General Electric Company

Richard Gerald Bliley

William Roy Schneider

Nicholas E Roddy

David Richard Gibson

Michael James Pierro

Vinay Bhaskar Jammu

Stephen Matthew Pelkowski

Jeffrey James Kisak

Jason A Dean

James E Pander

Ashish Puri

John Howard Lovelace, Ii

Eric Harold Hedlund

Steven Loncher

Thomas E O'Camb

Mark Alan Linebach

Paul Edward Cuddihy

Anil Varma

Louis Andrew Schick

Gregory John Fera

Gregory James Hampson

James Edward Schlabach

Kimberley Marie Mangino

C Richard Unkle

Luis Ivan Gomez Meneses

Method and system for managing a plurality of remote assets, such as a fleet mobile assets is provided. The method allows for collecting data regarding each of a plurality of remote assets. The collected data is used to develop historical information regarding actual usage of each remote asset. The information is distributed via a global information network.

System and method for managing a fleet of remote assets

A compressed air system and method of operating the system wherein the slip between the compressor motor and its powering alternator is used as an indication of whether the compressor is running in a loaded or unloaded mode. A slip parameter such as % Slip is determined and compared to an allowable value in real time. If the compressor is determined to be erroneously in a loaded mode, a corrective action may be taken to reduce the probability that the motor is later started with the compressor still in the loaded mode.

Compressed air system utilizing a motor slip parameter

A compressed air system, wherein a decision to de-energize a compressor motor is made with consideration of the likely need for the operation of the compressor at a future point in time. A rate of pressure decay in an air reservoir may be extrapolated over a predetermined time period to predict the need for operation of the compressor within the time period. If operation of the compressor is predicted to be needed within the time period, the compressor is allowed to continue to run in an unloaded mode beyond a normal cool down period.

Compressed air system and method of control

An analysis scheduler for scheduling the automatic processing of performance data through a plurality of analysis tools is disclosed. Performance data provided to some of the tools by the analysis scheduler may be specified to be within a predetermined (but variable) look-back period. The analysis tools identify faults and anomalous conditions and also create repair recommendations, and automatically create problem cases when conditions warrant, or update existing problem cases with additional data, all under control of the analysis scheduler. The problem cases are reviewed by a human user and then forwarded to the railroad for implementation.

Apparatus and method for performance and fault data analysis

A system and method for reducing the shop time of a vehicle, e.g., a locomotive, at a maintenance facility by obtaining onboard systems parameter data during a period when the vehicle is inbound to the maintenance facility for required periodic scheduled maintenance, and by determining, at the maintenance facility and prior to arrival of the vehicle at the maintenance facility, from the data received from the inbound vehicle, whether any of the data is out of a predetermined range or is trending to be out of range.

System and method for remote inbound vehicle inspection

A method and apparatus for determining when to close a problem case associated with a machine that includes identifying at least one failure condition associated with the problem case, determining whether the failure condition is repeated after a recommended fix instruction is executed and closing the problem case if the failure condition does not repeat within a predetermined amount of time after the fix instruction has been executed. The machine may be a remote machine such as a locomotive and electronic data indicative of the failure condition may be transmitted from the remote machine to a control center over a telecommunications medium such as the Internet. The control center may include a processor for managing the electronic data that may be transmitted from a plurality of remote machines. The control center processor may be adapted to request downloads from the remote machines and monitor downloaded data to determine whether the failure condition are repeating after the fix instruction has been executed.

Method and system for monitoring problem resolution of a machine

A method and apparatus for chronologically combining fault data, repair data, and operational parameters for a railroad locomotive. Generally, this data is collected and stored in separate databases. The present invention teaches combining the data so that an ordered analysis reflecting the timing of faults, repairs, and operational information can be carried out to determine the root causes of the faults.

Diagnosis of faults in a complex system

A system and method for reducing the shop lime of a vehicle, e.g., a locomotive, at a maintenance facility by obtaining onboard systems parameter data during a period when the vehicle is inbound to the maintenance facility for required periodic scheduled maintenance, and by determining, at the maintenance facility and prior to arrival of the vehicle at the maintenance facility, from the data received from the inbound vehicle, whether any of the data is out of a predetermined range or is trending to be out of range.

A method for analyzing fault log data and repair data to estimate time before a machine-disabling failure occurs is provided. The method allows for searching in a database of historical fault log data from a plurality of machines for the occurrence of respective fault patterns indicative of incipient failures of a respective machine subsystem. The method further allows for searching in a database of historical repair data for respective repairs executed on the respective machine subsystem. The method also allows for computing elapsed time between respective occurrences of the fault patterns and the executed repairs.

Method and system for estimating time of occurrence of machine-disabling failures

The present invention discloses a system and computer-implemented method for analyzing a fault log from a malfunctioning machine. The method includes receiving, from the malfunctioning machine, at least one of at least one fault code and at least one data code, at least one fault code and at least one anomaly code, and at least one data code and at least one anomaly code, and determining at least one of a cause of and a repair for the malfunctioning machine based on the at least one of the at least one fault code and the at least one data code, the at least one fault code and the at least one anomaly code, and the at least one data code and the at least one anomaly code. The method desirably includes receiving a fault log comprising at least one fault code and at least one data pack, parsing the at least one data pack, and generating at least one data pack code for a portion of the at least one parsed data pack. Desirably, the determining the at least one of the cause of and the repair for the malfunctioning machine is based on the at least one fault code and the at least one data pack code. Advantageously, the method includes using a belief network, or case-based reasoning.

Analyzing fault logs and continuous data for diagnostics for a locomotive

A process for analyzing fault log data from a machine is provided. The process allows for downloading new fault log data from the machine. The process further allows for retrieving prior fault log data of the machine. The prior fault log data may be obtained during an earlier download relative to a present download of new fault log data. A comparing step allows for comparing the new fault log data against the prior fault log data, and an adjusting step allows for adjusting any repair recommendations for the earlier download of fault log data based upon the comparison of the new fault log data and the prior fault log data.

Process and system for analyzing fault log data from a machine so as to identify faults predictive of machine failures

Process and system for configuring repair codes for diagnostics of machine malfunctions

A computer-based method and system for predicting impending failures in a system, such as a locomotive, aircraft, power plant, etc., having a plurality of subsystems is provided. The method allows for storing log data indicative of respective incidents or events that may occur as each of the subsystems is operative. A detecting step allows for detecting predetermined trend patterns in the log incident data. A mapping step allows for mapping each detected trend pattern into a respective prediction of an impending failure of a respective one of the subsystems of the locomotive, and an informing or outputting step allows for informing a respective user of the failure prediction so as to allow the user to take corrective action before the predicted failure occurs.

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Erie, PA, United States of America

Richard Gerald Bliley