Plant maintenance with predictive diagnostics

An integrated information system for a plant, the plant having a plurality of equipment units operating interactively in functional equipment subsets according to variable operational parameters, said equipment units being controllable for varying the operational parameters, and the operational parameters of at least some of the equipment subsets affecting loading of others of the equipment subsets, the information system comprising:

• a plurality of sensors operatively coupled to the equipment units and sensing values of the operational parameters for assessing a condition of the equipment subsets;
• sampling means coupled to the sensors, for collecting and generating at least one of sample values of the operational parameters and information including results of numerical operations on the sample values, and a memory means for storage thereof;
• an operational control system coupled to at least one of the sampling means and the memory means, the operational control system being attended by an operator for adjusting the operational parameters during plant operation, the operational control system including diagnostic means for assessing plant operation based on the operational parameters and reporting on plant operation to the operator to enable choices for control of the equipment subsets to vary the operational parameters;
• a maintenance monitoring system coupled to at least one of the sampling means and the memory means, the maintenance monitoring system being operable for accumulating a usage factor for a plurality of the equipment units and reporting maintenance requirements of the equipment units to maintenance personnel to enable choices for maintenance operations;
• data communications means coupling the operational control system and the maintenance monitoring system for bidirectional communications and sharing of data;
• wherein the memory means includes a data memory accessible over the data communications means to both said operational control system and said maintenance monitoring system, the data memory including diagnostic specifications for the operational parameters and technical specifications for the equipment subsets;
• the diagnostic means assessing said plant operation as a function of the operational parameters and as a function of the usage factor, diagnostic specifications and technical specifications;
• and,
• the maintenance monitoring system reporting on the maintenance requirements of the equipment units as a function of the operational parameters and as a function of the usage factor, diagnostic specifications and technical specifications, and wherein data defining the operational parameters, the usage factor, the diagnostic specifications and the technical specifications are shared commonly between the operational control system and the maintenance monitoring system over the data communications means.