Methods to monitor system sensor and actuator health and performance
First Claim
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1. A method of monitoring an oilfield equipment system, comprising the steps of:
- identifying a physical coupling among three or more oilfield equipment subsystems;
monitoring a plurality of signals, each signal being associated with one of the three or more oilfield equipment subsystems;
transforming one or more of the oilfield equipment subsystem signals into units associated with the type of physical coupling among the three or more oilfield equipment subsystems;
comparing at least some of the signals; and
indicating at least one oilfield equipment subsystem'"'"'s signal that does not agree with at least two other oilfield equipment subsystems'"'"' signals.
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Abstract
A method for assessing health and performance of a system. In one example, the system comprises subsystems (preferably physically coupled subsystems), at least some of which are characterizable by transmitted signals. Some of these signals are transformed into a comparable form and compared, so as to identify signals that are outside of operating bounds.
26 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A method of monitoring an oilfield equipment system, comprising the steps of:
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identifying a physical coupling among three or more oilfield equipment subsystems; monitoring a plurality of signals, each signal being associated with one of the three or more oilfield equipment subsystems; transforming one or more of the oilfield equipment subsystem signals into units associated with the type of physical coupling among the three or more oilfield equipment subsystems; comparing at least some of the signals; and indicating at least one oilfield equipment subsystem'"'"'s signal that does not agree with at least two other oilfield equipment subsystems'"'"' signals. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method of operating an oilfield equipment system, comprising the steps of:
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controlling system operation using readings from multiple subsystems of the system; checking the respective readings of said multiple subsystems against each other to determine whether any subsystems have readings which are physically inconsistent with each other; and under at least some conditions, changing the controlling step to exclude the output of a respective subsystem which has been determined, in the checking step, to be showing inconsistent output. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method for operating a system, comprising the steps of:
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in a first procedure, monitoring a first sensor, and generating a first estimate of at least one parameter thereby; in a second procedure, monitoring a second sensor, and generating a second estimate of said parameter thereby; and comparing said first and second estimates to thereby selectively generate communications indicating undesired mismatch between said estimates. - View Dependent Claims (17)
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18. A method of controlling a complex system, comprising the steps of:
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monitoring signals associated with a plurality of nodes in the system; identifying a node from the plurality whose respective signal is outside an operation limit; and switching from a first mode of operation to a second mode of operation in dependence on which node of the plurality has been identified as having a signal outside the operational limit. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21)
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22. A method of monitoring an oilfield equipment system, comprising the steps of:
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monitoring three or more signals at respective physical interfaces to at least one oilfield equipment subsystem, said signals being associated with physical states which are physically coupled but not identical; transforming one or more of said signals into a set of units associated with the type of physical coupling between the three or more signals; and indicating any oilfield equipment subsystem signal which is physically inconsistent with others of said signals.
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Specification