Patent Description:
Aircraft can be exposed to weather conditions that allow ice to form on its surfaces. Ice can be formed on the surfaces of the aircraft such as the windscreen, wings, tail, and air intake components before or during flight. The build up of ice can lead to adverse operation such as blocking needed engine airflow or inhibiting the operation of the wings or other components. In addition, damage to other components and the safety of the aircraft and passengers can result. Aircraft equipped with heating components can include electric heaters to protect the aircraft. There may be a need to ensure the proper operation of the heating components over the life of the aircraft. <CIT> relates to methods and devices for sensing spatial variations and/or temperature variations in the locality of a fiber optic cable. <CIT> relates to a temperature monitoring system.

According to an embodiment, a method for operating an integrated ice protection with prognostics and health management is defined in claim <NUM>.

According to another embodiment, an integrated ice protection system with prognostics and health management is defined in claim <NUM>.

Technical effects of embodiments of the present disclosure include generating and displaying a map representing temperature readings obtained from a plurality of sensors.

The foregoing features and elements may be combined in various combinations without exclusivity, insofar as they fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Current ice protection systems do not provide diagnostic and prognostic health monitoring management for the condition and performance of the heater components and surrounding structure. The lack of feedback indicating the performance and health of the system can lead to potential unknown areas of concern before/during/after operation which can increase the system operational cost. Also, the lack of real-time temperature mapping of the structure and heater elements hide cold or hot spots in the system causing potential hazardous for the aircraft, engine and crew during flight in icing conditions.

Conventional temperature mapping using current technologies such as resistance temperature detectors (RTDs) require numerous sensors and is limited because they can only obtain point measurements. Point measurements are limited to a particular location. This can lead to a decrease in system reliability from the many added sensors and extra electrical connections. Prognostic health management (PHM) temperature mapping with fiber optic sensors do not require as many electrical connections thus decreasing the impact to improve system reliability.

The techniques described herein integrate an array of fiber optic sensors that are arranged to cover deicing and heating components and the surrounding area in order to detect and map the surface temperature where ice protection is required. The array of fiber optic sensors are also installed beyond the ice protected area extending its area of monitoring for detecting ice runback or ice conditions beyond of the icing protection envelope. The fiber optic sensors can also assist in power management of the ice protection system by monitoring real-time impingement limits of the protected surface. The ice protection system can be operated to adjust heater ON/OFF times or determine which zones are activated based on this feedback. These adjustments can lead to minimizing the ice protection energy usage resulting in fuel savings for conventional aircraft or extended battery life for electric aircraft. The array of fiber optic sensors can be installed in any location of the structure. The array of sensor is not limited to temperature, the sensing elements may include strain gauges for monitoring stress as well as structural or heater failure. The integration of electrical ice protection and PHM with array of fiber optic sensor can be installed in composite or metallic components.

<FIG> depicts a system <NUM> in accordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure. The system <NUM> can include a controller <NUM>. The controller <NUM> includes a processor <NUM> and a memory <NUM> to carry out the operations for the integrated ice protection system with prognostics and health management. It can be appreciated the controller <NUM> can include other components or modules and is not limited by the components shown in <FIG>. In one or more embodiments of the disclosure, the processor <NUM> can include a processor <NUM> of a general-purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus configured to execute instruction via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus.

The controller <NUM> is configured to monitor the surface <NUM> of a structure, such as an aircraft wing. The fiber optic sensors can be coupled to the controller over a plurality of fiber optic cables <NUM>. The temperature of the surface <NUM> can be monitored using fiber optic sensors forming a sensor network <NUM>. In addition, strain gauges can be used to monitor the stress or tension experienced on the surface <NUM>. The fiber optic sensors can receive a light signal that can be converted to a digital signal either in the sensing element or at a remote processing element in the controller. Also, the fiber optic sensors do not require electric power for operation and the fiber optic sensors are not vulnerable to electromagnetic interference. This allows fiber optic sensors to be used in remote spaces without having excess wiring to power the fiber optic sensors.

In one or more embodiments, during installation of the sensors the memory <NUM> of the controller <NUM> can store the address of each of the sensors and related the address with a position/location of the sensor on the surface <NUM> and/or structure. Also, the memory <NUM> of the controller <NUM> can be configured with alarm limits that can be used to trigger an alert that can be transmitted to one or more connected devices.

As shown in <FIG>, the sensor network <NUM> can be arranged in a protected zone <NUM> of the surface <NUM> and non-protected zone <NUM>. In a non-limiting example, the protected zone <NUM> of the fiber optic sensors can be arranged to monitor an area that is within proximity to a heater (not shown) for protecting the aircraft wing, and the non-protected zone <NUM> of the fiber optic sensors can be arranged to monitor the runback of the melted ice.

The sensor network <NUM> can be arranged on the surface of aircraft equipment such as a heat generating equipment for protecting the aircraft and is not limited to the aircraft wing. The heating components of the aircraft can include an electric heater that converts electric energy to heat energy using a heating element. Other heating components can include embedding heating wires on various surfaces of the aircraft. The heating components can include metal heating elements formed of stainless steel, copper, wire, cloth, or other electrically conductive mediums.

In <FIG>, the system <NUM> can include a device <NUM> for communicating with the controller <NUM>. The device <NUM> can include but is not limited to a computer, laptop, user device, aircraft avionics system, or smart device. The controller <NUM> can be operated to communicate or transmit the abnormal readings and/or failure conditions of the surface of the structure or equipment that is being monitored. The abnormal readings can be determined based on comparing the current readings to normal or historical readings. Similarly, the failure conditions can be determined by comparing the current sensor readings to pre-determined or configurable thresholds to determine whether a failure condition exists. For example, real-time temperature readings that exceed a configurable threshold temperature can indicate a failure while increased temperature readings over normal or historical readings can indicate a trend toward the failure.

One or more illustrative embodiments of the disclosure are described herein. Such embodiments are merely illustrative of the scope of this disclosure and are not intended to be limiting in any way. Accordingly, variations, modifications of embodiments disclosed herein are also within the scope of this disclosure, insofar as they fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Now referring to <FIG>, an example arrangement of fiber optic-based sensors positioned on a surface of a portion of an aircraft wing <NUM> is shown. Although a controller, such as controller <NUM> is not shown in <FIG>, it can be appreciated the fiber optic cables <NUM> are coupled to a controller to receive the signals. <FIG> depicts a plurality of temperature sensors <NUM> and a plurality strain gauge sensors <NUM>. Each fiber optic cable <NUM> can include both types of sensors <NUM>, <NUM> which reduces the amount of additional wires that are needed to install the different type of sensors. In one or more embodiments of the disclosure, the plurality of sensors <NUM>, <NUM> is coupled to each fiber optic cable <NUM>, and the individual readings from sensors <NUM>, <NUM> on the same fiber optic cable <NUM> can be processed in by the controller <NUM> in a variety of ways. For example, the controller <NUM> can process each signal from corresponding sensors <NUM>, <NUM> using a known time delay or wavelength. Each of the sensors <NUM>, <NUM> can be associated with a particular location of the aircraft wing <NUM> for mapping. <FIG> illustrates a fixed number of sensors, however, it should be understood that any number of sensors and placement of the sensors can be used. In addition, although the arrangement of fiber optic-based sensors is on a surface of an aircraft wing <NUM>, it can be appreciated the sensors can be placed directly on the equipment for monitoring. In the non-limiting example, the sensors <NUM>, <NUM> can be arranged in a plurality of zones <NUM>-<NUM> of the aircraft can be used for monitoring the various zones.

<FIG> depicts a flowchart of a method <NUM> for performing integrated ice protection solution with prognostics and health management in accordance with examples useful for understanding the invention but not falling under the scope of the claimed invention. The method <NUM> can be implemented in the system such as the system <NUM> shown in <FIG> or other similar type of system. The method <NUM> begins at block <NUM> and continues to block <NUM> which provides for reading signals from each sensor of an array of sensors installed on a surface of a structure, wherein each sensor is a fiber optic sensor. The fiber optic sensors can include temperature sensors and strain sensors (strain gauges). Block <NUM> generates a map based on reading the signal from each sensor, wherein the map monitors a condition of the surface detected by each sensor. In one or more embodiments of the disclosure, the controller <NUM> is configured to internally update the power activation control for the structure or equipment based on sensor feedback or detects abnormal conditions based on signal readings from each sensor. Block <NUM> determines at least one of an abnormal condition or a failure based at least in part on reading the signal from each sensor. Block <NUM> performs at least one of adjusting power control for the structure or equipment or communicating the abnormal condition or failure of the structure or equipment. The method <NUM> ends at block <NUM>.

<FIG> depicts an example of an aircraft that is monitored in accordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure. Although an aircraft is shown, the techniques described herein can be applied to other vehicles and is not limited by the illustration shown in <FIG>.

The technical effects and benefits include generating a temperature map using readings from fiber optic sensors arranged on a surface. The arrangement can expose cold spots during deicing of an aircraft. The technical effects and benefits also include obtaining real-time diagnostic features to improve power management of the system and for performing health management of the aircraft surfaces and equipment.

Claim 1:
A method for operating an integrated ice protection with prognostics and health management comprising:
reading, at a controller, a signal from each sensor of an array of sensors installed on a surface of an aircraft structure beyond the ice protected area and on heating equipment used to heat the aircraft structure, wherein each sensor is a fiber optic sensor;
generating a map based on reading the signal from each sensor, wherein the map monitors a condition of the aircraft surface and the heating equipment detected by each sensor;
determining at least one of an abnormal condition or a failure based at least in part on reading the signal from each sensor; and
adjusting power control for the heating equipment based on the previous step.