Method of managing operational health of assets

• US 8,594,924 B2
• Filed: 07/12/2012
• Issued: 11/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rolls-Royce PLC (Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc)
• Original Assignee: Rolls-Royce PLC (Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc)
• Inventors: Flint, Paul A., King, Stephen P., Bird, Adrian, Goodall, Daniel K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheung, Mary
• Assistant Examiner(s): Trivedi, Atul
• Application Number:
  US13/547,477
• Publication Number:
  US 20130054056A1
• Time in Patent Office: 502 Days
• Field of Search: 701/3, 701/14, 701/528, 701/415, 701/423, 318/565, 31856824-56825, 340 31- 39
• US Class Current: 701/415
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0635 Risk analysis of enterprise or organisation activities

Abstract

An asset operational health monitoring system, in which a plurality of sensors are arranged to determine values of asset operation parameters pertaining to an instance of asset operation. One or more processing unit receives data corresponding to said asset operation values and determine a plurality of asset locations at a corresponding plurality of points in time. The one or more processing unit is arranged to receive data indicative of the location of a region of adverse environmental conditions which may impact on the operation of the asset and to compare the determined locations of the asset with the location of said region so as to determine whether one or more of said asset locations fall within said region. An indicator of operational risk associated with the presence of said asset in said region is output which can drive asset operation or maintenance decision making. The system may be used for ash cloud impact monitoring for aircraft, a fleet of aircraft or aircraft engines.

Claims

1. An asset operational health monitoring system, comprising:

a plurality of sensors arranged to determine values of asset operation parameters pertaining to an instance of asset operation; and

one or more processing units arranged to receive data corresponding to said asset operation values and to determine a plurality of asset locations at a corresponding plurality of points in time;

wherein the one or more processing unit is arranged to receive data indicative of the location of a region of adverse environmental conditions which may impact on the operation of the asset and to compare the determined locations of the asset with the location of said region so as to determine whether one or more of said asset locations fall within said region,

wherein the one or more processing units outputs an indicator of maintenance risk associated with the presence of said asset in said region, the indicator of maintenance risk comprising (1) a count of the number of instances of exposure of the asset to one or more of said regions of adverse environmental conditions or (2) a value of duration or level of exposure of the asset to said one or more regions of adverse environmental conditions, and

wherein the asset is a gas turbine engine.

2. A system according to claim 1, wherein the location of the asset and/or the region of adverse environmental conditions comprises two-dimensional co-ordinates.

3. A system according to claim 2, the location of the asset and/or the region of adverse environmental conditions further comprises an altitude value.

4. A system according to claim 1, wherein the region of adverse environmental conditions is defined as a polyhedron or polygon.

5. A system according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of regions of adverse conditions are defined, each of said regions corresponding to different severities of said adverse conditions.

6. A system according to claim 1, wherein a boundary of the one or more region of adverse conditions is defined where an environmental condition parameter is approximately equal to a threshold parameter value.

7. A system according to claim 6, wherein the region of adverse conditions comprises a region in which a contaminant is present and the environmental condition parameter comprises a concentration of said contaminant.

8. A system according to claim 1, wherein the determination of asset locations is performed by processing equipment health monitoring data comprising city-pair and/or date/time information for one or more aircraft flights.

9. A system according to claim 1, wherein the one or more processing unit outputs a maintenance indicator for said asset.

10. A system according to claim 9, wherein the maintenance indicator comprises a scheduled maintenance event for said asset based at least in part on said determination of maintenance risk.

11. A system according to claim 1, wherein the one or more processing unit receives data pertaining to a plurality of operational parameters for said asset and inputs said data into one or more maintenance risk models in order to determine the operational health of the asset, wherein the determination of whether one or more of said asset locations falls within said region of adverse conditions is used in conjunction with said maintenance risk model to determine the operational health of the asset.

12. A system according to claim 11, wherein a maintenance decision is output for said asset based on a combination of the output of said risk model and the determination of whether one or more of said asset locations falls within said region of adverse conditions.

13. A tool for monitoring a plurality of operational assets, the tool being arranged to receive asset operation parameter data and to determine a plurality of asset locations at a corresponding plurality of points in time for an instance of asset operation;

the tool being further arranged to receive data indicative of the location of a region of adverse environmental conditions for the asset and to compare the determined locations of the asset with the location of said region so as to determine whether one or more of said asset locations fall within said region, wherein the tool outputs an indicator of maintenance risk associated with the presence of said asset in said region, the indicator of maintenance risk comprising (1) a count of the number of instances of exposure of the asset to one or more of said regions of adverse environmental conditions or (2) a value of duration or level of exposure of the asset to said one or more regions of adverse environmental conditions, and wherein the asset is a gas turbine engine.

14. A method of monitoring the operational health of an asset, the method comprising:

receiving data comprising asset operation parameter values;

determining a plurality of asset locations at a corresponding plurality of points in time;

receiving data indicative of a location of a region of adverse environmental conditions which may impact on the operation of the asset;

comparing the determined asset locations with the location of said region at said plurality of points in time so as to determine whether one or more of said asset locations fall within said region; and

,

outputting an indicator of maintenance risk associated with the presence of said asset in said region, wherein the indicator of maintenance risk comprises (1) a count of the number of instances of exposure of the asset to one or more of said regions of adverse environmental conditions or (2) a value of duration or level of exposure of the asset to said one or more regions of adverse environmental conditions, and wherein the asset is a pas turbine engine.

15. A method according to claim 14, wherein the operation parameter values comprise operational condition indicators, the method comprising constructing an operational condition signature for said condition indicators.

16. A method according to claim 14, wherein the receiving data indicative of the location of adverse environmental conditions comprises collecting a condition signature consisting of a plurality of geographical and altitude coordinates from one or more meteorological data capture systems.

17. A method according to claim 14, wherein the region is defined as a volume in which airborne particulate material is determined to be at or above a threshold concentration value.

18. A method according to claim 14, wherein the asset locations may be determined as, or converted into, GPS coordinates.

19. A method according to claim 14, wherein events corresponding to exposure of the machine to one or more of said regions of adverse conditions are logged and an accumulation of said events is used to provide the operational maintenance risk indicator for the machine, upon which operational decisions for the asset are made.