New Fault Isolation Architecture for Irrigation Canals

Abstract

Irrigation is one of the most consuming water resources in human activity. As water conveyance systems are commonly spatially distributed and crossing large regions it is important to guarantee their best efficiency. A fault diagnosis architecture is an important tool to increase efficiency in water conveyance systems. In the presence of leaks, unauthorized water extractions or water level sensor faults, the service level can be severely compromised. Recent literature deal with these situations as a unique fault of water extraction type. Isolating correctly each fault is important to access the real current state of the irrigation canals and proceed in accordance to restore its nominal conditions. This paper proposes a fault diagnosis architecture to distinguish common faults in water canals, considering either unexpected water extractions, gate faults and downstream water level sensor errors. The architecture is based on geometric and hydraulic parameters and therefore can be extended to existent irrigation canals. The proposed fault isolation architecture is an important tool to support maintenance services and be extended to fault tolerant controllers.