Engineering failure analysis and design optimisation with HiP-HOPS

The scale and complexity of computer-based safety critical systems, like those used in the transport and manufacturing industries, pose significant challenges for failure analysis. Over the last decade, research has focused on automating this task. In one approach, predictive models of system failure are constructed from the topology of the system and local component failure models using a process of composition. An alternative approach employs model-checking of state automata to study the effects of failure and verify system safety properties. In this paper, we discuss these two approaches to failure analysis. We then focus on Hierarchically Performed Hazard Origin & Propagation Studies (HiP-HOPS) - one of the more advanced compositional approaches - and discuss its capabilities for automatic synthesis of fault trees, combinatorial Failure Modes and Effects Analyses, and reliability versus cost optimisation of systems via application of automatic model transformations. We summarise these contributions and demonstrate the application of HiP-HOPS on a simplified fuel oil system for a ship engine. In light of this example, we discuss strengths and limitations of the method in relation to other state-of-the-art techniques. In particular, because HiP-HOPS is deductive in nature, relating system failures back to their causes, it is less prone to combinatorial explosion and can more readily be iterated. For this reason, it enables exhaustive assessment of combinations of failures and design optimisation using computationally expensive meta-heuristics. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Realtime simulation of vapour compression cycles

Abstract This paper shows a tool chain of a set of ready-touse tools and libraries that enables the dynamic real-time simulation of vapour compression cycles. A new approach for calculation of fluid properties and numeric efficient component models are applied. As an Hardware in the Loop application a vapour compression cycle is exported to Scale -RT [5] using Simulation

Simulation-based system reliability analysis of electrohydraulic actuator with dual modular redundancy

This paper describes the failure detection system of an electro-hydraulic actuator with dual modular redundancy based on a hybrid twin TM concept. Hybrid twin TM is a combination of virtual twin that operates in parallel with the actuator and represents its ideal behaviour, and a digital twin that identifies possible failures using the sensor readings residuals. Simulation-based system reliability analysis helps to generate a dataset for training the digital twin using machine learning algorithms. A systematic failure detection approach based on decision trees and the process of analysing the quality of the result is described

A Medical Wireless Measurement System for Hip Prosthesis Loosening Detection Based on Vibration Analysis

Vibration analysis is a promising approach in order to detect early hip prosthesis loosening, with the potential to extend the range of diagnostic tools currently available in clinical routine. Ongoing research efforts and developments in the area of multi-functional implants, which integrate sensors, wireless power supply, communication and signal processing, provide means to obtain valuable in vivo information otherwise not available. In the current work a medical wireless measurement system is presented, which is integrated in the femoral head of a hip prosthesis. The passive miniaturized system includes a 3-axis acceleration sensor and signal pre-processing based on a lock-in amplifier circuit. Bidirectional data communication and power supply is reached through inductive coupling with an operating frequency of 125 kHz in accordance with the ISO 18000-2 protocol standard. The system allows the acquisition of the acceleration frequency response of the femur-prosthesis system between 500 to 2500 Hz. Applied laboratory measurements with system prototypes on artificial bones and integrated prostheses demonstrate the feasibility of the measurement system approach, clearly showing differences in the vibration behavior due to an implant loosening. In addition a possibility to evaluate the non-linear mechanic system behavior is presented