System and method for measuring the operation of a device

A maintenance system for maintaining at least one device, the system comprising:

• a region and path storage unit for storing:
• (i) at least one multi-dimensional normal operation region defined by at least one multi-dimensional state previously defined by an operator as indicating normal operation of said at least one device;
• and (ii) a list of failure paths, each failure path ending in at least one different failure and each failure path having a multiplicity of multi-dimensional nodes, wherein each multi-dimensional node is defined by a multi-dimensional abnormal operation region defined by at least one multi-dimensional state previously defined by said operator as indicating abnormal operation of said at least one device:
• a measurement system comprising:
• measurement means for measuring the operation of said at least one device;
• comparison means for comparing output of said measurement means with said at least one multi-dimensional normal operation region and for providing an abnormality indication when said output of said measurement means does not fall within at least one of said at least one multi-dimensional normal operation region;
• and
• an abnormality processor for determining when said abnormality indication falls within at least one of said multi-dimensional nodes of said failure paths and for predicting therefrom when said at least one device is likely to fail.

A method of measuring the operation of a device, the method comprising the steps of:

• defining a multi-dimensional virtual sensor space from ranges of output data of a plurality of virtual sensors;
• determining at least one multi-dimensional normal operation region from at least one datapoint within said multi-dimensional virtual sensor space, said at least one datapoint being defined from output data of said plurality of virtual sensors received at least during an installation period;
• and
• providing an abnormality indication when output data of said plurality of virtual sensors during a period of regular operation does not fall within said at least one multi-dimensional normal operation region.

A method for maintaining at least one device comprising the steps of:

• storing:
• (i) at least one multi-dimensional normal operation region defined by at least one multi-dimensional state previously defined by an operator as indicating normal operation of said at least one device;
• and (ii) a list of failure paths, each failure path ending in at least one different failure and each failure path having a multiplicity of multi-dimensional nodes, wherein each multi-dimensional node is defined by a multi-dimensional abnormal operation region defined by at least one multi-dimensional state previously defined by said operator as indicating abnormal operation of said at least one device;
• measuring the operation of said at least one device;
• comparing output of said step of measuring with said at least one multi-dimensional normal operation region;
• providing an abnormality indication when said output of said step of measuring does not fall within at least one of said at least one multi-dimensional normal operation region;
• and
• verifying when said abnormality indication falls within at least one of said multi-dimensional nodes of said failure paths and predicting therefrom when said at least one device is likely to fail.