Spatio‐temporal fault localization for nonlinear spatially distributed processes: A spatial mapping filter‐based framework

Abstract

Compared to the fault detection problem, fault localization for spatially distributed processes is physically intuitive but was seldom studied. The main challenge lies in the contradiction between the spatially distributed nature of the processes and a limited number of sensors that can be placed in the space for applications. In this article, we make the first attempt to systematically study the fault localization problem for a class of nonlinear spatially distributed processes without knowing any prior information of the spatial distribution function of the spatio‐temporal fault. The main contribution is that a spatial mapping filter is first designed to generate a distributed residual signal which contains spatial information while using limited sensor measurements. The residual evaluation procedure is also conducted in a distributed manner. With these two parts, a systematic methodology framework is constructed and analyzed rigorously. Finally, the performance of the proposed method is evaluated on a faulty catalytic rod, which widely exists in chemical engineering.