Title: A model for predicting and monitoring industrial system availability

Authors: Magnus Löfstrand; Björn Backe; Petter Kyösti; John Lindström; Sean Reed

Addresses: Division of Computer Aided Design, Luleå University of Technology, SE-971 87 Luleå, Sweden. ' Division of Computer Aided Design, Luleå University of Technology, SE-971 87 Luleå, Sweden. ' Division of Computer Aided Design, Luleå University of Technology, SE-971 87 Luleå, Sweden. ' Division of Computer Aided Design, Luleå University of Technology, SE-971 87 Luleå, Sweden. ' Nottingham Transportation Engineering Centre NTEC, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK

Abstract: This paper describes the integration of a sensor data stream monitoring system into a proposed functional product model capable of predicting functional availability. Such monitoring systems enable predictive maintenance to be carried out - pre-emptive maintenance that is scheduled in response to imminent hardware failure - and are in widespread use in industry. The industrial motivation for this research is that agreed upon system availability is a critical element of any business-to-business agreement regarding functional sales. Such a model is important when making strategic choices regarding FPs and can be used to develop a high availability product design through simulation-driven development, as well as to provide operational decision support that reflects the current reality to enable optimal availability to be achieved in practice. The proposed model integrates hardware, support system and monitoring system models, and is able to incorporate actual operational data. It has been partly verified based on previous research.

Keywords: system availability; functional products; product service systems; sensor data stream monitoring; product modelling; functional availability; predictive maintenance; product design; simulation; decision support; industrial systems.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPD.2012.049062

International Journal of Product Development, 2012 Vol.16 No.2, pp.140 - 157

Received: 28 Sep 2011
Accepted: 02 May 2012

Published online: 30 Dec 2014 *

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