Diagnostic expert-system for mechanical reliability in heavy trucks

An expert system for diagnosing rough ride problems in heavy trucks that can be used on a personal computer has been developed. The system operates on two levels of knowledge database; shallow (acquired from truck service experts with well-developed intuition) and causal (deep); obtained, e.g. from a multi-probe vibration analysis system or from any system testing the mechanical behavior of a truck. The expert system considered, Ride Expert, is able to clearly identify the causes of a truck rough ride in some cases or reduce the cause search space in more complex cases. Virtues and drawbacks of the developed system are presented