Correlating hardware fault detection information from distributed control systems to isolate and diagnose a fault in pressurised water reactors

Early fault identification systems enable detecting and diagnosing early onset faults or fault causes which allow maintenance planning on the equipment showing signs of deterioration or failure. This includes valve and leaks and small cracks in steam generator tubes usually detected by means of ultrasonic inspection. We have shown (Cilliers and Mulder, 2012) that detecting faults early during transient operation in NPPs is possible when coupled with a reliable reference to compare plant measurements with during transients. The problem introduced by the distributed application of control systems operating independently to keep the plant operating within the safe operating boundaries was solved by re-introducing the fault information it into the measurement data, thereby improving plant diagnostic performance. This paper introduces the use of improved fault detection information received from all distributed systems in the plant control system and correlating the information to not only detect the fault but also to diagnose it based on the location and magnitude of the fault cause. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.