Web and Virtual Instrument Based Machine Remote Sensing, Monitoring and Fault Diagnostic System

Failure of equipment not only leads to loss of production, but also, in some serious situations, causes human casualty. Hence, the need of equipment condition monitoring becomes crucial for reliable operations. Since expensive hardware instruments are needed for condition monitoring, with the current powerful PCs, software based virtual instruments are possible to replace hardware instruments. However, the software must be maintained for each PC, and a technician must still visit the site of the PC and its monitored equipment. By connecting the PC to the Internet, remote sensing and equipment fault diagnosing are possible. As only one copy of software for each type of virtual instrument is required on the server, the maintenance of virtual instrument is much easier and substantial cost of hardware instruments is reduced. Moreover, remote collaborative maintenance becomes feasible as worldwide experts can provide just-in-time advice to technicians via the Web. With the new standards of IEEE 1451.2 for smart transducers, the new sensors are self-Web-ready. Sensor manufacturers, such as Hewlett Packard and Bruel & Kjaer, have proclaimed their next generation sensors are self-Web-ready. Therefore, the development of a Web-based maintenance is a must in the near future. This paper presents the design and development of a solution and a platform for the Web-based remote collaborative diagnosis and maintenance. It consists of remote data sensing and logging, signal analysis using virtual instruments, and intelligent fault diagnosis and prognosis.