Development of an Automated Technique for Failure Modes and Effect Analysis

Advances in automation have provided integration of monitoring and control functions to enhance the operator's overview and ability to take remedy actions when faults occur. Automation in plant supervision is technically possible with integrated automation systems as platforms, but new design methods are needed to cope efficiently with the complexity and to ensure that the functionality of a supervisor is correct and consistent. In particular these methods are expected to significantly improve fault tolerance of the designed systems. The purpose of this work is to develop a software module implementing an automated technique for Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA). This technique is based on the matrix formulation of FMEA for the investigation of failure propagation through a system. As main result, this technique will provide the design engineer with decision tables for fault handling that show how fault migration can be stopped.