Determining Vehicle Energy Paths’ Remaining Useful Life using Design of Experiments

This work presents a new approach to determine the remaining useful life for vehicle energy paths using design of experiments. In the context of semi- and highly-autonomous driving, the integration requirements, according to ISO 26262, will increase further. Energy paths are either designed to be robust or redundant to ensure the availability of safety-relevant functions. The diagnosis and prognosis of those energy paths offer a cost- and space-efficient alternative. To enable a diagnosis, it is of particular importance to monitor the degradation phenomena along supply paths that provoke failures. A prerequisite for this implementation is the timely reaction to the "worst-case" degradation process. Due to the requirement for a detachable connection, degradation phenomena occur, particularly on connectors. By using the presented approach, a connector's potential influences and mechanisms are simulated in a laboratory environment. By varying the various influences according to the design of experiments procedure, the fastest possible system failure is identified. This "worst-case" scenario corresponds to the remaining useful life to be guaranteed by a predictive diagnosis. With this step, the reliable diagnosis of vehicle energy paths can be promoted as an alternative or complementary safety concept in the future.