Model based fault diagnosis and prognosis of class of linear and nonlinear distributed parameter systems modeled by partial differential equations

With the rapid development of modern control systems, a significant number of industrial systems may suffer from component failures. An accurate yet faster fault prognosis and resilience can improve system availability and reduce unscheduled downtime. Therefore, in this dissertation, model-based prognosis and resilience control schemes have been developed for online prediction and accommodation of faults for distributed parameter systems (DPS). First, a novel fault detection, estimation and prediction framework is introduced utilizing a novel observer for a class of linear DPS with bounded disturbance by modeling the DPS as a set of partial differential equations. To relax the state measurability in DPS, filters are introduced to redesign the detection observer. Upon detecting a fault, an adaptive term is activated to estimate the multiplicative fault and a tuning law is derived to tune the fault parameter magnitude. Then based on this estimated fault parameter together with its failure limit, time-to-failure (TTF) is derived for prognosis. A novel fault accommodation scheme is developed to handle actuator and sensor faults with boundary measurements. Next, a fault isolation scheme is presented to differentiate actuator, sensor and state faults with a limited number of measurements for a class of linear and nonlinear DPS. Subsequently, actuator and sensor fault detection and prediction for a class of nonlinear DPS are considered with bounded disturbance by using a Luenberger observer. Finally, a novel resilient control scheme is proposed for nonlinear DPS once an actuator fault is detected by using an additional boundary measurement. In all the above methods, Lyapunov analysis is utilized to show the boundedness of the closed-loop signals during fault detection, prediction and resilience under mild assumptions --Abstract, page iv

Model based fault diagnosis and prognosis of nonlinear systems

Rapid technological advances have led to more and more complex industrial systems with significantly higher risk of failures. Therefore, in this dissertation, a model-based fault diagnosis and prognosis framework has been developed for fast and reliable detection of faults and prediction of failures in nonlinear systems. In the first paper, a unified model-based fault diagnosis scheme capable of detecting both additive system faults and multiplicative actuator faults, as well as approximating the fault dynamics, performing fault type determination and time-to-failure determination, is designed. Stability of the observer and online approximator is guaranteed via an adaptive update law. Since outliers can degrade the performance of fault diagnostics, the second paper introduces an online neural network (NN) based outlier identification and removal scheme which is then combined with a fault detection scheme to enhance its performance. Outliers are detected based on the estimation error and a novel tuning law prevents the NN weights from being affected by outliers. In the third paper, in contrast to papers I and II, fault diagnosis of large-scale interconnected systems is investigated. A decentralized fault prognosis scheme is developed for such systems by using a network of local fault detectors (LFD) where each LFD only requires the local measurements. The online approximators in each LFD learn the unknown interconnection functions and the fault dynamics. Derivation of robust detection thresholds and detectability conditions are also included. The fourth paper extends the decentralized fault detection from paper III and develops an accommodation scheme for nonlinear continuous-time systems. By using both detection and accommodation online approximators, the control inputs are adjusted in order to minimize the fault effects. Finally in the fifth paper, the model-based fault diagnosis of distributed parameter systems (DPS) with parabolic PDE representation in continuous-time is discussed where a PDE-based observer is designed to perform fault detection as well as estimating the unavailable system states. An adaptive online approximator is incorporated in the observer to identify unknown fault parameters. Adaptive update law guarantees the convergence of estimations and allows determination of remaining useful life --Abstract, page iv

Observer based active fault tolerant control of descriptor systems

The active fault tolerant control (AFTC) uses the information provided by fault detection and fault diagnosis (FDD) or fault estimation (FE) systems offering an opportunity to improve the safety, reliability and survivability for complex modern systems. However, in the majority of the literature the roles of FDD/FE and reconfigurable control are described as separate design issues often using a standard state space (i.e. non-descriptor) system model approach. These separate FDD/FE and reconfigurable control designs may not achieve desired stability and robustness performance when combined within a closed-loop system.This work describes a new approach to the integration of FE and fault compensation as a form of AFTC within the context of a descriptor system rather than standard state space system. The proposed descriptor system approach has an integrated controller and observer design strategy offering better design flexibility compared with the equivalent approach using a standard state space system. An extended state observer (ESO) is developed to achieve state and fault estimation based on a joint linear matrix inequality (LMI) approach to pole-placement and H∞ optimization to minimize the effects of bounded exogenous disturbance and modelling uncertainty. A novel proportional derivative (PD)-ESO is introduced to achieve enhanced estimation performance, making use of the additional derivative gain. The proposed approaches are evaluated using a common numerical example adapted from the recent literature and the simulation results demonstrate clearly the feasibility and power of the integrated estimation and control AFTC strategy. The proposed AFTC design strategy is extended to an LPV descriptor system framework as a way of dealing with the robustness and stability of the system with bounded parameter variations arising from the non-linear system, where a numerical example demonstrates the feasibility of the use of the PD-ESO for FE and compensation integrated within the AFTC system.A non-linear offshore wind turbine benchmark system is studied as an application of the proposed design strategy. The proposed AFTC scheme uses the existing industry standard wind turbine generator angular speed reference control system as a “baseline” control within the AFTC scheme. The simulation results demonstrate the added value of the new AFTC system in terms of good fault tolerance properties, compared with the existing baseline system

Cryogenic Liquid Rocket Engine Test Bench Fault-Tolerant Control System: Cooling System Application

International audienceA nonlinear fault-tolerant control strategy relying on quantitative physics-based models for a cryogenic combustion bench operation is proposed in this paper. The aim is to improve the reliability of a cryogenic bench operation in the transients and to allow to converge to a wider range of operating points. The fault detection is performed with residual-based methods. The residual is generated by an unknown input observer with an unscented transformed which also allows to reconstruct the unknown input. Then the goal is to provide a fault-tolerant system reconfiguration mechanism with a control law which compensates for the estimated actuator additive faults to maintain the overall system stability. For that purpose we use a model predictive control method on an equivalent system with the reconstructed unknown input. An error feedback and a fault compensation control law is designed in order to minimize an infinite horizon cost function within the framework of linear matrix inequalities. The model and the estimation part were validated on real data from Mascotte test bench (ONERA/CNES), and the reconfiguration control law was validated in realistic simulations

On-line estimation approaches to fault-tolerant control of uncertain systems

This thesis is concerned with fault estimation in Fault-Tolerant Control (FTC) and as such involves the joint problem of on-line estimation within an adaptive control system. The faults that are considered are significant uncertainties affecting the control variables of the process and their estimates are used in an adaptive control compensation mechanism. The approach taken involves the active FTC, as the faults can be considered as uncertainties affecting the control system. The engineering (application domain) challenges that are addressed are: (1) On-line model-based fault estimation and compensation as an FTC problem, for systems with large but bounded fault magnitudes and for which the faults can be considered as a special form of dynamic uncertainty. (2) Fault-tolerance in the distributed control of uncertain inter-connected systems The thesis also describes how challenge (1) can be used in the distributed control problem of challenge (2). The basic principle adopted throughout the work is that the controller has two components, one involving the nominal control action and the second acting as an adaptive compensation for significant uncertainties and fault effects. The fault effects are a form of uncertainty which is considered too large for the application of passive FTC methods. The thesis considers several approaches to robust control and estimation: augmented state observer (ASO); sliding mode control (SMC); sliding mode fault estimation via Sliding Mode Observer (SMO); linear parameter-varying (LPV) control; two-level distributed control with learning coordination

Propulsion Controls and Diagnostics Research at NASA Glenn Research Center

With the increased emphasis on aircraft safety, enhanced performance and affordability, and the need to reduce the environmental impact of aircraft, there are many new challenges being faced by the designers of aircraft propulsion systems. Also the propulsion systems required to enable the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Vision for Space Exploration in an affordable manner will need to have high reliability, safety and autonomous operation capability. The Controls and Dynamics Branch (CDB) at NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) in Cleveland, Ohio, is leading and participating in various projects in partnership with other organizations within GRC and across NASA, the U.S. aerospace industry, and academia to develop advanced controls and health management technologies that will help meet these challenges through the concept of Intelligent Propulsion Systems. This paper describes the current activities of the CDB under the NASA Aeronautics Research and Exploration Systems Missions. The programmatic structure of the CDB activities is described along with a brief overview of each of the CDB tasks including research objectives, technical challenges, and recent accomplishments. These tasks include active control of propulsion system components, intelligent propulsion diagnostics and control for reliable fault identification and accommodation, distributed engine control, and investigations into unsteady propulsion systems

Predictive control approaches to fault tolerant control of wind turbines

This thesis focuses on active fault tolerant control (AFTC) of wind turbine systems. Faults in wind turbine systems can be in the form of sensor faults, actuator faults, or component faults. These faults can occur in different locations, such as the wind speed sensor, the generator system, drive train system or pitch system. In this thesis, some AFTC schemes are proposed for wind turbine faults in the above locations. Model predictive control (MPC) is used in these schemes to design the wind turbine controller such that system constraints and dual control goals of the wind turbine are considered. In order to deal with the nonlinearity in the turbine model, MPC is combined with Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy modelling. Different fault diagnosis methods are also proposed in different AFTC schemes to isolate or estimate wind turbine faults.The main contributions of the thesis are summarized as follows:A new effective wind speed (EWS) estimation method via least-squares support vector machines (LSSVM) is proposed. Measurements from the wind turbine rotor speed sensor and the generator speed sensor are utilized by LSSVM to estimate the EWS. Following the EWS estimation, a wind speed sensor fault isolation scheme via LSSVM is proposed.A robust predictive controller is designed to consider the EWS estimation error. This predictive controller serves as the baseline controller for the wind turbine system operating in the region below rated wind speed.T-S fuzzy MPC combining MPC and T-S fuzzy modelling is proposed to design the wind turbine controller. MPC can deal with wind turbine system constraints externally. On the other hand, T-S fuzzy modelling can approximate the nonlinear wind turbine system with a linear time varying (LTV) model such that controller design can be based on this LTV model. Therefore, the advantages of MPC and T-S fuzzy modelling are both preserved in the proposed T-S fuzzy MPC.A T-S fuzzy observer, based on online eigenvalue assignment, is proposed as the sensor fault isolation scheme for the wind turbine system. In this approach, the fuzzy observer is proposed to deal with the nonlinearity in the wind turbine system and estimate system states. Furthermore, the residual signal generated from this fuzzy observer is used to isolate the faulty sensor.A sensor fault diagnosis strategy utilizing both analytical and hardware redundancies is proposed for wind turbine systems. This approach is proposed due to the fact that in the real application scenario, both analytical and hardware redundancies of wind turbines are available for designing AFTC systems.An actuator fault estimation method based on moving horizon estimation (MHE) is proposed for wind turbine systems. The estimated fault by MHE is then compensated by a T-S fuzzy predictive controller. The fault estimation unit and the T-S fuzzy predictive controller are combined to form an AFTC scheme for wind turbine actuator faults