US 11,988,105 B2
Acoustical health monitoring for turbomachinery
Kent E. Karnofski, Seattle, WA (US); Ariel F. Irizarry, Seattle, WA (US); R. Eugene Iverson, Seattle, WA (US); and Franz D. Betz, Renton, WA (US)
Assigned to THE BOEING COMPANY, Chicago, IL (US)
Filed by The Boeing Company, Chicago, IL (US)
Filed on Jun. 28, 2019, as Appl. No. 16/456,185.
Prior Publication US 2020/0408106 A1, Dec. 31, 2020
Int. Cl. B60W 10/30 (2006.01); B64D 31/00 (2006.01); F01D 23/00 (2006.01); F01D 25/04 (2006.01); B64D 33/02 (2006.01); B64D 45/00 (2006.01)
CPC F01D 25/04 (2013.01) [B60W 10/30 (2013.01); B64D 31/00 (2013.01); F01D 23/00 (2013.01); B60W 2510/30 (2013.01); B64D 2033/0213 (2013.01); B64D 2045/0085 (2013.01)] 22 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system, comprising:
a plurality of acoustic sensors outputting signals in response to acoustic waves transmitted to the acoustic sensors from a plurality of distinct engine subsystems of an engine when the distinct engine subsystems are acoustically coupled to the acoustic sensors; and
wherein the signals comprise information used to monitor a health status of each of the distinct engine subsystems,
the engine comprises a gas turbine engine for propelling an aircraft or an auxiliary power unit for the aircraft;
the distinct engine subsystems comprise components;
the acoustic sensors are distributed on or around the engine so as to receive the acoustic waves from the distinct engine subsystems in different zones of the engine, so that one or more sources of the acoustic waves in the distinct engine subsystems can be determined; and
a computer connected to the acoustic sensors, wherein the computer:
localizes one of the sources of the acoustic waves using a sound source localization method;
monitors at least one characteristic of the acoustic waves selected from one or more frequencies of the acoustic waves and one or more amplitudes of the acoustic waves from the one of the sources localized using the sound source localization method, and
uses a change in the at least one characteristic to determine the health status of at least one of the components located at the one of the sources.