnosis engine to refer to the risk assessment database and the anti-risk measure database before a failure occurs in the device and calculate along a time sequence a risk estimate amount in case of failure for each device on the basis of the failure occurrence frequency and the equipment stop loss;

causing the diagnosis engine to refer to the risk assessment database and the anti-risk measure database before a failure occurs in the device and calculate along the time sequence a maintenance cost in executing a measure method for each device in advance on the basis of the failure occurrence frequency, the measure method, the device part unit price, the personnel data, and the labor cost unit price data;

causing the diagnosis engine to output, as a maintenance period, a time point at which a sum obtained by adding the risk estimate amount and the maintenance cost along the time sequence is minimized; and

causing the diagnosis engine to refer to the failure diagnosis database on the basis of the identification information of the device and the failure mode when a failure has occurred in the device and output at least one of a failure cause and a failure sign obtained as a result of reference.

2. A computer-readable storage medium which stores a program to be used by a database creation unit and a diagnosis engine to support maintenance of a device on the basis of equipment maintenance information to manage an operation record containing a working record, a failure record, and a renewal record of the device,

the program causing a computer of the database creation unit to execute:

a function of creating a risk assessment database in which “

device part unit price”

, “

maintenance personnel data”

, “

labor cost unit price data”

, and “

equipment stop loss for failure mode”

, which are related to the working record contained in the equipment maintenance information, and “

failure mode” and

“

failure occurrence frequency”

, which are related to the failure record, are associated with identification information of the device;

a function of creating an anti-risk measure database in which “

failure mode”

related to the failure record contained in the equipment maintenance information and “

measure method for failure mode”

related to the renewal record are associated with the identification information of the device and identification information of each part of the device;

a function of executing at least one of event tree analysis and failure tree analysis for each part of the device on the basis of the identification information of each part of the device and the failure mode contained in the equipment maintenance information and obtaining an analysis result; and

a function of creating a failure diagnosis database in which “

failure occurrence frequency”

, “

failure sign phenomenon”

, and “

failure cause”

contained in the equipment maintenance information are associated with the identification information of the device and the identification information of each part of the device for the analysis result and each failure mode in the analysis result, and

causing a computer of the diagnosis engine to implement;

a function of referring to the risk assessment database and the anti-risk measure database before a failure occurs in the device and calculating along a time sequence a risk estimate amount in case of failure for each device on the basis of the failure occurrence frequency and the equipment stop loss;

a function of referring to the risk assessment database and the anti-risk measure database before a failure occurs in the device and calculating along the time sequence a maintenance cost in executing a measure method for each device in advance on the basis of the failure occurrence frequency, the measure method, the device part unit price, the personnel data, and the labor cost unit price data;

a function of outputting, as a maintenance period, a time point at which a sum obtained by adding the risk estimate amount and the maintenance cost along the time sequence is minimized; and

a function of referring to the failure diagnosis database on the basis of the identification information of the device and the failure mode when a failure has occurred in the device and outputting at least one of a failure cause and a failure sign obtained as a result of reference.

3. A medium according to claim 2, wherein the equipment maintenance information contains a model name and type of the device, a name and type of each part of the device, working days of the device and parts, a failure occurrence day, a failure reception day, a recovery day, a customer name, a site name, a device installation environment condition, the failure mode, the failure mode occurrence frequency, the failure cause, the failure sign phenomenon, a mean time between failures, a mean time to failure, a maintenance method for a target device and failure mode, a time required for maintenance, a necessary number of persons, a labor cost unit price, a customer-side equipment stop loss per unit time, and a quantity and unit price of each repair part and material.

4. A medium according to claim 2, wherein the program further causes the computer of the database creation unit to implement

a data mining function to extract necessary information from the equipment maintenance information to create the risk assessment database, the anti-risk measure database, and the failure diagnosis database, and

a reliability analysis function to execute reliability analysis on the basis of a result extracted by the data mining function, at least one of failure tree analysis and event tree analysis, and a failure probability statistic.

5. A medium according to claim 2, wherein the risk assessment database manages, for each device, a device name, a part name, an event or failure name, a probability density function of the event and failure, an equipment stop loss of the event and failure, a unit price of the model/part, an inventory, delivery day data, the maintenance personnel data, labor cost data, and customer data.

6. A medium according to claim 2, wherein the failure diagnosis database manages, for each device, at least one of an event tree analysis result and a failure analysis result of the device and part, the failure occurrence frequency of the failure mode in at least one of the event tree analysis result and the failure analysis result, the failure sign phenomenon, and the failure cause.

7. A medium according to claim 2, wherein the anti-risk measure database manages, for each device, a device name, a part name, a model, a component of the model, the failure mode, the measure method and past measure record of the failure mode, the failure cause, a use environment, and an operation situation after the measure.

8. A medium according to claim 2, wherein the program further causes the computer of the diagnosis engine to implement

a function of calculating a maintenance cost of a part of the device at the maintenance period,

a function of summing the maintenance costs of the parts of the device in a plurality of combinations to calculate a plurality of maintenance cost candidates, and

a function of selecting a maintenance cost candidate of a maximum amount within a maintenance budget at the maintenance period and outputting the selected maintenance cost candidate.

9. A medium according to claim 2, wherein the program further causes the computer of the diagnosis engine to implement

a simulation function of simulating behavior of at least one of the device and a part of the device,

an estimate function of activating the simulation function and estimating the failure sign phenomenon of the failure mode on the basis of designation for at least one of the device and a part of the device and the failure mode, and

a write function of writing the failure sign phenomenon estimated by the estimate function in the failure diagnosis database.

10. A medium according to claim 2, wherein the program further causes the computer of the diagnosis engine to implement

a function of writing the risk estimate amount and the maintenance cost in a memory,

a function of activating a financial calculation model using at least one of an NPV (Net Present Value) method and an IRR (Internal Rate of Return) method,

a reference function of referring to, on the basis of the financial calculation model, the memory and an external organization database which stores a discount rate in advance, and

a function of setting, in the financial calculation model, the risk estimate amount, the maintenance cost, and the discount rate referred by the reference function and calculating an operation cost throughout a life cycle of the device.

11. A medium according to claim 2, wherein the program further causes the computer of the diagnosis engine to implement

a function of correcting the risk estimate amount on the basis of an output from a sensor which detects a state of the device.

12. A maintenance support apparatus comprising a database creation unit and a diagnosis engine to support maintenance of a device on the basis of equipment maintenance information to manage an operation record containing a working record, a failure record, and a renewal record of the device,

the database creation unit comprising:

a section which creates a risk assessment database in which “

device part unit price”

, “

maintenance personnel data”

, “

labor cost unit price data”

, and “

equipment stop loss for failure mode”

, which are related to the working record contained in the equipment maintenance information, and “

failure mode” and

“

failure occurrence frequency”

, which are related to the failure record, are associated with identification information of the device;

a section which creates an anti-risk measure database in which “

failure mode”

related to the failure record contained in the equipment maintenance information and “

measure method for failure mode”

related to the renewal record are associated with the identification information of the device and identification information of each part of the device;

a section which executes at least one of event tree analysis and failure tree analysis for each part of the device on the basis of the identification information of each part of the device and the failure mode contained in the equipment maintenance information and obtains an analysis result; and

a section which creates a failure diagnosis database in which “

failure occurrence frequency”

, “

failure sign phenomenon”

, and “

failure cause”

contained in the equipment maintenance information are associated with the identification information of the device and the identification information of each part of the device for the analysis result and each failure mode in the analysis result, and

the diagnosis engine comprising;

a section which refers to the risk assessment database and the anti-risk measure database before a failure occurs in the device and calculates along a time sequence a risk estimate amount in case of failure for each device on the basis of the failure occurrence frequency and the equipment stop loss;

a section which refers to the risk assessment database and the anti-risk measure database before a failure occurs in the device and calculates along the time sequence a maintenance cost in executing a measure method for each device in advance on the basis of the failure occurrence frequency, the measure method, the device part unit price, the personnel data, and the labor cost unit price data;

a section which outputs, as a maintenance period, a time point at which a sum obtained by adding the risk estimate amount and the maintenance cost along the time sequence is minimized; and

a section which refers to the failure diagnosis database on the basis of the identification information of the device and the failure mode when a failure has occurred in the device and outputs at least one of a failure cause and a failure sign obtained as a result of reference.