Methods and apparatus for generating usage severity indices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12497182-B2
Application number	US-202318303297-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 19, 2023
Priority date	Apr 19, 2023
Publication date	Dec 16, 2025
Grant date	Dec 16, 2025

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for generating usage severity indices are disclosed herein. An example apparatus includes interface circuitry, machine readable instructions, and programmable circuitry to at least one of instantiate or execute the machine readable instructions to determine a first usage severity index for a drive system of an aircraft based on engine torque data, determine a second usage severity index for a rotor system of the aircraft based on cruise guide indicator data, determine a third usage severity index for a pylon structure of the aircraft based on flight regime data, and generate a flight-based usage severity index for the aircraft using the first usage severity index, the second usage severity index, and the third usage severity index.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An apparatus, comprising:
interface circuitry; machine readable instructions; and programmable circuitry to at least one of instantiate or execute the machine readable instructions to:
determine a first usage severity index for a drive system of an aircraft based on a highest cyclic index associated with engine torque data of a first engine and a second engine, the highest cyclic index excluding a ground-air-ground cycle;
determine a second usage severity index for a rotor system of the aircraft based on cruise guide indicator data;
determine a third usage severity index for a pylon structure of the aircraft based on flight regime data;
generate a flight-based usage severity index for the aircraft using the first usage severity index, the second usage severity index, and the third usage severity index; and
adjust usage of the aircraft based on the flight-based usage severity index, the flight-based usage severity index to validate a retirement life of one or more aircraft components.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the programmable circuitry is to generate the flight-based usage severity index using at least one of a drive system usage severity criteria, a rotor system usage severity criteria, or a pylon usage severity criteria.

3 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the engine torque data includes first torque data for the first engine and second torque data for the second engine.

4 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the programmable circuitry is to determine the first usage severity index using rain flow cycle counting to identify torque cyclic indices.

5 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the programmable circuitry is to determine the second usage severity index using a time-in-band assessment of cruise guide indicator data.

6 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the flight regime data includes climbing, descending, bank turning, acceleration, or deceleration.

7 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the programmable circuitry is to determine the second usage severity index or the third usage severity index using an actual usage spectrum (AUS) damage rate and a design usage spectrum (DUS) damage rate.

8 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the programmable circuitry is to identify a flight type and a flight duration, the flight type including a ground run flight or an airborne flight.

9 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the programmable circuitry is to retrieve at least one of the engine torque data, the cruise guide indicator data, or the flight regime data from a digital source collector.

10 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the highest cyclic index corresponds to a sixth highest cyclic index per hour between engine torque data of the first engine and the second engine.

11 . A method, comprising:
determining a first usage severity index for a drive system of an aircraft based on a highest cyclic index associated with engine torque data of a first engine and a second engine, the highest cyclic index excluding a ground-air-ground cycle; determining a second usage severity index for forward and aft rotor systems of the aircraft based on cruise guide indicator data; determining a third usage severity index for a pylon of the aircraft based on flight regime data; generating a flight-based usage severity index for the aircraft using the first usage severity index, the second usage severity index, and the third usage severity index; and adjusting usage of the aircraft based on the flight-based usage severity index, the flight-based usage severity index to validate a retirement life of one or more aircraft components.

12 . The method of claim 11 , further including generating the flight-based usage severity index using at least one of a drive system usage severity criteria, a rotor system usage severity criteria, or a pylon structural usage severity criteria.

13 . The method of claim 11 , further including determining the first usage severity index using rain flow cycle counting to identify a torque cyclic index.

14 . The method of claim 11 , further including determining the second usage severity index using a time-in-band assessment of cruise guide indicator data.

15 . The method of claim 11 , further including determining the second usage severity index or the third usage severity index using an actual usage spectrum (AUS) damage rate and a design usage spectrum (DUS) damage rate.

16 . A non-transitory machine readable storage medium comprising instructions to cause programmable circuitry to at least:
determine a first usage severity index for a drive system of an aircraft based on a highest cyclic index associated with engine torque data of a first engine and a second engine, the highest cyclic index excluding a ground-air-ground cycle; determine a second usage severity index for a rotor system of the aircraft based on cruise guide indicator data; determine a third usage severity index for a pylon structure of the aircraft based on flight regime data; generate a flight-based usage severity index for the aircraft using the first usage severity index, the second usage severity index, and the third usage severity index; and adjust usage of the aircraft based on the flight-based usage severity index, the flight-based usage severity index to validate a retirement life of one or more aircraft components.

17 . The machine readable storage medium as defined in claim 16 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the programmable circuitry to generate the flight-based usage severity index using at least one of a drive system usage severity criteria, a rotor system usage severity criteria, or a pylon usage severity criteria.

18 . The machine readable storage medium as defined in claim 16 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the programmable circuitry to determine the first usage severity index using rain flow cycle counting to identify a torque cyclic index.

19 . The machine readable storage medium as defined in claim 16 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the programmable circuitry to determine the second usage severity index using a time-in-band assessment of cruise guide indicator data.

20 . The machine readable storage medium as defined in claim 16 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the programmable circuitry to determine the second usage severity index or the third usage severity index using an actual usage spectrum (AUS) damage rate and a design usage spectrum (DUS) damage rate.

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Lu Yi
• Senyo Jesse K
• Patel Chandrakant
• Malason Michael D

Classifications

• G08G5/30

  Flight plan management · CPC title

• B64D35/04

  characterised by the transmission driving a plurality of propellers or rotors · CPC title

• G05B2219/45071

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

• G05B23/0283

  Predictive maintenance, e.g. involving the monitoring of a system and, based on the monitoring results, taking decisions on the maintenance schedule of the monitored system; Estimating remaining useful life [RUL] (preventive maintenance, i.e. planning maintenance according to the available resources without monitoring the system G06Q10/06) · CPC title

• B64F5/60

  Testing or inspecting aircraft components or systems · CPC title