Development of a knowledge based system for the diagnosis of faults in hydraulic circuits

Complex hydraulic systems are increasingly being employed in high risk, high capital cost applications, such as the aerospace, power and marine industries. Following a safety audit of a complex hydraulic system, it was recognised that the process, which is essentially a time consuming and somewhat repetitive task, could be profitably automated by use of computer techniques. Work is underway to produce an expert, or knowledge based, system which will assist in the process of hydraulic circuit design appraisal, and in the diagnosis of failures in 'live' equipment. This paper summarises the progress to date