System and software to monitor cyclic equipment efficiency and related methods

• US 20040260514A1
• Filed: 06/23/2004
• Published: 12/23/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Municipal And Industrial Data Labs, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Municipal And Industrial Data Labs, Inc.
• Inventors: Beaudoin, Benoit, Corriveau, Jonathan
• Granted Patent: US 6,990,431 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/182
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2035/00653 statistical methods comparing labs or apparatuses
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2035/0094 optimisation; experiment design
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 35/00594 Quality control, including calibration or testing of components of the analyser

Abstract

Systems, software and methods of embodiments of the present invention are able to monitor and evaluate the efficiency of an equipment operating cyclically to displace a variable workload without any input from an operator or the use of specialized metering equipment. A cyclic equipment efficiency monitoring system includes a workload calculator for determining the workload being accumulated and displaced through a system having an equipment operating cyclically by using the equipment status signals and clock signals. An efficiency calculator extracts a probable efficiency. The accuracy is increased by a self adjustment mechanism. A data quality certification mechanism verify that workload and efficiency values are within possible range and declare alarm conditions, high variation conditions or maintenance conditions. A variation alarm gate generates an alarm if the workload or the efficiency are outside acceptable limits.

Claims

1. A cyclic equipment efficiency monitoring system to remotely monitor a cyclical equipment device, comprising:

an equipment efficiency datacenter computer positioned at an equipment efficiency datacenter site to define an equipment efficiency monitoring server, the equipment efficiency monitoring server having memory associated therewith;

a database stored in the memory of the equipment efficiency monitoring server and having a plurality of cyclic equipment device records including a preselected maximum capable accumulated workload of a cyclical equipment device defining a cyclical equipment storage capacity, a predetermined manufacturer'"'"'s cyclical equipment device maximum specification efficiency ratio defining a maximum design ratio;

an area network in communication with the equipment efficiency monitoring server;

an equipment on-off status detector positioned remote from the equipment efficiency monitoring server, in communication with the area network, and in communication with the cyclical equipment device to be remotely monitored to detect equipment on-off status; and

efficiency monitoring software stored in the memory of the efficiency monitoring server, the software including;

a clocking generator positioned to generate a continuous running clock signal;

a data logger responsive to the clock signal and the equipment on-off status detector and positioned to log each time at which a change of status occurs in the cyclical equipment device and the equipment status at said time to thereby produce a plurality of time dependent equipment status entries, a first period of time between a first logged time when the equipment is in the off status and a second logged time when the equipment switches to the on status defining an equipment-accumulation-and-storage period and a second period of time between the second logged time and a third logged time when the equipment switches to the off status defining an equipment-in-operation period, the combination of the equipment-accumulation-and-storage period and the equipment-in-operation period defining an equipment cycle;

a workload estimator responsive to the data logger and positioned to estimate an average variable workload for a selected equipment-in-operation period, the average variable workload being an average workload accumulated and displaced by the cyclical equipment device as a function of a number of equipment-accumulation-and-storage periods and whether the equipment-accumulation-and-storage periods occur either prior-in-time or after-in-time with respect to the selected equipment-in-operation period;

an efficiency calculator responsive to the workload estimator and the data logger, positioned to retrieve the storage capacity of the cyclical equipment device from the database, and positioned to calculate a probable efficiency of the cyclical equipment device as a function of the average variable workload, the selected equipment-in-operation period, and the storage capacity of the cyclical equipment device for the selected equipment-in-operation period to thereby define an average efficiency, the average efficiency being an indicator of performance of the cyclical equipment device; and

an accuracy incrementor including;

an historical average efficiency determiner responsive to the efficiency calculator and a first historical average efficiency to determine a second historical average efficiency as a function of the average efficiency and the first historical average efficiency,

a tolerance determiner responsive to the efficiency calculator, the historical average efficiency determiner, and a first variable tolerance, positioned to calculate a first weighted factor of a change in the difference between the historical average efficiency and average efficiency, and positioned to determine a second variable tolerance as a function of the first variable tolerance and the first weighted factor of change in the difference between the historical average efficiency and average efficiency,

a workload accuracy incrementor responsive to the efficiency calculator, the workload determiner, and the tolerance determiner and positioned to increment average variable workload to reflect a second weighted factor of the change in the difference between the historical average efficiency and the average efficiency to define an incremented average variable workload, and

an efficiency accuracy incrementor responsive to the efficiency calculator and the tolerance determiner and positioned to increment average efficiency to reflect a third weighted factor of the change in the difference between the historical average efficiency and average efficiency to define an incremented average efficiency; and

a variation determiner including;

a maintenance period determiner responsive to the historical average efficiency determiner and the efficiency accuracy incrementor, positioned to retrieve the maximum design ratio of the cyclical equipment device from the database, and positioned to determine if the incremented average efficiency is within a possible range of values defined as those not exceeding the product of the historical average efficiency and the maximum design ratio to thereby declare that a maintenance condition exists when such incremented average efficiency is outside the possible range of values;

a tolerance comparator responsive to the maintenance period determiner, the average history determiner, and the tolerance determiner and positioned to compare the incremented average efficiency to at least one of a sum of the historical average efficiency and the variable tolerance to thereby detect an above tolerance condition and a difference between the historical average efficiency and the variable tolerance to thereby detect a below tolerance condition, the tolerance comparator further having;

an under counter responsive to detection of the below tolerance condition and positioned to maintain and increase a count of time periods where the incremented average efficiency is below tolerance, and positioned to tag an associated reference equipment-in-operation time period used to calculate the incremented average efficiency as being a potentially abnormal event;

an over counter responsive to detection of the above tolerance condition and positioned to maintain and increase a count of time periods where the incremented average efficiency is above tolerance, and positioned to tag an associated reference equipment-in-operation time period used to calculate the incremented average efficiency as being a potentially abnormal event; and

a counter reset responsive to the under counter and over counter and positioned to reset the over counter and untag time periods tagged by the over counter when the under counter increases and positioned to reset the under counter and untag time periods tagged by the under counter when the over counter increases;

an abnormal events counter responsive to the over counter and under counter and positioned to determine whether at least one of the over counter and the under counter exceed a preselected number of possible abnormal events, and when such condition exists, to thereby determine the existence of an abnormal state of operation of the cyclic equipment device; and

an efficiency variation flag responsive to the abnormal events counter and positioned to declare a possible abnormal state of operation of the cyclical equipment device defining an important efficiency variation when the abnormal events counter determines that the at least one of the over counter and in the under counter exceed the preselected number of possible abnormal events.

2. A system of claim 1, wherein

the plurality of records in the database further include a preselected maximum allowable efficiency variation defining a maximum efficiency variation, a predetermined manufacturer'"'"'s cyclical equipment device maximum specification workload defining a maximum workload, and a predetermined manufacturer'"'"'s cyclical equipment device maximum specification minimum workload defining a minimum workload;

and

the efficiency monitoring software further includes a variation alarm initiator responsive to the database, the workload accuracy incrementor, and the efficiency accuracy incrementor, and positioned to initiate an alarm condition indicating that an abnormal variation has occurred in at least one of the incremented average variable workload, the incremented average efficiency, and the historical average efficiency, and when such occurrence exists, to thereby notify the user of abnormal equipment behavior.

3. A method for monitoring a cyclic equipment device to monitor cyclic equipment efficiency, the method comprising the steps of:

sensing on a cyclical equipment device equipment status signals including on and off status of the cyclical equipment device, clock signals including time that the cyclical equipment device is in the on status and in the off status, and an equipment device identifier and so that the equipment device being sensed by the equipment monitor sensor is specifically identified for monitoring;

calculating an average variable workload signal representing workload being accumulated and displaced by the cyclical equipment device using the most accurate of an array of average variable workload algorithms; and

calculating an efficiency signal representing efficiency of the cyclical equipment device for a cycle using the most accurate of an array of efficiency algorithms.

4. A method of claim 3, further comprising the step of:

optimizing accuracy of the workload signal and the efficiency signal by adjusting the workload and efficiency signals according to a proportion of accuracy factor whose value depends upon a variable tolerance and algorithm used by the efficiency calculator to calculate the efficiency.

5. A method of claim 4, further comprising the step of:

determining the quality of the optimized variable workload signal and optimized efficiency signal to verify that workload and efficiency values are within a possible range of values, so as to declare at least one of an alarm condition, a high variation condition, and a maintenance condition when outside the predetermined possible range of values.

6. A method of claim 5, further comprising the step of:

determining if the efficiency is within a predetermined maximum range of values, so as to declare a maintenance period where the efficiency exceeds the predetermined maximum value.

8. A method of claim 6, further comprising the steps of:

determining whether either counter exceeds a number of possible abnormal periods necessary to confirm an abnormal state; and

resetting the historical efficiency and declaring a very important efficiency variation condition to a user when either counter exceeds the number of possible abnormal periods necessary to confirm an abnormal state.

10. A method of claim 8, further comprising the step of:

initiating an alarm condition indicating that an abnormal variation has occurred in at least one of the efficiency and workload where workload or the efficiency are outside acceptable limits.

7. A method for monitoring a cyclic equipment device to monitor cyclic equipment efficiency, the method comprising the steps of:

counting periods with an under counter where an efficiency signal is lower than a difference of values of an historical efficiency signal and tolerance and where the signal is lower than the difference of the values of the historical efficiency signal and tolerance, tagging a period used to calculate the efficiency signal as being a possible abnormal event and resetting an over counter and untagging events tagged by the over counter; and

counting periods where the efficiency signal is higher than a sum of values of the historical efficiency signal and tolerance with the over counter and where the signal is higher than the sum of the values of the historical efficiency signal and tolerance, tagging the period used to calculate the efficiency signal as being a possible abnormal event and resetting the under counter and untagging events tagged by the under counter.

9. A method of claim 7, further comprising the step of:

increasing a number of time sample periods calculated by the workload calculator prior to releasing the workload signal when potentially abnormal events are detected.

11. A method of claim 9, further comprising the steps of:

declaring an efficiency variation alarm condition indicating an abnormal variation has occurred in at least one of the efficiency and workload where a ratio of at least one of the historical efficiency over the efficiency and the efficiency over the historical efficiency exceeds a maximum efficiency variation; and

declaring a workload over maximum workload alarm when the average variable workload exceeds a maximum workload and declaring a workload under minimum alarm when the average variable workload is below a minimum workload.

Additional draft claims—

Average variable efficiency vs. efficiency

sensing on a cyclical equipment device equipment status signals including on and off status of the cyclical equipment device, clock signals including time that the cyclical equipment device is in the on status and in the off status, and an equipment device identifier and so that the equipment device being sensed by the equipment monitor sensor is specifically identified for monitoring;

calculating an average variable workload signal representing workload being accumulated and displaced by the cyclical equipment device using the most accurate of an array of average variable workload algorithms;

calculating a efficiency signal representing efficiency of the cyclical equipment device for a cycle using the most accurate of an array of efficiency algorithms;

optimizing accuracy of the workload signal and the efficiency signal by adjusting the workload and efficiency signals according to a proportion of accuracy factor whose value depends upon a variable tolerance and algorithm used by the efficiency calculator to calculate the efficiency;

determining the quality of the optimized variable workload signal and optimized efficiency signal to verify that workload and efficiency values are within a possible range of values, so as to declare at least one of an alarm condition, a high variation condition, and a maintenance conditions when outside the predetermined possible range of values;

determining if the efficiency is within a predetermined maximum range of values, so as to declare a maintenance period where the efficiency exceeds the predetermined maximum value;

counting periods where the efficiency signal is lower than the difference of the values of the historical efficiency signal and tolerance with an under counter and where the signal is lower than the difference of the values of the historical efficiency signal and tolerance, tagging the period used to calculate the efficiency signal as being a possible abnormal event and resetting an over counter and untagging events tagged by the over counter;

counting periods where the efficiency signal is higher than the sum of the values of the historical efficiency signal and tolerance with the over counter and where the signal is higher than the sum of the values of the historical efficiency signal and tolerance, tagging the period used to calculate the efficiency signal as being a possible abnormal event and resetting the under counter and untagging events tagged by the under counter;

determining whether either counter exceeds a number of possible abnormal periods necessary to confirm an abnormal state;

resetting the historical efficiency and declaring a very important efficiency variation condition to a user when either counter exceeds the number of possible abnormal periods necessary to confirm an abnormal state;

increasing a number of time sample periods calculated by the workload calculator prior to releasing the workload signal when potentially abnormal events are detected;

initiating an alarm condition indicating that an abnormal variation has occurred in at least one of the efficiency and workload where workload or the efficiency are outside acceptable limits;

declaring an efficiency variation alarm condition indicating an abnormal variation has occurred in at least one of the efficiency and workload where the ratio of at least one of the historical efficiency over the efficiency and the efficiency over the historical efficiency exceeds a maximum efficiency variation; and

declaring a workload over maximum workload alarm when the average variable workload exceeds a maximum workload and declaring a workload under minimum alarm when the average variable workload is below a minimum workload.