Markets > Aerospace

Overview

Acquisition programs are becoming increasingly sensitive to cost, schedule and performance risks. Maintenance efforts involved in corrosion inspection are significant across all branches of the armed forces, costing billions of dollars each year in manpower, equipment, and materials. By incorporating a system capable of identifying exposure to corrosive environments and corrosion of aircraft alloys, significant cost savings can be realized, not only in terms of minimized man-hours expended for inspection, but also in reducing aircraft downtime for scheduled maintenance.

Benefits

For the first time in 2013, the annual cost of corrosion in the United States exceeded $1 trillion dollars. Approximately 80% of these costs are due to corrective maintenance and the remaining 20% due to preventive maintenance. The single greatest cost to preventive maintenance are visual inspections; the majority of these costs are associated with inspections of inaccessible areas of the aircraft. However, cost is not the only driving factor for preventative maintenance. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) policies and regulations require routine inspections for corrosion to ensure public safety, driving the need for solutions that are accurate and cost effective.

Example Application

The uLPR sensor has been flight tested on several commercial and military aircraft. An example of a AN110 DAQ node installed on a military transport aircraft is shown below. Eight uLPR sensors were routed through the floor just underneath the crew door. Sensors were attached to critical areas of the aircraft structure that are difficult to access. After the installation, the sensors were primed and then painted in accordance with applicable technical orders. Data periodically downloaded wirelessly using a laptop during scheduled maintenance periods provides the up-to-date condition of the structure underneath the crew re-entry door preventing the need to remove floor-boards to conduct a visual inspection. The end-result is a reduction of aircraft downtime and labor-costs without sacrificing safety and reliability.

AN110 installed on a military aircraft.