Fault diagnosis with the Aladdin transient classifier

The purpose of Aladdin is to assist plant operators in the early detection and diagnosis of faults and anomalies in the plant that either have an impact on the plant performance, or that could lead to a plant shutdown or component damage if allowed to go unnoticed. The kind of early fault detection and diagnosis performed by Aladdin is aimed at allowing more time for decision making, increasing the operator awareness, reducing component damage, and supporting improved plant availability and reliability. In this paper we describe in broad lines the Aladdin transient classifier, which combines techniques such as recurrent neural network ensembles, Wavelet On-Line Pre-processing (WOLP), and Autonomous Recursive Task Decomposition (ARTD), in an attempt to improve the practical applicability and scalability of this type of systems to real processes and machinery. The paper focuses then on describing an application of Aladdin to a Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) through the use of the HAMBO experimental simulator of the Forsmark 3 boiling water reactor NPP in Sweden. It should be pointed out that Aladdin is not necessarily restricted to applications in NPPs. Other types of power plants, or even other types of processes, can also benefit from the diagnostic capabilities of Aladdin.