METHOD OF IDENTIFYING FAULTS IN AN AIRCRAFT

• US 20160196696A1
• Filed: 01/01/2015
• Published: 07/07/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/01/2015
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: GE Aviation Systems LLC (GE Aerospace)
• Original Assignee: GE Aviation Systems LLC (GE Aerospace)
• Inventors: Pereira, Frazer Leslie
• Application Number:
  US14/588,454
• Publication Number:
  US 20160196696A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0224 Process history based detection method, e.g. whereby history implies the availability of large amounts of data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/008 Reliability or availability analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0739 in a data processing system embedded in automotive or aircraft systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/02 Registering or indicating driving, working, idle, or waiting time only apparatus forming part of taximeters G07B13/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0841 Registering performance data recording measured values G01D; information storage G11B

Abstract

A method of identifying faults in an aircraft includes retrieving a first set of data from the aircraft, establishing a list based on analysis of the obtained first set of data, ranking the members of the list of potential faults and pruning the list based upon at least one additional set of data. Members are pruned until a predetermined criterion is met.

Claims

1. A method of identifying likely faults in an aircraft, the method comprising:

retrieving a first set of data from the aircraft;

establishing a list of potential faults based on an analysis of the first set of data;

ranking members of the list of potential faults; and

pruning the list based upon at least one additional set of data until a predetermined criterion is met, wherein the pruned list comprises the most likely faults in the aircraft.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the ranking step includes weighting the members based on a probability of occurrence of a fault and a threat that a potential fault poses to flight operations of the aircraft.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one additional set of data includes one of data indicative of historical trends of the aircraft, or a set of data retrieved from the aircraft that was recorded by the aircraft after the first set of data was retrieved.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the pruning step includes case-based reasoning.

5. The method of claim 1 further including a step of suggesting the performance of a maintenance test on the aircraft wherein the test procedure is determined by analysis of the established list.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the at least one additional set of data includes data resulting from performance of the maintenance test.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the predetermined criterion is the number of members of the list after the step of pruning is complete.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the number is one.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the predetermined criterion is a likelihood associated with each member of the list.

10. The method of claim 1 further including a step of transmitting a report indicative of the pruned list.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the transmitted report includes a suggested maintenance test to determine if a fault indicated by the pruned list has occurred.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the transmitted report includes a prognosis of an occurrence of a fault indicated by the pruned list.