Process fault detection based on modeling and estimation methods—A survey

The supervision of technical processes is the subject of increased development because of the increasing demands on reliability and safety. The use of process computers and microcomputers permits the application of methods which result in an earlier detection of process faults than is possible by conventional limit and trend checks. With the aid of process models, estimation and decision methods it is possible to also monitor nonmeasurable variables like process states, process parameters and characteristic quantities. This contribution presents a brief summary of some basic fault detection methods. This is followed by a description of suitable parameter estimation methods for continuous-time models. Then two examples are considered, the fault detection of an electrical driven centrifugal pump by parameter monitoring and the leak detection for pipelines by a special correlation method.