Section 41 of 102
40. Fault Diagnosis and Root-Cause Analysis
Stable section ID: S05-CON-010-SECTION-41 · 27 content blocks
Fault Diagnosis and Root-Cause Analysis seek to determine why an abnormal condition has occurred and what systems or components may be responsible.
The agent may use:
- Sensor histories.
- Equipment events.
- Building topology.
- Node–Cartridge–Interface relationships.
- Control commands and responses.
- Maintenance history.
- Manufacturer documentation.
- Known failure modes.
- Environmental conditions.
- Recent configuration changes.
- Occupant and technician reports.
- Results of targeted tests.
Diagnosis should separate:
- Observed symptoms.
- Candidate causes.
- Supporting evidence.
- Conflicting evidence.
- Confidence level.
- Potential consequences.
- Additional tests required.
- Recommended containment.
- Recommended corrective action.
The agent should consider interactions between systems. For example, a comfort complaint may result from HVAC failure, envelope leakage, electrical control problems, sensor error, occupancy change, or an incorrect operational schedule.
Where several causes remain possible, the agent shall present them as ranked hypotheses rather than asserting an unsupported conclusion.
Safety-critical diagnosis shall be confirmed through appropriate inspection, testing, deterministic analysis, or qualified professional review before irreversible corrective action is taken.