Risk Assessment of a Wind Turbine: A New FMECA-Based Tool With RPN Threshold Estimation

A wind turbine is a complex system used to convert the kinetic energy of the wind into electrical energy. During the turbine design phase, a risk assessment is mandatory to reduce the machine downtime and the Operation & Maintenance cost and to ensure service continuity. This paper proposes a procedure based on Failure Modes, Effects, and Criticality Analysis to take into account every possible criticality that could lead to a turbine shutdown. Currently, a standard procedure to be applied for evaluation of the risk priority number threshold is still not available. Trying to fill this need, this paper proposes a new approach for the Risk Priority Number (RPN) prioritization based on a statistical analysis and compares the proposed method with the only three quantitative prioritization techniques found in literature. The proposed procedure was applied to the electrical and electronic components included in a Spanish 2 MW on-shore wind turbine

Condition-Based Maintenance of HVAC on a High-Speed Train for Fault Detection

Reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) is a well-established method for preventive maintenance planning. This paper focuses on the optimization of a maintenance plan for an HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) system located on high-speed trains. The first steps of the RCM procedure help in identifying the most critical items of the system in terms of safety and availability by means of a failure modes and effects analysis. Then, RMC proposes the optimal maintenance tasks for each item making up the system. However, the decision-making diagram that leads to the maintenance choice is extremely generic, with a consequent high subjectivity in the task selection. This paper proposes a new fuzzy-based decision-making diagram to minimize the subjectivity of the task choice and preserve the cost-efficiency of the procedure. It uses a case from the railway industry to illustrate the suggested approach, but the procedure could be easily applied to different industrial and technological fields. The results of the proposed fuzzy approach highlight the importance of an accurate diagnostics (with an overall 86% of the task as diagnostic-based maintenance) and condition monitoring strategy (covering 54% of the tasks) to optimize the maintenance plan and to minimize the system availability. The findings show that the framework strongly mitigates the issues related to the classical RCM procedure, notably the high subjectivity of experts. It lays the groundwork for a general fuzzy-based reliability-centered maintenance method.This research received no external fundin

FMECA Assessment for Railway Safety-Critical Systems Investigating a New Risk Threshold Method

This paper develops a Failure Mode, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) for a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system in railway. HVAC is a safety critical system which must ensure emergency ventilation in case of fire and in case of loss of primary ventilation functions. A study of the HVAC’s critical areas is mandatory to optimize its reliability and availability and consequently to guarantee a low operation and maintenance cost. The first part of the paper describes the FMECA which is performed and reported to highlight the main criticalities of the HVAC system under analysis. Secondly, the paper deals with the problem of the evaluation of a threshold risk value, which can distinguish negligible and critical failure modes. Literature barely considers the problem of an objective risk threshold estimation. Therefore, a new analytical method based on finite difference is introduced to find a univocal risk threshold value. The method is then tested on two Risk Priority Number datasets related to the same HVAC. The threshold obtained in both cases is a good tradeoff between the risk mitigation and the cost investment for the corrective actions required to mitigate the risk level. Finally, the threshold obtained with the proposed method is compared with the methods available in literature. The comparison shows that the proposed finite difference method is a well-structured technique, with a low computational cost. Furthermore, the proposed approach provides results in line with the literature, but it completely deletes the problem of subjectivity

High Risk of Secondary Infections Following Thrombotic Complications in Patients With COVID-19

Background. This study’s primary aim was to evaluate the impact of thrombotic complications on the development of secondary infections. The secondary aim was to compare the etiology of secondary infections in patients with and without thrombotic complications. Methods. This was a cohort study (NCT04318366) of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients hospitalized at IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital between February 25 and June 30, 2020. Incidence rates (IRs) were calculated by univariable Poisson regression as the number of cases per 1000 person-days of follow-up (PDFU) with 95% confidence intervals. The cumulative incidence functions of secondary infections according to thrombotic complications were compared with Gray’s method accounting for competing risk of death. A multivariable Fine-Gray model was applied to assess factors associated with risk of secondary infections. Results. Overall, 109/904 patients had 176 secondary infections (IR, 10.0; 95% CI, 8.8–11.5; per 1000-PDFU). The IRs of secondary infections among patients with or without thrombotic complications were 15.0 (95% CI, 10.7–21.0) and 9.3 (95% CI, 7.9–11.0) per 1000-PDFU, respectively (P = .017). At multivariable analysis, thrombotic complications were associated with the development of secondary infections (subdistribution hazard ratio, 1.788; 95% CI, 1.018–3.140; P = .043). The etiology of secondary infections was similar in patients with and without thrombotic complications. Conclusions. In patients with COVID-19, thrombotic complications were associated with a high risk of secondary infections

Logic Solver Diagnostics in Safety Instrumented Systems for Oil and Gas Applications

A safety instrumented system (SIS) is a complex unit composed of a set of hardware and software controls which are expressly used in critical process systems. A SIS should be specifically designed to obtain the failsafe state of the monitored plant or maintain safety of the procedure or a process when unacceptable or dangerous conditions occur. This paper focuses on condition monitoring and different diagnostic solutions used in safety instrumented systems, such as limit alarm trips, on-board diagnostics, and logic solver diagnostics. A case study consisting of the design of a safety loop using standard IEC 61508 for a complex safety instrumented system in the oil and gas field is presented in the paper using a diagnostics-oriented approach. The presented methodology aims at reaching the optimal tradeoff between IEC 61508 and the market requirements focusing on the best technological solutions to optimize diagnostics and safety and minimize the system’s response time in case of failure. The results of the application emphasize the importance of an accurate diagnostic strategy on safety instrumented systems for oil and gas plants