Distributed model-based sensor fault diagnosis of marine fuel engines

This paper proposes a distributed model-based methodology for the detection and isolation of sensor faults in marine fuel engines. The proposed method considers a Mean Value First Principle model and a wide selection of heterogeneous sensors for monitoring the engine components. The detection of faults is realised based on residuals generated using nonlinear Differential Algebraic estimators combined with adaptive thresholds. The isolation of faults is, then, realised in two levels; local sensor fault detection and isolation agents are designed to monitor specific sensor sets and aim to detect faults in these sets; and a global decision logic is designed to isolate multiple sensor faults that may be propagated between the local monitoring agents. Finally, simulation results are used to illustrate the application of this method and its efficiency.