Robust process fault diagnosis with uncertain data

This study suggests a new methodology for the fault diagnosis based on the signed digraph in developing the fault diagnosis system of a boiler plant. The suggested methodology uses the new model, fault-effect tree. The SDG has the advantage, which is simple and graphical to represent the causal relationship between process variables, and therefore is easy to understand. However, it cannot handle the broken path cases arisen from data uncertainty as it assumes consistent path. The FET is based on the SDG to utilize the advantages of the SDG, and also covers the above problem. The proposed FET model is constructed by clustering of measured variables, decomposing knowledge base and searching the fault propagation path from the possible faults. The search is performed automatically. The fault diagnosis system for a boiler plant, ENDS was constructed using the expert system shell G2 and the advantages of the presented method were confirmed through case studies.