Patent ID: 8041490
Filing Date: 2011-10-18
Classification: B60T,F16D

Abstract:
1. A system for monitoring wear of a plurality of aircraft parts of an aircraft, comprising: at least one linear brake wear indicator attached to an aircraft brake, said at least one linear brake wear indicator being configured to move a discrete distance each time the aircraft brake is actuated, said linear brake wear indicator having a plurality of longitudinally arranged markings indicating a distance traveled by the linear brake wear indicator as an indication of brake usage; at least one corresponding linear position encoder configured to count said plurality of longitudinally arranged markings of said at least one linear brake wear indicator passing by said at least one linear position encoder, respectively, to measure the distance traveled by said at least one linear brake wear indicator, respectively, as an indication of brake usage, and said at least one linear position encoder being operative to generate a linear position signal indicating the distance traveled by said at least one linear brake wear indicator, respectively, as an indication of brake usage; a wheel speed monitor for generating a wheel speed signal indicating wheel speed of the aircraft; at least one secondary sensor for sensing a parameter of usage of an aircraft part, said at least one secondary sensor being configured to generate a signal indicating a sensed value of said parameter of usage of said aircraft part; and a control unit configured to determine an estimate of usage of the brake based upon said linear position signal, said control unit being configured to receive said wheel speed signal for distinguishing between static brake applications and moving brake applications based upon said wheel speed signal, said control unit being configured to measure a period of time elapsed during each brake application, and said control unit being configured to determine a distance over which each brake application occurs and to estimate a degree to which each individual brake application contributes to brake wear, based upon the wheel speed during each brake application and said period of time elapsed during each brake application.