Component Adaptive Life Management

Abstract

A framework for adaptively managing the life of components. A sensor provides non-destructive test data obtained from inspecting a component. The inspection data may be filtered using reference signatures and by subtracting a baseline. The filtered inspection data and other inspection data for the component is analyzed to locate flaws and estimate the current condition of the component. The current condition may then be used to predict the component's condition at a future time or to predict a future time at which the component's condition will have deteriorated to a certain level. A current condition may be input to a precomputed database to look up the future condition or time. The future condition or time is described by a probability distribution which may be used to assess the risk of component failure. The assessed risk may be used to determine whether the part should continue in service, be replaced or repaired. A hyperlattice database is used with a rapid searching method to estimate at least one material condition and one usage parameter, such as stress level for the component. The hyperlattice is also used to rapidly predict future condition, associated uncertainty and risk of failure.

Description

RELATED APPLICATION[0001]This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61 / 184,672, filed on Jun. 5, 2009, the entire teachings of which application are incorporated herein by reference.GOVERNMENT SUPPORT[0002]The invention was supported, in whole or in part, by a grant NNX09CE84P from NASA and by a grant N68335-08-C-0008 from the U.S. Navy. The Government has certain rights in the invention.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]There are many applications where using a component to failure is unacceptable, and thus the component must be replaced when the risk of failure is too high. The decision of when to retire a component is a tradeoff between at least the cost of replacement and the risk of failure should the part continue to be used.[0004]Component failure is preceded by deterioration in the condition of the component. Deterioration of a component's condition is caused by the development and growth of flaws in the component. Flaws for metals may include cra...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009]In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, perform a method comprising acts of: receiving at least two sets of sensor data, each of the at least two sets of sensor data comprising spatial data for a measured material condition of a component; spatially registering the at least two sets of sensor data with respect to each other and the component; computing a change in the material condition of the component from the spatially registered at least two sets of sensor data; estimating the current condition based at least in part on the change in the material condition; and predicting a future condition of the component at a futu

Problems solved by technology

The flaw may be a crack in the component and it may be determined that insufficient information exists to reliably detect the crack

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