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Combined expert system/neural networks method for process fault diagnosis

  • US 5,442,555 A
  • Filed: 10/07/1993
  • Issued: 08/15/1995
  • Est. Priority Date: 05/18/1992
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. A method for diagnosing failures in the operation of a thermal-hydraulic system including detection of a malfunctioning component in said thermal-hydraulic system, said method comprising the steps of:

  • classifying a malfunction of the component by a function performed by the component as a mass source/sink, or a momentum source/sink, or an energy source/sink imbalance including the steps of;

    assigning to one or more of the components of the thermal-hydraulic system a thermal-hydraulic control volume which characterizes the total mass, momentum, and energy inventories of said one or more components during normal and off-normal operations;

    assigning to each thermal-hydraulic control volume its associated mass, momentum, and energy conservation equations;

    assigning to one or more components a functional classification as a source or sink of mass, momentum, or energy;

    assigning components to generic component classes by said functional classification;

    monitoring operation of the thermal-hydraulic control volumes for detecting an imbalance in the total mass, momentum, or energy inventories in any of the thermal-hydraulic control volumes; and

    comparing a detected imbalance in mass, momentum, or energy inventories of the thermal-hydraulic control volumes with the conservation equations and the functional classification for each of the components and identifying a given component as faulty when a detected imbalance in mass, momentum, or energy of the thermal-hydraulic control volume matches the classification of the component as a source or sink of mass, momentum, or energy;

    classifying the function as one of a plurality of generic component classes for each of said mass, momentum and energy source/sink imbalances; and

    classifying a specific component within one of said generic component classes as said malfunctioning component.

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