Borescope Plug Tool With Guided Engagement for Blind Maintenance
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Solution Overview
Problem
The installation and removal of borescope plugs in gas turbine engines are challenging due to their inconvenient locations, often requiring blind operations, which can lead to lost plugs and increased maintenance time, and potential engine damage if unsecured.
Innovation Solution
A borescope plug system comprising a housing, driver, and spring, with a guiding sleeve that facilitates secure engagement and alignment with borescope plug ports, allowing for controlled rotation and insertion/removal of plugs, preventing accidental drop and providing visual/haptic feedback through guide apertures and pins.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If borescope plugs are installed in engine internal components to permit borescope access, then inspection capability is improved, but the location becomes inconvenient for technicians and may require blind operations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a borescope plug tool as an intermediary device between the technician and the borescope plug. This tool includes a driver mechanism with guide pins that extend through the plug, allowing the technician to manipulate the plug from a convenient external location rather than reaching into difficult-to-access engine internal components. The guide pins act as intermediaries that transmit the technician's rotational input to the plug while maintaining alignment and preventing loss.
2Productivity
If borescope plugs are removed or installed in blind operations, then plug installation is achieved, but the risk of losing the plug increases and maintenance time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The guide pins serve as intermediaries that connect the technician's control to the borescope plug throughout the entire installation and removal process. By extending through the plug and engaging with the driver mechanism, they provide continuous tactile and visual feedback, allowing the technician to monitor plug position and orientation without visual line-of-sight. This intermediary system prevents accidental drops and ensures controlled retrieval of the plug.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide pins provide both visual feedback (when visible through the tool housing) and haptic feedback (through their engagement with the driver mechanism) to the technician during blind operations. This feedback system allows the technician to sense plug position, orientation, and engagement status without direct visual observation, thereby maintaining reliability while performing maintenance operations in difficult-to-reach locations.
3Adaptability or versatility
If borescope plugs are installed in hard-to-reach locations, then inspection access is enabled, but recovery time increases and engine damage risk increases if plug is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The borescope plug tool with its guide pin mechanism serves as an intermediary retrieval system that extends the technician's reach into difficult-to-access engine internal components. The guide pins, which extend through the borescope plug, allow the technician to engage and retrieve the plug through the tool's driver mechanism without needing to physically reach into the engine's internal ducts or housings. This intermediary system dramatically reduces recovery time while maintaining the ability to access hard-to-reach inspection locations.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables safe and efficient installation and removal of borescope plugs, reducing the risk of loss and engine damage, while simplifying maintenance by providing a secure and guided operation process.
Implementation Method 1
The spring is disposed within the housing and couples the housing to the driver
Data Source
AI summary
A borescope plug system includes a housing, a driver, and a spring. The housing includes a first housing end and a second housing end. The housing further includes a longitudinally extending centerline extending between the first housing end and the second housing end. The driver is disposed at least partially within the housing along the longitudinally extending centerline and includes a first driver end and a second driver end. The spring is disposed within the housing and couples the housing to the driver. The driver is configured to move within the housing, along the longitudinally extending centerline, to engage the first driver end with a borescope plug of a borescope plug port, and to install or remove the borescope plug from the borescope plug port based on a rotation of the driver about the longitudinally extending centerline.