Data acquisition and processing system for risk assessment

• US 7,533,798 B2
• Filed: 02/23/2006
• Issued: 05/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Rollins, George E., Schuster, George K., Delcher, Ray C., Jones, Derek W., Galera, Richard, Dogul, James E., Nair, Suresh R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Labaze; Edwyn
• Application Number:
  US11/360,955
• Publication Number:
  US 20070194097A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,181 Days
• Field of Search: 235375-377, 235382-383, 235/438
• US Class Current: 235/375
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 19/06 Safety devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/80 Management or planning

Abstract

Systems and methods of risk management that employ a risk assessment component to continuously update risk estimation associated with a machine of a manufacturing system. A data input component is provided for receiving a measured parameter associated with a current machine condition. A comparison is performed between the measured parameter from current machine condition with predetermined risk estimations/assessment parameters to determine whether the current machine condition is within the range of acceptable operator risk conditions.

Claims

1. A risk management system comprising:

a risk assessment component that updates in real time risk estimations of one or more machines via operational data collected from sensors operatively connected to the one or more machines;

a data input component associated with the risk assessment component for acceptance of the operational data; and

a routine that accesses an operator risk assessment parameter associated with a machine operator upon receipt of an identification parameter associated with the machine operator, the operator risk assessment parameter based at least in part on the machine operator'"'"'s skill level and used by the risk assessment component to determine whether the current risk estimation is within a range of acceptable operator risk conditions associated with the machine operator.

2. The risk management system of claim 1, further comprising a data store that retains risk assessment parameters for a comparison with current risk estimation(s) of the one or more machines.

3. The risk management system of claim 2, further comprising an override component that disables operation of the one or more machines when the current risk estimations are outside the risk assessment parameters.

4. The risk management system of claim 2, further comprising a machine control system that regulates current machine condition to bring the current risk estimation within range of the risk assessment parameters.

5. The risk management system of claim 2, further comprising a proximity detector.

6. The risk management system of claim 2, further comprising a personal identification interface that receives identification parameters for the machine operator.

7. The risk management system of claim 6, further comprising an enterprise resource planning component that analyzes business objectives in relation to the risk estimations and schedules future machine maintenance downtime based on the analysis.

8. The risk management system of claim 6, the personal identification interface is one of a code-entry interface, a swipe card, a biometric sensor, or a radio-frequency identification tag.

9. The risk management system of claim 6 further comprising an artificial intelligence component.

10. The risk management system of claim 6 further comprising a prognostic component that collects and generates data relating to historical, current, and predicted operating states of the machines.

11. The risk management system of claim 1 further comprising a comparison component for comparison of current machine condition parameters with the operator risk assessment parameters.

12. A method of risk management comprising:

accepting a measured parameter associated with a current operating condition of one or more machines;

updating in real time a risk estimation for the one or more machines based on the measured parameter;

receiving a personal identification from a user;

retrieving at least one operator risk assessment parameter associated with the user upon receiving the personal identification from the user; and

determining whether the current risk estimation for the one or more machines is within a range of acceptable operator risk conditions, the acceptable operator risk conditions determined by the at least one operator risk assessment parameter associated with the user.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising comparing the measured parameter with a risk assessment parameter that is associated with a range of acceptable machine operator risk conditions.

14. The method of claim 12 further comprising identifying optimal machine operation schedules via an analysis of the measured parameter correlated with data relating to business concerns.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising sending a control signal to the one or more machines that modifies current machine conditions upon determining that the current risk estimation is not within range of acceptable machine operator risk conditions, the modification bringing the current machine conditions within range of the acceptable machine operator risk conditions.

16. The method of claim 14 further comprising

predicting a future operating state for the one or more machines based on collected machine data;

and

automatically scheduling maintenance for the one or more machines during an inferred future low productivity period.

17. The method of claim 15 further comprising disabling power to at least a portion of the one or more machines upon determining that the parameter is not within range of the acceptable machine operator risk conditions.

18. The method of claim 12 further comprising employing a proximity detector to assess risk.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising accessing a risk of the machine operator.

20. A risk management system comprising:

means for updating risk estimations of one or more machines in real time based in part on current operating conditions;

means for accepting data for risk estimations;

means for receiving a personal identification from a user;

means for retrieving at least one operator risk assessment parameter associated with the user upon receiving the personal identification from the user; and

means for determining whether the current risk estimation for the one or more machines is within a range of acceptable operator risk conditions, the acceptable operator risk conditions are determined by the at least one operator assessment parameter associated with the user.