Apparatus and method for monitoring and maintaining plant equipment

• US 7,308,331 B2
• Filed: 05/26/2005
• Issued: 12/11/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Northeast Equipment Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Northeast Equipment Incorporated
• Inventors: Bjornson, Carl C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hartman, Jr., Ronald D
• Application Number:
  US11/137,914
• Publication Number:
  US 20050222813A1
• Time in Patent Office: 929 Days
• Field of Search: 702182-185, 700108-110, 340/3.43
• US Class Current: 700/108
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0278 Qualitative, e.g. if-then rules; Fuzzy logic; Lookup tables; Symptomatic search; FMEA
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0283 Predictive maintenance, e.g. involving the monitoring of a system and, based on the monitoring results, taking decisions on the maintenance schedule of the monitored system; Estimating remaining useful life [RUL] preventive maintenance, i.e. planning maintenance according to the available resources without monitoring the system G06Q10/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 137/0452 Detecting or repairing leak

Abstract

A computer system implements a process for gathering, synthesizing, and analyzing failure and other data relating to a pump, seal or other equipment. Data indicating the current state of the equipment may be gathered and verified prior to a failure occurring so that accurate information is available. After a failure or problem occurs, data about the system and the problem or failure can be methodically gathered to aid in the determination of the root cause of the failure. The data may be synthesized and an analysis performed to determine the cause or causes of the failure or problem. The system may suggest corrective actions and plans for implementing corrective action. Installation instructions, training and safety information can be provided to the user to ensure proper execution of the selected corrective action. A plant reliability manager also may monitor the progress and verify that installation, maintenance and failure correction are performed correctly. The plant reliability manager also may track problems or failures by each individual or department to determine if additional training is needed.

Claims

1. A plant performance method, to provide data regarding corrective action relating to a failure of a piece of equipment, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) storing visual image data representative of a plurality of failure modes potentially affecting said piece of equipment;

(b) storing data indicative of at least one characteristic of said piece of equipment, including data pertinent to corrective action regarding specific failure modes of said piece of equipment;

(c) receiving data representative of said failure relating to said piece of equipment;

(d) responsive to said step (c) data, accessing said step (a) data to present viewable images enabling a user to identify a visual image representative of said failure and accessing said step (b) data to retrieve data pertinent to corrective action regarding a specific failure mode corresponding to said visual image identified by the user; and

(e) making said retrieved data pertinent to corrective action available for use in correcting said failure of said piece of equipment.

2. A plant performance method as in claim 1, wherein step (d) comprises retrieving data pertinent to corrective action regarding said failure, comprising engineering data pertinent to physical attributes of said piece of equipment.

3. A plant performance method as in claim 1, wherein step (d) comprises retrieving data pertinent to corrective action regarding said failure, comprising replacement part data pertinent to at least one replacement part.

4. A plant performance method as in claim 1, wherein step (d) comprises retrieving data pertinent to corrective action regarding said failure, comprising data pertinent to the ordering of at least one replacement part.

5. A plant performance method as in claim 1, wherein step (d) comprises retrieving data pertinent to corrective action regarding said failure, comprising data pertinent to generating a proposal for at least one replacement part.

6. A plant performance method as in claim 1, wherein step (d) comprises retrieving data pertinent to corrective action regarding said failure, comprising data pertinent to generating a request for quote regarding procurement of at least one replacement part.

7. A plant performance method as in claim 1, wherein said piece of equipment is one of a mechanical seal, a piece of rotating equipment and a bearing.