Methods and systems for performing maintenance services on aircraft engines

• US 6,728,610 B1
• Filed: 09/20/2000
• Issued: 04/27/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Young, Henry G. Jr., Marshall, Albert T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Marc-Coleman, Marthe Y.
• Application Number:
  US09/666,958
• Time in Patent Office: 1,315 Days
• Field of Search: 701/30, 701/29, 701/31, 701/32, 701/3, 340/500, 702/182, 702/185
• US Class Current: 701/30
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 15/00 Testing of engines

Abstract

An engine maintenance system determines an “as flying” configuration of an aircraft engine and a desired configuration of the aircraft engine. The two configurations are compared to determine maintenance services to be performed on the aircraft engine.

Claims

1. A method for determining maintenance services to be performed on an aircraft engine, the method comprising the steps of:

determining a desired configuration of the aircraft engine, including at least one of changes in design made to the aircraft engine after the engine original design is complete, changes in design made after production of the aircraft engine commences, changes in design made after the aircraft engine has been delivered to the customer and enters service, changes made due to service bulletins, changes made due to government agency actions, changes in repair procedures, and changes made to maintenance schedules or procedures;

determining an “

as flying”

configuration of the aircraft engine without disassembling the engine; and

comparing the engine configurations to determine maintenance services to be performed on the aircraft engine.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining the desired configuration of the aircraft includes obtaining information from one or more databases.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining the “

as flying”

configuration of the aircraft includes obtaining information from one or more databases.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining at least one of the is desired and “

as flying”

configurations comprises determining a unique identifier for the engine.

5. The method of claim 1 comprising the step of comparing at least one of the engine configurations to a maintenance schedule to determine maintenance services to be performed on the aircraft engine.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining the “

as flying”

configuration comprises querying a device associated with the engine.

7. The method of claim 6 comprising querying at least one bar code associated with a component on the engine.

8. The method of claim 6 comprising querying at least one microchip associated with a component on the engine.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein the step of determining the “

as flying configuration”

comprises querying a device coupled to the aircraft engine with an aircraft engine maintenance system to determine an “

as flying”

configuration of the aircraft engine.

10. The method of claim 6 wherein said step of querying a device further comprises the step of determining an identifier for the engine including a serial number for the engine and a date of manufacture of the aircraft engine.

11. The method of claim 6 wherein the step of querying a device comprises the use of a wireless communication interface.

12. The method of claim 6 wherein the step of querying a device comprises querying a client system coupled to the aircraft engine.

13. The method of claim 6 wherein the step of querying a device comprises the step of accessing a server system coupled to the aircraft engine.

14. A maintenance system for determining maintenance services to be performed on an aircraft engine, the maintenance system adapted to determine an “

as flying”

configuration of the engine without disassembly of the engine by querying a processor coupled to the engine such that said processor interfaces with at least one of the engine operator controls and the aircraft engine via input/output circuitry, and the maintenance system adapted to compare the “

as flying”

configuration with a desired engine configuration for determining maintenance services to be performed on the engine.

15. An apparatus in accordance with claim 14 further configured to determine an identifier for the aircraft engine including a serial number for the aircraft engine and a date of manufacture of the aircraft engine.

16. An apparatus in accordance with claim 14 further comprising a communications interface.

17. An apparatus in accordance with claim 16 wherein said communications interface is a radio frequency interface.

18. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein at least one of the configurations is stored on one or more databases.

19. An apparatus in accordance with claim 14 wherein said apparatus comprises a server system.

20. An apparatus in accordance with claim 19 wherein said server system configured to query a client system coupled to the aircraft engine.

21. An apparatus in accordance with claim 14 wherein said apparatus comprises a client system.

22. An apparatus in accordance with claim 21 wherein said client system is configured to query a server system coupled to the aircraft engine.

23. An engine maintenance system for determining maintenance services to be performed on an aircraft engine, said engine maintenance system comprising:

a mass storage device;

a server system; and

a client system configured to couple to said server system, at least one of said client system and said server system programmed to determine a desired engine configuration, and at least one of said client system and said server system programmed to determine an “

as flying”

configuration of the aircraft engine by at least one of direct electronic data transfer from said engine and electronic scanning of said engine.

24. An engine maintenance system in accordance with claim 23 wherein at least one of said client system and said server system programmed to determine a serial number and a date of manufacture for the engine.

25. An engine maintenance system in accordance with claim 23 further comprising a communications interface, said server system coupled to the aircraft engine, said client system configured to access said server system via said communications interface.

26. A method for determining maintenance services to be performed on power generating equipment, the method comprising the steps of:

determining a desired configuration of the power generating equipment, including at least one of changes in design made to the equipment the equipment original design is complete, changes in design made after production of the equipment commences, changes in design made after the equipment has been delivered to the customer and enters service, changes made due to service bulletins, changes made due to government agency actions, changes in repair procedures, and changes made to maintenance schedules or procedures;

determining an “

as used”

configuration of the equipment without disassembling the equipment; and

comparing the configurations to determine maintenance services to be performed on the equipment.