WO2020008247A1

WO2020008247A1 - System and method for health diagnosis and maintenance of industrial units

Info

Publication number: WO2020008247A1
Application number: PCT/IB2018/056220
Authority: WO
Inventors: Mareesan Bose; Mohandas S.; Raghuvarman B.; Sumith S.; Ramkumar A.
Original assignee: L&T Valves Limited
Priority date: 2018-07-04
Filing date: 2018-08-17
Publication date: 2020-01-09

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system and method for diagnosing and maintaining health information of an industrial unit. The health information of valves of an industrial machine is captured via sensors attached to the valves. The health information received by the sensors is collected on an IoT server and is compared with standard health parameters of the valves. Upon determining a variance between the received health information and the standard health information corresponding alerts/notifications are generated and communicated to the connected one or more client computing devices.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR HEALTH DIAGNOSIS AND MAINTENANCE OF

INDUSTRIAL UNITS

TECHNICAL FIELD

[1] The present invention generally relates to an industrial automation system. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods for remote industrial machine diagnosis and maintenance in real time.

BACKGROUND

[2] Background description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.

[3] In recent years, diagnosis and maintenance of smaller key components like valve/regulator/controller present in the industrial machine/unit and those used in power plant, chemical, petroleum, and/or other processes, have grown increasingly more complex with proliferation of the smaller components that include more processing power than their predecessors.

[4] Due to the failure of the smaller key components the industrial machine can experience increased periods of downtime. Failure of the components during operation can also create hazardous operating conditions if the components provide erroneous or inaccurate data to the industrial machines. Currently, the failure of the components functionality is determined and captured at the site of the industrial machine location. This leads to the end user and/or a technician dealing with the machine to visit the location for determination of health of the key components of the machine. Also, the technician is unable to plan proactively and/or take preventive steps for maintenance of the machine.

[5] There is therefore a need in the art to provide a facility for remote determination and evaluation of the key components of the machines for better monitoring, evaluation and performance. The disclosure facilitates installing sensors at the key components for better sensing of their health. The health information is further communicated as an alert or notification to the end user when a variance in health parameters for the key components is determined. OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

[6] A general object of the present invention is to remotely monitor industrial machines in (near) real-time.

[7] Another object of the present invention is to monitor health of industrial valves in the industrial machines and generate an alert when the health deviates from standard operating health parameters.

[8] Another object of the present invention is toensure that energy of the industrial machines is conserved, costs are reduced, machine downtime is eliminated and operational efficiency is increased.

SUMMARY

[9] The present invention generally relates to an industrial automation system. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods for remote industrial unit diagnosis and maintenance in real time.

[10] Systems and methods are described for performing health diagnosis and maintenance of industrial units. In an aspect of the present invention, a system for performing remote industrial monitoring of an industrial unit is discussed. The system comprises : at least one sensor attached to each of one or more valves of the industrial unit, wherein said sensor collects health information of the one or more valves, said health information being based in any or a combination of parameters selected from leakage, vibration, position, torque, cycles of operation, pressure, temperature, and flow; one or more processors positioned in a central computing device that is operatively coupled to one or more sensors of the corresponding one or more valves, said one or more processors operative to execute one or more instructions stored in memory of the central computing device so as to receive respective health information from the one or more sensors of the corresponding one or more valves; and a health variance evaluator engine to monitor and evaluate said one or more processors to compare the received respective health information with standard health parameters of the respective one or more valves such that when variance exists between the received health information and corresponding standard health parameters, corresponding signals are generated to perform any or a combination of a preventative, diagnostic, predictive operation, said generated signals being processed so as to be represented on display of at least one client computing device. [11] In an embodiment of the present invention, the generated signals are indicative of any or combination of type of action that needs to be taken, urgency with which said action should be implemented, health information attributes that led to recommendation of said action, impact of said action.

[12] In another aspect of the present invention, at least one of said generated signals is in the form of an alert that is visually or audibly presented on the at least one client computing device.

[13] In another aspect of the present invention, the industrial unit is selected from any or a combination of an automotive unit, a pharmaceutical unit, a water treatment unit, a food and drug unit, an oil unit, a coal unit, a gas unit, a power generation unit, a life sciences unit, or a mining unit.

[14] In another aspect of the present invention, the processor logs the variance and determines a reason for the variance.

[15] In another aspect of the present invention, the sensor is any or a combination of a position sensor, pressure sensor, temperature sensor, and vibration sensor.

[16] In another aspect of the present invention, the one or more valves of the industrial unit are assigned a unique serial number for monitoring.

[17] In another aspect of the present invention, a method for performing remote industrial monitoring of an industrial unit comprise: collecting, health information from at least one sensor attached to one or more valves of the industrial unit, wherein said sensor collects health information of the one or more valves, said health information being based in any or a combination of parameters selected from leakage, vibration, position, torque, cycles of operation, pressure, temperature, and flow; receiving the respective health information from the one or more sensors of the corresponding one or more valves; comparing the received respective health information with standard health parameters of the respective one or more valves; and generating signals when a variance exists between the received health information and corresponding standard health parameters to perform any or a combination of a preventative, diagnostic, predictive operation, said generated signals being processed so as to be represented on display of at least one client computing device.

[18] In contrast to the existing processes, the present invention facilitates remote determination and evaluation of the valves of the industrial machines for better monitoring, evaluation and performance. The disclosure facilitates installing one or more sensors at the valves for better sensing of the valve’s health. The health information is further communicated as an alert or notification to the end user when a variance in health parameters for the valves is determined.

[19] Various objects, features, aspects and advantages of the inventive subject matter will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, along with the accompanying drawing figures in which like numerals represent like components.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[20] The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the present disclosure and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the present disclosure. The diagrams are for illustration only, which thus is not a limitation of the present disclosure, and wherein:

[21] FIG. 1 illustrates exemplary implementation architecture of the proposed system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

[22] FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary module diagram for the process of monitoring and evaluating health information of the industrial units.

[23] FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary process flow diagram for monitoring the health information of the industrial units.

[24] FIG. 4 illustrates exemplary high-level system architecture for monitoring the health information of the industrial unit by collecting information via sensors attached to valves of the industrial machines.

[25] FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary computer system in which or with which embodiments of the present invention can be utilized, in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[26] In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present invention. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that embodiments of the present invention may be practiced without some of these specific details.

[27] Systems and methods are described for performing health diagnosis and maintenance of industrial units. In an aspect of the present invention, a system for performing remote industrial monitoring of an industrial unit is discussed. The system comprises : at least one sensor attached to each of one or more valves of the industrial unit, wherein said sensor collects health information of the one or more valves, said health information being based in any or a combination of parameters selected from leakage, vibration, position, torque, cycles of operation, pressure, temperature, and flow; one or more processors positioned in a central computing device that is operatively coupled to one or more sensors of the corresponding one or more valves, said one or more processors operative to execute one or more instructions stored in memory of the central computing device so as to receive respective health information from the one or more sensors of the corresponding one or more valves; and a health variance evaluator engine to monitor and evaluate said one or more processors to compare the received respective health information with standard health parameters of the respective one or more valves such that when variance exists between the received health information and corresponding standard health parameters, corresponding signals are generated to perform any or a combination of a preventative, diagnostic, predictive operation, said generated signals being processed so as to be represented on display of at least one client computing device.

[28] In an embodiment of the present invention, the generated signals are indicative of any or combination of type of action that needs to be taken, urgency with which said action should be implemented, health information attributes that led to recommendation of said action, impact of said action.

[29] In another aspect of the present invention, at least one of said generated signals is in the form of an alert that is visually or audibly presented on the at least one client computing device.

[30] In another aspect of the present invention, the industrial unit is selected from any or a combination of an automotive unit, a pharmaceutical unit, a water treatment unit, a food and drug unit , an oil unit, a coal unit, a gas unit, a power generation unit, a life sciences unit, or a mining unit.

[31] In another aspect of the present invention, the processor logs the variance and determines a reason for the variance.

[32] In another aspect of the present invention, the sensor is any or a combination of a position sensor, pressure sensor, temperature sensor, and vibration sensor.

[33] In another aspect of the present invention, the one or more valves of the industrial unit are assigned a unique serial number for monitoring. [34] In another aspect of the present invention, a method for performing remote industrial monitoring of an industrial unit comprise: collecting, health information from at least one sensor attached to one or more valves of the industrial unit, wherein said sensor collects health information of the one or more valves, said health information being based in any or a combination of parameters selected from leakage, vibration, position, torque, cycles of operation, pressure, temperature, and flow; receiving the respective health information from the one or more sensors of the corresponding one or more valves; comparing the received respective health information with standard health parameters of the respective one or more valves; and generating signals when a variance exists between the received health information and corresponding standard health parameters to perform any or a combination of a preventative, diagnostic, predictive operation, said generated signals being processed so as to be represented on display of at least one client computing device.

[35] An industrial machine/unit comprises of multiple industrial valves. Utility providers and other entities routinely monitor and/or inspect such valves to assess the health of the machines, assess efficiency of the machine, and/or detect early signs of failure of the valves, etc.

[36] Also, to perform the health assessments of the machines and/or to detect early signs of failure, sensors are coupled to one or more of the valves of the machines to measure various properties of the valves (e.g., internal temperature, ambient air temperature, dissolved gas concentration, load, stresses on the equipment, structural fatigue of the equipment, etc.). Further, the measurements derived from such sensors are used to determine health information of the valves by comparing received health information with standard health parameters of the industrial valve.

[37] FIG. 1 illustrates exemplary implementation architecture of the proposed system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. In an embodiment, the proposed industrial monitoring system 1 lOdetermines and evaluates health information the machines valves.

[38] In an implementation, said system 110 can be embedded with/incorporated with one or more Internet of Things (IoT) devices. In a typical network architecture of the present disclosure can include a plurality of network devices such as transmitter, receivers, and/or transceivers that may include one or more IoT devices.

[39] As used herein, the IoT devices can be a device that includes sensing and/or control functionality as well as a WiFi™ transceiver radio or interface, a Bluetooth™ transceiver radio or interface, a Zigbee™ transceiver radio or interface, an Ultra-Wideband (UWB) transceiver radio or interface, a Wi-Fi-Direct transceiver radio or interface, a Bluetooth™ Low Energy (BLE) transceiver radio or interface, and/or any other wireless network transceiver radio or interface that allows the IoT device to communicate with a wide area network and with one or more other devices. In some embodiments, an IoT device does not include a cellular network transceiver radio or interface, and thus may not be configured to directly communicate with a cellular network. In some embodiments, an IoT device may include a cellular transceiver radio, and may be configured to communicate with a cellular network using the cellular network transceiver radio.

[40] User may interact with the network devices using an application, a web browser, a proprietary program, or any other program executed and operated by the access device. In some embodiments, the access device may communicate directly with the network devices (e.g., communication signal). For example, the access device may communicate directly with network devices using Zigbee™ signals, Bluetooth™ signals, WiFi™ signals, infrared (IR) signals, UWB signals, WiFi-Direct signals, BLE signals, sound frequency signals, or the like. In some embodiments, the access device may communicate with the network devices via the gateways and/or a cloud network.

[41] Local area network may include a wireless network, a wired network, or a combination of a wired and wireless network. A wireless network may include any wireless interface or combination of wireless interfaces (e.g., Zigbee™, Bluetooth™, WiFi™, IR, UWB, WiFi-Direct, BLE, cellular, Long-Term Evolution (LTE), WiMax™, or the like). A wired network may include any wired interface (e.g., fiber, Ethernet, powerline, Ethernet over coaxial cable, digital signal line (DSL), or the like). The wired and/or wireless networks may be implemented using various routers, access points, bridges, gateways, or the like, to connect devices in the local area network. For example, the local area network may include gateway and gateway. Gateway can provide communication capabilities to network devices and/or access device via radio signals in order to provide communication, location, and/or other services to the devices. The gateway is directly connected to the external network and may provide other gateways and devices in the local area network with access to the external network. The gateway may be designated as a primary gateway.

[42] The network access provided by gateway may be of any type of network familiar to those skilled in the art that can support data communications using any of a variety of commercially-available protocols. For example, gateways may provide wireless communication capabilities for the local area network 100 using particular communications protocols, such as WiFi™ (e.g., IEEE 802.11 family standards, or other wireless communication technologies, or any combination thereof). Using the communications protocol(s), the gateways may provide radio frequencies on which wireless enabled devices in the local area network can communicate. A gateway may also be referred to as a base station, an access point, Node B, Evolved Node B (eNodeB), access point base station, a Femtocell, home base station, home Node B, home eNodeB, or the like.

[43] Gateways may include a router, a modem, a range extending device, and/or any other device that provides network access among one or more computing devices and/or external networks. For example, gateway may include a router or access point or a range extending device. Examples of range extending devices may include a wireless range extender, a wireless repeater, or the like.

[44] A router gateway may include access point and router functionality, and may further include an Ethernet switch and/or a modem. For example, a router gateway may receive and forward data packets among different networks. When a data packet is received, the router gateway may read identification information (e.g., a media access control (MAC) address) in the packet to determine the intended destination for the packet. The router gateway may then access information in a routing table or routing policy, and may direct the packet to the next network or device in the transmission path of the packet. The data packet may be forwarded from one gateway to another through the computer networks until the packet is received at the intended destination.

[45] Referring now to FIG. 1, in an embodiment FIG. 1 indicates a network implementation 100 of an industrial monitoring system 110.

[46] Although the present subject matter is explained considering that the industrial monitoring system is implemented as an application on a server 102, it may be understood that the industrial monitoring system 110 may also be implemented in a variety of computing systems, such as a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a notebook, a workstation, a server, a network server, a cloud-based environment and the like. It would be appreciated that the industrial monitoring system 110 may be accessed by multiple users 106-1, 106-2... 106-N (collectively referred to as users 106 and individually referred to as the user 106 hereinafter), through one or more computing devices 108-1, 108-2... 108-N (collectively referred to as computing devices 108 hereinafter), or applications residing on the computing devices 108. In an aspect, the proposed industrial monitoring system 110 can be operatively coupled to a website and so be operable from any Internet enabled computing device 108. Examples of the computing devices 108 may include, but are not limited to, a portable computer, a personal digital assistant, a handheld device, and a workstation. The computing devices 108 are communicatively coupled to the proposed industrial monitoring system 110 through a network 104. It may be also understood that the proposed industrial monitoring system 110 is a system for determining and evaluating health information of valves of the industrial machines.

[47] In one implementation, the network 104 can be a wireless network, a wired network or a combination thereof. The network 104 can be implemented as one of the different types of networks, such as intranet, local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), the internet, and the like. Further, the network 104 may either be a dedicated network or a shared network. The shared network represents an association of the different types of networks that use a variety of protocols, for example, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Transmission Control Protocol/Intemet Protocol (TCP/IP), Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), and the like, to communicate with one another. Further the network 106 can include a variety of network devices, including routers, bridges, servers, computing devices, storage devices, and the like.

[48] As discussed, the computing device 108 (which may include multiple devices in communication in a hard-wired or wireless format) may include at least one of the following: a mobile wireless device, a smartphone, a mobile computing device, a wireless device, a hard-wired device, a network device, a docking device, a personal computer, a laptop computer, a pad computer, a personal digital assistant, a wearable device, a remote computing device, a server, a functional computing device, or any combination thereof. While, in one preferred and non-limiting embodiment, the primary computing device 108 is a smartphone (which may include the appropriate hardware and software components to implement the various described functions), it is also envisioned that the computing device 108 be any suitable computing device configured, programmed, or adapted to perform one or more of the functions of the described system.

[49] FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary module diagram for the process of monitoring and evaluating health information of the industrial units in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. In an embodiment of the present invention, an industrial monitoring system (110) can include a health variance evaluator engine (212) for comparing the received health information of the valves with the standard health information to determine the variance in health of the valve, a display module (216), and a database (218). It would be appreciated that, the database (218) of the system (110) can be configured at a remote location say a cloud or a server. The system (110) includes one or more type of sensors for receiving the health information of the respective valves to which they are aligned.

[50] FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary process flow diagram, 300 for monitoring health information of the industrial units.

[51] Referring to FIG. 3, one or more sensors coupled to the one or more valves of the industrial units receive and collect health information of the valves (at block 302), the collected health information is compared to the standard health parameters (at block 304) to determine the variance if any that exists between the standard health information and the collected health information Based on the comparison, it is determined whether an action is required (at block 306). Onno detection of the variance between the received and the collected health information of the valves, no further action is taken and the sensors are instructed to continue receiving health information from the valves (at block 302). Otherwise, the flow proceeds to generating signals via the one or more processors to perform preventive, operative and predictive operations at the valves (block 308). Also, the generated signals are represented to raise/generate alarms or notifications on the attached one or more client devices (block 310).

[52] FIG. 4 illustrates exemplary high-level system architecture for monitoring the health information of the industrial unit by collecting information via sensors attached to valves of the industrial machines.

[53] In an embodiment of the disclosure, the one or more sensors are attached to one or more valves (402-1, 402-2, 402-3.402-N) of the industrial units. Information of the valves functioning and health is gathered via the sensors that are coupled to the valves of the machines at the industrial unit.

[54] In an aspect of the disclosure, numerous sensors are often used to monitor one or more health parameters of the valves of the industrial machines. The types of sensors may include vibration, temperature, motion, sound, pressure, and so forth. The sensors are often disposed in various locations in/on or around the industrial machines. In some instances, the sensors may communicate with other devices via a wired connection or a wireless connection.

[55] An aspect of the disclosure, relates to providing the sensors that may be attached to the valves of the industrial machines. The sensors serve multiple purposes, including enhanced sensing of properties of the industrial machine and the environment surrounding the machine using the multiple sensors.

[56] In an aspect of the disclosure, the sensors may include a processor that may receive data and may process the data for various types of analysis. For example, the sensors may continuously monitor certain properties associated with the industrial machines and the environment surrounding the machine over time to determine whether the industrial machines and/or the environment surrounding the device is suitable for the purposes of the corresponding industrial monitoring system. That is, when health measurements acquired by the sensors are outside a range of expected measurements, the processor may perform a preventative action, such as send a notification to a technician/user and/or send a command to the industrial monitoring system and to the attached one or more client devices.

[57] In an aspect of the disclosure, the sensors may include a wireless communication component (e.g., antenna) that enables wirelessly transmitting and receiving data.

[58] In an aspect of the disclosure, when the sensors determine that certain unwanted or undesired conditions exist related to the health of the industrial valve of the industrial machine or the surrounding environment, the sensors may disable certain operational functions of the connected computing devices used by a technician/operator.

[59] In an aspect of the disclosure, the collected health information by the sensors are transmitted and collected at a gateway 404 to be transferred and stored at the IoT server 406.

[60] In an aspect of the disclosure, the collected health information at the valves is communicated to the IoT server 406. The IoT server may include one or more servers, one or more computing devices, and the like. Further, the server may include a number of computers that may be connected through a real-time communication network, such as the Internet, Ethernet, EtherNet/IP, Control Net, or the like, such that the multiple computers may operate together as a single entity. The real-time communication network may include any network that enables various devices to communicate with each other at near real-time.

[61] In an aspect of the disclosure, the IoT server 406 may be capable of communicating via the industrial monitoring unit 410 to the one or more computing computing devices 412. As such, the IoT server 406 may be capable of wired or wireless communication between the industrial monitoring unit 410 and the computing interface 412. In one embodiment, the IoT server 406 may be accessible via the Internet or some other network.

[62] In an aspect of the disclosure, after receiving the health information data at the IoT server 406 by the sensors, large-scale data analysis operations are performed on the server.

[63] In an aspect of the disclosure, the IoT server 406 may forward the acquired health information or analysed information to different connected computing devices, various industrial automation equipment, or the like. As such, the IoT server 406 may maintain a communication connection with various industrial automation equipment, computing devices, and the like.

[64] In an aspect of the disclosure, sensors described above may be coupled to the industrial machine. The sensors may be located at any suitable position on the industrial machine. In some embodiments, the sensors may be physically coupled to the industrial machine using any suitable mechanism (e.g., bolts, screws, adhesives, magnets). The sensors may be configured to obtain data, read data, receive data, process data, transmit data, and the like.

[65] In an aspect of the disclosure, the industrial monitoring unit 410 may communicate to the one or more client computing devices 412 (Client computing device 1, Client computing device 1... . Client computing device N) via a wireless or wired communication.

[66] In an aspect of the disclosure, the one or more sensors communicate the valve’s health information to the IoT server 406. The server performs analysis and determines one or more preventative actions. The IoT server 406 performs the analysis and/or to perform the one or more preventative actions, diagnostics, and/or predictive operations that are communicated to the one or more client computing devices 412.

[67] In an aspect of the disclosure, the preventative action may include sending a command (e.g., power off command), sending an alert, triggering an alarm on the one or more connected devices 412.

[68] In an aspect of the disclosure, the diagnostics of the health information of the valves may include determining what is causing the variance between the determined health information of the valves and the standard health information.

[69] In an aspect of the disclosure, the predictive operation may include determining if the health of the valves is likely to fail and communicating with or monitoring/evaluating and controlling that valve or the industrial machine to attempt to inhibit the failure, or sending an alert to the connected client computing devices indicating the prediction.

[70] In an aspect of the disclosure, the IoT server 406 may receive health information from the one or more gas sensors, temperature sensors, pressure sensors, motion sensors, vibration sensors, and/or sound sensors over time. The IoT server may also determine the standard health information of the respective sensors. For example, the IoT server may continuously monitor the received data signals from each of the one or more sensors to learn or determine a range for expected measurements. In some embodiments, the IoT server may monitor the health information for a threshold period of time (e.g., 10 min, 30 min, 60 min) to determine the range of expected standard health measurements. In other embodiments, the IoT server may monitor the health information until a threshold number of readings (e.g., 5, 10, 15, 20) are received that indicate health measurements within a threshold range to each other so as to determine the range of expected health measurements.

[71] In an aspect of the disclosure, at the industrial monitoring unit 410, one or more portal applications are available. The portal applications require the users to login to the unit 410, to access alerts/notifications. The alerts/notifications are generated due to determination of variance in the received health information and the standard health information of the valves at the industrial machines. Upon the user logging to the application the IoT server 406 transfers the corresponding alerts/notifications to the one or more client computing devices, for the user/technician to take further action and track and/or monitor operations of the valves of the industrial machines.

[72] In an aspect of the disclosure, the client computing devices 412 may depict visualizations associated with the health information of the valves. In an aspect, the display of the client computing device may be a touch display capable of receiving inputs from the user of the computing device. Also, the display may serve as a user interface to communicate with the valves of the industrial machines and or the sensors attached to the industrial machines. The display may be used to display a graphical user interface (GUI) for operating the industrial machines, for tracking the maintenance and performing various procedures (e.g., lockout, placing machine offline, replacing component, servicing device) for the industrial machines, and the like.

[73] In an aspect of the disclosure, the industrial valves are operative using a power supply from a power grid. [74] In certain embodiments, the industrial valves may be electrically operatively associated with a battery, for example, or other power source of the machine.

[75] In certain embodiments the battery of the valves may be replaced or supplemented with an off-board power source, for example, or another power source external to the operation of the machine.

[76] In certain embodiments, upon the failure of the power supply from the grid, the valves can be operated via the battery for a substantial amount of time.

[77] FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary computer system in which or with which embodiments of the present invention can be utilized in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.

[78] As shown in FIG. 5, computer system includes an external storage device (510), a bus (520), a main memory (530), a read only memory (540), a mass storage device (550), communication port (560), and a processor (570). A person skilled in the art will appreciate that computer system may include more than one processor and communication ports. Examples of processor (570) include, but are not limited to, an Intel® Itanium® or Itanium 2 processor(s), or AMD® Opteron® or Athlon MP® processor(s), Motorola® lines of processors, FortiSOC™ system on a chip processors or other future processors. Processor (570) may include various modules associated with embodiments of the present invention. Communication port (560) can be any of an RS-232 port for use with a modem-based dialup connection, a 10/100 Ethernet port, a Gigabit or 10 Gigabit port using copper or fibre, a serial port, a parallel port, or other existing or future ports. Communication port (560) may be chosen depending on a network, such a Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN), or any network to which computer system connects.

[79] Memory (530) can be Random Access Memory (RAM), or any other dynamic storage device commonly known in the art. Read only memory (540) can be any static storage device(s) e.g., but not limited to, a Programmable Read Only Memory (PROM) chips for storing static information e.g., start-up or BIOS instructions for processor (570). Mass storage (550) may be any current or future mass storage solution, which can be used to store information and/or instructions. Exemplary mass storage solutions include, but are not limited to, Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment (PATA) or Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) hard disk drives or solid-state drives (internal or external, e.g., having Universal Serial Bus (USB) and/or Firewire interfaces), e.g. those available from Seagate (e.g., the Seagate Barracuda 7200 family) or Hitachi (e.g., the Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000), one or more optical discs, Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) storage, e.g. an array of disks (e.g., SATA arrays), available from various vendors including Dot Hill Systems Corp., LaCie, Nexsan Technologies, Inc. and Enhance Technology, Inc.

[80] Bus (520) communicatively couples processor(s) (570) with the other memory, storage and communication blocks. Bus (520) can be, e.g. a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) / PCI Extended (PCI-X) bus, Small Computer System Interface (SCSI), USB or the like, for connecting expansion cards, drives and other subsystems as well as other buses, such a front side bus (FSB), which connects processor (570) to software system.

[81] Optionally, operator and administrative interfaces, e.g. a display, keyboard, and a cursor control device, may also be coupled to bus (520) to support direct operator interaction with computer system. Other operator and administrative interfaces can be provided through network connections connected through communication port (560). External storage device (510) can be any kind of external hard-drives, floppy drives, IOMEGA® Zip Drives, Compact Disc - Read Only Memory (CD-ROM), Compact Disc - Re-Writable (CD-RW), Digital Video Disk - Read Only Memory (DVD-ROM). Components described above are meant only to exemplify various possibilities. In no way should the aforementioned exemplary computer system limit the scope of the present disclosure.

[82] While the foregoing describes various embodiments of the invention, other and further embodiments of the invention may be devised without departing from the basic scope thereof. The scope of the invention is determined by the claims that follow. The invention is not limited to the described embodiments, versions or examples, which are included to enable a person having ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention when combined with information and knowledge available to the person having ordinary skill in the art.

ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION

[83] The present invention provides a system and method to remotely monitor industrial machines in (near) real-time.

[84] The present invention provides a system and method to monitor health of industrial valves in the industrial machines and generate an alert when the health deviates from standard health parameters. [85] The present invention provides a system and method to perform any or a combination of a preventative, diagnostic and predictive operations on determination of the variance in health.

[86] The present invention provides a system and method to ensure that energy of the industrial units are conserved, costs are reduced, machine downtime is eliminated and operational efficiency is increased.

[87] The present invention provides a system and method to improve customer satisfaction by reducing the industrial machines breakdown and taking preventive actions proactively.

[88] The present invention provides a system and method that enhances the industrial machines safety, performance, profitability.

Claims

We Claim:

1. A system for performing remote industrial monitoring of an industrial unit, the system comprising :

at least one sensor attached to each of one or more valves of the industrial unit, wherein said sensor collects health information of the one or more valves, said health information being based in any or a combination of parameters selected from leakage, vibration, position, torque, cycles of operation, pressure, temperature, and flow;

one or more processors positioned in a central computing device that is operatively coupled to one or more sensors of the corresponding one or more valves, said one or more processors operative to execute one or more instructions stored in memory of the central computing device so as to receive respective health information from the one or more sensors of the corresponding one or more valves; and

a health variance evaluator engine to monitor and evaluate said one or more processors to compare the received respective health information with standard health parameters of the respective one or more valves such that when variance exists between the received health information and corresponding standard health parameters, corresponding signals are generated to perform any or a combination of a preventative, diagnostic, predictive operation, said generated signals being processed so as to be represented on display of at least one client computing device.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the generated signals are indicative of any or combination of type of action that needs to be taken, urgency with which said action should be implemented, health information attributes that led to recommendation of said action, impact of said action.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of said generated signals is in the form of an alert that is visually or audibly presented on the at least one client computing device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the industrial unit is selected from any or a combination of an automotive unit, a pharmaceutical unit, a water treatment unit, a food and drug unit , an oil unit, a coal unit, a gas unit, a power generation unit, a life sciences unit, or a mining unit.

5. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the processor logs the variance and determines a reason for the variance.

6. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sensor is any or a combination of a position sensor, pressure sensor, temperature sensor, and vibration sensor.

7. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the one or more valves of the industrial unit are assigned a unique serial number for monitoring.

8. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the one or more valves of the industrial unit are operable using backup battery upon failure of power supply from a grid.

9. A method for performing remote industrial monitoring of an industrial unit, the

method comprising:

collecting, health information from at least one sensor attached to one or more valves of the industrial unit, wherein said sensor collects health information of the one or more valves, said health information being based in any or a combination of parameters selected from leakage, vibration, position, torque, cycles of operation, pressure, temperature, and flow;

receiving, the respective health information from the one or more sensors of the corresponding one or more valves;

comparing, the received respective health information with standard health parameters of the respective one or more valves; and

generating signals when a variance exists between the received health information and corresponding standard health parameters to perform any or a combination of a preventative, diagnostic, predictive operation, said generated signals being processed so as to be represented on display of at least one client computing device.