Patent ID: 8548749

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for estimating a remaining useful life of a current asset, comprising the steps of: obtaining exemplar degradation data from at least two exemplar assets; constructing a vector of exemplar failure times and a vector of functional approximations from the exemplar degradation data; acquiring observed degradation data from a current asset over a period of time that includes a defined time t; subtracting the defined time t from each of the exemplar failure times for obtaining a vector of expected remaining useful lives; evaluating the vector of functional approximations at the defined time t for obtaining a vector of expected degradation data values; evaluating the observed degradation data at the defined time t for obtaining an observed degradation data value; classifying the observed degradation data value as a function of the expected degradation data values by assigning a membership value to each of the expected degradation data values as a function of similarity to the observed degradation data value for obtaining a vector of memberships; and combining, with a computer, the vector of memberships with the vector of expected remaining useful lives for estimating a remaining useful life value for the current asset.