ADVANCED FMEA USING META BEHAVIOR MODELING FOR CONCURRENT DESIGN OF PRODUCTS AND CONTROLS

This paper presents the use of Advanced Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (AFMEA) as a methodology for the concurrent design of electro-mecha nical products and their control systems. The past two years have seen the extension of AFMEA to simulate dynamic changes of device operations using meta-behavior modeling. This approach can help engineers identify failure modes associated with controls and their interaction with physical systems and drive system design toward more reliable solutions. The proposed method uses behavior modeling to map control functions to physical entities and identifies failure modes as the departure from intended control functions. AFMEA provides a framework for controls and hardware developers to discuss and understand the relationship between sub-systems, controls, and overall system performance. An example of a power generation system illustrates how AFMEA applies to the early stages of layout and controls design.