Computer system and method for defining and using a predictive model configured to predict asset failures

1. A computing system comprising:

a network interface configured to facilitate communication with a plurality of assets and a plurality of computing devices;

at least one processor;

a non-transitory computer-readable medium; and

program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium that are executable by the at least one processor to cause the computing system to:

identify a group of abnormal-condition types associated with a group of possible failure types for assets of a given type;

based on the identified group of abnormal-condition types, identify a subset of historical operating data comprising (i) historical abnormal-condition data for a plurality of assets of the given type that indicates past occurrences of the identified group of abnormal-condition types at the plurality of assets and (ii) historical sensor data for the plurality of assets that indicates sensor measurements associated with the past occurrences of the identified group of abnormal-condition types at the plurality of assets;

apply a supervised machine learning technique to the identified subset of historical operating data to define a predictive model that is configured to (i) receive sensor data for an asset as input, (ii) for each of at least two failure types from the group of possible failure types, make a respective prediction of whether the failure type is likely to occur at the asset within a given period of time in the future, and (iii) based on the respective predictions, output an indication of whether at least one failure type from the group of possible failure types is likely to occur at the asset within the given period of time in the future;

receive sensor data indicating operating conditions of a given asset;

apply the predictive model to the received sensor data and thereby determine, for the given asset, an indication of whether at least one failure type from the group of possible failure types is likely to occur at the given asset within the given period of time in the future;

compare the indication for the given asset to threshold criteria and thereby make a determination that the indication satisfies the threshold criteria; and

responsive to the determination that the indication satisfies the threshold criteria, carry out a remedial action that comprises at least one of (i) automatically generating and sending, to a computing device associated with an individual responsible for overseeing the given asset, an alert, (ii) automatically generating and sending, to the given asset, an instruction for the given asset to modify its operation to account for the determination that the indication satisfies the threshold criteria, (iii) automatically generating and sending, to a repair facility, an instruction to repair the given asset, or (iv) automatically generating and sending, to a parts-ordering system, an instruction for the parts ordering system to order a given component of the given asset.

2. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor to cause the computing system to identify the group of abnormal-condition types associated with the group of possible failure types for assets of the given type comprise program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium that are executable by the at least one processor to cause the computing system to:

identify one or more sensors associated with assets of the given type; and

identify one or more abnormal-condition types corresponding to the one or more sensors.

3. The computing system of claim 2 , wherein identifying the one or more sensors associated with assets of the given type comprises identifying the one or more sensors associated with assets of the given type based on historical operating data and at least one of historical repair data or sensor attributes.

4. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the group of possible failure types comprises one or more failure types that could render an asset of the given type inoperable when the one or more failure types occur.

5. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein each failure type from the group of possible failure types corresponds to at least one abnormal-condition type from the identified group of abnormal-condition types.

6. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions that are executable by the at least one processor to cause the computing system to identify the group of abnormal-condition types associated with the group of possible failure types for assets of the given type comprise program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium that are executable by the at least one processor to cause the computing system to identify the group of abnormal-condition types based on user input.

7. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the indication for the given asset comprises a single, aggregated metric that reflects whether at least one failure type from the group of possible failure types is likely to occur at the given asset within the given period of time in the future.

8. The computing system of claim 7 , wherein the single, aggregated metric comprises one of (i) a probability that no failure type from the group of possible failure types will occur at the given asset within the given period of time in the future or (ii) a probability that at least one failure type from the group of possible failure types will occur at the given asset within the given period of time in the future.

9. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the indication for the given asset comprises a set of probability metrics that each reflect a probability that a respective failure type from the group of possible failure types will occur at the given asset within the given period of time in the future.

10. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the threshold criteria comprises a maximum probability of a failure type from the group of possible failure types occurring at the given asset within the given period of time in the future.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that are executable to cause a computing system to:

identify a group of abnormal-condition types associated with a group of possible failure types for assets of a given type;

based on the identified group of abnormal-condition types, identify a subset of historical operating data comprising (i) historical abnormal-condition data for a plurality of assets of the given type that indicates past occurrences of the identified group of abnormal-condition types at the plurality of assets and (ii) historical sensor data for the plurality of assets that indicates sensor measurements associated with the past occurrences of the identified group of abnormal-condition types at the plurality of assets;

apply a supervised machine learning technique to the identified subset of the historical operating data to define a predictive model that is configured to (i) receive sensor data for an asset as input, (ii) for each of at least two failure types from the group of possible failure types, make a respective prediction of whether the failure type is likely to occur at the asset within a given period of time in the future, and (iii) based on the respective predictions, output an indication of whether at least one failure type from the group of possible failure types is likely to occur at the asset within the given period of time in the future;

receive sensor data indicating operating conditions of a given asset;

apply the predictive model to the received sensor data and thereby determine, for the given asset, an indication of whether at least one failure type from the group of possible failure types is likely to occur at the given asset within the given period of time in the future;

compare the indication for the given asset to threshold criteria and thereby make a determination that the indication satisfies the threshold criteria; and

responsive to the determination that the indication satisfies the threshold criteria, carry out a remedial action that comprises at least one of (i) automatically generating and sending, to a computing device associated with an individual responsible for overseeing the given asset, an alert, (ii) automatically generating and sending, to the given asset, an instruction for the given asset to modify its operation to account for the determination that the indication satisfies the threshold criteria, (iii) automatically generating and sending, to a repair facility, an instruction to repair the given asset, or (iv) automatically generating and sending, to a parts-ordering system, an instruction for the parts ordering system to order a given component the given asset.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the instructions that are executable to cause the computing system to identify the group of abnormal-condition types associated with the group of possible failure types for assets of the given type comprise instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium that are eecutable to cause the computing system to:

identify one or more sensors associated with assets of the given type; and

identify one or more abnormal-condition types corresponding to the one or more sensors.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 , wherein identifying the one or more sensors associated with assets of the given type comprises identifying the one or more sensors associated with assets of the given type based on historical operating data and at least one of historical repair data or sensor attributes.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein each failure type from the group of possible failure types corresponds to at least one abnormal-condition type from the identified group of abnormal-condition types.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the instructions that are executable to cause the computing system to identify the group of abnormal-condition types associated with the group of possible failure types for assets of the given type comprise instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium that are executable to cause the computing system to identify the group of abnormal-condition types based on user input.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the indication for the given asset comprises one of (a) a single, aggregated metric that reflects whether at least one failure type from the group of possible failure types is likely to occur at the given asset within the given period of time in the future or (b) a set of probability metrics that each reflect a probability that a respective failure type from the group of possible failure types will occur at the given asset within the given period of time in the future.

17. A computer-implemented method, the method comprising:

identifying a group of abnormal-condition types associated with a group of possible failure types for assets of a given type;

based on the identified group of abnormal-condition types, identifying a subset of historical operating data comprising (i) historical abnormal-condition data for a plurality of assets of the given type that indicates past occurrences of the identified group of abnormal-condition types at the plurality of assets and (ii) historical sensor data for the plurality of assets that indicates sensor measurements associated with the past occurrences of the identified group of abnormal-condition types at the plurality of assets;

applying a supervised machine learning technique to the identified subset of the historical operating data to define a predictive model that is configured to (i) receive sensor data for an asset as input, (ii) for each of at least two failure types from the group of possible failure types, make a respective prediction of whether the failure type is likely to occur at the asset within a given period of time in the future, and (iii) based on the respective predictions, output an indication of whether at least one failure type from the group of possible failure types is likely to occur at the given asset within the given period of time in the future;

receiving sensor data indicating operating conditions of a given asset;

apply the predictive model to the received sensor data and thereby determine, for the given asset, an indication of whether at least one failure type from the group of possible failure types is likely to occur at the given asset within the given period of time in the future;

comparing the indication for the given asset to threshold criteria and thereby making a determination that the indication satisfies the threshold criteria; and

responsive to the determination that the indication satisfies the threshold criteria, carrying out a remedial action that comprises at least one of (i) automatically generating and sending, to a computing device associated with an individual responsible for overseeing the given asset, an alert, (ii) automatically generating and sending, to the given asset, an instruction for the given asset to modify its operation to account for the determination that the indication satisfies the threshold criteria, (iii) automatically generating and sending, to a repair facility, an instruction to repair the given asset, or (iv) automatically generating and sending, to a parts-ordering system, an instruction for the parts ordering system to order a given component of the given asset.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17 , wherein identifying the group of abnormal-condition type associated with the group of possible failure types for assets of the given type comprises:

identifying one or more sensors associated with assets of the given type; and

identifying one or more abnormal-condition types corresponding to the one or more sensors.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 17 , wherein identifying the group of abnormal-condition types associated with the group of possible failure types for assets of the given type comprises identifying the group of abnormal-condition types based on user input.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 17 , wherein the indication for the given asset comprises one of (a) a single, aggregated metric that reflects whether at least one failure type from the group of possible failure types is likely to occur at the given asset within the given period of time in the future or (b) a set of probability metrics that each reflect a probability that a respective failure type from the group of possible failure types will occur at the given asset within the given period of time in the future.