Methods for maintaining infrastructure equipment and related apparatus
First Claim
1. A method for coordinating maintenance of components of an infrastructure, the method performed using a computer system comprising one or more programmed data processors, the method comprising:
- determining, by the one or more data processors, a current physical condition for each of a plurality of the infrastructure components, the current physical condition comprising a value indicating a current degree of deterioration of the corresponding infrastructure component;
sorting, by the one or more data processors, the plurality of infrastructure components into a plurality of groups based at least in part on the current physical conditions of the plurality of infrastructure components, each of the groups comprising a subset of the plurality of infrastructure components for which the determined current physical conditions of the infrastructure components sorted into the subset are similar to one another according to one or more similarity criteria;
by the one or more processors, associating a representative condition value with each of the groups, the representative condition values representative of the current physical conditions of the infrastructure components belonging to the respective groups;
estimating, by the one or more data processors, for each of the groups, using a deterioration model, a time series of estimated future physical conditions for the infrastructure components of the group, based on the representative condition associated with the group, the estimated future physical conditions each comprising a value indicating an estimated degree of deterioration of the infrastructure components of the group at a corresponding one of a plurality of future times which constitute the time series;
by the one or more data processors, performing an optimization to yield an optimized schedule of projects, each of the projects associated with one of the groups and comprising at least one of;
replacing, upgrading and refurbishing the infrastructure components of the group wherein the optimization is based on the estimated time series of future physical conditions for the groups; and
maintaining the infrastructure by at least one of;
replacing, upgrading and refurbishing the infrastructure components of one of the groups according to the schedule of projects.
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Abstract
Apparatus and methods for managing and upgrading components in an infrastructure are provided. Records relating to components may be retrieved from a database and separated into subsets based on conditions of those components, the types of those components, deterioration models of those components, and/or other factors. Future condition values may be calculated for each subset, and likelihoods of failure of components may be determined for each subset based on those future condition values. The estimated condition values may be used in order to determine an optimal approach to maintaining, refurbishing, and/or replacing the components in the infrastructure. Computational efficiency is increased.
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Citations
31 Claims
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1. A method for coordinating maintenance of components of an infrastructure, the method performed using a computer system comprising one or more programmed data processors, the method comprising:
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determining, by the one or more data processors, a current physical condition for each of a plurality of the infrastructure components, the current physical condition comprising a value indicating a current degree of deterioration of the corresponding infrastructure component; sorting, by the one or more data processors, the plurality of infrastructure components into a plurality of groups based at least in part on the current physical conditions of the plurality of infrastructure components, each of the groups comprising a subset of the plurality of infrastructure components for which the determined current physical conditions of the infrastructure components sorted into the subset are similar to one another according to one or more similarity criteria; by the one or more processors, associating a representative condition value with each of the groups, the representative condition values representative of the current physical conditions of the infrastructure components belonging to the respective groups; estimating, by the one or more data processors, for each of the groups, using a deterioration model, a time series of estimated future physical conditions for the infrastructure components of the group, based on the representative condition associated with the group, the estimated future physical conditions each comprising a value indicating an estimated degree of deterioration of the infrastructure components of the group at a corresponding one of a plurality of future times which constitute the time series; by the one or more data processors, performing an optimization to yield an optimized schedule of projects, each of the projects associated with one of the groups and comprising at least one of;
replacing, upgrading and refurbishing the infrastructure components of the group wherein the optimization is based on the estimated time series of future physical conditions for the groups; andmaintaining the infrastructure by at least one of;
replacing, upgrading and refurbishing the infrastructure components of one of the groups according to the schedule of projects. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. An infrastructure management system comprising:
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one or more data processors; an inventory database comprising a non-transitory data store storing information identifying infrastructure components of an infrastructure, the stored information including current physical condition information indicative of current physical conditions of the infrastructure components, the current physical conditions each indicating a current degree of deterioration of the corresponding infrastructure component; a classifier implemented on the one or more data processors and in communication with the inventory database, and configured to sort, by the one or more data processors, the infrastructure components into a plurality of groups based on the current physical condition information for the infrastructure components such that those of the infrastructure components in any one of the groups have current physical condition information satisfying one or more similarity criteria associated with the group; a future condition determining unit Implemented on the one or more data processors and comprising one or more deterioration models for modeling changes of condition of the infrastructure components over time, each group being associated with one of the one or more deterioration models, the future condition determining unit configured to determine, by the one or more data processors, a time series of predicted future physical conditions for each of the groups based on the deterioration model associated with the group and a representative condition value associated with the group, the representative condition value representative of the current physical conditions of the infrastructure components belonging to the group, and the predicted future physical conditions each comprising a value indicating an estimated degree of deterioration of the infrastructure components of the group at a corresponding one of a plurality of future times which constitute the time series; an optimizer configured to optimize, by the one or more data processors, a schedule of projects based at least in part on the predicted future physical conditions and one or more constraints, each project associated with one of the groups and comprising at least one of;
replacing, upgrading and refurbishing each of the infrastructure components of the group. - View Dependent Claims (31)
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Specification