Unified Equipment Workflows for Predictive Maintenance

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing systems for managing equipment in buildings struggle with streamlining disparate workflows, leading to inefficient operations, increased maintenance costs, and equipment failures due to misidentification of behavioral anomalies and overlapping objectives, resulting in resource wastage and reduced equipment lifespan.

Innovation Solution

A method and system that unify disparate workflows by receiving trigger sources from equipment, transforming them into a single workflow, removing duplications, translating into a common process nomenclature, categorizing, and sequencing to optimize operations, while learning from historical data to predict failures and reallocate resources effectively.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If multiple disparate workflow systems are used for different equipment management objectives, then each specific objective (comfort, compliance, performance, energy reduction, maintenance cost reduction) can be addressed, but the systems create duplicate work items, cross-purpose work items, and waste resources

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveability to address multiple equipment management objectivesVSAvoidresource wastage including labor, consumables and parts

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSLoss of energy

Solution Approach 1:

The patent merges multiple disparate workflow systems into a single unified workflow system that can handle multiple equipment management objectives simultaneously. The system integrates workflows for comfort, compliance, health, safety, performance, energy reduction, and maintenance cost reduction into one cohesive system that eliminates duplicate work items and reduces resource wastage while maintaining the ability to address all specific objectives.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #5Merging (Combining)

2Ease of operation

If separate workflow systems are designed for different user types (end users, remote technicians, field technicians), then each user group can have specialized workflows, but this leads to substantial overlap and resource waste

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvespecialized workflows for different user groupsVSAvoidnumber of separate workflow systems

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent creates a universal workflow system that serves multiple user types (end users, remote technicians, field technicians) through a single multi-functional platform. The unified system provides specialized capabilities for each user group while being implemented as one integrated system rather than separate systems, thereby reducing complexity and eliminating overlap.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

3Reliability

If alarms and FDD solutions trigger workflows when equipment symptoms cross thresholds, then problems can be identified before complete failure, but this results in huge false positives and reactive triggering just before failure

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveequipment failure predictionVSAvoidaccuracy of anomaly identification

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the unified workflow system continuously monitors equipment behavior, learns from historical data and pattern recognition, and adjusts its predictions accordingly. This feedback loop reduces false positives by distinguishing between normal variations and actual anomalies, enabling more precise identification of equipment problems before complete failure occurs.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

Solution Approach 2:

The system performs preliminary analysis of equipment behavior patterns and predicts potential failures before they occur by analyzing trends and deviations from normal operation. This preliminary action allows for proactive maintenance scheduling and resource allocation rather than reactive responses just before failure.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

4Measurement precision

If equipment behaviors are normalized over time duration to make them usable, then behavioral data becomes comparable, but this is a tedious process when various behaviors overlap to achieve balance between objectives

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvenormalization of equipment behavior dataVSAvoidcomplexity of balancing overlapping behaviors

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent merges the normalization process into the unified workflow system, where overlapping equipment behaviors are normalized and balanced simultaneously through a single integrated process. The system handles multiple behavioral aspects (temperature maintenance, efficiency, health) in one unified normalization framework rather than separate tedious processes, automatically balancing competing objectives.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Data Source

PatentEP4207015A1Creating a workflow from multiple disparate workflow systems leveraging predictive actionable insights for equipment

Publication Date: 2023.07.05 CARRIER CORP

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AI summary

A method (700) of streamlining multiple disparate workflows generated by equipment including: receiving (704) workflow trigger sources from the equipment; generating (706) two or more disparate workflow system in response to the workflow trigger sources; transforming (708) the two or more disparate workflow systems into a single unified workflow; and performing (710) the unified workflow for the equipment.