AIRCRAFT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ECS PREDICTIVE MAINTENANCE

• US 20180197351A1
• Filed: 01/10/2017
• Published: 07/12/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/10/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Dong, Bin, Shao, Qingqiu Ginger, Shi, Eric, Kim, Kyusung, Liu, Jinkun, Guo, Wenyan
• Granted Patent: US 10,534,359 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 13/02 the air being pressurised
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 13/08 the air being heated or cooled
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 2013/0603 Environmental Control Systems
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 2045/0085 Devices for aircraft health monitoring, e.g. monitoring flutter or vibration
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 45/00 Aircraft indicators or protectors not otherwise provided for camouflage F41H3/00
• CPC Class Codes: B64F 5/40 Maintaining or repairing aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: B64F 5/60 Testing or inspecting aircraft components or systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 17/008 Monitoring fouling
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2614 HVAC, heating, ventillation, climate control
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2638 Airconditioning
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/45071 Aircraft, airplane, ship cleaning manipulator, paint stripping
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0254 based on a quantitative model, e.g. mathematical relationships between inputs and outputs; functions: observer, Kalman filter, residual calculation, Neural Networks
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 50/50 On board measures aiming to increase energy efficiency

Abstract

A vehicle management system includes an onboard vehicle system and a ground system. The onboard vehicle system includes a compressor exit temperature sensor configured to determine an ECS compressor exit temperature; a data acquisition unit coupled to receive the compressor exit temperature, an altitude of the first vehicle, and an ambient temperature and configured to generate a data report; and a communications system coupled to receive and transmit the data report. The ground system includes a ground data server coupled to receive the data report and determine a fouling condition of an environmental conditioning element of the ECS based on at least the compressor exit temperature, the altitude, and the ambient temperature; and a mobile application module coupled to receive the fouling condition from the ground data server and configured to provide an interface for displaying the fouling condition to a user on a mobile device.

Claims

1. A vehicle management system, comprising:

an onboard vehicle system arranged onboard a first vehicle, comprising;

a compressor exit temperature sensor configured to determine a compressor exit temperature at a compressor of an environmental control system (ECS) of the first vehicle;

a data acquisition unit coupled to receive the compressor exit temperature from the compressor exit temperature sensor, an altitude of the first vehicle, and an ambient temperature, and configured to generate a data report containing at least the compressor exit temperature, the altitude, and the ambient temperature; and

a communications system coupled to receive and transmit the data report from the data acquisition unit; and

a ground system, comprising;

a ground data server coupled to receive the data report from the communications system, the ground data server configured to determine a fouling condition of an environmental conditioning element of the ECS based on at least the compressor exit temperature, the altitude, and the ambient temperature; and

a mobile application module coupled to receive the fouling condition from the ground data server and configured to provide an interface for displaying the fouling condition to a user on a mobile device.

2. The vehicle management system of claim 1, wherein the fouling condition represents a degree of fouling severity of the environmental conditioning element.

3. The vehicle management system of claim 2, wherein the environmental conditioning element is a heat exchanger of an air conditioning pack.

4. The vehicle management system of claim 1, wherein the ground data server is configured to estimate a baseline ECS compressor temperature based on the ambient temperature and the altitude and to generate the fouling condition based on residuals of the baseline ECS compressor temperature and the compressor exit temperature from the compressor exit temperature sensor.

5. The vehicle management system of claim 4, wherein the ground data server is configured to filter the residuals with a filter coefficient and to generate the fouling condition further based on the filtered residuals.

6. The vehicle management system of claim 5, wherein the ground data server is configured to perform persistency checks on the filtered residuals and to generate the fouling condition further based on the persistency checks.

7. The vehicle management system of claim 1, wherein the ground data server is configured to generate the fouling condition as an advisory alert when the fouling condition exceeds a first threshold and as a warning alert when the fouling condition exceeds a second threshold.

8. The vehicle management system of claim 1, wherein the ground data server is further configured to generate the fouling condition as a fouling factor represented by a numerical value indicating a severity of fouling, and

wherein the ground data server is configured to estimate a baseline ECS compressor temperature based on the ambient temperature and the altitude, generate residuals of the baseline ECS compressor temperature and the compressor exit temperature from the compressor exit temperature sensor, filter the residuals with a filter coefficient to generate filtered residuals, perform persistency checks on the filtered residuals, and generate the fouling condition further based on the filtered residuals and the persistency checks.

9. The vehicle management system of claim 8, wherein the ground data server is further configured to generate an advisory alert when the fouling factor exceeds a first threshold and a warning alert when the fouling factor exceeds a second threshold.

10. The vehicle management system of claim 9, wherein the mobile application module is configured to generate a user report with the fouling factor.

11. The vehicle management system of claim 1, wherein the ground data server is further configured to receive at least one additional data report from a second vehicle and to generate an additional fouling condition associated with the second vehicle.

12. The vehicle management system of claim 11, wherein the ground data server is further configured to fuse the fouling condition of the first vehicle and the fouling condition of the second vehicle to generate an overall condition indicator.

13. The vehicle management system of claim 12, wherein the mobile application is configured to generate a user report with the fouling condition of the first vehicle and the fouling condition for the second vehicle.

14. A method, comprising the steps of:

collecting, with an onboard vehicle system for a first vehicle, a compressor exit temperature of a compressor of a heat exchanger of an environmental control system (ECS) of the first vehicle, an altitude of the first vehicle, and an ambient temperature;

generating a data report with the compressor exit temperature, the altitude, and the ambient temperature;

sending the data report with a communications system;

receiving, at a ground data server, the data report from the communications system;

determining a fouling condition of the heat exchanger of the ECS based on at least the compressor exit temperature, the altitude, and the ambient temperature; and

generating a user report on a mobile application interface for displaying the fouling condition to a user on a mobile device.

15. The method of claim 14,

wherein the receiving step includes receiving, at the ground data server, at least one additional data report from a second vehicle, and

wherein the generating step includes generating an additional fouling condition associated with the second vehicle.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising fusing the fouling condition of the first vehicle and the fouling condition of the second vehicle to generate an overall condition indicator.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the generating the user report includes generating the user report with the fouling condition of the first vehicle and the fouling condition for the second vehicle.

18. The method of claim 14,

wherein the determining step includes estimating a baseline ECS compressor temperature based on the ambient temperature and the altitude, and

wherein the generating step includes generating the fouling condition based on residuals of the baseline ECS compressor temperature and the compressor exit temperature from the compressor exit temperature sensor.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the generating the user report includes generating the fouling condition as an advisory alert when the fouling condition exceeds a first threshold and as a warning alert when the fouling condition exceeds a second threshold.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the determining step includes determining the fouling condition as a fouling factor represented by a numerical value indicating a severity of fouling.