Pump health monitoring
First Claim
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1. A pump health monitoring system for a fuel pump for pumping fuel in a fuel tank of an aircraft, the pump health monitoring system comprising:
- a pump sensor interface configured to receive a value of one or more pump parameters relating to pump performance;
an environment sensor interface configured to receive a value of one or more environmental parameters selected from a group comprising;
temperature, density, pressure, volume or head of fuel in the fuel tank;
flow rate of fuel through the fuel pump;
aircraft attitude;
aircraft acceleration in one or more dimensions; and
fuel pump acceleration in one or more dimensions;
a non-transitory storage device, wherein the storage device has stored therein;
a reference environment containing a predetermined reference value of one or more of the environmental parameters corresponding to an in-flight condition for the aircraft fuel pump; and
a set of instructions for;
comparing the value of one or more of the environmental parameters received via the environment sensor interface to the predetermined value of the same environmental parameter(s) of the reference environment; and
capturing a data set of instantaneous values including the one or more pump parameters and the one or more environmental parameters, if all the received environmental parameter values and the reference environmental parameter values match within a predefined range; and
a processor configured to execute the set of instructions and store a sample pump health indicator based on the captured data set.
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Abstract
A pump health monitoring system for an aircraft fuel pump. The health monitoring system compares environmental data to a reference environment and captures pump data when the environmental data matches the reference environment. The pump data captured is therefore normalized to the reference environment. A pump remaining useful life is calculated from the normalized pump data.
14 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A pump health monitoring system for a fuel pump for pumping fuel in a fuel tank of an aircraft, the pump health monitoring system comprising:
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a pump sensor interface configured to receive a value of one or more pump parameters relating to pump performance; an environment sensor interface configured to receive a value of one or more environmental parameters selected from a group comprising;
temperature, density, pressure, volume or head of fuel in the fuel tank;
flow rate of fuel through the fuel pump;
aircraft attitude;
aircraft acceleration in one or more dimensions; and
fuel pump acceleration in one or more dimensions;a non-transitory storage device, wherein the storage device has stored therein; a reference environment containing a predetermined reference value of one or more of the environmental parameters corresponding to an in-flight condition for the aircraft fuel pump; and a set of instructions for; comparing the value of one or more of the environmental parameters received via the environment sensor interface to the predetermined value of the same environmental parameter(s) of the reference environment; and capturing a data set of instantaneous values including the one or more pump parameters and the one or more environmental parameters, if all the received environmental parameter values and the reference environmental parameter values match within a predefined range; and a processor configured to execute the set of instructions and store a sample pump health indicator based on the captured data set. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. An aircraft fuel system comprising:
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a fuel tank having a fuel pump for pumping fuel, a pump health monitoring system comprising; a pump sensor interface configured to receive a value of one or more pump parameters relating to pump performance; an environment sensor interface configured to receive a value of one or more environmental parameters selected from a group comprising;
temperature, density, pressure, volume or head of fuel in the fuel tank;
flow rate of fuel through the fuel pump;
aircraft attitude;
aircraft acceleration in one or more dimensions; and
fuel pump acceleration in one or more dimensions;a non-transitory storage device, wherein the storage device has stored therein; a reference environment containing a predetermined reference value of one or more of the environmental parameters corresponding to an in-flight condition for the aircraft fuel pump; and a set of instructions for; comparing the value of one or more of the environmental parameters received via the environment sensor interface to the predetermined value of the same environmental parameter(s) of the reference environment; and capturing a data set of instantaneous values including the one or more pump parameters and the one or more environmental parameters, if all the received environmental parameter values and the reference environmental parameter values match within a predefined range; and a processor configured to execute the set of instructions and store a sample pump health indicator based on the captured data set; at least one pump sensor coupled to the pump sensor interface for inputting the value of one or more of the pump parameters, and at least one environment sensor coupled to the environment sensor interface for inputting the value of the one or more of the environmental parameters. - View Dependent Claims (14)
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15. A method of monitoring health of a fuel pump for pumping fuel in a fuel tank of an aircraft, the method comprising:
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receiving a value of one or more pump parameters relating to pump performance; receiving a value of one or more environmental parameters selected from a group comprising;
temperature, density, pressure, volume or head of fuel in the fuel tank;
flow rate of fuel through the fuel pump;
aircraft attitude;
aircraft acceleration in one or more dimensions; and
fuel pump acceleration in one or more dimensions;retrieving a reference environment containing a predetermined reference value of one or more of the environmental parameters corresponding to an in-flight condition for the aircraft fuel pump; comparing a value of one or more of the environmental parameters to the predetermined value of the one or more of the environmental parameters of the reference environment; capturing a data set of instantaneous values including the one or more pump parameters and the one or more environmental parameters, if all the received environmental parameter values and the reference environmental parameter values match within a predefined range; and storing a sample pump health indicator based on the captured data set. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification