Method and device for monitoring an aircraft engine vane wheel via balance position measurement

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10852215-B2
Application number	US-201515520612-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 15, 2015
Priority date	Oct 22, 2014
Publication date	Dec 1, 2020
Grant date	Dec 1, 2020

Abstract

A method for monitoring an aircraft engine vane wheel ( 22 ), which includes: acquiring at least one time signal relative to moments when the vane wheel blades ( 23 ) pass in front of a sensor ( 21 ); determining a common flight phase of the aircraft; for each flight in a series of flights of the aircraft, correlating at least part of each time signal with a predetermined flight phase; and for each blade ( 23 ), each flight, and each predetermined flight phase, measuring the mean position ( 24 C), the so-called “balance position”, of the top of the blade. The invention also relates to a device for implementing such a method. One advantage of the invention is providing a diagnosis of the blades using a small number of sensors and low computing power.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for monitoring an aircraft engine vane wheel, which includes:
acquiring at least one time signal relative to moments when the vane wheel blades pass in front of at least one sensor, wherein said at least one time signal is composed of pulses, and wherein each time a top of one of the blades passes in front of the at least one sensor corresponds to a pulse in the at least one time signal;
determining a common flight phase of the aircraft;
for each flight in a series of flights of the aircraft, correlating at least part of the at least one time signal with a predetermined flight phase of a set of predetermined flight phases including at least one predetermined flight phase;
for each blade, each flight of said series of aircraft flights, and for each predetermined flight phase, and based on the at least one time signal, measuring a first position of interest equal to a balance position of a top of the blade, the balance position of the top of the blade being the position of a point of the blade, averaged over time; and
for each blade and for each predetermined flight phase, determining a static component of a movement of the blade, said static component corresponding to a shift in the balance position, and each static component taking into account at least one flight from said series of flights.

2. The method according to claim 1 , characterised by measuring the first position of interest for at least two predetermined flight phases.

3. The method according to claim 1 , characterised by computing, for each blade, and for each predetermined flight phase, a second position of interest equal to a mean value or a median value of a plurality of balance positions each balance position being associated with one of a plurality of aircraft flights.

4. The method according to claim 3 , characterised by tracking the second positions of interest over flights, to detect a progressive shift in the second positions of interest.

5. The method according to claim 3 , characterised by comparing a reference position and a second position of interest over flights to detect the appearance of a shift due to damage on the blade.

6. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising comparing a reference position and the first position of interest, to detect the appearance of a shift due to damage on the blade.

7. The method according to claim 1 , characterised by tracking the first positions of interest over flights, to detect a progressive shift in the first positions of interest.

8. The method according to claim 1 , characterised in that the balance position of a blade is measured using a single sensor configured to detect the passage of the top of a vane wheel blade at a predetermined point.

9. The method according to claim 1 , characterised by testing for an anomaly in an acquisition chain of the at least one time signal, said testing involving a measurement of the deviation between an extrema of a set of balance positions associated with the same blade and the same predetermined flight phase, the balance positions of said set each corresponding to one of a plurality of aircraft flights.

10. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising a step of determining, by assessment, said set of predetermined flight phases, a predetermined flight phase corresponding, for each blade, to a static pressure on the blade and to a rotational speed of this blade which induce a critical operating mode of the blade.

11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a time lag between two pulses of the at least one time signal corresponds to an angular distance between the tops of two adjacent blades.

12. A device for monitoring an aircraft engine vane wheel, the device including:
at least one sensor, each sensor being configured to acquire a time signal relative to moments when the vane wheel blades pass in front of the at least one sensor, wherein said time signal is composed of pulses, and wherein each time a top of one of the blades passes in front of the at least one sensor corresponds to a pulse in the time signal; and
a processor configured to:
determine a common flight phase of the aircraft;
correlate at least part of the time signal with a predetermined flight phase of a set of predetermined flight phases including at least one predetermined flight phase;
measure, for each blade, for at least one flight in a series of flights of the aircraft, and for each predetermined flight phase, and based on the time signal, a first position of interest equal to a balance position of a top of the blade, the balance position of the top of the blade being the position of a point of the blade, averaged over time;
for each blade and for each predetermined flight phase, determine a static component of a movement of the blade, said static component corresponding to a shift in the balance position, and each static component taking into account at least one flight from said series of flights; and
output first positions of interest.

13. The device according to claim 12 , wherein the processor is further configured to compute, for each blade, and for each predetermined flight phase, a second position of interest equal to the mean value or the median value of balance positions each associated with one of a plurality of aircraft flights.

14. The device according to claim 13 , wherein the processor is further configured to compare between a second position of interest and a reference position.

15. The device according to claim 13 , wherein the processor is further configured to compute a gradient of second positions of interest throughout the flights.

16. The device according to claim 12 , wherein the processor is further configured to compare between the first position of interest and a reference position.

17. The device according to claim 12 , wherein the processor is further configured to compute a gradient of the first positions of interest throughout the flights.

18. The device according to claim 12 , characterised in that it includes a single sensor.

19. The device according to claim 12 , characterised in that it comprises:
a first module including the at least one sensor, the first module being configured to be installed onboard an aircraft;
a second module including at least a portion of the processor, the second module being configured to be installed on a ground base; and
communication interface between the first module and the second module.

20. A method for monitoring an aircraft engine vane wheel, which includes:
determining, by assessment, a set of predetermined flight phases, a predetermined flight phase corresponding, for each blade, to a static pressure on the blade and to a rotational speed of this blade which induce a critical operating mode of the blade;
acquiring at least one time signal relative to moments when the vane wheel blades pass in front of a sensor, wherein said at least one time signal is composed of pulses, and wherein each time a top of one of the blades passes in front of the sensor corresponds to a pulse in the at least one time signal;
determining a common flight phase of the aircraft;
for each flight in a series of flights of the aircraft, correlating at least part of the at least one time signal with a predetermined flight phase of the set of predetermined flight phases including at least one predetermined flight phase;
for each blade, each flight of said series of aircraft flights, and for each predetermined flight phase, and based on the at least one time signal, measuring a first posi

Assignees

• Safran Aircraft Engines

Inventors

• Nicq Geoffroy
• Gerez Valerio

Classifications

• G01M15/14 Primary

  Testing gas-turbine engines or jet-propulsion engines · CPC title

• G01H3/00

  Measuring {characteristics of} vibrations by using a detector in a fluid (G01H7/00, G01H9/00, G01H11/00 take precedence) · CPC title

• G05B2219/45071

  Aircraft, airplane, ship cleaning manipulator, paint stripping · CPC title

• G05B23/0235

  based on a comparison with predetermined threshold or range, e.g. "classical methods", carried out during normal operation; threshold adaptation or choice; when or how to compare with the threshold · CPC title

• G01H1/006

  of the rotor of turbo machines · CPC title