Plant operation supporting method

Claim 2

A plant operation supporting method for performing inference processes based on a body of data input from a target plant and on a previously stored body of knowledge in order to diagnose any error in said plant and to provide relevant operation guides upon error; wherein said data and knowledge used by said inference processes are recorded and output.

Claim 3

A plant operation supporting method for performing inference processes based on a body of data input from a target plant and on a previously stored body of knowledge in order to diagnose any error in said plant and to provide relevant operation guides upon error; wherein a previously provided body of simulation data simulating said input data from said plant upon error is subjected, in combination with said previously provided body of knowledge, to said inference processes for verification of said knowledge.

Claim 4

A plant operation supporting method for performing inference processes based on a body of data input from a target plant and on a previously stored body of knowledge in order to diagnose any error in said plant and to provide relevant operation guides upon error; wherein a previously provided body of simulation data simulating said input data from said plant upon error is subjected, in combination with said previously provided body of knowledge, to said inference processes for verification of said knowledge.

Claim 5

A plant operation supporting method for performing inference processes based on a body of data input from a target plant and on a previously stored body of knowledge in order to diagnose any error in said plant and to provide relevant operation guides upon error, said method comprising: an inference means for error detection through monitoring of said input process data from said plant; an inference means for investigation of the probable causes of error; and an inference means for finding countermeasures thereagainst; wherein, said inference means being functionally independent of one another, the currently detected error symptom is supplemented by priority data so that any of said inference means are executed depending on said priority data.

Claim 6

A plant operation supporting method for performing inference processes based on a body of data input from a target plant and on a previously stored body of knowledge in order to diagnose any error in said plant and to provide relevant operation guides upon error, said method comprising: an inference means for error detection through monitoring of said input process data from said plant; an inference means for investigation of the probable causes of error; and an inference means for finding countermeasures thereagainst; wherein, said inference means being functionally independent of one another, the currently detected error symptom is supplemented by priority data so that any of said inference means are executed depending on said priority data.

Claim 7

A plant operation supporting method for performing inference processes based on a body of data input from a target plant and on a previously stored body of knowledge in order to diagnose any error in said plant and to provide relevant operation guides upon error, said method comprising: an alarm prediction model representing relations between trends of changes in process data from said plant and an external alarm which may occur in the future if said trends are left unchecked; wherein, said input process data from said plant being monitored, said future alarm is predicted based on said alarm prediction model and on the current status of said input process data.

Claim 8

A plant operation supporting method for performing inference processes based on a body of data input from a target plant and on a previously stored body of knowledge in order to diagnose any error in said plant and to provide relevant operation guides upon error, said method comprising: an alarm prediction model representing relations between trends of changes in process data from said plant and an external alarm which may occur in the future if said trends are left unchecked; wherein, said input process data from said plant being monitored, said future alarm is predicted based on said alarm prediction model and on the current status of said input process data.

Claim 9

A plant operation supporting method for performing inference processes based on a body of data input from a target plant and on a previously stored body of knowledge in order to diagnose any error in said plant and to provide relevant operation guides upon error, said method comprising: an alarm prediction model representing relations between trends of changes in process data from said plant and an external alarm that may occur if said trends are left unchecked; wherein, said input process data from said plant being monitored, an alarm contact signal is admitted from an external alarm device, said signal causing said alarm prediction model to be searched for the name of the process data which triggered said alarm, said process data being associated with a plant component affected by said process data, said component being used upon said alarm as a starting point from which to execute inference for error cause investigation and to find countermeasures against the error detected.

Claim 10

A plant operation supporting method for performing inference processes based on a body of data input from a target plant and on a previously stored body of knowledge in order to diagnose any error in said plant and to provide relevant operation guides upon error, said method comprising: an alarm prediction model representing relations between trends of changes in process data from said plant and an external alarm that may occur if said trends are left unchecked; wherein, said input process data from said plant being monitored, an alarm contact signal is admitted from an external alarm device, said signal causing said alarm prediction model to be searched for the name of the process data which triggered said alarm, said process data being associated with a plant component affected by said process data, said component being used upon said alarm as a starting point from which to execute inference for error cause investigation and to find countermeasures against the error detected.

Claim 11

A plant operation supporting method for performing inference processes based on a body of data input from a target plant and on a previously stored body of knowledge in order to diagnose any error in said plant and to provide relevant operation guides upon error; wherein, said input process data from said plant being monitored, the result of inference upon error detection is stored as an error symptom name, said name being compared with the previously stored name to see if the two names match, said match suppressing error cause investigation in order to eliminate the duplication of inference processes.

Claim 12

A plant operation supporting method for performing inference processes based on a body of data input from a target plant and on a previously stored body of knowledge in order to diagnose any error in said plant and to provide relevant operation guides upon error; wherein, said input process data from said plant being monitored, the result of inference upon error detection is stored as an error symptom name, said name being compared with the previously stored name to see if the two names match, said match suppressing error cause investigation in order to eliminate the duplication of inference processes.

Claim 13

A plant operation supporting method for performing inference processes based on a body of data input from a target plant and on a previously stored body of knowledge in order to diagnose any error in said plant and to provide relevant operation guides upon error; wherein, said input process data from said plant being monitored, the result of inference for error cause investigation is stored as the name of an error location or a faulty plant component, said name being compared with the previously stored name to see if the two names match, said match suppressing error cause investigation in order to eliminate the duplication of inference processes.

Claim 14

A plant operation supporting method for performing inference processes based on a body of data input from a target plant and on a previously stored body of knowledge in order to diagnose any error in said plant and to provide relevant operation guides upon error; wherein, said input process data from said plant being monitored, the result of inference for error cause investigation is stored as the name of an error location or a faulty plant component, said name being compared with the previously stored name to see if the two names match, said match suppressing error cause investigation in order to eliminate the duplication of inference processes.