Fault diagnosis system using qualitative models and interpreters

This fault diagnosis system consists of qualitative models, qualitative interpreter, and inference engine. Qualitative models are formed by analysis of the relationships between faults and behaviors of sensor trends, which are described by state transition trees. Qualitative interpreter outputs confidence factors with three qualitative quantities which represent the states of sensor trends. And then, the possible faults are detected by inference module which matches the states of trends within a window size with the qualitative models using the well-known min-max operation.