While engine OEMs pioneered health monitoring systems, aircraft manufacturers are catching up and using their own technology to create optimized maintenance programs.
Airbus, for example, says half of its aircraft incorporate health monitoring systems, with the newest models reporting 10 times as many parameters as their predecessors thanks to systems like the Flight Operations and Maintenance Exchanger (FOMAX) and RMAX, an interface device to download huge volumes of operational data from an aircraft.
These systems are more advanced and provide more information than a traditional aircraft condition monitoring system (ACMS), which cannot provide the continuous data needed to inform predictive maintenance.
“We need much more data than ACMS because these ACMS reports have not been designed for predictive purposes,” an Airbus spokesperson says. “To feed efficient predictive maintenance models, we need time series data—the continuous recording of parameters at very high frequency—to ensure proper and accurate predictions.”
All new aircraft rolling off Airbus lines are delivered with these capabilities, while the technology needed to enable time series reporting is available as a retrofit for older models.
Rolls-Royce also notes the value of continuous data. “The new high-frequency parameters combined with environmental or situational conditions outside the engine have allowed us to introduce new analytics,” the OEM tells Inside MRO.
“We can configure the parameters being recorded to enhance our analytics development. This technique still uses the event-based data and fault message information and combines it all to increase the effectiveness,” says Rolls-Royce. “The speed at which we can detect and alert events is increasing with the new platform and processing we are introducing. Overall, this is supporting extended time on wing and reduced disruption for our customers.”
For an in-depth look at the latest health monitoring techniques and technologies, see the upcoming October issue Inside MRO.
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