Aircraft Landing Gear Actuator Damage Estimation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods fail to accurately estimate damage to aircraft landing gear wheel driving actuators, particularly undercarriage components, due to the complexity of torque-related fatigue stresses, leading to inadequate maintenance scheduling and potential failure.
Innovation Solution
A method involving real-time data recording and analysis of torque, speed, and motor revolutions from actuators, complemented by data from accelerometers, to estimate damage and remaining life, enabling informed maintenance and inspection intervals.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional maintenance scheduling methods are used for landing gear actuators, then maintenance intervals are set conservatively to ensure safety, but this leads to excessive maintenance frequency and increased operational costs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from fixed-time maintenance intervals to condition-based maintenance by continuously monitoring operational parameters (torque, speed, revolutions) of the actuators. This allows maintenance scheduling to be dynamically adjusted based on actual wear and damage accumulation, optimizing the balance between safety and operational availability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements continuous feedback through sensors that monitor actuator performance parameters and feed this data to damage estimation algorithms. This real-time feedback enables predictive maintenance scheduling that responds to actual component condition rather than following predetermined intervals, reducing unnecessary maintenance while ensuring safety.
2Measurement precision
If detailed monitoring of all actuator parameters is implemented, then damage estimation accuracy is improved, but system complexity and data processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the most critical operational parameters (torque, speed, revolutions) that directly correlate with actuator damage from the full spectrum of possible sensor data. This selective extraction maintains high damage estimation accuracy while minimizing system complexity and data processing requirements by focusing on the most informative parameters.
Solution Approach 2:
The monitoring system is segmented into modular components: sensors for specific parameters, data acquisition modules, damage estimation algorithms, and maintenance scheduling systems. This segmentation allows the complex monitoring function to be implemented in manageable, independent modules that can be added or removed based on specific needs, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining accuracy.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for estimating the damage to rotational driving actuators of the wheels borne by aircraft undercarriages. First, in service, recording data relating to the driving actuators, in particular data on torque developed by the driving actuators, on speed of rotation of the motors of the driving actuators, on number of revolutions of the motors. Then, deducing therefrom damage undergone by the driving actuators. Finally, estimating a remaining life of the driving actuators.