The development and testing of a gas turbine engine foreign object damage (FOD) detection system

This paper details the development of a prototype in-flight foreign object damage (FOD) detection system through various stages, resulting in a system capable of detecting objects as small as one gram (1g) mass. The system comprises an eddy current sensor based tip timing system and acoustic emissio...

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Main Authors: Cardwell, D, Chana, K, Gilboy, M
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: 2010
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author Cardwell, D
Chana, K
Gilboy, M
author_facet Cardwell, D
Chana, K
Gilboy, M
author_sort Cardwell, D
collection OXFORD
description This paper details the development of a prototype in-flight foreign object damage (FOD) detection system through various stages, resulting in a system capable of detecting objects as small as one gram (1g) mass. The system comprises an eddy current sensor based tip timing system and acoustic emissions vibration sensors controlled through a digital signal processor (DSP). QinetiQ have developed light weight, contaminationimmune eddy current tip timing sensors for use in engine health management. Engine tests confirmed these sensors' potential for detecting FOD events. FOD detection algorithms were developed and implemented in a prototype DSP that was built and tested on an uninstalled gas turbine engine. The trials showed that the prototype DSP FOD detection system could detect dynamic FOD events at full engine speed. Further work was carried out to enhance the FOD detection system, overcoming limitations in the previous system through the implementation of enhanced algorithms and its extension to accept four eddy current sensor inputs as well as a vibration signal input from an acoustic emissions (AE) sensor. An algorithm that computes engine speed from the tip timing data was also implemented to alleviate the need for a separate 1/rev signal. A number of engine trials were successfully completed in order to validate the system. The speed algorithm has been successfully validated on engine trials and comparisons with a conventional optical based 1/rev showed the DSP-generated 1/rev signals to be almost identical to the conventional system. Typically, the error was in the region of 0.03% speed. The investigations culminated in a test series designed to ascertain the system's sensitivity to foreign object impacts. These demonstrated that the system was capable of detecting objects down to one gram (1g) mass introduced at low speed into the engine intake. Copyright © 2010 by ASME.
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spelling oxford-uuid:4b133c6d-aa6c-474d-8832-691ac7f5608e2022-03-26T15:41:26ZThe development and testing of a gas turbine engine foreign object damage (FOD) detection systemJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:4b133c6d-aa6c-474d-8832-691ac7f5608eEnglishSymplectic Elements at Oxford2010Cardwell, DChana, KGilboy, MThis paper details the development of a prototype in-flight foreign object damage (FOD) detection system through various stages, resulting in a system capable of detecting objects as small as one gram (1g) mass. The system comprises an eddy current sensor based tip timing system and acoustic emissions vibration sensors controlled through a digital signal processor (DSP). QinetiQ have developed light weight, contaminationimmune eddy current tip timing sensors for use in engine health management. Engine tests confirmed these sensors' potential for detecting FOD events. FOD detection algorithms were developed and implemented in a prototype DSP that was built and tested on an uninstalled gas turbine engine. The trials showed that the prototype DSP FOD detection system could detect dynamic FOD events at full engine speed. Further work was carried out to enhance the FOD detection system, overcoming limitations in the previous system through the implementation of enhanced algorithms and its extension to accept four eddy current sensor inputs as well as a vibration signal input from an acoustic emissions (AE) sensor. An algorithm that computes engine speed from the tip timing data was also implemented to alleviate the need for a separate 1/rev signal. A number of engine trials were successfully completed in order to validate the system. The speed algorithm has been successfully validated on engine trials and comparisons with a conventional optical based 1/rev showed the DSP-generated 1/rev signals to be almost identical to the conventional system. Typically, the error was in the region of 0.03% speed. The investigations culminated in a test series designed to ascertain the system's sensitivity to foreign object impacts. These demonstrated that the system was capable of detecting objects down to one gram (1g) mass introduced at low speed into the engine intake. Copyright © 2010 by ASME.
spellingShingle Cardwell, D
Chana, K
Gilboy, M
The development and testing of a gas turbine engine foreign object damage (FOD) detection system
title The development and testing of a gas turbine engine foreign object damage (FOD) detection system
title_full The development and testing of a gas turbine engine foreign object damage (FOD) detection system
title_fullStr The development and testing of a gas turbine engine foreign object damage (FOD) detection system
title_full_unstemmed The development and testing of a gas turbine engine foreign object damage (FOD) detection system
title_short The development and testing of a gas turbine engine foreign object damage (FOD) detection system
title_sort development and testing of a gas turbine engine foreign object damage fod detection system
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