Patent ID: 6904388

Claim:
A method for preventing or minimizing operational failures in a technical installation, comprising: defining at least one criterion in accordance with influence quantities that are accessible by a control system of the technical installation, wherein a presence of the criterion constitutes a forecast of at least one of an impending operational impairment and an impending failure of the technical installation or of components of the technical installation; monitoring the criterion at defined time intervals so as to establish a probability forecast of the impending operational impairment or of the impending failure; and in accordance with the probability forecast, at least one of: (a) implementing or prompting to implement early countermeasures to prevent the impending operational impairment or the impending failure; and (b) implementing steps to minimize effects of the impending operational impairment or the impending failure; wherein the criterion is derived from the influence quantities such that irregularities in the technical installation are detected before any of the influence quantities exceeds a limit that requires an immediate shutdown of the technical installation or of at least one of the components of the technical installation; wherein, in accordance with current installation quantities of the technical installation, the criterion is determined in real-time by the control system; wherein, the criterion is implemented in a function block, which is, in addition to a control program, stored in a programmable controller; and wherein an expected failure of the technical installation or of the at least one of the components of the technical installation is signaled to a control-and-monitoring station.