Building Infrastructure Failure Logging for Predictive Maintenance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current building infrastructure systems lack effective failure localization and predictive maintenance capabilities, relying on runtime counting and component lifetime prediction without identifying specific failure causes, leading to unpredictable downtime and reduced availability.
Innovation Solution
A monitoring system connected via a communication network that differentiates between failure causes in building infrastructure devices, identifying common environmental influences versus local failures by analyzing status and error messages from multiple devices, and using reference parameter values to predict future failures and schedule maintenance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If runtime counting and component lifetime prediction are used for failure prediction, then the remaining lifetime of electronic components can be calculated, but the specific failure cause cannot be identified
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments failure analysis into two distinct categories: common environmental influences affecting multiple devices and local failures specific to individual devices. By dividing the failure cause analysis in this manner, the system can identify whether a failure is part of a broader environmental issue or an isolated local problem, thereby recovering failure cause information that was previously lost in generic runtime-based predictions.
Solution Approach 2:
The monitoring device implements feedback by continuously collecting status messages and error messages from multiple building infrastructure devices, analyzing these messages to determine failure causes, and using this information to improve future failure predictions. This closed-loop feedback system enables the system to learn from actual failure patterns and provide more accurate cause-specific predictions rather than relying solely on runtime statistics.
2Measurement precision
If monitoring of multiple devices is implemented to identify common environmental influences, then failure cause differentiation is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The monitoring device is designed with multi-functionality, serving as both a standard runtime tracker and an advanced failure cause analyzer. By making the monitoring device universal in its capabilities, the system achieves precise failure cause identification without requiring separate dedicated systems for each function, thereby avoiding unnecessary complexity while maintaining high measurement precision.
Solution Approach 2:
Building infrastructure devices automatically generate and transmit status messages and error messages that contain diagnostic information about their operational state. This self-service approach allows devices to provide their own failure data without requiring external sensors or complex monitoring infrastructure, enabling the monitoring device to differentiate failure causes using information already available from the devices themselves.
3Productivity
If failure cause differentiation is implemented, then predictive maintenance scheduling is improved, but additional error logging and analysis capabilities are required
Solution Approach 1:
The monitoring device performs preliminary analysis of error messages and status information as they are received, categorizing failures into common environmental influences or local failures before maintenance scheduling is initiated. This preliminary action enables maintenance teams to prioritize and prepare appropriate responses in advance, improving maintenance scheduling efficiency without requiring complex post-failure investigation systems.
Data Source
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AI summary
A building infrastructure comprises building infrastructure devices and a monitoring device, which are connected by a communication network. The monitoring device is configured to determine, in response to receiving a failure message from a building infrastructure device of the building infrastructure devices, whether a further building infrastructure device of the building infrastructure devices has a corresponding failure as the building infrastructure device. The monitoring device is configured to determine that a failure cause for the failure is a common environmental influence of the building infrastructure device and the further building infrastructure device in case the further building infrastructure device has the corresponding failure as the building infrastructure device. The monitoring device is further configured to determine that a failure cause for the failure is a local failure of the building infrastructure device, in case the further building infrastructure device has a different failure as the building infrastructure device.