Fault monitoring system
AssigneeLucas Industries Limited
InventorIan John Patrick James
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A fault monitoring system comprises a fault detection mechanism to determine the status of a parameter to be monitored. An integrator counts in one direction when a fault in the measurement system is detected and counts in an opposite direction in the absence of fault detection. A threshold detector generates a hard fault indication when the integrator count reaches a threshold value, and an integrator count monitor generates information indicative of the state of the integrator count when below the threshold value thereby providing an indication of the progression of the fault.
Claims20
A fault monitoring system comprising:
- a fault detection mechanism for providing a fault status indication of a parameter to be monitored;
- an integrator for incrementing a count in one direction by a predetermined fault increment when the fault detection mechanism provides a fault indication, and for incrementing said integrator count in an opposite direction by a predetermined no-fault increment in the absence of fault detection;
- a threshold detector for generating a hard fault indication when the integrator count reaches a threshold value;
- an integrator count monitor for generating information indicative of the state of the integrator count when below the threshold value thereby to provide an indication of the progression of the fault.
A method of providing an indication of the progression of a fault, the method comprising:
- monitoring a parameter to detect the fault;
- incrementing an integrator count in one direction when the fault is detected;
- incrementing the integrator count in an opposite direction in the absence of fault detection;
- generating a hard fault indication when the integrator count reaches a threshold value;
- and generating information indicative of the state of the integrator count when below the threshold value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.