Design of a real-time fault diagnosis expert system for the EAST cryoplant

The EAST cryoplant consists of a 2 kW/4 K helium refrigerator and a helium distribution system. It is a complex process system which involves many process variables and cryogenic equipments. Each potential fault or abnormal event may influence stability and safety of the cryogenic system, thereby disturbing the fusion experiment. The cryogenic control system can monitor the process data and detect process alarms, but it is difficult to effectively diagnose the fault causes and provide operation suggestions to operators when anomalies occur. Therefore, a real-time fault diagnosis expert system is essential for a safe and steady operation of EAST cryogenic system. After a brief description of the EAST cryoplant and its control system, the structure design of the cryogenic fault diagnosis expert system is proposed. Based on the empirical knowledge, the fault diagnosis model is built adopting fault tree analysis method which considers the uncertainty. The knowledge base and the inference machine are presented in detail. A cross-platform integrated development environment Qt Creator and MySQL database have been used to develop the system. The proposed expert system has a fine graphic user interface for monitoring and operation. Preliminary test was conducted and the results found to be satisfactory.

► An expert system of real-time fault diagnosis for EAST cryoplant is designed.
► Knowledge base is built via fault tree analysis based on our fault experience.
► It can make up the deficiency of safety monitoring in cryogenic DCS.
► It can help operators to find the fault causes and give operation suggestion.
► It plays a role of operators training in certain degree.