Vehicle condition monitoring system

• US 6,691,007 B2
• Filed: 04/04/2002
• Issued: 02/10/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/04/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Trego, Angela, Haugse, Eric D., Ikegami, Roy
• Primary Examiner(s): Cuchlinski, Jr., William A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Gibson, Eric M
• Application Number:
  US10/116,653
• Publication Number:
  US 20030191564A1
• Time in Patent Office: 677 Days
• Field of Search: 701/29, 701/30, 701/34, 701/35, 702/183, 702/188
• US Class Current: 701/29
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/24064 Sample rate variable as function of importance of alarm signals
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0221 Preprocessing measurements, e.g. data collection rate adjustment; Standardization of measurements; Time series or signal analysis, e.g. frequency analysis or wavelets; Trustworthiness of measurements; Indexes therefor; Measurements using easily measured parameters to estimate parameters difficult to measure; Virtual sensor creation; De-noising; Sensor fusion; Unconventional preprocessing inherently present in specific fault detection methods like PCA-based methods
• 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

The present invention is a system and method for monitoring conditions of a vehicle and generating a maintenance plan according to the monitored conditions. The system includes one or more sensors and a data acquisition unit located within the vehicle. The one or more sensors generate signals of a condition from various locations within the vehicle. The data acquisition unit stores the generated sensor signals at a first sampling rate. The system also includes a structural condition management system that receives the stored sensor signals from the data acquisition unit. The structural condition management system is external to the vehicle. The structural condition management system processes the transmitted sensor signals based on one or more associated predefined condition assessment algorithms and generates a maintenance plan based on the processed sensor signals.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring condition of structure of a vehicle, the method comprising:

generating signals relating to a structural condition of the vehicle at one or more condition sensors positioned in the vehicle;

storing at a first sampling rate the generated sensor signals at a data acquisition unit within the vehicle;

transmitting the stored sensor signals from the data acquisition unit to a structural condition management system;

processing the transmitted sensor signals at the structural condition management system based on one or more associated predefined condition assessment algorithms; and

generating a maintenance plan based on the processed sensor signals.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising preprocessing the generated signals based on at least one of a diagnostic or prognostic algorithm.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein storing includes:

determining whether the stored signals are to be stored at a first sampling rate; and

storing the generated sensor signals at a second sampling rate that is different than the first sampling rate when it is determined that the generated sensor signals are not to be stored at the first sampling rate.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more sensors include at least one of a corrosion, humidity, pH, chloride ion, metal ion, temperature, acceleration, stress, strain, pressure, load, or force sensor.

5. A system for monitoring condition of structure of a vehicle, the system comprising:

one or more sensors for generating signals relating to a structural condition of the vehicle from a location in the vehicle;

a data acquisition unit for storing the generated sensor signals at a first sampling rate; and

a structural condition management system for receiving the stored sensor signals from the data acquisition unit, processing the received sensor signals based on one or more associated predefined condition assessment algorithms, and generating a maintenance plan based on the processed sensor signals,

wherein the structural condition management system is external to the vehicle.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the data acquisition unit performs preprocessing of the generated signals based on at least one of a diagnostic or prognostic algorithm.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the data acquisition unit determines whether the generated sensor signals are to be stored at the first sampling rate, and stores the generated sensor signals at a second sampling rate that is different than the first sampling rate when it is determined that the stored sensor signals are not to be stored at the first sampling rate.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein the one or more sensors include at least one of a corrosion, humidity, pH, chloride ion, metal ion, temperature, acceleration, stress, strain, pressure, load, or force sensor.

9. The system of claim 5, wherein the system includes a self-contained power supply.

10. A vehicle comprising:

one or more sensors for generating signals relating to a structural condition of the vehicle from a location in the vehicle; and

a data acquisition unit for storing the generated sensor signals at a first sampling rate,

wherein the data acquisition unit determines whether the generated sensor signals are to be stored at the first sampling rate, and stores the generated sensor signals at a second sampling rate that is different than the first sampling rate when it is determined that the stored sensor signals are not to be stored at the first sampling rate.

11. The vehicle of claim 10, wherein the one or more sensors include at least one of a corrosion, humidity, pH, chloride ion, metal ion, temperature, acceleration, stress, strain, pressure, load, or force sensor.

12. The vehicle of claim 10, wherein the data acquisition unit performs preprocessing of the generated signals based on at least one of a diagnostic or prognostic algorithm.

13. A system for generating a maintenance plan for a vehicle, the system comprising:

one or more sensors for generating signals relating to a structural condition of the vehicle from a location in the vehicle;

a data acquisition unit for storing the generated sensor signals at a first sampling rate; and

a structural condition management system for receiving the stored sensor signals from the data acquisition unit, processing the received sensor signals based on one or more associated predefined condition assessment algorithms, and generating a maintenance plan based on the processed sensor signals, wherein the structural condition management system is external to the vehicle.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the data acquisition unit determines whether the generated sensor signals are to be stored at the first sampling rate, and stores the generated sensor signals at a second sampling rate that is different than the first sampling rate when it is determined that the stored sensor signals are not to be stored at the first sampling rate.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the one or more sensors include at least one of a corrosion, humidity, pH, chloride ion, metal ion, temperature, acceleration, stress, strain, pressure, load, or force sensor.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the data acquisition unit performs preprocessing of the generated signals based on at least one of a diagnostic or prognostic algorithm.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein one or more of the sensors are fiber optic sensors.

18. A method for monitoring condition of structure of a vehicle, the method comprising:

generating signals relating to a structural condition of the vehicle at one or more condition sensors positioned in the vehicle; and

storing at a first sampling rate the generated sensor signals at a data acquisition unit within the vehicle, wherein storing includes;

determining whether the stored signals are to be stored a first sampling rate; and

storing the generated sensor signals at a second sampling rate that is different than the first sampling rate when it is determined that the generated sensor signals are not to be stored at the first sampling rate.

19. A system for monitoring condition of structure of a vehicle, the system comprising:

one or more sensors for generating signals relating to a structural condition of the vehicle from a location in the vehicle; and

a data acquisition unit for storing the generated sensor signals at a first sampling rate, wherein the data acquisition unit determines whether the generated sensor signals are to be stored at the first sampling rate, and stores the generated sensor signals at a second sampling rate that is different than the first sampling rate when it is determined that the stored sensor signals are not to be stored at the first sampling rate.