Systems and methods for analyzing equipment failures and maintenance schedules

• US 9,002,691 B2
• Filed: 07/23/2013
• Issued: 04/07/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/13/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United States Postal Service (Government of the United States of America)
• Original Assignee: United States Postal Service (Government of the United States of America)
• Inventors: Richards, Wynn G., Martin, Kurt D., Lieurance, William L., Kosler, Melvin M. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Craig, Dwin M
• Application Number:
  US13/949,068
• Publication Number:
  US 20130325426A1
• Time in Patent Office: 623 Days
• Field of Search: 703/7, 703/13
• US Class Current: 703/7
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 17/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0248 Causal models, e.g. fault tree; digraphs; qualitative physics

Abstract

A computer implemented method may be used for analyzing equipment failures and maintenance schedules. An equipment maintenance system generates a model of equipment and components of each piece of equipment. In one embodiment, the model is a tree representation. The equipment maintenance system may then determine estimated failure information for each component based on a selected statistical model. The equipment maintenance system may also generate a maintenance schedule based on the determined estimated failure information for each component of the equipment. In one embodiment, the equipment maintenance system displays the equipment maintenance information.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for displaying equipment failure estimation information comprising:

receiving information, utilizing a first user interface displayed on an equipment maintenance system, relating to maintenance of a plurality of components of at least one item of equipment, wherein a source of the information includes a database;

generating, using a processor, display data indicative of a tree representation of the components;

receiving data, utilizing a second user interface displayed by the system, indicative of a selection of a portion of the tree representation;

receiving, utilizing a third user interface displayed by the system, an assignment of a statistical model to at least one of the components corresponding to the selected portion of the tree representation, wherein the third user interface is configured to receive an assignment of a first statistical model for one portion of the tree representation and a second statistical model for another portion of the tree representation; and

estimating equipment maintenance information associated with at least the selected portion of the components based on the assigned statistical model.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying the display data indicative of the tree representation of the components on a display device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying the estimated equipment maintenance information.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving assignment of a different statistical model for separate portions of the tree representation.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising estimating equipment maintenance information associated with the selected and non-selected portions of the tree representation.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the equipment maintenance information comprises at least one of mean time to failure of the equipment, mean time to repair the equipment, maintenance cost of the equipment, or intervals for scheduled maintenance of the equipment.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving information relating to maintenance of a plurality of components of at least one item of equipment comprises:

receiving equipment data in XML format;

receiving an XSLT selection;

transforming the received data based on the selected XSLT into another XML format; and

outputting the data in the transformed XML format.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein generating display data indicative of a tree representation of the components comprises converting the received information into scalable vector graphics.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving data indicative of a selection of a portion of the tree representation comprises receiving at least one of a selection of a single tree component, a collection of tree components, or a sub-tree.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a maintenance schedule for the equipment represented by data indicative of a selection of a portion of the tree representation based on the estimated equipment maintenance information.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising generating display data for displaying the maintenance schedule.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the estimated equipment maintenance information in a non-transitory storage medium.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving information about preferred settings for the display data; and

displaying future maintenance information according to the received information.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the received information includes information about paper size, tree depth, and tree layout.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the data indicative of a selection of a portion of the tree representation comprises user input data.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second statistical models correspond to different failure rates.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the tree representation is in a form of a node-link diagram having links between nodes, and wherein the components correspond to the nodes.

18. A system for displaying equipment failure estimation information comprising:

a processor configured to;

receive information, utilizing a first user interface displayed by the system, relating to maintenance of a plurality of components of at least one item of equipment;

generate display data indicative of a tree representation of the components;

receive data, utilizing a second user interface displayed by the system, indicative of a selection of a portion of the tree representation;

receive, utilizing a third user interface displayed by the system, an assignment of a statistical model to at least one of the components corresponding to the selected portion of the tree representation, wherein the third user interface is configured to receive an assignment of a first statistical model for one portion of the tree representation and a second statistical model for another portion of the tree representation; and

estimate equipment maintenance information associated with at least the one portion of the tree representation and the another portion of the tree representation based on the assigned first and second statistical models, respectively.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor is further configured to display the display data indicative of the tree representation of the components on a display device.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor is further configured to display the estimated equipment maintenance information.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor is further configured to receive assignment of a different statistical model for separate portions of the tree representation.

22. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor is further configured to estimate equipment maintenance information associated with the selected and non-selected portions of the tree representation.

23. The system of claim 18, wherein the equipment maintenance information comprises at least one of mean time to failure of the equipment, mean time to repair the equipment, maintenance cost of the equipment, or intervals for scheduled maintenance of the equipment.

24. The system of claim 18, wherein a processor configured to receive information relating to maintenance of a plurality of components of at least one item of equipment further comprises the processor configured to:

receive equipment data in XML format;

receive an XSLT selection;

transform the received data based on the selected XSLT into another XML format; and

output the data in the transformed XML format.

25. The system of claim 18, wherein a processor configured to generate display data indicative of a tree representation of the components further comprises the processor configured to convert the received information into scalable vector graphics.

26. The system of claim 18, wherein a processor configured to receive data indicative of a selection of a portion of the tree representation further comprises the processor configured to receive at least one of a selection of a single tree component, a collection of tree components, or a sub-tree.

27. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor is further configured to determine a maintenance schedule for the equipment represented by data indicative of a selection of a portion of the tree representation based on the estimated equipment maintenance information.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the processor is further configured to generate display data for displaying the maintenance schedule.

29. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor is further configured to store the estimated equipment maintenance information in a non-transitory storage medium.

30. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive information about preferred settings for the display data; and

display future maintenance information according to the received information.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the received information includes information about paper size, tree depth, and tree layout.

32. The system of claim 18, wherein the data indicative of a selection of a portion of the tree representation comprises user input data.

33. The system of claim 18, wherein the first and second statistical models correspond to different failure rates.

34. The system of claim 18, wherein the tree representation is in a form of a node-link diagram having links between nodes, and wherein the components correspond to the nodes.