Failure analysis for an airbag inflator by Petri nets

Abstract

Petri nets are useful for modelling a variety of asynchronous and concurrent systems, such as automated manufacturing, computer fault tolerant systems, and communication networks. This study employs an airbag inflater system as an example to demonstrate a Petri net approach to failure analysis. This paper uses Petri nets to study minimum cut sets finding, marking transfer, and dynamic behaviour of system failure. For Petri net models incorporating sensors, fault detection and higher-level fault avoidance is dealt with. Compared with fault trees that present only static logic relations between events, Petri nets indeed offer more capabilities in the scope of failure analysis. (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.