General HUMS Overview
Jason Alamond
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About Me
1993 United States Marine Corps
- Dynamic Component Overhaul
- Quality Control
1997 Era Helicopters
- Dynamic Component Overhaul
- Quality Control
- HUMS
- HUMS/FOQA
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• Approximately 177 helicopters suppor1ng oil and gas, air medical, search‐and‐
rescue (SAR), and firefigh<ng ac1vi1es or under long term leases
• 785 employees, including 269 pilots and 232 mechanics
•*As of June 30, 2008
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2012 Footprint
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Canada
Norway
2 2 2
UK Sweden
134
17 China
United States
Spain
1 Trinidad 2
2
08 India
Mexico
2
Brazil** Indonesia
Australia
Aircraft in Region (# of aircraft) Training Center Joint Ventures
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4
Helicopter Fleet
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Current HUMS Equipped
AW-139 22
S-76C++ 5
EC-135 4
EC-225 6
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HUMS
• Health monitoring has been defined as the “means by which selected
incipient failures or degradation can be determined’
• Usage monitoring has been defined as the “means by which selected
aspects of service history can be determined’
•AC 27-1B
•AC 29-2C
•JAR-OPS 3
•CAP 693
•CAP 753
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Vibration Analysis
Vibration analysis is a high-level reasoning process that requires training
well beyond the scope of this presentation
Subtle changes in vibration are recorded in flight, visualized on the HUMS
Ground Station computer, and evaluated by technicians
Alerts will signal the user to potential problems on board, to include the
monitoring of rotor track and balance
Acronym Jungle!
MAU, DAU, CDU/DTU, ICP, MFDAU, HTA, DTD, HGS,
OBSC, EUTD, SBIT, IBIT, TUM, SUM, VMS, FFT, VPU….????
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Some sources of vibration
Mass unbalance Interference
Misalignment Friction
Eccentricity Gear contact
Distortion Resonance
Looseness Aerodynamic forces
Wear Operational circumstances
What’s happening behind the controls?
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Some Effects of vibration
Sustained levels of excessive vibration can cause damage to structures,
components, and also personnel
Fatigue cracks
Component or structural failures
Accelerated component wear
Increased unscheduled removals
Fretting and chaffing
Corrosion and looseness at riveted joints
Electrical Component failures
Passenger and crew discomfort and fatigue
Bad ride, excessive noise in cabin
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Types of Maintenance
Breakdown - Allowing machines to fail before maintenance action is
taken
High cost, unpredictable downtime, overtime labor
Preventative - Based on the logic that the probability of failure
increases with the life of the machine, so we perform maintenance
before it needs it in an effort to prevent failure
The challenge is accurately estimating life – risk against cost
Predictive – The machine is monitored for warning signs and, when
observed, maintenance is planned before the risk is too high
Considerable start-up cost, but many advantages
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Why?
Enhance Overall Safety
Increase operational readiness & reduce maintenance costs by early
detection of potential failures
Monitoring of drive train components and rotor track and balance
Reduction of overall airframe vibration levels will contribute to:
• Preventing secondary damage to adjacent components
• Minimizing crew fatigue
• Reducing the frequency of avionics failures
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What Type?
Carry-on
- Low cost compared to on-board systems
- Increased workload for Maintenance Personnel
- Scheduled checks only
- Increased wear on accelerometers
On-Board
- More expensive
- Continuous Monitoring
Main Rotor 1per rev, water intrusion (rain) Replaced suspect blade
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Equipment
Airborne system (records vibration data)
Data Transfer (from aircraft to Ground Station)
Ground Station (computer used to view and analyze data)
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Trends
Steady (No fault)
Increasing Trend (Wear)
Step change (Maintenance, Mechanical)
Erratic (Sensor, Mounting)
Spike (Bad Measurement)
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Thresholds
(Limits set in order to quantify the degree of possible degradation)
With them, we have the ability to generate alerts
Without them we must manually detect change, patterns
• Fixed – predetermined, often calculated based on data averaged from
the operation of “healthy” components
• Learned – although a hard limit is preset, the system will calculate and
set a threshold based on data from a set running period (25fh)
• Advisory/Caution / Warning – severity levels of alerts, often color
coded
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Diagnosis?
A threshold exceedence does not necessarily mean damage.
Interpretation by a HUMS Engineer is required
Is data valid? Can I view the component from another sensor?
Do adjacent components confirm heightened readings?
Do I have additional supporting evidence?
Based on documentation & experience, what is the best corrective action?
For sound decision making, consider the following:
– Training / Experience
– Technical Documentation (OEM Manuals)
– Skilled support team
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Application?
Vibration indications often appear before defects can be detected by
traditional means. This can serve as a guard against “substandard”
components, possibly prompting investigations into particular batch
numbers from production
It is a tool that can detect flaws outside of the normal scheduled inspection
intervals. This will enhance mechanical integrity by complimenting the
numerous prescribed inspections, maintenance actions, and service limits in
the aircraft’s maintenance manuals
This function helps to guard against a failure of maintenance procedures,
continually monitoring for patterns that would justify procedural alterations
When properly utilized, HUMS will enhance the margin of safety and availability
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Process
To be effective, HUMS should be an interactive data exchange where
maintenance records, pilot & mechanic discrepancies, vibration
readings, oil analysis, visual verification, etc. are collectively utilized in
order to come to an accurate conclusion and recommend appropriate
corrective action
• We must identify, investigate, and communicate each discrepancy
• Acknowledge action taken, monitor change, and provide feedback
• Log case histories for reporting purposes and to aid with future analysis
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Training
OEM’s offer training with the purchase of the systems
- Basic operation & maintenance
- Rotor Track and Balance
- Basic fault isolation and interpretation
Several courses are available today for more advanced diagnostics
Depending on its size and scope, developing in-house courseware may
be appropriate for your operation
"Knowledge becomes power only when we put it into use"
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Information Technology
Configure computers to function properly depending on specific system
requirements and operating locations
Maintain / improve network connectivity between bases and
headquarters
Troubleshoot software compatibility issues
Manage data integrity and security, login profiles, and user permissions
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Field Technicians
Will extract data, upload & download
Perform Rotor Track and Balance
Troubleshoot system faults and vibration alerts
Must have a general understanding of analysis in order to effectively
review the daily data and take appropriate action (first line of defense)
Their eyes, ears, and communication skills are
key to the HUMS team
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HUMS Specialist
Provide support to field technicians
Data processing and management
Interpret fault codes
Analyze data, identify patterns, provide solutions
Catalogue daily activities for reliability reporting
Meticulous analytical individual, essential to the program
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Manager
Provides / coordinates support for technicians in all aspects of the
systems that are utilized within the company
Develops and enforces procedures. Findings should contribute to
improvements in the company’s maintenance programs
Monitors the efficiency of HUMS technicians and provide or arrange
training when necessary
Performs data checks to ensure that it is being properly captured,
systems are fully functional, alerts are properly identified, and that the
flight plan is compatible with system
Tests new software, provides feedback to OEM for improvement
Monitors fleet trending, compiles case histories, reports findings
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Support
Most OEM’s will offer varied levels of support
- General troubleshooting
- Threshold evaluation / adjustments
- System software support / updates
- Advanced analysis and diagnostics
- On site assistance
- Complete data management (reports generated, e-mail notifications)
It is crucial to have access to OEM engineers and analysts when your
internal resources have been exhausted
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New Developments
Automated data analytics and pattern recognition
• CI’s from the normal HGS are viewed individually, and investigated by an
experienced analyst
• New technology uses “groups” of related indicators to better determine
which are false alerts, which appear to be true defects. In addition to CI
limits, abnormal changes in trend data are also monitored
• This type of secondary monitoring could help to greatly enhance our
accuracy and capabilities – especially that of less experienced analytical
teams
• Multiple OEM’s working on the technology
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Facts
• Era’s HUMS Case Histories have been recorded from inception to present.
They represent alerts that resulted in physical action being taken in order to
correct a discrepancy. Not only do they help to identify trends, but also
serve as a reference, or “knowledge base”, to aid with future cases
• As our experience with the systems grow, what we have learned to identify
and trend has greatly improved
• Less than 5% of HUMS tracked issues resulted in an AOG situation. All
others were scheduled in a manner allow parts to arrive and cost little or
no additional downtime
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Thank You!
[email protected]
Questions?
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