Environmental and chemical contamination has been a serious concern among military and commercial aircraft maintainers. Ingress of contaminants into the structure, occluded areas, and crevices can breakdown protective coatings, initiate localized corrosion, and eventually compromises the functionality or structural integrity of the system, component, or airframe. Leaking or weeping fluid lines or storage tanks within an aircraft can cause standard fluids such as aircraft fuels, hydraulic fluids, or component lubricants to come into contact with sensitive systems or structures. These liquids may cause issues ranging from degradation of polymers and coatings, leaching of corrosion inhibitors from coatings, supporting corrosion, or damaging sensitive electrical and mechanical equipment due to their presence or composition. This paper will discuss an approach for monitoring and evaluating contaminants and leaks that occur within aircraft, in order to address the issue of corrosion related maintenance. A monitoring system is being developed to detect contaminants that may degrade aircraft systems. The contaminant detection system can be mounted within the airframe at low positions, collection points, near critical systems, or sources of concern to detect both the presence and type of contaminants. The monitoring system measures and records environmental parameters such as relative humidity, temperature, surface contaminants, and corrosion rate. The contaminant detection system also measures concentrations of target gases such as SO2, NO2, and hydrocarbons (JP-8 fuel) indicative of the presence of leaks or corrosion inducing conditions within the airframe. The monitoring system has the capability of wirelessly transmitting data to a point maintenance corrosion tool (ICARR-3D) that maps findings and conditions onto three dimensional models of the aircraft. The ICARR-3D maintenance tool was created by Mercer Engineering Research Center (MERC). Sensor node data for a given location within the airframe is sent to the ICARR-3D system along with contaminant severity classification for aircraft maintainers to use in determining the need for inspection or maintenance actions. The ability to identify contaminant exposure within airframes and inform maintenance personnel of leaks, corrosive environments, and chemical contaminants in difficult to access areas will enable condition based maintenance to optimize costs, maintenance man hours, and aircraft availability.
Aircraft contaminant and leak detection sensor system for condition based maintenance
2017-03-01
713410 byte
Conference paper
Electronic Resource
English