Usage monitor reliability factor using an advanced fatigue reliability assessment model
First Claim
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1. A method comprising:
- accessing flight regime rates of occurrence distributions associated with one or more flight regimes for a fleet of aircraft, the one or more flight regimes are one or more predicted maneuvers performed during a flight; and
determining, using the accessed flight regime rates of occurrence distributions, a factor for at least one of the flight regimes that provides a predetermined amount of reliability for a component on each aircraft on the fleet of aircraft known to be affected through at least fatigue damage by the at least one flight regime.
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Abstract
According to one non-limiting embodiment, a method includes accessing flight regime rates of occurrence distributions associated with one or more flight regimes for a fleet of aircraft. Using the accessed flight regime distributions, a factor for at least one of the flight regimes is determined that provides a predetermined amount of reliability for a component on each aircraft on the fleet of aircraft known to be affected through at least fatigue damage by the at least one flight regime.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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accessing flight regime rates of occurrence distributions associated with one or more flight regimes for a fleet of aircraft, the one or more flight regimes are one or more predicted maneuvers performed during a flight; and determining, using the accessed flight regime rates of occurrence distributions, a factor for at least one of the flight regimes that provides a predetermined amount of reliability for a component on each aircraft on the fleet of aircraft known to be affected through at least fatigue damage by the at least one flight regime. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method comprising
accessing flight regime rates of occurrence distributions associated with one or more flight regimes for a fleet of aircraft; - and
determining, using the accessed flight regime rates of occurrence distributions, a factor for at least one of the flight regimes that provides a predetermined amount of reliability for a component on each aircraft on the fleet of aircraft known to be affected through at least fatigue damage by the at least one flight regime, including; A) identifying a critical flight regime from the occurrence distribution by comparing a usage assumption for a flight regime to an actual usage count for the flight regime and identifying the flight regime as critical in response to an amount of fatigue damage contributed by the flight regime'"'"'s occurrence rate to a calculation of component retirement time exceeding a predefined threshold, B) determining a 90th percentile usage value for the critical flight regime in the occurrence distribution, C) determining a 50th percentile usage value for the critical flight regime in the occurrence distribution, and D) defining the factor as a ratio between the 90th percentile and 50th percentile usage values for the critical flight regime.
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16. A method performed by a computer either on-board an aircraft or remote from the aircraft, comprising:
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receiving a usage monitoring reliability factor associated with a component on an aircraft, and the usage monitoring reliability factor is a ratio between percentile usage values of a flight regime; multiplying aircraft usage cycles by the factor to determine adjusted usage data; adjusting, using at least the factor, a lifetime of the component in response to the adjusted usage data; and displaying the adjusted lifetime of the component. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27)
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17. A method comprising:
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accessing flight regime rates of occurrence distributions associated with one or more flight regimes for a fleet of aircraft; and determining, using the accessed flight regime rates of occurrence distributions, a factor for at least one of the flight regimes that provides a predetermined amount of reliability for a component on each aircraft on the fleet of aircraft known to be affected through at least fatigue damage by the at least one flight regime; determining, using at least the factor, instructions to modify a lifetime of the component for a selected one of the aircraft from the fleet; and
communicating the instructions to an entity configured to use the instructions to modify the lifetime of the component. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. An apparatus comprising a computer configured through a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium to perform the operations of:
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determining a fatigue reliability of an aircraft component in response to at least one of flight usage data, flight load data, historical data, and a fatigue reliability assessment model; and using usage distributions to determine;
a factor for at least one flight regime that provides a usage count adjustment for the component for each aircraft of a fleet known to be affected through at least fatigue damage by the at least one flight regime, and the at least one flight regime is one or more predicted maneuvers performed during a flight. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24)
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Specification