| CPC F02C 7/047 (2013.01) [G01V 3/088 (2013.01); F05D 2270/313 (2013.01)] | 12 Claims |
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1. A system comprising:
a gas turbine engine including an inlet configured to ingest air and generate thrust to power an aircraft;
an altitude sensor configured to measure an altitude of the aircraft;
an electrostatic charge sensor inlet debris monitoring system configured to detect particulates entering the inlet; and
a precipitation monitoring controller in signal communication with the inlet debris monitoring system and the altitude sensor, the precipitation monitoring controller configured to determine a presence of sea spray based on the altitude and the presence of precipitation based on an amount of particulates entering the inlet,
wherein the precipitation monitoring controller detects an ingestion of salt into the gas turbine engine in response to detecting a presence of both the sea spray and the amount of particulates entering the inlet,
wherein the presence of sea spray is determined based on a sea spray envelope stored in the precipitation monitoring controller which defines an altitude range associated with the sea spray, and wherein the controller determines the presence of sea spray when the altitude is within the altitude range,
wherein the inlet debris monitoring system includes at least one electrostatic ring sensor in signal communication with the precipitation monitoring controller and configured to generate an electrostatic field having a charge intensity, and wherein the precipitation monitoring controller determines the amount of particulates entering the gas turbine engine based on the charge intensity of the electrostatic field, and
wherein the precipitation monitoring controller monitors the altitude while monitoring the charge intensity of the electrostatic field and generates an alert indicating a presence of salt contamination conditions when the altitude approaches sea level and in response to detecting an increase in the charge intensity that lasts for a duration of time and in response to the time duration during which the increase that occurs exceeds a time threshold,
determines a magnitude of salt ingestion into the engine by correlating a level of precipitation contributed by the presence of sea spray to the charge intensity of the electrostatic field,
wherein the precipitation monitoring controller compares the charge intensity to a charge intensity threshold, and determines the presence of precipitation containing the salt in response to the charge intensity meeting or exceeding the charge intensity threshold, and
wherein the precipitation monitoring controller estimates an amount of the salt accrued in the engine based on the charge intensity and the duration of the increase in the charge intensity, and generates an alert to perform the salt removal maintenance service when the estimated amount of the salt accrued in the engine exceeds an accrued salt threshold.
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