Fault detection and isolation of the three-tank system using the modal interval analysis

Analytical redundancy is a widely used technique for fault detection. It consists of comparing the behaviour of a real system with a reference obtained by simulation of its model. The main problem is that there are always imprecisions and uncertainties which are not represented in the model so the behaviour of the real system and the behaviour of the model are not exactly the same. One way to represent these uncertainties in the model is using interval models. The results of the simulation of these types of models may be represented by envelopes. This paper proposes an approach to generate envelopes based on interval techniques of the modal interval analysis. As an example, this approach is used to detect and isolate faults in a physical system formed by three interconnected tanks. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.