Prognostics and Remaining Useful Life Prediction of Machinery:Advances,Opportunities,and Challenges

As the fundamental and key technique to ensure the safe and reliable operation of vital systems,prognostics with an emphasis on the remaining useful life(RUL)prediction has attracted great attention in the last decades.In this paper,we briefly discuss the general idea and advances of various prognostics and RUL prediction methods for machinery,mainly including data-driven methods,physics-based methods,hybrid methods,etc.Based on the observations fromthe state of the art,we provide comprehensive discussions on the possible opportunities and challenges of prognostics and RUL prediction of machinery so as to steer the future development.

Degradation data-driven approach for remaining useful life estimation

Remaining useful life （RUL） estimation is termed as one of the key issues in prognostics and health management （PHM）. To achieve RUL estimation for individual equipment, we present a degradation data-driven RUL estimation approach under the collaboration between Bayesian updating and expectation maximization （EM） algorithm. Firstly, we utilize an exponential-like degradation model to describe equipment degradation process and update stochastic parameters in the model via Bayesian approach. Based on the Bayesian updating results, both probability distribution of the RUL and its point estimation can be derived. Secondly, based on the monitored degradation data to date, we give a parameter estimation approach for non-stochastic parameters in the degradation model and prove that the obtained estimation is unique and optimal in each iteration. Finally, a numerical example and a practical case study for global positioning system （GPS） receiver are provided to show that the presented approach can model degradation process and achieve RUL estimation effectively and generate better results than a previously reported approach in literature.

An Age-Dependent and State-Dependent Adaptive Prognostic Approach for Hidden Nonlinear Degrading System

Remaining useful life(RUL)estimation approaches on the basis of the degradation data have been greatly developed,and significant advances have been witnessed.Establishing an applicable degradation model of the system is the foundation and key to accurately estimating its RUL.Most current researches focus on age-dependent degradation models,but it has been found that some degradation processes in engineering are also related to the degradation states themselves.In addition,due to different working conditions and complex environments in engineering,the problems of the unit-to-unit variability in the degradation process of the same batch of systems and actual degradation states cannot be directly observed will affect the estimation accuracy of the RUL.In order to solve the above issues jointly,we develop an age-dependent and state-dependent nonlinear degradation model taking into consideration the unit-to-unit variability and hidden degradation states.Then,the Kalman filter(KF)is utilized to update the hidden degradation states in real time,and the expectation-maximization(EM)algorithm is applied to adaptively estimate the unknown model parameters.Besides,the approximate analytical RUL distribution can be obtained from the concept of the first hitting time.Once the new observation is available,the RUL distribution can be updated adaptively on the basis of the updated degradation states and model parameters.The effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed approach are shown by a numerical simulation and case studies for Li-ion batteries and rolling element bearings.

A new remaining useful life estimation method for equipment subjected to intervention of imperfect maintenance activities

As the key part of Prognostics and Health Management（PHM）, Remaining Useful Life（RUL） estimation has been extensively investigated in recent years. Current RUL estimation studies considering the intervention of imperfect maintenance activities usually assumed that maintenance activities have a single influence on the degradation level or degradation rate, but not on both.Aimed at this problem, this paper proposes a new degradation modeling and RUL estimation method taking the influence of imperfect maintenance activities on both the degradation level and the degradation rate into account. Toward this end, a stochastic degradation model considering imperfect maintenance activities is firstly constructed based on the diffusion process. Then, the Probability Density Function（PDF） of the RUL is derived by the convolution operator under the concept of First Hitting Time（FHT）. To implement the proposed RUL estimation method,the Maximum Likelihood Estimation（MLE） is utilized to estimate the degradation related parameters based on the Condition Monitoring（CM） data, while the Bayesian method is utilized to estimate the maintenance related parameters based on the maintenance data. Finally, a numerical example and a practical case study are provided to demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method. The experimental results show that the proposed method could greatly improve the RUL estimation accuracy for the degrading equipment subjected to imperfect maintenance activities.