Patent ID: 8311783

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for generating a set of conflicts to diagnose a system describable by a model based on the arrangement of system components, said model including a set of primary relations (PRs) between inputs and outputs of each component, representing its operating function, and with which system a plurality of sensors is associated for the observation of variables indicative of operation conditions, where said conflicts set includes a subset of system components for which the assumption of correct operation is not consistent with the observed system behaviour, wherein the method includes the steps of: generating, as a preliminary step, a complete set of Analytical Redundancy Relations (ARRs) for the system in implicit form, in which each relation represents the logical relations between a subset of observable variables of the system and a corresponding subset of support components of the system, and for each diagnosis instance performing a system simulation based on the model, given a predetermined set of values as system inputs, computing the expected values for a first subset of Analytical Redundancy Relations (D-ARRs) including the relations involving only one system observation variable, comparing the expected and observed values of the system observation variables and identify the inconsistent observation variables, i.e. the unsatisfied redundancy relations of said first subset, indicating a fault in at least one system component; and when discrepancies are detected, checking the consistency of each relation belonging to a second subset of Analytical Redundancy Relations (I-ARR), comprising relations involving a plurality of system observation variables, at least one of which exhibits discrepancies between expected and observed values; and identifying the support set of the unsatisfied Redundancy Relations of said second subset as set of system conflicts, adapted to detect and isolate the system faults.