Method and apparatus for determining the severity of a trend toward an impending machine failure and responding to the same

摘要

A method and apparatus for determining severity of a trend toward an impending machine failure under actual operating conditions. The method and apparatus includes providing a typical failure trend based on a set of normal operating conditions for the machine, determining a slope value for the typical failure trend, determining a slope value for the trend toward the impending machine failure under the actual or proposed operating conditions, determining a weight value for at least the actual or proposed operating conditions, and determining the severity as a function of the slope values and the weight value.