MODERN APPROACHES IN THE INDUSTRIAL MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT - THE CONDITIONAL TYPE MAINTENANCE

Modern solutions from the industrial type management consist in using informational systems, sustained by means of measure and control of the main equipments from the technological flow. The paper presents several solutions in applying management in the conditional type maintenance activity. Conditions for a optimal work flow specific to this type of maintenance assume covering several analysis phases and the systematic examination of the range of means of measure and control. Application of Informatics in the conditional type maintenance also implies using methods for deploying systems of technological equipments work pursuit, taking into consideration the complexity of the means used and the deployment and using costs

Conditional gene vectors regulated in cis

Non-integrating gene vectors, which are stably and extrachromosomally maintained in transduced cells would be perfect tools to support long-term expression of therapeutic genes but preserve the genomic integrity of the cellular host. Small extrachromosomal plasmids share some of these ideal characteristics but are primarily based on virus blueprints. These plasmids are dependent on viral trans-acting factors but they can replicate their DNA molecules in synchrony with the chromosome of the cellular host and segregate to daughter cells in an autonomous fashion. On the basis of the concept of the latent origin of DNA replication of Epstein-Barr virus, oriP, we devised novel derivatives, which exclusively rely on an artificial replication factor for both nuclear retention and replication of plasmid DNA. In addition, an allosteric switch regulates the fate of the plasmid molecules, which are rapidly lost upon addition of doxycycline. Conditional maintenance of these novel plasmid vectors allows the reversible transfer of genetic information into target cells for the first time

Analysis of maintenance optimization in a hydroelectric power plant

[EN] This article presents a guide to designing a maintenance plan for any industrial system. As an example, it develops a maintenance plan for highly reliable equipment, such as a hydroelectric power plant, where instant availability and reliability are crucial in its operation. The development of the proposal serves as a basis for the transversal development of any industrial system that has the same operational objectives (manufacturing lines), transport (trains, aircraft) and also involves safety and environmental aspects in its proper functioning. Today’s society requires that there are more and more industrial processes in which the maximum availability of the systems must be guaranteed, and at the same time there must be a minimum number of incidents that prevent the unavailability of the process. The methodology used has consisted firstly of dividing the complex industrial system into systems to be analysed on the basis of the functions they have to perform, then on the basis of the fault history a list of potential faults to be analysed has been determined, taking into account the risk of the system itself. From here, the systems of the hydroelectric plant have been classified to determine the priorities of actions. The different maintenance techniques to be applied have been carefully considered, focusing on the need to analyse condition-based maintenance techniques, such as predictive techniques, which allow us to define the point of potential failure based on parameters, and thus be able to plan maintenance actions in a justified manner. In the specific case of a hydroelectric generation plant, the fundamental objective is based on the commitment tooperate in the electricity market (high reliability and immediate availability), and the performance of maintenance actions imply in most cases the shutdown of the plant and therefore the loss of income from electricity production. Finally, a design of a justified maintenance plan for a hydroelectric power plant has been proposed based on the methodology explained.Martinez Monseco, FJ. (2020). Analysis of maintenance optimization in a hydroelectric power plant. Journal of Applied Research in Technology & Engineering. 1(1):23-29. https://doi.org/10.4995/jarte.2020.13738OJS23291

A practical approach to identifying and prioritizing modernization of legacy systems

Currently, there are information systems that were created decades ago but are still being used, thus, today such technology is considered obsolete. In this regard, new requirements, changes or improvements are more expensive because those systems are still playing a significant role in organizations and therefore need maintenance. This paper presents a basic process that enables us objectively identifying software assets in the organization, categorize different systems as legacy and finally prioritize modernization through four levels of action called: remove application, normal maintenance, conditional maintenance and modernization.Laboratorio de Investigación y Formación en Informática Avanzad

Event management architecture for the monitoring and diagnosis of a fleet of trains: a case study

In recent years, more and more manufacturers and operators of fleets of mobile systems have been focusing their efforts on studying and developing conditional maintenance, monitoring, and diagnostic strategies to cope with an increasingly competitive, unstable, costly, and unpredictable environment. This paper proposes a case study concerning the application of a novel event management architecture, called EMH2, to a fleet of trains. This EMH2 architecture, which applies the holonic paradigm, aims to facilitate the monitoring and diagnosis of a fleet of mobile systems. It is based on a recursive decomposition of cooperative monitoring holons. The definition of a generic event modeling, called SurfEvent, is the second key element of the contribution. EMH2 has been designed to be applicable to any kind of system or equipment up to fleet level. The edge computing paradigm has been adopted for implementation purpose. The EMH2 architecture is designed to facilitate asynchronous and progressive onboard and off-board deployments. A real-world application of EMH2 to a fleet of ten trains currently in use, in collaboration with our industrial partner, Bombardier Transport, is presented. Three key performances indicators have been estimated by comparing EMH2 with the current industrial situation. These indicators are (1) the number of fleet maintenance visits, (2) the time needed by a maintenance operator to investigate and diagnose, and (3) the time needed by the system to update data regarding the health status and monitoring of trains. Results obtained outperformed industrial expectations. The paper finally discusses feedbacks from experience and limitations of the work. Document type: Articl

Sharpening the Cutting Edge: Corporate Action for a Strong, Low-Carbon Economy

Outlines lessons learned from early efforts to create a low-carbon economy, current and emerging best practices, and next steps, including climate change metrics, greenhouse gas reporting, effective climate policy, and long-term investment choices

Modelling and Optimizing Imperfect Maintenance of Coatings on Steel Structures

Steel structures such as bridges, tanks and pylons are exposed to outdoor weathering conditions. In order to prevent them from corrosion they are protected by an organic coating system. Unfortunately, the coating system itself is also subject to deterioration. Imperfect maintenance actions such as spot repair and repainting can be done to extend the lifetime of the coating. In this paper we consider the problem of finding the set of actions that minimizes the expected maintenance costs over a bounded horizon. To this end we model the size of the area affected by corrosion by a non-stationary gamma process. An imperfect maintenance action is to be done as soon as a fixed threshold is exceeded. The direct effect of such an action on the condition of the coating is assumed to be random. On the other hand, maintenance may also change the parameters of the gamma deterioration process. It is shown that the optimal maintenance decisions related to this problem are a solution of a continuous-time renewal-type dynamic programming equation. To solve this equation time is discretized and it is verified theoretically that this discretization induces only a small error. Finally, the model is illustrated with a numerical example.non-stationary gamma process;condition-based maintenance;degradation modelling;imperfect maintenance;life-cycle management;renewal-type dynamic programming equation

Strain Energy Harvesting Powered Wireless Sensor Node for Aircraft Structural Health Monitoring

This is the final version of the article. Available from Elsevier via the DOI in this record.Proceedings of the 30th anniversary Eurosensors Conference – Eurosensors 2016, 4-7. Sepember 2016, Budapest, HungaryThis paper presents a wireless sensor node (WSN) powered by a strain energy harvester (SEH) through an adaptive power management module (PMM) for aircraft structural health monitoring (SHM). The energy distribution in the system, the efficiencies of the whole systems, and the WSN powering capability of the SEH under different strain loadings were studied to understand the developed system performance for practical applications of an autonomous WSN. Experimental results show that the SEH is able to produce up to 3.34 mW under strain loading of 600 μɛ at 10 Hz. The WSN can be powered up through the adaptive PMM at efficiency from 70 to 80% under different test conditions.The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from EPSRC in the UK through funding of the research into EPSRC via the project entitled “En-ComE” (EP/K020331/1)

Computerized asset management and maintenance systems in ST

The ST division manages and therefore maintains the CERN technical installations. A maintenance database application exists for every technical domain. A total of six different databases were built during the last 10 years and are based on the RAPIER maintenance program. As the Computerized Asset Management and Maintenance Systems (CAMMS) technology has evolved, the RAPIER system has become obsolete. Therefore we are forced to migrate to its latest version, MP5, before the year 2000. The migration path must be defined, leading from the current situation to a fully operational MP5 application. The major elements of each migration path consist in determining the functionality to use, defining the operation of it, adapting and/or creating procedures, converting data and providing training. A migration is always a process of change. The migration presents a unique opportunity to evaluate the current implementations, adapt them to the requirements and exploit the new features offered. Obsolete data and inconsistencies will be removed and the errors corrected

Analysis of the operating conditions of a hydraulic turbine of the bulb-type

In the last decades we have witnessed a technological advance and the search for 4.0 technologies, in this scenario, one of the most important topics to promote a good performance in the production of equipment is the monitoring of operation through preventive maintenance, especially for large industrial enterprises. In this article we present a dynamic test and an analysis of the operating conditions of a hydraulic turbine of the bulb-type operating with a production level of 70 MW. The results demonstrate the vibrations at different points of the equipment and the frequency of turning of the blades. Through these results it was possible to demonstrate the operating condition of the device