Structure health monitoring system and method

• US 20060069520A1
• Filed: 09/28/2004
• Published: 03/30/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Gordon, Grant A., Nutaro, Joseph, Gorinevsky, Dimitry
• Granted Patent: US 7,103,507 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/36
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0213 Modular or universal configuration of the monitoring system, e.g. monitoring system having modules that may be combined to build monitoring program; monitoring system that can be applied to legacy systems; adaptable monitoring system; using different communication protocols
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0283 Predictive maintenance, e.g. involving the monitoring of a system and, based on the monitoring results, taking decisions on the maintenance schedule of the monitored system; Estimating remaining useful life [RUL] preventive maintenance, i.e. planning maintenance according to the available resources without monitoring the system G06Q10/06

Abstract

A structure health monitoring (“SHM”) system according to the invention can be deployed in an onboard environment, such as an aircraft, to provide an ongoing damage assessment of structural components on the aircraft. The SHM system reduces or eliminates time consuming and costly manual inspections of aircraft. The SHM system can leverage known sensor technologies to collect sensor data indicative of the structural health of the monitored components. The sensor data is processed and baselined with sensor feature baselines and damage estimate baselines to provide an accurate final damage estimate for the monitored component. The final damage estimate can be further processed or formatted for compatibility with aircraft maintenance systems.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring structural health of an apparatus, said method comprising:

obtaining sensor data indicative of the structural integrity of a component of said apparatus;

processing said sensor data to obtain an initial damage estimate for said component;

generating a final damage estimate in response to said initial damage estimate and in response to a damage estimate baseline; and

formatting said final damage estimate into at least one displayable damage representation.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein generating said final damage estimate comprises subtracting said damage estimate baseline from said initial damage estimate.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein said generating step generates said final damage estimate in response to said initial damage estimate, in response to said damage estimate baseline, and in response to manual inspection data for said component.

4. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining repair data for said component; and

updating said damage estimate baseline in response to said repair data.

5. A method according to claim 4, wherein said processing step also processes said repair data to obtain said initial damage estimate for said component.

6. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining sensor repair data; and

updating said damage estimate baseline in response to said sensor repair data.

7. A method according to claim 6, wherein said processing step also processes said sensor repair data to obtain said initial damage estimate for said component.

8. A method according to claim 1, wherein formatting said final damage estimate comprises processing allowable damage limits for said component.

9. A method according to claim 1, wherein:

said apparatus is an aircraft; and

said formatting step formats said final damage estimate for compatibility with aircraft maintenance systems.

10. A structure health monitoring system for an apparatus, said structure health monitoring system comprising:

means for obtaining sensor data indicative of the structural integrity of a component of said apparatus;

means for processing said sensor data to obtain an initial damage estimate for said component;

means for generating a final damage estimate in response to said initial damage estimate and in response to a damage estimate baseline; and

means for formatting said final damage estimate into at least one displayable damage representation.

11. A system according to claim 10, wherein said means for generating subtracts said damage estimate baseline from said initial damage estimate.

12. A system according to claim 10, further comprising:

means for obtaining repair data for said component; and

means for updating said damage estimate baseline in response to said repair data.

13. A system according to claim 10, further comprising:

means for obtaining sensor repair data; and

means for updating said damage estimate baseline in response to said sensor repair data.

14. A system according to claim 10, wherein said means for processing also processes historical damage estimate data to obtain said initial damage estimate for said component.

15. A system according to claim 10, wherein:

said apparatus is an aircraft; and

said means for formatting formats said final damage estimate for compatibility with aircraft maintenance systems.

16. A system according to claim 10, wherein:

said apparatus is a vehicle; and

said means for obtaining, said means for processing, said means for generating, and said means for formatting are onboard said vehicle.

17. A structure health monitoring system for an apparatus, said structure health monitoring system comprising:

at least one sensor configured to provide sensor data indicative of the structural integrity of a component of said apparatus;

first processing logic for processing said sensor data to obtain an initial damage estimate for said component;

a baseline update element configured to store and update a damage estimate baseline for said component; and

second processing logic for generating an intermediate damage estimate in response to said initial damage estimate and in response to said damage estimate baseline.

18. A structure health monitoring system according to claim 17, further comprising a data fusion, trending, and tracking element configured to process said intermediate damage estimate and manual inspection data to determine a final damage estimate.

19. A structure health monitoring system according to claim 18, further comprising a reporting element configured to format said final damage estimate into at least one displayable damage representation.

20. A structure health monitoring system according to claim 19, wherein:

said apparatus is an aircraft; and

said reporting element formats said final damage estimate for compatibility with aircraft maintenance systems.

21. A structure health monitoring system according to claim 17, wherein said first processing logic also processes sensor repair data to obtain said initial damage estimate for said component.

22. A structure health monitoring system according to claim 17, wherein said first processing logic also processes repair data to obtain said initial damage estimate for said component.

23. A structure health monitoring system according to claim 17, wherein:

said apparatus is a vehicle; and

said at least one sensor, said first processing logic, said baseline update element, and said second processing logic are onboard said vehicle.

24. A method for monitoring structural health of an apparatus, said method comprising:

obtaining first sensor data, a first damage estimate baseline associated with said first sensor data, second sensor data, and a second damage estimate baseline associated with said second sensor data;

generating a first intermediate damage estimate in response to said first sensor data and said first damage estimate baseline;

generating a second intermediate damage estimate in response to said second sensor data and said second damage estimate baseline; and

processing said first intermediate damage estimate and said second intermediate damage estimate to determine a final damage estimate.

25. A method according to claim 24, wherein said processing step also processes manual inspection data to determine said final damage estimate.

26. A method according to claim 24, wherein said processing step performs data fusion.

27. A method according to claim 24, wherein said processing step performs data trending.

28. A method according to claim 27, wherein data trending processes a current damage estimate and historical damage estimate data.

29. A method according to claim 27, wherein data trending includes smoothing of historical damage estimate data, filtering of current damage estimate data, and prediction of future damage estimate data.

30. A method according to claim 24, wherein said processing step performs data filtering.

31. A method according to claim 24, wherein said processing step performs data smoothing.

32. A method according to claim 24, wherein said processing step performs data prediction.

33. A method according to claim 24, further comprising formatting said final damage estimate into at least one displayable damage representation.

34. A method according to claim 33, wherein:

said apparatus is an aircraft; and

said formatting step formats said final damage estimate for compatibility with aircraft maintenance systems.