System for prognosis and diagnostics of failure and wearout monitoring and for prediction of life expectancy of helicopter gearboxes and other rotating equipment

A method for predicting failure of and regulating components in a system during a continuous operation of the components, comprising the steps of:

• providing at least one component to be monitored;
• providing a means for receiving data relating to the operation of said component;
• providing a means for processing the data relating to the operation of said component, said means for processing the data including an expert system, a means for predicting failure, and a performance evaluating means;
• providing a means for indicting predicted failure of said component;
• receiving data indicative of the operation of said component with said means for receiving data;
• processing data received from said means for receiving data by said means for processing data including evaluating the performance of said component by said means for evaluating performance, and analyzing the data to predict failure of said component by said means for prediction failure;
• indicating predicted failure of said component by said means for indicating predicted failure;
• and
• regulating further operation of said component in response to a predicted failure.

A method of predicting incipient failure of and regulating the operation of rotating mechanical components, comprising the steps of:

• providing at least one component to be monitored;
• developing knowledge based models of a system employing said component;
• examining the process design and analyzing failure modes, causes of failure, and the effects of failure on the system;
• examining operation procedures constructing rule-based operation rules indicative of failure modes, causes of failure and effects of failure;
• monitoring said component and said system and predicting failure of said component and said system;
• and
• regulating further operation of said system in response to a failure being predicted.

An apparatus for on-line diagnosis of defects and failure, prognosis of incipient failures and controlling of mechanical systems having rotating equipment, comprising:

• at least one component of a system susceptible to incipient failure;
• two independent channel means for acquisition of signals from global sensors and local sensors;
• a data acquisition means for processing the signals from the said channel means for use by a central processing unit;
• said central processing unit including means for analyzing the data input from said data acquisition means relating to the operation of said component;
• analyzing means for identifying abnormalities in said data input in comparison with reference normal data compiled in a knowledge base means stored in said central processing unit;
• identifying means for identifying the type and extent of the abnormality relating to the operation of said component by the aid of said knowledge base means;
• display means for displaying the abnormalities identified by said identifying means and relating to the operation of said component;
• and
• control means connected to the system for controlling the operation of the system and shutting down the operation of the system in response to an abnormality detrimental to the operation of the system.

A method for on-line diagnosis and prognosis of failure in rotating mechanical equipment and controlling the operation of the equipment, comprising:

• providing mechanical components constituting mechanical equipment which is susceptible to failure;
• sensing local conditions of specific components and global conditions of a system containing said components;
• monitoring said components by performing analysis of signals representing said local and global conditions;
• performing time series analysis and signal analysis on said signals to provide empirical model identifying equipment operating conditions relative to preselected indices appropriate for representation of normal and abnormal conditions of the operation of said equipment;
• performing diagnosis and prognosis independently using separate knowledge bases and using pattern recognition to recognize symptoms of failure or incipient failure in any one of said components;
• producing messages indicative of changes in trends or of identified symptoms of the operation of said equipment;
• and
• regulating operation of said equipment if the changes in trends or in identified symptoms relate to a potentially failing component.

A wearout monitoring method for predicting life expectancy of rotating equipment and controlling the operation of the equipment, comprising:

• providing at least one component of the rotating equipment to be monitored;
• detecting defect sizes;
• analyzing anticipated failures of said components, identifying failure modes, failure causes, and failure effects;
• analyzing and classifying historical data of operation and failure of the equipment and said components according to a taxonomy of failure modes, failure causes, failure effects, types of defects, and size of defects;
• constructing a knowledge base from said analyzed historical data and said analyzed anticipated failures as they relate to different loading conditions;
• specifying defect threshold size that results in wearout failure of said component;
• constructing a life expectancy prediction model based on predetermined defect growth rates and said defect threshold size;
• computing the remaining life of said component corresponding to each defect size;
• and
• controlling the operation of the equipment in response to the remaining life of said component.

An apparatus for determining on-line operation life of a component of rotating equipment before the rotating equipment can no longer transmit the required operating power and for aborting the operation of the equipment, comprising:

• at least one component of the equipment having an operational life expectancy;
• a chip detecting means for detecting the size of defects by the size of chips in said component and generating an analog signal indicative thereof;
• a debris indicating means for indicating debris from said component of the rotating equipment and generating an analog signal indicative thereof;
• means for converting analog signals from said chip detecting means and said debris indicating means;
• data processing means for processing data and implementing a life expectancy prediction;
• means for displaying a warning time;
• and
• control means for aborting the operation of the equipment in response to a predetermined warning time.