Diagnostic row reasoning method based on multiple-valued evaluation of residuals and elementary symptoms sequence

Abstract

The paper analyses the research problem of conducting diagnostic reasoning for dynamic objects to eliminate the possibility of formulating false diagnoses resulting from different delays of the symptoms related to a particular fault while simultaneously striving to obtain high distinguishability. The research aimed to develop a new diagnostic inference method robust to symptom delays and characterised by high accuracy of generated diagnosis. Known methods ensuring the correctness of inference in the case of symptom delays but at the cost of reducing distinguishability of faults have been characterised. A new inference method was developed, which uses the three-valued residual evaluation and knowledge regarding elementary symptom sequences. A formal description of the diagnosing system and the proposed method are given. The method of obtaining the knowledge about the order of symptoms based on a cause-and-effect graph and was characterised. The method’s effectiveness was presented in simulation studies on the example of diagnosing a set of serially connected tanks. The comparison of the fault distinguishability obtained using the proposed method and other approaches illustrates the new method’s advantages.