EXACT — an Expert System for Automobile Air-Conditioner Compressor Troubleshooting

Abstract

Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, Ltd. (TAL), a major subsidiary of the Toyota Group, manufactures automobile compressors in Japan. In total, TAL comprises over 30 % of the share of the world market for automobile air-conditioner compressors. This accounts for more than 30 million compressor units, to date. Ten types of compressors have been manufactured in TAL since 1976. Although there have been several minor model modifications for the different series of compressors, the basic compression mechanism among these series is quite similar. In general, an air-conditioner consists of five parts: a condenser, a receiver, an expansion valve, an evaporator, and a compressor (Fig. 9.1). A malfunction of the compressor has a higher probability of leading to the disorder of the entire air conditioning system than any of the other four components combined. Additionally, a malfunctioning compressor can lead to other problems. For example, if the compressor “locks-up”, the belt which connects the compressor to the engine may break and get caught in some of the moving parts of the engine. In essence, the importance of the compressor to the air conditioning system is like that of the heart to the human body.