Importance

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Abstract

A system, software program, and method for monitoring performance of a fiber processing apparatus that preferably is a disk refiner or a filter screen that analyzes operating data pertaining to the operation of the apparatus to determine when a plate of the apparatus should be replaced before plate wear undesirably affects performance. Operating data over time is analyzed to determine whether it exhibits a trend characteristic of plate wear and, if so, a plate change recommendation is generated. In a preferred method, regression or piecewise linearization is utilized to determine a slope of the data and the slope is compared to a threshold. If above, below, or outside a certain value or window of the threshold, the recommendation is generated. To avoid fluctuations in performance not due to plate wear from affecting the determination, operating data over several hours of apparatus operation is analyzed. When a plate of an apparatus is changed, an inventory of the plates is updated. If the inventory requires replenishing, plates are ordered over a telecommunications link, such as by e-mail or FTP connection, with a remote supplier computer or system. New replacement plates can be entered into the inventory from information downloaded from a portable input device, such as a bar code scanner or the like.

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First Claim