Health Management System Design for Platform Monitoring
Solution Overview
Problem
Designing a health management system for complex platforms is challenging due to difficulties in elucidating informational requirements and integrating sensors effectively, especially for new or legacy platforms, leading to inadequate support capabilities and inefficient maintenance.
Innovation Solution
A method for designing a health management system that identifies stakeholders' information requirements and designs a secondary sub-system in a top-down manner, optimizing sensor arrays by identifying missing, unused, and redundant sensors, and converting sensor outputs into desired data, allowing for efficient data processing and information delivery.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a health management system is designed for complex platforms, then the ability to monitor sub-system conditions is improved, but the difficulty of elucidating information requirements and integrating sensors increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing the health management system into distinct functional modules: sensor array management, information requirement analysis, data processing units, and stakeholder interface components. Each module handles specific tasks independently, making the overall complex system manageable through modular design. The sensor array is segmented into multiple sensors targeting different sub-systems, and the data processing is segmented into multiple stages from raw data collection to final information delivery.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs intermediary elements such as data processing units that act as mediators between sensors and stakeholders, and information requirements specifications that serve as intermediaries between monitoring needs and system implementation. These intermediaries translate complex sensor data into meaningful information for different stakeholders, reducing the direct complexity burden on the overall system design.
2Productivity
If sensor arrays are optimized by identifying missing, unused, and redundant sensors, then the efficiency of data collection is improved, but the time and resources required for sensor analysis increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by performing sensor array optimization during the design phase rather than during system operation or maintenance. The method identifies missing, unused, and redundant sensors before the health management system is fully implemented, allowing for proactive optimization. This preliminary analysis includes creating a comprehensive sensor inventory, mapping sensors to information requirements, and making optimization decisions before deployment, thereby avoiding time-consuming adjustments later.
3Ease of manufacture
If a top-down design approach is used for the secondary sub-system, then the integration of information requirements is improved, but the initial design planning complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies inversion by using a top-down design approach that starts with stakeholder information requirements and works backward to determine the necessary sensor array and data processing architecture, rather than starting with the sensors and working forward to see what information can be obtained. This inverted approach ensures that the system is designed to meet specific information needs from the outset, improving integration and reducing rework, despite the increased initial planning complexity.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method for designing a secondary sub-system for monitoring the condition of a platform is disclosed. The platform comprises one or more primary sub- systems. The method comprises identifying stakeholders of the platform, capturing information requirements of the stakeholders, determining data requirements corresponding to the information requirements, defining a sensor array comprising sensors suitable for providing output signals relating to condition characteristics of the one or more primary sub-systems, and defining procedures for converting the output signals from the sensor array to the data requirements, thereby to fulfil the information requirements of the stakeholders. The method can be implemented using a design tool having a graphical user interface with a hierarchical layer structure.