Hierarchical temporal ontology for industrial facilities

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a computer-implemented method for constructing a hierarchical industrial knowledge ontology, comprising generating a multi-tier semantic graph model representing an industrial facility. The graph comprises an equipment components tier defining components that compose individual pieces of equipment, an equipment tier defining physical asset instances, an equipment-to-equipment connectivity tier defining physical connectivity relationships among the equipment, a flow tier defining directional transfer relationships for process or utility media, an equipment-to-function tier defining functional characteristics at the equipment or component level, a functional group tier defining nested functional subgraphs composed of multiple equipment and flow relationships, and an operating group tier defining outcome-driven subgraphs associated with specific operational objectives or modes. The ontology enables bidirectional semantic traversal across vertical, horizontal and semantic abstraction levels and relationship types to integrate context across tiers. The system maintains temporal layers preserving historical versions of each semantic tier, including transient state-conditioned groups, and supports reconstruction of prior plant states at specific timestamps for causal analysis of operational events.