New Technology: Propeller Vibration Trend Monitoring
By Pratt & Whitney Customer Service
New digital propeller vibration trend monitoring systems are changing the game. P&WC's FAST™ solution (Flight Acquisition, Storage, and Transmission), for instance, makes propeller balancing much simpler and more accurate.
The heart of this propeller vibration monitoring technology is an ultra-sensitive accelerometer installed on the engine’s gearbox, which has a sampling rate of around 2,000 times per second. A small processor converts the data into an inches-per-second value. This is sent wirelessly to a data center for analysis and shared electronically with you moments after landing. You can gauge changes in vibrations on a flight-by-flight basis with more precision than ever before.
Your aircraft’s propeller is an integral part of your powerplant. Whether you’re an operator striving to improve passenger comfort or a medical mission pilot aiming to keep patients stable, you want to minimize aircraft vibrations caused by your propeller. Advanced technology being developed by P&WC makes this task easier than ever.
Propellor Balancing: an Inexact Science
As discussed in more depth in our article Propeller Balancing For Your PW100 Engine, your propeller should be checked on a regular basis to make sure it is not vibrating too much. This is not an exact science because currently there is no recurrent visibility on your vibration levels without a scheduled maintenance activity.
Propeller Rebalancing Maintenance-Intensive
Rebalancing your propeller is a maintenance- and time-intensive task. The job has to be done on the ground with specialized equipment that not all operators may have on hand. You don’t want to do it any more than necessary. New monitoring technology will help.
This technology takes away the guesswork. You’ll know precisely if your propeller’s vibrations exceed your defined comfort threshold. This monitoring system will reduce your workload and costs and increase your aircraft’s availability by allowing you to plan your maintenance. It will also make flights more comfortable for everyone aboard.
Greater Certainty and Comfort
There’s no more guesswork with this technology. You’ll know exactly if your propeller’s vibrations exceed your defined comfort threshold. This monitoring system will reduce your workload and costs and increase your aircraft’s availability by allowing you to plan your maintenance. It also makes flights more comfortable for all aboard.
Proactive Propeller Vibration Monitoring
Propeller vibration trending technology is already available for P&WC-powered ATR and Bombardier Q400 aircraft. It will be rolled out to more platforms in 2018. The next phase will provide a remote balancing solution to further automate the process. To learn more, contact one of our Diagnostics, Prognostics and Health Management Solutions team members.
