METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PLANNING REPAIR OF AN ENGINE

• US 20090048730A1
• Filed: 08/17/2007
• Published: 02/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Mazzaro, Maria Cecilia, Aragones, James Kenneth, Akkaram, Srinkanth, Nirmalan, Nirm Velemylum, Adibhatla, Sridhar, Bourgeois, Richard Scott, Graham, Michael Evans
• Application Number:
  US11/840,409
• Publication Number:
  US 20090048730A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/29
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/006 Indicating maintenance

Abstract

A method for planning repair of an engine is provided. The method comprises monitoring an engine having a plurality of engine modules and determining one or more module-specific health estimates for one or more of the engine modules, based on a plurality of engine parameters. The method further comprises planning repair of the engine based on one or more of the module-specific health estimates determined for one or more of the engine modules.

Claims

1. A method for planning repair of an engine, comprising:

monitoring an engine having a plurality of engine modules;

determining one or more module-specific health estimates for one or more of the engine modules, based on a plurality of engine parameters; and

planning repair of the engine based on one or more of the module-specific health estimates determined for one or more of the engine modules.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the engine comprises at least one of an aircraft engine, a land based power generation engine and a marine transportation engine.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of engine parameters comprises at least one of on-wing flight condition data and on-wing sensor data related to the engine.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the on-wing flight condition data comprises at least one of altitude, aircraft mach number, bleed, ambient temperature, air speed, ambient pressure, fan speed and engine pressure ratio related to the engine.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the on-wing sensor data comprises at least one of exhaust gas temperature, rotor speeds, engine temperature, engine pressure, gas temperature, engine fuel flow, core speed, compressor discharge pressure, turbine exhaust pressure and fan speed related to the engine.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more of the module-specific health estimates comprises at least one of a fan flow, a fan efficiency, a booster flow, a booster efficiency, a high pressure compressor flow, a high pressure compressor efficiency, a combustor efficiency, a high pressure turbine flow function, a high pressure turbine efficiency, a low pressure turbine flow function and a low pressure turbine efficiency related to the engine.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining one or more of the module-specific health estimates further comprises evaluating one or more of the module-specific health estimates based on the plurality of engine parameters and a model of the engine.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein determining one or more of the module-specific health estimates further comprises using a parameter identification technique, wherein the parameter identification technique comprises at least one of a Kalman filter, a tracking filter, a regression map, a neural map, an inverse modeling technique or a combination thereof.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the model of the engine comprises at least one of a physics-based model, a data fitting model, a rule-based model, and an empirical model.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein evaluating one or more of the module-specific health estimates further comprises determining a desired engine-module performance level for one or more of the engine modules comprising the engine.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising determining a desired level of repair for one or more of the engine modules, based on the desired engine-module performance level determined for one or more of the engine modules.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising planning repair of the engine based on the desired engine-module performance levels determined for one or more of the engine modules comprising the engine.

13. A system for planning repair of an engine, comprising:

an engine module health estimation component configured to determine one or more module-specific health estimates for one or more engine modules, based on a plurality of engine parameters;

an engine modeling component configured to evaluate one or more of the module-specific health estimates based on the plurality of engine parameters and a model of the engine; and

an engine module repair estimation component configured to plan repair of the engine based on one or more of the evaluated module-specific health estimates.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the engine comprises at least one of an aircraft engine, a land based power generation engine and a marine transportation engine.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the plurality of engine parameters comprises at least one of on-wing flight condition data and on-wing sensor data related to the engine.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the on-wing flight condition data comprises at least one of altitude, aircraft mach number, bleed, ambient temperature, air speed, ambient pressure, fan speed and engine pressure ratio related to the engine.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the on-wing sensor data comprises at least one of exhaust gas temperature, rotor speeds, engine temperature, engine pressure, gas temperature, engine fuel flow, core speed, compressor discharge pressure, turbine exhaust pressure and fan speed related to the engine.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein one or more of the module-specific health estimates comprises at least one of a fan flow, a fan efficiency, a booster flow, a booster efficiency, a high pressure compressor flow, a high pressure compressor efficiency, a combustor efficiency, a high pressure turbine flow function, a high pressure turbine efficiency, a low pressure turbine flow function and a low pressure turbine efficiency related to the engine.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein the engine module health estimation component is configured to determine one or more of the module-specific health estimates using a parameter identification technique, wherein the parameter identification technique comprises least one of a Kalman filter, a tracking filter, a regression map, a neural map, an inverse modeling technique or a combination thereof.

20. The system of claim 13, wherein the model of the engine comprises at least one of a physics-based model, a data fitting model, a rule-based model, and an empirical model.

21. The system of claim 13, wherein the engine modeling component is further configured to determine a desired engine-module performance level for one or more of the engine modules comprising the engine.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the engine module repair estimation component is configured to determine a desired level of repair for one or more of the engine modules, based on the desired engine-module performance levels determined for one or more of the engine modules.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the engine module repair estimation component is further configured to plan repair of the engine based on the desired engine-module performance levels determined for one or more of the engine modules comprising the engine.