JP4315073B2 - Failure analysis system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a failure analysis system that analyzes failure of a vehicle using failure information acquired from the vehicle.

  Conventionally, there has been known a technology that continuously collects vehicle state information in detail and in real time, statistics the collected information for each vehicle and vehicle type, and uses the statistical results for subsequent vehicle failure analysis, etc. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1). In this prior art, the vehicle state information includes various state information such as vehicle position information obtained by GPS positioning, vehicle control information obtained from various ECUs, and information on the state of vehicle parts. Also, the state information can be provided to various organizations (for example, a repair shop, a nonlife insurance company, the Environment Agency, etc.) on an on-demand basis, for example.

  In this prior art, for example, when analyzing the cause of a vehicle failure, the analyst needs to receive the collection state information corresponding to the vehicle or the vehicle type and perform a failure analysis based on the collection state information. At this time, for example, it is only possible to use the state information of other vehicles of the same or similar vehicle type classified (statistically) classified by vehicle type, and a failure analysis method based on the information is left to individual analysts. That is, in this prior art, since the information about the correlation between the failure event and the cause (or diagnosis result) is not provided, the final failure analysis result greatly depends on the analysis ability of each analyst, and the Since the failure analysis result obtained in this way is not provided as information for other failure analysis in the future (because there is no feedback), there is an insufficient aspect as a failure analysis system.

On the other hand, a technique for receiving a diagnostic program for failure analysis from an external facility and performing failure analysis based on the diagnostic program for failure analysis is known (for example, see Patent Document 2). The external facility receives a failure notification from the vehicle and builds a diagnostic program corresponding to the failure notification, and the vehicle-side diagnostic system operates based on the diagnostic program. The external facility has a database that stores data necessary for the construction of a diagnostic program. In the database, each vehicle situation to be diagnosed (for example, engine noise or steering wheel vibration), the driving situation of the vehicle when each vehicle situation occurs, and driving conditions such as ambient weather information (for example, at extremely low temperatures) are stored. A diagnostic program corresponding to these vehicle conditions and driving conditions is stored. Information on these vehicle conditions and driving conditions is acquired by an input of a vehicle user who requests a diagnostic program.
JP 2001-76012 A JP 2002-335340 A

  By the way, in recent years, various information can be exchanged and acquired through various broadcasts and communications due to remarkable development of information communication technology. Therefore, the possibility of specifying the causal relationship between a failure and a cause, which has conventionally been difficult to identify, increases by appropriately using such various types of information for vehicle failure analysis. However, the above-described prior art has an insufficient aspect in the accuracy of information used for vehicle failure analysis and the usage mode of the information, and is not ideal as a configuration that effectively supports failure analysis.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a failure analysis system that can effectively support failure analysis.

In order to solve the above-described problem, according to one aspect of the present invention, failure information related to a vehicle failure acquired from a vehicle and a surrounding environment of the vehicle that is provided from a predetermined external engine located outside the vehicle are provided. a database of correlation between the ambient environment information representing, a failure analysis system that utilizes the failure analysis of the vehicle,
The correlation is statistically generated from a plurality of sets of the failure information and the surrounding environment information corresponding to the failure information. At this time, the correlation that has been found to have high correlation is made into a database, and the correlation that has been found to have low correlation A failure analysis system is provided, characterized in that the generation of relationships is subsequently stopped .

In this aspect, the information representing the surrounding environment may be weather information .

  According to the present invention, a failure analysis system that can effectively support failure analysis can be obtained.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a failure analysis system according to the present invention. The failure analysis system of this embodiment includes an integrated control device 10 mounted on a vehicle and an external integration center 40.

  A local center 42 provided for each predetermined service area is connected to the external integration center 40 via an appropriate communication network. The local center 42 receives information relating to vehicle failure (information relating to electronic components in the vehicle) from the vehicle as failure information. The failure information received by the local center 42 is transferred to the external integration center 40.

  The integrated control device 10 includes a communication module 12 capable of bidirectional communication (wireless communication) with the local center 42 and a master control device 20. The communication module 12 may be a module integrated with the master control device 20, or may be a unit (for example, an information terminal such as a mobile phone) detachably connected to the master control device 20. Alternatively, the communication module 12 may be a unit connected to the master control device 20 via a wireless communication network or a LAN.

  A plurality of electronic components 70 in the vehicle are connected to the master control device 20 via a bus. The electronic component 70 includes various electronic control units (ECUs) and sensors in addition to normal electronic components mounted on the vehicle. Various information / data such as failure information is transmitted and received between the master control device 20 and each electronic component 70 via the bus. The master control device 20 receives the failure information obtained from the electronic component 70 when the communication module 12 receives a failure information transmission request from the local center 42 or autonomously in response to a predetermined failure event occurring in the vehicle. The data is transmitted to the local center 42 via the communication module 12.

  The master control device 20 may be configured to acquire and transmit failure information in response to a request from the local center 42. The failure information is acquired as a diagnosis code from the electronic component 70, and may include information notifying only the presence / absence of a failure (abnormality) and information notifying the location and degree of the failure. The failure information includes operation data before and after the occurrence of the failure (operation data and freeze frame data of the system and each electronic component constituting the failure), auxiliary information such as the time when the failure (abnormality) occurred, the vehicle position and vehicle speed at that time, etc. May be included.

  An external organization 50 is connected to the external integration center 40 via an appropriate communication network. The external organization 50 includes a weather information acquisition external organization (for example, a weather forecast company) that predicts and derives weather information such as weather and temperature, and further includes a road information acquisition external organization that derives road information such as traffic volume. May include. For example, in response to a request from the external integration center 40, these external organizations 50 transmit weather information and road information related to a predetermined period or region to the external integration center 40. However, the external integration center 40 may acquire such information in any manner.

  A failure analysis center 60 is connected to the external integration center 40 via an appropriate communication network. The failure analysis center 60 includes a statistical data generation / evaluation device 61 and a statistical database 62 that stores statistical data created by the statistical data generation / evaluation device 61. The statistical data generation / evaluation apparatus 61 and / or the statistical database 62 may be installed in the external integration center 40.

  The statistical data generation / evaluation apparatus 61 generates statistical data using various information collected by the external integration center 40. The statistical data includes the correlation between the failure information obtained from the integrated control apparatus 10 via the external integrated center 40, the traveling mode of the vehicle, and / or the surrounding environment. At this time, the parameter representing the driving mode of the vehicle may be generated based on road information obtained from the external engine 50 via the external integration center 40. At this time, other auxiliary information obtained from the vehicle (for example, average) Vehicle speed, average engine speed, etc.) may be supplemented. The parameter representing the surrounding environment may be generated based on weather information obtained from the external engine 50 via the external integration center 40. At this time, other auxiliary information obtained from the vehicle (for example, an outside air temperature sensor, The detection result of the sunshine sensor) may be supplemented. For example, for the sensor failure event, the statistical data generation / evaluation apparatus 61 calculates a correlation between a parameter based on failure information related to the sensor (for example, the degree of sensor degradation) and a parameter based on weather information (for example, average temperature). Generate. For example, correlations such as average temperature versus sensor degradation, average daily illuminance versus sensor degradation may be generated. This correlation may be managed and evaluated in various forms such as a scatter diagram, an approximate expression obtained from the scatter diagram, a correlation coefficient, and a variance.

  The statistical data generation / evaluation apparatus 61 may generate / evaluate a correlation between all possible parameters as a correlation between the failure information and the traveling mode of the vehicle or the surrounding environment. Moreover, you may produce | generate and evaluate the correlation between various failure information. As a result, with the accumulation of statistical data, it may be possible to specify the causal relationship between a failure and a cause that has been difficult to identify in the past (for example, the discovery of a correlation that was thought to be unrelated) Can be possible).

  The statistical data generation / evaluation device 61 evaluates each correlation (evaluates whether or not the correlation appears prominently) when the accumulation of statistical data reaches a certain level, and thereafter efficiently processes the processing load. In order to reduce, only the correlation having a high correlation may be made into a database and stored in the statistical database 62. From the same viewpoint, the statistical data generation / evaluation apparatus 61 may stop generating correlations that have been found to have low correlation.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, high reliability is achieved by using the external organization 50 that can provide information that is independent of the sensitivity difference between individuals (in the case where information is detected and input by a person) and sensors. Correlation can be evaluated, and the reliability and accuracy of failure analysis is improved. In particular, weather information obtained from the external engine 50 can be obtained with high accuracy and stability compared to estimated information based on detection results of an outside air temperature sensor and a sunshine sensor mounted on the vehicle, Without being affected by fluctuations (errors) due to differences, for example, it is possible to implement weather resistance evaluation of parts and evaluation of environmental dependency of failures in a highly reliable manner.

  Next, the flow of failure analysis using the failure analysis system of this embodiment will be described more specifically with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing by the master control device 20 of this embodiment. When a failure event occurs, a signal (warning signal) indicating a warning occurrence state is transmitted from the electronic component 70 to the master control device 20 (step 100). The master control device 20 requests and acquires failure information from the electronic component 70 in response to the warning signal (step 110). At this time, the failure information to be acquired may be determined according to the type of warning signal (that is, the type of warning). Next, the master control device 20 transmits the acquired failure information to the nearest local center 42 via the communication module 12 (step 120). The local center 42 transfers the received failure information to the external integration center 40.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a flow of a failure analysis process executed after a failure event occurs.

  The external integration center 40 first starts the information acquisition process upon receiving the failure information (step 200). For example, weather information and road information are acquired from the external organization 50. In this case, weather information and road information related to an appropriate region or time zone may be acquired according to the vehicle position (GPS information) of the target vehicle (the vehicle that has transmitted the failure information) and the time of the failure. Further, the external integration center 40 may request the vehicle for further auxiliary information (for example, as shown in FIG. 3, the accelerator opening, the average vehicle speed, the outside air temperature, etc.) as necessary.

  When necessary information is collected, statistical data generation processing by the statistical data generation / evaluation apparatus 61 is started (step 210). As described above, the statistical data generation / evaluation apparatus 61 generates a correlation between predetermined information using the various information obtained and stores it in the statistical database 62 (step 230).

  On the other hand, an analyst (for example, an engineer) evaluates the correlation generated this time by the statistical data generation / evaluation apparatus 61 (step 220). For example, a comparative evaluation is made with respect to a similar correlation derived in the past (correlation in the statistical database 62). At this time, if the cause of the current failure event can be estimated and specified, it may be notified to the external integration center 40 (which may be finally notified to the user or the like), and the cause is further analyzed by the analyst. It may be stored in the statistics database 62 together with the findings (step 230). The work by the analyst may be partially realized by the statistical data generation / evaluation apparatus 61 based on an appropriate computer-readable program. In this case, however, the final judgment is made by, for example, the design department. You can leave it to an engineer. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 3, the correlation between the degree of deterioration of a certain sensor and the average vehicle speed is stored in the statistical database 62, and the current sensor failure event with respect to the past correlation in the statistical database 62. Consistency may be presented to the analyst.

  As described above, in this embodiment, the analyst does not need to organize and analyze a large amount of diagnostic information, and only needs to analyze the useful correlation generated by the statistical data generation / evaluation apparatus 61. Analysis accuracy is improved. Further, by storing the analysis result in the statistical database 62 as, for example, the findings of the analyst, it can be used effectively for future analysis. From the same viewpoint, the data (especially findings) in the statistical database 62 may be updated / changed (feedback) in response to the discovery of new facts or errors.

  The statistical data in the statistical database 62 can also be used as reference information at the time of design by an engineer in the design department. For this purpose, the statistical data in the statistical database 62 may be sorted (e.g., for each vehicle type, related parts, failure event) so as to facilitate access to necessary information. Further, the statistical data in the statistical database 62 may include design change information. For example, the statistical data may be managed separately after the design change and before the change. As a result, an engineer in the design department can easily confirm, for example, the effect of the design change.

  The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications and substitutions can be made to the above-described embodiments without departing from the scope of the present invention. Can be added.

1 is a system configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a failure analysis system according to the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the vehicle side process performed when a failure event generate | occur | produces. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the process of the failure analysis performed after a failure event generate | occur | produces.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Integrated control apparatus 12 Communication module 20 Master control apparatus 40 External integration center 42 Local center 50 External engine 60 Failure analysis center 61 Statistical data generation / evaluation apparatus 62 Statistical database 70 Electronic component

Claims (2)

A database is created by generating a correlation between failure information related to vehicle failure acquired from the vehicle and surrounding environment information representing the surrounding environment of the vehicle that is provided from a predetermined external organization located outside the vehicle. a failure analysis system you use in the failure analysis,
The correlation is statistically generated from a plurality of sets of the failure information and the surrounding environment information corresponding to the failure information, and thereafter, only the correlation that has been found to be highly correlated is made into a database, and the correlation that has been found to be low in correlation A failure analysis system characterized by stopping the generation of relationships .   The failure analysis system according to claim 1, wherein the information representing the surrounding environment is weather information.

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