Automated helicopter maintenance monitoring
First Claim
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1. Apparatus, for performing maintenance monitoring of a helicopter, comprising:
- regime indication means, for providing a regime signal indicative of the regime of the helicopter;
vibration sensing means, responsive to vibrations at various locations throughout the helicopter, for providing a plurality of sensed vibration signals wherein each of said vibration signals is indicative of the vibration at a particular one of said locations; and
processing means, responsive to said regime indication means and to said vibration sensing means, for providing a fault signal in response to one of said sensed vibration signals exceeding a value, wherein said value is a function of said sensed vibration signal and the regime of the helicopter.
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Abstract
An automated helicopter maintenance monitoring system (20), which is comprised of a flight data recorder subsystem (22) and a maintenance computer subsystem (24), collects data from a plurality of sensors in order to facilitate helicopter maintenance. The system (20) processes vibration data, rotor track data, rotor phase data, and flight sensor data to determine when a helicopter fault has occurred or will occur. Additionally, the system (20) can prompt a pilot/maintainer to fly the helicopter through specific operational states in order to aid in the maintenance process.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. Apparatus, for performing maintenance monitoring of a helicopter, comprising:
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regime indication means, for providing a regime signal indicative of the regime of the helicopter; vibration sensing means, responsive to vibrations at various locations throughout the helicopter, for providing a plurality of sensed vibration signals wherein each of said vibration signals is indicative of the vibration at a particular one of said locations; and processing means, responsive to said regime indication means and to said vibration sensing means, for providing a fault signal in response to one of said sensed vibration signals exceeding a value, wherein said value is a function of said sensed vibration signal and the regime of the helicopter. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. Apparatus, for performing maintenance monitoring of a helicopter, comprising:
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a regime indicator, for providing a regime signal indicative of the regime of the helicopter; a plurality of vibration sensors, responsive to vibrations at various locations throughout the helicopter, for providing a plurality of sensed vibration signals wherein each of said vibration signals is indicative of the vibration at a particular one of said locations; and a processor, responsive to said regime indicator and to said vibration sensors , for providing a fault signal in response to one of said sensed vibration signals exceeding a value, wherein said value is a function of said sensed vibration signal and the regime of the helicopter. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method of monitoring a helicopter, comprising the steps of:
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determining the regime of the helicopter; measuring a plurality of vibrations at various locations throughout the helicopter to provide a plurality of vibration signals wherein each of said vibration signals is indicative of the vibration at a particular one of said locations; and generating a fault signal by comparing the magnitude of each of said vibration signals to values, wherein each of said values is a function of said vibration signals and the regime of the helicopter. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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Specification