Expert System for Chemical Processing Diagnostics
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current expert systems are inadequate for providing timely and efficient assistance to customers with customized, dynamic systems, as they lack support for inter-dependent components and often require multiple interactions, which can be inconvenient and inefficient.
Innovation Solution
An interactive, computer-implemented expert system that communicates with customers over a network, utilizing a knowledge base with rules, decision trees, and a database to provide support services for customized units, including query handling, answer identification, and supplemental information, with an interactive decision tree for problem-solving and training.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional phone conversations, on-site visits, and email exchanges are used for expert assistance, then customers can receive human expert support, but the process becomes timely and inconvenient requiring multiple interactions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a virtual copy of the expert system that encapsulates expert knowledge and decision-making logic. This digital twin can independently analyze customer problems, retrieve relevant information from databases, and provide solutions without requiring actual expert presence, thereby eliminating multiple interaction cycles while maintaining solution quality
Solution Approach 2:
The system pre-loads extensive knowledge bases, databases, and diagnostic algorithms before customer interactions occur. All possible problem scenarios, solutions, and relevant information are prepared in advance, enabling the system to immediately process customer queries without requiring sequential back-and-forth communications to gather information
2Extent of automation
If expert systems are designed for specific mass-produced products, then they can provide automated support, but they are not available for customized units with inter-dependent components
Solution Approach 1:
The patent designs the expert system with universal architecture that can handle both mass-produced and customized units. The system incorporates flexible database structures and configurable knowledge bases that adapt to different product types, enabling a single automated system to serve diverse applications from standard to highly customized equipment with inter-dependent components
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs dynamic knowledge bases and databases that can be configured and updated to reflect the specific characteristics of customized units. The expert system adapts its diagnostic logic and information retrieval processes based on the particular configuration and inter-dependencies of each customized system, maintaining automation while handling variability
3Loss of information
If multiple conversations and exchanges are conducted with experts, then comprehensive problem information can be gathered, but the assistance process becomes inconvenient and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intelligent intermediary system that acts as a bridge between customers and expert knowledge. This intermediary automatically collects, structures, and analyzes problem information from customers through a streamlined interface, then retrieves appropriate solutions from pre-configured databases and knowledge bases, eliminating the need for multiple conversational turns while ensuring comprehensive information capture
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables customers to independently diagnose and resolve problems through an automated interface that guides them through information gathering and solution selection. The expert system self-serves by automatically processing customer inputs, querying databases, and presenting solutions without requiring iterative expert-customer conversations, thereby improving convenience while maintaining information completeness
Data Source
AI summary
An expert system may be utilized for providing and receiving interactive, computer-implemented support services related to chemical processing units. The expert system may include a knowledge base that contains information coded in the form of rules, decision trees, and logic and a database that stores and handles various types of information related to the expert system. A query component receives a query that may be a problem, a performance issue, or a training request selected from a list or diagram or otherwise generated by a customer. An answer component utilizes the knowledge base, the database, an external database, and/or an expert to provide one or more answers to the query. A question and answer session may be initiated by the expert system in order to gain further information and detail related to the query. Supplemental information and the identified answers may be provided to the customer.