Fault diagnostics of dynamic system operation using a fault tree based method

For conventional systems, their availability can be considerably improved by reducing the time taken to restore the system to the working state when faults occur. Fault identification can be a significant proportion of the time taken in the repair process. Having diagnosed the problem the restoration of the system back to its fully functioning condition can then take place. This paper expands the capability of previous approaches to fault detection and identification using fault trees for application to dynamically changing systems. The technique has two phases. The first phase is modelling and preparation carried out offline. This gathers information on the effects that sub-system failure will have on the system performance. Causes of the sub-system failures are developed in the form of fault trees. The second phase is application. Sensors are installed on the system to provide information about current system performance from which the potential causes can be deduced. A simple system example is used to demonstrate the features of the method. To illustrate the potential for the method to deal with additional system complexity and redundancy, a section from an aircraft fuel system is used. A discussion of the results is provided.