Fault-based identification and inspection of fault developments to enhance availability in industrial automation systems

In this paper an innovative concept for a fault prevention in industrial automation systems is presented. The goal of this concept is the avoidance of downtimes, by means of the early identification of fault developments during runtime. Additionally, in comparison to common fault prevention solutions, today's complexity of prevention processes and the increasing amount of data is aimed to be reduced in this concept. In order to fulfill these requirements, a methodology has been developed, which helps to identify fault development characteristics after a single fault occurrence. By means of this information, the same system or similar systems can be inspected for this definite fault development in the future in order to avoid reoccurrence of this particular fault or failure. Thus, the fault-based identification and inspection helps to increase systems' availability, which is demanded amongst other things due to the high productivity requirements in industry.