This paper has presented failure analysis for an airbag inflator system by using Petri nets. Once the Petri net dealing with system failure is established, the associated minimum cut sets can be constructed either by the present matrix method or equivalent Petri nets. Renumbering transitions of a Petri net generates an incidence matrix which directly provides marking transfer without calculation. Dynamic behaviour of a timed Petri net has been investigated as well, from which the token transfer for various constructions of Petri nets and their failure rates can be derived. In addition, the scheme that avoids higher-level faults by incorporating sensors into a Petri net has been described in this study. All the above methods have been applied to an airbag inflator system, with inadequate output as the top event. The transformation between fault trees and Petri nets is always achievable. However, in contrast to fault trees that only present static logic relations between events, the Petri net approach not only contains the capability of FTA (fault tree analysis), but also facilitates direct observation of marking transfer, analysing dynamic behaviour of system failure, fault detection arrangements, and repair rate calculations for failure analysis. It is worth constructing Petri net models rather than establishing fault trees at the outset of system failure analysis in order to gain the abovementioned advantages.
Failure analysis for an airbag inflator by Petri nets
Fehleranalyse für die Luftsack-Aufblaseinrichtung eines Airbagsystems durch die Petri-Netz-Methode
Quality and Reliability Engineering International ; 13 , 3 ; 139-151
1997
13 Seiten, 19 Bilder, 22 Quellen
Article (Journal)
English