Knowledge-Based Diagnostic System for a Complex Technical System, Comprising Two Separate Knowledge Bases for Processing Technical System Data and Customer Complaints

摘要

The present document describes a diagnostic system for localizing faults in diagnostics in a workshop. The diagnostic system takes into account both trivial and costly intermittent fault situations. It is characterized by a structured module concept for the software architecture. Division into localization of quasi-steady-state and intermittent faults is carried out by reference to classification of the diagnostic tasks. The first-mentioned problems can be solved by means of a systematic procedure using all the available information. The modular software architecture with strict separation of protected data and imprecise information supports the guided troubleshooting process. Current methods which operate according to the prior art are used in individual modules of the software architecture. The advantages of the known system diagnostics, such as compression of the suspected components are utilized and expanded. The inventive addition of symptom processing improves the result of previous systems for system diagnostics. The improved guidance during the system diagnostics helps to avoid removing satisfactory components. Generation of dynamic test step trees is innovatively used for efficient fault localization. In the known system diagnostics, intermittent faults give rise to long troubleshooting times owing to the necessary reproducibility of the fault. The diagnostic system according to the invention supports the localization of the intermittently occurring faults by also logging in temporary onboard diagnostics or temporary remote diagnostics with subsequent evaluation in the workshop. The significant advantage of this method is the fact that the customer is not deprived of his vehicle during the fault localization process.