AUTONOMOUS ENGINE HEALTH MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

• US 20170114660A1
• Filed: 10/23/2015
• Published: 04/27/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rtx Corporation
• Original Assignee: United Technologies Corporation (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Inventors: James, Denman H.
• Granted Patent: US 9,885,250 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: F01D 21/003 Arrangements for testing or measuring for measuring vibrations G01H
• CPC Class Codes: F02C 3/04 having a turbine driving a compressor power transmission arrangements F02C7/36; control of working fluid flow F02C9/16
• CPC Class Codes: F02C 7/06 Arrangements of bearings bearings F16C; Lubricating of turbo machines F01D25/18; of machines or engines in general F01M
• CPC Class Codes: F02C 7/26 Starting; Ignition
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/26 using computer, e.g. microprocessor
• CPC Class Codes: F05D 2260/80 Diagnostics
• CPC Class Codes: F05D 2260/85 Starting
• CPC Class Codes: F05D 2270/301 Pressure
• CPC Class Codes: F05D 2270/304 Spool rotational speed

Abstract

An engine health monitoring system includes an engine component having a sensor system configured to monitor at least one parameter of the component. An autonomous monitoring system is coupled to the sensor system and is configured to receive and store the at least one monitored parameter while an engine controller is unpowered. The engine controller is communicatively coupled to the autonomous monitoring system.

Claims

1. An engine health monitoring system comprising:

an engine component including a sensor system configured to monitor at least one parameter of the component;

an autonomous monitoring system coupled to the sensor system and configured to receive and store the at least one monitored parameter while an engine controller is unpowered; and

the engine controller is communicatively coupled to the autonomous monitoring system.

2. The engine health monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the autonomous monitoring system includes a power source configured to provide operational power to the autonomous monitoring system.

3. The engine health monitoring system of claim 2, wherein the power source is connected to an on-board generator of an aircraft.

4. The engine health monitoring system of claim 2, wherein the power source includes an input configured to be connected to a ground based power supply.

5. The engine health monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the sensor system is communicatively coupled to the engine controller.

6. The engine health monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the engine component includes a bearing oil supply, and the sensor system includes an inlet pressure sensor.

7. The engine health monitoring system of claim 6, wherein the sensor system includes an ambient pressure sensor.

8. The engine health monitoring system of claim 7, wherein the inlet pressure sensor and the ambient pressure sensor are the same sensor.

9. The engine health monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the engine component includes a shaft and the sensor system includes a rotational speed sensor configured to detect a rotational speed of the shaft.

10. The engine health monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the autonomous sensor system includes a local memory, a local processor and a local power storage device, the local processor being configured to:

receive sensor data from the sensor system;

correlate the received sensor data with a time at which the sensor data was generated; and

store the sensor data in the local memory.

11. The engine health monitoring system of claim 10, wherein the local processor is further configured to pre-process the received sensor data and determine the occurrence of potentially damaging conditions.

12. The engine health monitoring system of claim 10, wherein the autonomous sensor system is further configured to communicate stored sensor data to the engine controller during an engine initialization.

13. A method of monitoring the health of a gas turbine engine comprising:

sensing at least one of an inlet oil pressure and a shaft speed while a gas turbine engine is off;

storing the sensed values of the at least one of an inlet oil pressure and a shaft speed in a local memory of an autonomous monitoring system; and

reporting the stored sensed values of the at least one of said inlet oil pressure and said shaft speed to an engine controller during an engine initialization.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising analyzing the reported stored sensed values using the engine controller during an initialization of the engine, and halting the initialization of the engine in response to a determination that at least one component operated in a potentially damaging condition based on the sensed values.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising the engine controller determining that a shaft operated in a potentially damaging condition in response to a sensed rotational shaft speed exceeding a maximum threshold while the engine is off.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising the engine controller determining that a shaft operated in a potentially damaging condition in response to a sensed inlet oil pressure falling below a minimum threshold while the engine is off.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising charging a local power storage device of the autonomous monitoring system while said engine is operating.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising correlating the stored sensed values of the at least one of an inlet oil pressure and a shaft speed with a time at which the value was sensed using a local processor of the autonomous monitoring system, and storing the time correlation in the local memory.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein reporting the stored sensed values of the at least one of said inlet oil pressure and said shaft speed to the engine controller during an engine initialization further includes reporting the time correlated to the engine controller.