Fault Diagnosis and Troubleshooting in Self-propelled Agri-Machinery

Fault diagnosis and troubleshooting in self-propelled machinery (particularly tractors) by the human judgment of mechanics are cumbersome, time consuming and subjected to human errors. The Expert System ESFDTAM developed in this study simulates human reasoning methods in diagnosing faults and troubleshooting in self-propelled agricultural machinery. The Expert System contains three modules for diagnosis by sound, warning lights in the cockpit and fault symptoms. Moreover, each time the user logs into the system, the system will automatically save the fault symptoms and the user can return to them at any time and print a current report or a detailed history report for all cases diagnosed before. The different features of the Expert System were evaluated by three groups of target users (engineers, mechanics, and students), and the results indicated that the users found the system to be easy to enter and use, appropriately arranged, fast, easy to understand, required minimum training, and is user friendly. Generally, the results of the study proved that the Expert System (ESFDTAM) could be applied successfully on real-life situation.