Apparatus and method for alarm management

1. A method, comprising:

obtaining alarm data from sensors in industrial machines;

storing the alarm data in a database, the database being disposed at a central location;

ordering the alarm data as a sequence of individual alarms;

determining relationships between the individual alarms;

selectively storing the relationships in a mathematical model;

wherein the relationships include domination relationships and mutual dependency relationships between the individual alarms, wherein the mathematical model includes discrete alarm events and a sequence of the discrete alarm events;

determining a Petri net that corresponds to the mathematical model, the Petri net including the domination relationships and the mutual dependency relationships between the individual alarms;

analyzing the Petri net to determine a set of construction rules, the construction rules defining an approach to reduce a number of alarms presented to an operator or a computer program;

sensing a plurality of real-time alarms at the industrial machines;

applying the construction rules to the real-time alarms to obtain a reduced set of real-time alarms; and

presenting the reduced set of real-time alarms to the operator or the first computer program;

wherein the operator or the computer program causes actions to be performed, the actions being one or more of: activating a selected industrial machine, deactivating a selected industrial machine, sending a message to a human for the human to investigate a selected machine, and causing a robot to travel to investigate an alarm at a selected industrial machine.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the construction rules are implemented as computer code and the computer code is configured with new parameters over time based upon new alarm data.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the industrial machines are one or more of: boilers, fans, engines, wind turbines, generators, manufacturing devices, cutters, drills, saws, presses, vehicles, or power equipment.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sensors measure one or more of speed, temperature, pressure, direction, size, weight, or dimension of an industrial machine or of an industrial process.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mathematical model includes equations.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the Petri net represents alarms as unique transitions in the Petri net.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the analyzing of the Petri net comprises analyzing the Petri net by a second computer program or by a human.

8. A system, comprising:

a plurality of industrial machines;

a plurality of sensors deployed at the industrial machines, the sensors configured to obtain alarm data at the industrial machines;

a database deployed at a central location and wherein the alarm data is stored at the database;

a first control circuit deployed at the central location, the first control circuit configured to order the alarm data in the database as a sequence of individual alarms, determine relationships between the individual alarms, and selectively store the relationships in a mathematical model, wherein the relationships include domination relationships and mutual dependency relationships between the individual alarms, wherein the mathematical model includes discrete alarm events and a sequence of the discrete alarm events;

wherein the first control circuit is configured to determine a Petri net that corresponds to the mathematical model, the Petri net including the domination relationships and the mutual dependency relationships between the individual alarms;

wherein the first control circuit or a human analyzes the Petri net to determine a set of construction rules, the construction rules defining an approach to reduce a number of alarms presented to an operator or a computer program;

wherein the construction rules are sent to a second control circuit via a second network;

wherein the sensors are configured to sense a plurality of real-time alarms at the industrial machines;

wherein the second control circuit is configured to apply the construction rules to the real-time alarms to obtain a reduced set of real-time alarms and to present the reduced set of real-time alarms to the operator or to a first computer program;

wherein the operator or the first computer program causes actions to be performed, the actions being one or more of: activating a selected industrial machine, deactivating a selected industrial machine, sending a message to a human for the human to investigate a selected machine, and causing a robot to travel to investigate an alarm at a selected industrial machine.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the construction rules are implemented as computer code and the computer code is configured with new parameters over time based upon new alarm data.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the industrial machines are one or more of: boilers, fans, engines, wind turbines, generators, manufacturing devices, cutters, drills, saws, presses, vehicles, or power equipment.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the sensors measure one or more of speed, temperature, pressure, direction, size, weight, or dimension of an industrial machine or of an industrial process.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the mathematical model includes equations.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the Petri net represents alarms as unique transitions in the Petri net.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the analyzing of the Petri net comprises analyzing the Petri net by a second computer program or by a human.

15. The system of claim 8 , wherein the first control circuit and the second control circuit are separate and wherein the first control circuit stores the alarm data in the database.