Systems and methods for determining health or performance of an asset

Abstract

An Asset Health Management system monitors and analyzes the health of a component of an asset. A sensor network, with one or more sensors operably coupled to an asset component, collects sensor data associated with operating characteristics of the asset component. A processing node (a System Health Node) includes one or more modules, i.e., software functions, and one or more configuration files. The processing node processes the sensor data with the one or more modules according to the one or more configuration files and determines health information corresponding to the asset component. The one or more modules receive and transmit input and output data, respectively, via data streams that organize the input and output data, e.g., according to time stamps and that may be cached. The health information may be displayed on user interfaces and/or may be transmitted over an information network to external systems.

What we claim is: 
     
       1. A system for determining the health of a component of an asset, comprising:
 a sensor network including one or more sensors operably coupled to an asset component and collecting sensor data associated with at least one or more operating characteristics of the asset component; 
 a processing device including one or more modules and one or more configuration files, the processing device configured to 
 read the one or more configuration files, 
 receive the sensor data encapsulated in data packets, 
 extract from the data packets at least one or more units of sensor data associated with a first operating characteristic of the asset component and at least one or more units of sensor data associated with a second operating characteristic of the asset component, and insert the extracted units of sensor data associated with the first operating characteristic of the asset component into a first data stream associated with the first operating characteristic of the asset component and insert the extracted units of sensor data associated with the second operating characteristic of the asset component into a second data stream associated with the second operating characteristic of the asset component based upon the one or more configuration files and determining health information associated with the asset component, 
 wherein the one or more modules receiving and transmitting are configured to receive and transmit input and output data from the extracted units of sensor data, via the data streams to organize the input and output data; 
 one or more integrators that utilize the one or more configuration files to choose one or more modules to run and to specify, through use of one or more scheduling algorithms and use of function initialization parameters, how the one or more modules are run; and 
 one or more user interfaces receive and display a data stream associated with the determined health information. 
 
     
     
       2. The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the data streams organize the input and output data according to time stamps associated with the units of sensor data in the input and output data. 
     
     
       3. The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the data streams are cached in a database that is accessed by the one or more modules. 
     
     
       4. The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the processing device communicates with the a database via a database driver, the database driver permitting the processing device to communicate with a plurality of database types databases. 
     
     
       5. The system according to  claim 1 , further comprising wherein the one or more integrators that generate new modules, thereby allowing the processing device to be extensible. 
     
     
       6. The system according to  claim 1 , wherein one of the modules is compatible with a plurality of network protocols and reads the transmitted input data according to one of network protocols and writes the output data usable by other modules. 
     
     
       7. The system according to  claim 1 , wherein one of the modules is compatible with a plurality of network protocols and sends the health information from the processing device to one of the user interfaces according to one of the network protocols. 
     
     
       8. The system according to  claim 1 , wherein one of the modules sends data over an information network to one or more external systems. 
     
     
       9. The system according to  claim 1 , wherein one of the modules is a processing module that determines a state for the asset component. 
     
     
       10. The system according to  claim 9 , wherein one of the modules is a processing module that generates alert information based on the state of the asset component. 
     
     
       11. The system according to  claim 1 , wherein one of the modules summarizes the input data by determining at least one of usage data, trend information, and cumulations. 
     
     
       12. The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the one or more modules are written in Java code and the one or more configuration files are XML files. 
     
     
       13. The system according to  claim 1 , further comprising a databus that transmits the sensor data to the processing device and the determined health information from the processing device to one of the user interfaces. 
     
     
       14. The system according to  claim 13 , wherein the databus is a J1939/Controller Area Network (CAN) databus or a J1708/J1587 databus. 
     
     
       15. The system according to  claim 1 , further comprising a databus and a databus driver, the database databus driver permitting the processing device to communicate with a plurality of system types systems via the databus. 
     
     
       16. A method for determining the health of a component of an asset, comprising:
 receiving, from a sensor network, sensor data associated with operating characteristics of an asset component, the sensor network including one or more sensors operably coupled to the asset component; 
 processing the sensor data and determining, by a computer, health information associated with the asset component, including
 reading one or more configuration files; 
 receiving the sensor data encapsulated in data packets; 
 executing one or more modules comprises comprising extracting at least one or more units of sensor data from the data packets associated with a first operating characteristic of the asset component and at least one or more units of sensor data associated with a second operating characteristic of the asset component; 
 inserting the extracted units of sensor data associated with the first operating characteristic of the asset component into at least a first data stream associated with the first operating characteristic of the asset component and inserting the extracted units of sensor data associated with the second operating characteristic of the asset component into at least a second data stream associated with the second operating characteristic of the asset component based upon the one or more configuration files and determining health information associated with the asset component; 
 executing the one or more modules based upon the one or more configuration files; and 
 communicating input and output data to and from the one or more modules via the data streams to organize the input and output data from the extracted units of sensor data; 
 one or more integrators that utilize the one or more configuration files to choose one or more modules to run and to specify, through use of one or more scheduling algorithms and use of function initialization parameters, how the one or more modules are run; and 
 communicating, by the computer, the determined health information to one or more user interfaces. 
 
 
     
     
       17. The method according to  claim 16 , wherein the step of communicating input and output data via data streams comprises organizing the input and output data according to time stamps associated with the extracted units of sensor data in the input and output data. 
     
     
       18. The method according to  claim 16 , wherein the step of communicating input and output data via data streams comprises caching the data streams in a database that is accessed by the one or more modules. 
     
     
       19. The method according to  claim 18 , wherein the step of caching the data streams in a database comprises communicating with the database via a database driver, the database driver permitting communications with a plurality of database types databases. 
     
     
       20. The method according to  claim 16 , wherein the step of processing the sensor data and determining health information further comprises generating a plurality of new modules by implementing the one or more integrators. 
     
     
       21. The method according to  claim 16 , wherein the step of executing one or more modules comprises reading the transmitted input data according to one of a plurality of compatible network protocols and writing the output data usable by other modules. 
     
     
       22. The method according to  claim 16 , wherein the step of communicating the health information comprises sending the health information to one of the user interfaces according to one of a plurality of compatible network protocols. 
     
     
       23. The method according to  claim 16 , further comprising sending data over an information network to one or more external systems. 
     
     
       24. The method according to  claim 16 , wherein the step of executing one or more modules comprises determining a state for the asset component. 
     
     
       25. The method according to  claim 24 , wherein the step of executing one or more modules comprises generating alert information based on the state of the asset component. 
     
     
       26. The method according to  claim 16 , wherein the step of executing one or more modules comprises summarizing input data by determining at least one of usage data, trend information, and cumulations. 
     
     
       27. The method according to  claim 16 , wherein the one or more modules are written in Java code and the one or more configuration files are XML files. 
     
     
       28. The method according to  claim 16 , wherein the steps of receiving sensor data and communicating the health information comprise implementing a databus. 
     
     
       29. The method according to  claim 28 , wherein the databus is a J1939/Controller Area Network (CAN) databus or a J1708/J1587 databus. 
     
     
       30. The method according to  claim 16 , further comprising the step of communicating data via a databus driver, the databus driver permitting communications with a plurality of system types systems via a databus. 
     
     
       31. The system of claim 1, wherein database streams are utilized to communicate between functions and a processing function is configured to read one or more data streams and produce a higher-level calculated result, thereby managing data as streams of time sequence data forming a basis of data storage and communication. 
     
     
       32. The method of claim 16, wherein database streams are utilized to communicate between functions and a processing function is configured to read one or more streams and produce a higher-level calculated result, thereby managing data as streams of time sequence data forming a basis of data storage and communication.