Industrial Asset Health Controller With Simulation-Tested Setpoints
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current condition monitoring systems in industrial settings often lead to undesirable shutdowns of critical assets due to sudden threshold-based safety measures, resulting in process disruptions and production losses, as they fail to continuously monitor and adjust for optimal operation.
Innovation Solution
A smart controller with a control processor and simulation engine continuously monitors asset conditions, predicts future states, and adjusts setpoints to prevent shutdowns, providing early warnings and ensuring safe operation by simulating and optimizing asset performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If threshold-based safety systems are used to monitor asset conditions, then asset safety is improved, but asset shutdown frequency increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by continuously monitoring asset conditions and predicting future states before threshold violations occur. The smart controller analyzes current conditions and forecasts potential safety issues, allowing preventive maintenance or operational adjustments before actual shutdowns are triggered, thus maintaining safety while avoiding unnecessary downtime.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from static threshold-based monitoring to dynamic predictive monitoring. The smart controller continuously adapts its assessment of asset safety based on real-time condition data and predictive analytics, allowing operational parameters to be dynamically adjusted to maintain safety margins while optimizing asset utilization and minimizing shutdowns.
2Reliability
If threshold-based shutdowns are implemented when limits are crossed, then asset damage is prevented, but production loss increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system takes preliminary action by predicting asset condition deterioration trends and alerting operators before critical threshold violations occur. This allows scheduled, controlled shutdowns rather than sudden emergency shutdowns, enabling proper restart procedures that reduce downtime and prevent production loss while still protecting the asset.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements continuous feedback loops where asset condition data is constantly monitored, analyzed, and used to adjust operational parameters. This feedback mechanism allows operators to respond to trending conditions rather than reacting to sudden threshold breaches, enabling smoother transitions and reduced restart delays while maintaining asset protection.
3Productivity
If continuous monitoring and predictive analytics are implemented, then asset uptime is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a smart controller as an intermediary layer between simple threshold-based safety systems and complex predictive analytics algorithms. This intermediary handles the complexity of continuous monitoring and prediction, while presenting simplified outputs and recommendations to operators, thus improving asset uptime without requiring the entire system to become complex.
Solution Approach 2:
The smart controller performs self-service by automatically analyzing asset condition data, predicting future states, and generating operational recommendations without requiring constant human intervention. This automation of complex analytical functions improves asset uptime while keeping the user interface simple, as the system handles its own monitoring and prediction tasks independently.
Data Source
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AI summary
A smart controller continuously monitors data for determining in real time if there is a likelihood that an asset will be shut down and, if so, recommends a new setpoint at which the asset will continue to operate but will not lead to tripping of the system. The smart controller executes a simulation engine to test the new setpoint before implementation to optimize performance while avoiding a shutdown. In this manner, the smart controller provides early warning of possible shutdowns and ensures that key assets are less likely to be shut down.