Objectives of Conditions-Based maintenance:
- Reduce unscheduled maintenance and maintenance workload.
- Decrease maintenance and logistics footprints.
- Perform and integrate advanced engineering, maintenance, and information technologies.
- Maintenance only upon evidence of need.
- Improve diagnosis and prognosis capabilities.
- Use real-time assessments of material condition obtained from embedded sensors and/or external tests and measurements using portable equipment.
- Increase operational availability.
How will USC help carry out these objectives?
- Qualitatively operationalize the Condition-Based Maintenance (CBM) Objectives through our ongoing activities of surveying engineers, pilots, maintainers and crew chiefs on the non-tangible and mission benefits of the VMEP system (safety, morale, mission capabilities, confidence on the system, and system liability). (Please see the lower portion of column III of the attached program roadmap).
- Quantitatively operationalize the Condition-Based-Maintenance (CBM) Objectives through our ongoing quantitative ULLS-A and vibrations data that we are collecting, analyzing and processing for the last five years. The most obvious outcome of these activities is the cost benefits and mission benefits models. Other ongoing activities will include value engineering process of the system in meeting CBM goals and objectives. (Please see the upper portion of column III of the attached program roadmap).
- Combine the qualitative and quantitative measures from (1) and (2) above to determine if the VMEP system is meeting the planned CBM objectives. The combined measures will also be presented and evaluated mathematically, parametrically and mechanistically as a diagnosis model or physical model of subsystems or components.
- Create preliminary, predictive mathematical models of component, subsystem, and aircraft performance that serve to guide future CBM activities on individual aircraft. Based on available literatures on prognosis studies, this will the first scientific step in developing accurate prognosis models of components, subsystems, and systems (aircrafts). These models will also be used as tools to predict the overall health and the remaining life of components, subsystems or systems. Such models will include and encapsulate, among other data collected, the flight regimes and flight profiles. A simulation model will be created to help the users practicing these tools virtually prior to implementations. This task is illustrated in column IV of the attached program roadmap.
- Interrogate and Validate the data (ULLS-A and VMU) in the laboratory using our Helicopter Drive Component Test Stand. The test stand will be used to refine and improve our prognosis models by examining bearings, shafts and gears in order to correlate their conditions with the associated parameters. Parameters to be monitored include but are not limited to wear, friction, oil condition, metals in oil, temperature, other tribological factors, vibration measurements, condition indicators and loading conditions and profiles. A statistical design of experiments will be conducted to simplify this process and at the same time will give accurate accounts of the impact of these parameters and usage profile on the prognosis models. This task is illustrated in column V of the attached program roadmap.