Patent Application
20210107680
This application claims the benefit of Indian Patent Application No. 201911041773 filed Oct. 15, 2019, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The present invention generally relates to aircraft maintenance, and more specifically, to overheat detector event visualization.
The architecture of aircraft are evolving based on application needs, customer needs, market segments and the availability of advanced technologies. In the process there are attempts to make aircraft more intelligent, more electrical and more data driven. Considering the cost of an aircraft design life cycle and operations, having a modular and re-usable architecture while still maintaining robustness and reliability of the design can be a challenge.
Continuous fire detectors (CFD) which are a part of over heat detection system (OHDS) are installed on aircraft to detect overheat/hot air leak events. The OHDS detects and localizes an ambient overheat in the vicinity of any hot air ducts which run throughout the engine pylons, wings, fuselage, and the belling fairing of an aircraft. Based on safety requirements, CFDs provide more coverage of a fire hazard area than any type of spot type temperature detector. For redundancy purposes, two sensing elements typically run in parallel in the CFD system.
Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to system. A non-limiting example of the system includes a processor communicatively coupled to a memory, the processor configured to perform receiving fault data associated with an aircraft, the fault data comprising an error message for the aircraft, determining a location on the aircraft associated with the error message based on one or more lookup tables associated with the aircraft, and providing an indication of the location to a user.
Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to a method for aircraft event visualization. A non-limiting example of the method includes receiving fault data associated with an aircraft, the fault data comprising an error message for the aircraft, determining a location on the aircraft associated with the error message based on one or more lookup tables associated with the aircraft, and providing an indication of the location to a user.
Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to a computer program product for aircraft event visualization. A non-limiting examiner of the computer program product includes a non-transitory computer readable medium with instruction embedded therein, the instructions operable to cause a processor to perform receiving fault data associated with an aircraft, the fault data comprising an error message for the aircraft, determining a location on the aircraft associated with the error message based on one or more lookup tables associated with the aircraft, and providing an indication of the location to a user.
Additional technical features and benefits are realized through the techniques of the present invention. Embodiments and aspects of the invention are described in detail herein and are considered a part of the claimed subject matter. For a better understanding, refer to the detailed description and to the drawings.
The specifics of the exclusive rights described herein are particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion of the specification. The foregoing and other features and advantages of the embodiments of the invention are apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
The diagrams depicted herein are illustrative. There can be many variations to the diagram or the operations described therein without departing from the spirit of the invention. For instance, the actions can be performed in a differing order or actions can be added, deleted or modified. Also, the term “coupled” and variations thereof describes having a communications path between two elements and does not imply a direct connection between the elements with no intervening elements/connections between them. All of these variations are considered a part of the specification.
Various embodiments of the invention are described herein with reference to the related drawings. Alternative embodiments of the invention can be devised without departing from the scope of this invention. Various connections and positional relationships (e.g., over, below, adjacent, etc.) are set forth between elements in the following description and in the drawings. These connections and/or positional relationships, unless specified otherwise, can be direct or indirect, and the present invention is not intended to be limiting in this respect. Accordingly, a coupling of entities can refer to either a direct or an indirect coupling, and a positional relationship between entities can be a direct or indirect positional relationship. Moreover, the various tasks and process steps described herein can be incorporated into a more comprehensive procedure or process having additional steps or functionality not described in detail herein.
The following definitions and abbreviations are to be used for the interpretation of the claims and the specification. As used herein, the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,” “including,” “has,” “having,” “contains” or “containing,” or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a composition, a mixture, process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to only those elements but can include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such composition, mixture, process, method, article, or apparatus.
Additionally, the term “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance or illustration.” Any embodiment or design described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. The terms “at least one” and “one or more” may be understood to include any integer number greater than or equal to one, i.e. one, two, three, four, etc. The terms “a plurality” may be understood to include any integer number greater than or equal to two, i.e. two, three, four, five, etc. The term “connection” may include both an indirect “connection” and a direct “connection.”
For the sake of brevity, conventional techniques related to making and using aspects of the invention may or may not be described in detail herein. In particular, various aspects of computing systems and specific computer programs to implement the various technical features described herein are well known. Accordingly, in the interest of brevity, many conventional implementation details are only mentioned briefly herein or are omitted entirely without providing the well-known system and/or process details.
Referring now to the figures,
Turning now to an overview of technologies that are more specifically relevant to aspects of the invention, continuous fire detectors (CFD) which are a part of overheat detection system (OHDS) 250 can be installed on aircraft (for example, aircraft 2) to detect overheat/hot air leak events. The OHDS detects and localizes an ambient overheat near any hot air ducts which run throughout the engine pylons, wings, fuselage, and the belling fairing of an aircraft. Based on safety requirements, CFDs provide more coverage of a fire hazard area than any type of spot type temperature detector. For redundancy purposes, two sensing elements typically run in parallel in the CFD system. A primary purpose of the detection monitoring system is to prevent any damage to structural and system components, which could result from duct leak or rupture. In addition, secondary functions include identifying the location of the overheat event as a troubleshooting aid. The purpose of this localization function is to provide maintenance personnel with a general area to focus troubleshooting efforts, saving both time and effort in restoring the OHDS functionality.
In typical systems, whenever there is an overheat/short event occurring in an aircraft, the localization value and the fault message are recorded in the electronic centralized aircraft monitor (ECAM). An ECAM is a system that monitors aircraft functions and relays them to the pilots. It also produces messages detailing failures and in certain cases, lists procedures to undertake to correct the problem.
The above-described aspects of the invention address the shortcomings of the prior art by providing a three-dimensional (3D) visualization tool with augmented reality which takes an error massage as an input and graphically displays where in an aircraft the identified error is located. The 3D visualization tool can receive an error massage as an input and once a user (e.g., maintenance crew) enters the error message into the tool, the tool will graphically display where in the aircraft the identified error has occurred. Once the error location is identified by the user, the tool can further identify the relevant aircraft element or component that requires the maintenance. The visualization tool also suggests tool kits or equipment required to perform the maintenance activity. This can be done utilizing a user device with a display and camera. The camera can record video data and/or image data and display on the user device. The visualization tool can overlay an augmented reality cue or indication on the display over the video or images to show the exact location and component that requires the maintenance. In addition, the tool can suggest certain maintenance operations to be performed on the component that requires maintenance based on the images of the component taken by the camera on the user device.
In one or more embodiments, the OHDS can utilize optical fire detectors to detect fire and overheat events on an aircraft. Optical Fire Detectors are another type of fire/overheat detector which work on the principle of Fiber Bragg grating. Optical fire detectors are also used to event locate the overheat occurrence in the installed location similar to the OHDS. In some embodiments, the visualization system 200 can be extended to optical fire detectors.
In one or more embodiments, the user device 308 includes a camera. The camera can be utilized to collect video and images of the candidate repair location on the aircraft. The images and video can be displayed on the user device 308 through a display. In one or more embodiments, the visualization controller 302 can overlay certain augmented reality cues on the images or video displayed on the user device 308 to guide the user to different candidate repair items shown on the display of the user device 308.
The camera can be any type of camera such as, for example, digital, infrared, and the like. The camera can capture media associated with the repair item such as images (or series of images) of the repair item, video of the repair item as it is being operated or as a user is manipulating the repair item or images of various components of the repair item. Using an image recognition 306, the visualization controller 302 can analyze the media captured by the camera to assist in identifying the repair item and potentially the cause of the malfunction of the repair item. Also, a repair methodology or operation can be determined using both the media and the any additional data obtained from a network and/or stored locally on the system 300 (e.g., the lookup table database 320).
In one or more embodiments, the camera can capture an image, a series of images, and/or video of various components for a repair item. The message input 304 can assist with determining the potential candidate repair location. Once the repair location and candidate repair items are determined, the visualization controller 302 can access data associated with the candidate repair items through accessing a network and server such as a manufacturer server or maintenance server. For example, for an electrical issue with an aircraft item, a manufacturer server can store images or videos of certain components that are working within normal tolerances. These images can be utilized as reference images for comparison to any candidate repair components of the aircraft. While analyzing the message input 304, the visualization controller 302 can identify candidate repair components that could be causing the overheat/short event for the aircraft. The camera can capture images of the candidate repair components and the visualization controller 302 and image recognition engine 306 can compare these images to the reference images (e.g., historical images) using image analyzation techniques, to determine any changes between the reference images and the images of the candidate repair components. A comparison score can be obtained based on the changes between the images. This may be performed by comparing pixel values at the same locations in the candidate repair component image and the reference image, or by any other known image comparison tool. A difference in pixel value at one location in the candidate repair component image and the reference image indicates a change between the candidate repair component image and the reference image. The absolute values of all the pixel differences between candidate repair component image and the reference image may then be summed to generate a comparison score. The pixel comparisons may be made, for example, based on a change in color, change in brightness, etc. In one or more embodiments, if the comparison score exceeds a threshold value, the visualization controller 302 can determine that the candidate repair component is causing the overheat/short event. The visualization controller 302 can search the network, for example, to obtain a repair method for repairing the candidate repair component. The repair method steps can be overlaid on the display of the user device 308 providing step by step instructions for any repairs.
In one or more embodiments, the display on the user device 308 can be further utilized to overlay augmented reality cues on images or video displayed on the user device 308. These augmented reality cues can assist with guiding a user to the candidate repair item at the candidate repair location on the aircraft. This can be performed in one or more steps to display multiple views of the aircraft guiding the user to the candidate location on the aircraft. For example, a first view can show the entire aircraft with an augmented reality cue indicating a broader location. For example, a top down view of the aircraft can be shown on the display of the user device 308 with a wing having an augmented reality cue indicating that the aircraft wing on the left hand side is the location of the candidate repair. As the user device 308 is moved closer to the wing, the display can then indicate smaller compartment, such as, hatches or panels with augmented reality cues overlaid indicating which hatch or panel to remove to access the interior components of the wing. When the candidate location within the aircraft is reached, the user can obtain images or video of the candidate location and the visualization controller 302 overlays the augmented reality cues to indicate the location of a specific repair component or item that needs either repair or replacement based on the message input 304.
In one or more embodiments, the user device 402 can utilize the display 406 to display images of the aircraft received from a server or stored on the user device 402. The display can display, for example, components 420a-420f of the aircraft. The images of the components 420a-420f can be taken in real time from images or video of the camera 408. Based on the processing described above, the visualization controller 302 (from
Additional processes may also be included. It should be understood that the processes depicted in
The term “about” is intended to include the degree of error associated with measurement of the particular quantity based upon the equipment available at the time of filing the application. For example, “about” can include a range of ±8% or 5%, or 2% of a given value.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the present disclosure. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, element components, and/or groups thereof.
While the present disclosure has been described with reference to an exemplary embodiment or embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the present disclosure without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the present disclosure not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this present disclosure, but that the present disclosure will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 201911041773 | Oct 2019 | IN | national |
