Industrial plant asset management system: apparatus and method

A plant asset management system, comprising in combination:

• a processing device,
• a display device coupled to said processing device for providing a graphical user interface to a user in response to receipt of signals from said processing device,
• a selection device coupled to said processing device for navigating about said graphical user interface and making selections,
• said graphical user interface including a hierarchical first view hierarchically displaying plant assets in a first window on said display device;
• means, operatively coupled to said processing device, for storing a configuration associated with each of said plant assets;
• means for creating a template by selecting with said selection device at least one of said hierarchically displayed plant assets for defining at least one selected plant asset and by saving in a memory at least one of said configurations associated with said at least one selected plant asset such that said template can be subsequently used for configuring a plant asset management system.

A plant asset management system, comprising in combination:

• data acquisition means operatively coupled to a plurality of plant assets for receiving and processing asset data,
• a database operatively coupled to said data acquisition means for storing said processed asset data;
• a graphical user interface operatively coupled to said database and displayed on a display of a computer;
• a plurality of plant asset objects hierarchically displayed in a first view of said graphical user interface for representing said plant assets and for defining an original hierarchy of plant asset objects;
• means for correlating said processed data to said plurality of plant asset objects hierarchically displayed in said first view;
• means for filtering said plurality of plant asset objects hierarchically displayed in said first view for defining a generated hierarchy of plant asset objects comprised of a set of said original hierarchy of plant asset objects with at least one of said plant asset objects in said original hierarchy of plant asset objects being omitted such that a user can designate only certain of said plurality of plant asset objects for display in said first view for managing plant assets.

A plant asset management system, comprising in combination:

• a data acquisition computer operatively coupled to a plurality of plant assets for receiving and processing asset data,
• a database operatively coupled to said data acquisition computer for storing said processed asset data;
• a graphical user interface operatively coupled to said database and displayed on a display of a computer;
• said graphical user interface displaying a plurality of plant asset objects in a first widow view representative of said plurality of plant assets;
• means for displaying a bargraph view comprised of a plurality of bargraphs each conveying information correlative to a status of at least one of said plurality of plant assets;
• means for modifying said bargraph view by adding or deleting at least one bargraph from said bargraph view and storing said modified bargraph view in said database for defining a custom bargraph view viewable at a later time for conveying current status information at said later time of at least one of said plurality of plant assets.

A plant asset management system, comprising in combination:

• a data acquisition computer operatively coupled to a plurality of plant assets for receiving and processing asset data,
• a memory operatively coupled to said data acquisition computer for storing said processed asset data correlative to asset status;
• a graphical user interface operatively coupled to said memory and displayed on a display of a computer;
• said graphical user interface displaying a plurality of plant asset objects in a first widow view representative of said plurality of plant assets;
• said graphical user interface displaying a second widow view;
• means for dragging and dropping plant asset objects from said first view to said second view;
• means for storing a bargraph for each of said plant asset objects dragged and dropped from said first view to said second view for defining a custom bargraph view viewable at a later time for conveying current status information at said later time of at least one of said plurality of plant assets.

A plant asset management system, comprising in combination:

• a processing device,
• a display device coupled to said processing device for providing a graphical user interface to a user in response to receipt of signals from said processing device,
• a selection device coupled to said processing device for navigating about said graphical user interface and making selections,
• said graphical user interface including a hierarchical first view hierarchically displaying plant assets in a first window on said display device;
• means, operatively coupled to said processing device, for storing at least one bargraph configuration associated with each of said plant assets;
• means for creating a bargraph view by selecting with said selection device at least one of said hierarchically displayed plant assets and saving in a memory said at least one bargraph configuration associated with said at least one selected hierarchically displayed plant assets such that said bargraph view can be subsequently used for conveying information correlative to a status of said at least one selected hierarchically displayed plant assets.