Method for identifying a piece of defective equipment in an aircraft

• US 9,834,317 B2
• Filed: 09/19/2014
• Issued: 12/05/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Airbus, Airbus Operations (European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company EADS NV)
• Original Assignee: Airbus, Airbus Operations (European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company EADS NV)
• Inventors: Besseau, Stphane, Huet, Jean-Max, Michaud, Franois, Ben Hamou, Eric, Joffre, Loc, Maillard, Bruno
• Primary Examiner(s): Holwerda, Stephen
• Application Number:
  US14/491,622
• Publication Number:
  US 20150088363A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,173 Days
• Field of Search: 701 291, 701 296, 701 314, 701 315, 701 316, 701 317, 701 318
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 2045/0085 Devices for aircraft health monitoring, e.g. monitoring flutter or vibration
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 45/00 Aircraft indicators or protectors not otherwise provided for camouflage F41H3/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2294 by remote test

Abstract

A method of assistance for troubleshooting is provided. A purpose is to prioritize identifiers each associated with a piece of equipment the failure of which can be the cause of a fault within an aircraft. The method is based on transmitting to an expert system, a list of identifiers, and receiving, for each identifier, a family of pertinent parameters, with each pertinent parameter being associated with at least one sensor of the aircraft and taking measurements of the pertinent parameters. Knowing these measurements, it is possible to deduce therefrom, for each identifier, a priority corresponding to the probability that the associated equipment is effectively defective. A system for implementing this method is also provided.

Claims

1. A method of assistance in troubleshooting for an aircraft, the method comprising:

at a troubleshooting assistance server;

receiving a message transmitted by the aircraft and reporting a fault;

transmitting to an equipment identifying device, a query formed using the message, and obtaining in response a list of identifiers each associated with a piece of equipment the failure of which can be the cause of the fault, wherein each identifier on the list of identifiers is a unique Functional Item Number (FIN);

transmitting to an expert system, a query formed using the list of identifiers, and receiving a response that gives, for each FIN identifier, a family of pertinent parameters, with each pertinent parameter being associated with at least one sensor of the aircraft; and

transmitting, to a data acquisition device on board the aircraft, an acquisition order and receiving in return the measurements of the pertinent parameters;

wherein the expert system implements the following steps, for each family of pertinent parameters;

comparing measurements of the pertinent parameters of the family with a predetermined criterion associated with the family; and

according to the results of the comparison, assigning a priority, to the FIN identifier corresponding to the family, wherein a FIN identifier with high priority corresponds to a piece of equipment which is more likely to be defective and a FIN identifier with low priority corresponds to a piece of equipment which is less likely to be defective.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the priority of an identifier corresponds to how the corresponding piece of equipment is likely to be defective.

3. The method according to claim 1, comprising consulting the expert system in order to obtain, for each family of pertinent parameters, the predetermined criterion associated with the family.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein a pertinent parameter comprises at least one element from among a Boolean, an integer, a floating point number, a sequence of numerical values that corresponds to a portion of a curve, a sequence of characters.

5. The method according to claim 1, comprising a step, referred to as an initial step, of determining, for each identifier, a family of pertinent parameters and a predetermined criterion that are associated.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the initial step comprises a storage:

of measurements of parameters, associated with preceding flights of aircraft; and

fault information associated with these flights and coming from a post flight report and/or a logbook of the aircraft.

7. The method according to claim 6, comprising:

for each preceding flight of aircraft, defining a basic set that groups together the measurements of at least one parameter referred to as a useful parameter;

ranking the basic sets into clusters defined by at least one common characteristic;

using the fault information, assigning, to the preceding flights and to the basic sets that correspond to these preceding flights, information according to which a predetermined piece of equipment is defective.

8. The method according to claim 7, comprising an adjustment of a choice of the at least one common characteristic and of the at least one useful parameter, in such a way as to form a cluster, referred to as a useful cluster:

wherein a portion of the basic sets associated with the defective predetermined piece of equipment, is higher than a predetermined accuracy threshold,

with the at least one useful parameter corresponding to the family of pertinent parameters associated with an identifier of the predetermined piece of equipment, and the at least one common characteristic corresponding to the predetermined criterion associated with the family.

9. The method according to claim 7, comprising an adjustment of a choice of the at least one common characteristic and of the at least one useful parameter, in such a way as to form a cluster, referred to as a useful cluster:

wherein a portion of the basic sets associated with the defective predetermined piece of equipment, is higher than a predetermined accuracy threshold, and

receiving a portion of the basic sets associated with the defective predetermined piece of equipment, higher than a predetermined coverage threshold,

with the at least one useful parameter corresponding to the family of pertinent parameters associated with an identifier of the predetermined piece of equipment, and the at least one common characteristic corresponding to the predetermined criterion associated with the family.

10. The method according to claim 8, wherein the accuracy threshold is at least 60%.

11. The method according to claim 8, wherein the accuracy threshold is at least 90%.

12. The method according to claim 9, wherein the coverage threshold is at least 60%.

13. The method according to claim 9, wherein the coverage threshold is at least 90%.

14. The method according to claim 8, comprising an adjustment of the choice of the at least one useful parameter, such that the basic sets of the useful cluster group together the measurements of a minimum number of useful parameters.

15. The method according to claim 8, comprising a calculation of an accuracy of the useful cluster, defined by the ratio of a number of basic sets of the useful cluster associated with the defective predetermined piece of equipment, over a total number of basic sets of the useful cluster, with the assigned priority being equal to the accuracy.

16. The method according to claim 1, comprising testing the pieces of equipment the failure of which can be the cause of the fault, in the descending order of the priorities assigned to their respective identifiers.