This paper considers the application of functional modelling to the automated production of FMEAs for mechanical systems. We consider how a functional model can be generated algorithmically from the geometric and assembly data already present for a device in a CAD/CAM system. We present the functional model used for representing the mechanical system, and propose reasoning techniques that can b...

The constant growing importance of onboard diagnosis for automobiles demands a corresponding integration of diagnostic tasks in the entire design process. This report decribes the basic concepts worked out within the European project „Integrated Design Process for onboard Diagnosis“ (IDD), which show new solutions for a better integration of diagnosis related tasks, such as diagnosabilty analys...

The concept of software failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) has grown in attractiveness over recent years as a way of assessing the reliability of software. Like its hardware counterpart, software FMEA is immensely tedious for an engineer to perform, as well as being error-prone. This paper presents the implementation of a novel method for automating code-level software FMEA based on treat...

The development of diagnostic software is very critical in current generation automotive systems. However, the activities related to diagnosis (e.g., FMEA generation, analysis of diagnosability, generation of software to be embedded in the ECU) are usually not supported by specialized tools and, as a consequence, not strictly integrated with other design phases (e.g., design of control and defi...

This document summarizes the suitable design strategies that have been followed (and exposed in the contractual deliverable 57) in order to meet the reliability and availability specifications for the XADS accelerator. The document describes also how these strategies can be applied in the different components, and how iterations can lead to reliability improvements. The Failure Mode and Effect ...

The saturation of the magnetic resonance of paramagnetic impurities in metallic hosts is investigated. The earlier work of N. Bloembergen is extended to metallic films of finite thickness. The absorption line shape and its derivative with respect to the static applied field are calculated. Comparison is made with the corresponding results for an insulating host, and suggestions are given as to ...

Although recent developments greatly increased interest in African land tenure, few models to address these issues at the required scale have been identified or evaluated. Rwanda’s nation-wide land tenure regularization programme is of great interest. A discontinuity design with spatial fixed effects that is used to evaluate the pilot for this programme points to three main effects; namely, (i)...

In this study we tried to replicate the unconscious thought advantage (UTA), which states that complex decisions are better handled by unconscious thinking. We designed an experiment in e-prime using similar material as the original study (choosing between four different apartments, each described by 12 attributes). A total of 73 participants (52 women (71.2%); 18 to 62 age: M=24.63; SD=8.7) to...

Limitations in scope but also difficulties with the efficiency and scalability of present algorithms seem to have so far limited the industrial uptake of existing automated FMEA technology. In this paper, we describe a new tool for the automatic synthesis of FMEAs which builds upon our earlier work on fault tree synthesis. The tool constructs FMEAs from engineering diagrams (e.g. developed in M...

Communicating failure mode information during design and manufacturing is a crucial task for failure prevention. Most processes use Failure Modes and Effects types of analyses, as well as prior knowledge and experience, to determine the potential modes of failures a product might encounter during its lifetime. When new products are being considered and designed, this knowledge and information i...