Aircraft performance optimization based on engine performance monitoring

Abstract

A system and method for optimizing performance of an aircraft or boat through detection and trending of engine deterioration based on the performance of the vehicle's gas turbine. The system and method detects declines in engine power due to either of in-transit events or over the extended lifetime of the engine, the declines being due to routine engine part aging or an event. As engine power gradually or suddenly deteriorates, the system and method lowers a maximum operating line which defines the safe limits for peak engine power consumption during flight. For in-transit events, the system and method detects when actual power consumption is approaching the current maximum operating line. The controller may then automate changes to operations of entirely separate aircraft systems, such as rebalancing electrical energy consumption by various non-engine elements of the aircraft.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a digital controller of an aircraft comprising a turbine engine causes the aircraft to execute a method comprising:
 receiving during a flight of the aircraft, at the digital controller, a data from an engine sensor of the turbine engine;   determining at the digital controller, based on the data received from the engine sensor, that a load on the engine exceeds an allowed maximum operating power; and   upon determining that the load on the engine exceeds the allowed maximum operating power, issuing a control command to an aircraft system other than the engine—ASOTE to reduce a power load on the engine.   
     
     
         2 . The computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
 issuing a control command to the ASOTE to reduce, to modify, or to limit an operation of the ASOTE, wherein the reduced, modified, or limited ASOTE operation reduces the electrical load on an electrical power generator which is driven by the engine.   
     
     
         3 . The computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
 issuing a control command to the ASOTE to rebalance an air pressure bleed of the aircraft, wherein the rebalanced air pressure bleed from the aircraft increases an air compression within a compressor of the turbine engine.   
     
     
         4 . The computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises at least one of:
 issuing a control command to limit an operation of a foreign object damage door of the aircraft;   issuing a control command to limit an operation of a cabin passenger support system to rebalance an electrical power requirement of the aircraft; and   issuing a control command to limit an operation of an aviation electronics of the aircraft.   
     
     
         5 . The computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
 modifying the allowed maximum operating power, the modification being responsive to a change in the sensed performance of the engine over a significant engine degradation time.   
     
     
         6 . The computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium of  claim 5 , wherein the method further comprises:
 storing in a memory of the digital controller an operating log of sensed engine performance over the significant engine degradation time;   calculating based on the operating line the allowed maximum operating power.   
     
     
         7 . A computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a digital controller of an aircraft comprising a turbine engine causes the aircraft to execute a method comprising:
 storing in a memory of the digital controller an operating log of sensed engine performance over a significant engine degradation time;   calculating from the operating log a change in the performance of the turbine engine over the significant engine degradation time;   determining an allowed maximum operating power for the turbine engine, the determination being responsive to a change in the sensed performance of the engine over the significant engine degradation time.   
     
     
         8 . The computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium of  claim 7 , wherein the method further comprises:
 storing in the memory of the digital controller at least one of a factory condition operating power for the turbine engine and a new jet aircraft operating power for the turbine engine, and   determining the allowed maximum operating power for the turbine engine based on:
 the at least one of a factory condition operating power for the turbine engine and a new jet aircraft operating power for the turbine engine; and 
 the change in the sensed performance of the turbine engine over the significant engine degradation time. 
   
     
     
         9 . The computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium of  claim 7 , wherein the method further comprises:
 determining the changes in the sensed performance of the turbine engine over the significant engine degradation time based on sensed changes in performance of a compressor of the turbine engine over the significant engine degradation time.   
     
     
         10 . The computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium of  claim 9 , wherein the method further comprises:
 determining the changes in performance of the compressor based on changes in constant efficiency islands of performance on a stall map of the engine compressor performance over time.   
     
     
         11 . The computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium of  claim 9 , wherein the method further comprises:
 determining at the digital controller, based on the sensed data received from the engine sensor during flight, that a load on the turbine engine exceeds an allowed maximum operating power; and   upon determining that the load on the turbine engine exceeds the allowed maximum operating power, issuing a control command to an aircraft system other than the engine—ASOTE to rebalance a power load on the engine.   
     
     
         12 . The computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium of  claim 11 , wherein the method further comprises:
 issuing a control command to the ASOTE to reduce modify or limit an operation of the ASOTE, wherein the modified or limited ASOTE operation rebalance the electrical load on an electrical power generator which is driven by the engine.   
     
     
         13 . A controller for use in an aircraft comprising an aircraft engine with a compressor, the controller comprising:
 a hardware processor configured to:   determine a level of degradation of the aircraft engine over a flight time of the aircraft; and   responsive to the determined degradation of the aircraft engine over the flight time, adaptively rebalance the power requirements of one or more aircraft systems other than the engine—ASOTE to reduce a power load on the engine.   
     
     
         14 . The aircraft controller of  claim 13 , wherein the hardware processor is further configured to modify the designated safety threshold over a significant engine degradation time, the modification being a response to a change in the sensed performance of the turbine engine over the significant engine degradation time. 
     
     
         15 . The aircraft controller of  claim 14 , wherein the hardware processor is further configured to:
 store in a memory of the controller a log of sensed engine performance over the significant engine degradation time;   calculate based on the log of sensed engine performance a maximum transient operating line, wherein the designated safety threshold comprises the maximum transient operating line.   
     
     
         16 . The aircraft controller of  claim 13 , wherein the hardware processor is further configured to:
 receive data from an engine sensor of the engine during flight;   determine based on the data received from the engine sensor a load on the engine;   determine that the load on the engine exceeds a designated safety threshold; and   upon determining that the load on the engine exceeds the designated threshold, issue a control command to the ASOTE to rebalance, reduce, modify, or limit one or more operations of the ASOTE, wherein the rebalanced, reduced, modified, or limited operations of the one or more ASOTE reduces the load on the turbine engine to below the designated safety threshold.   
     
     
         17 . The aircraft controller of  claim 16 , wherein issuing a control command to the ASOTE comprises issuing a command from the controller to reduce an electrical power demand on an electrical power generator which is driven by the turbine engine. 
     
     
         18 . The aircraft controller of  claim 16 , wherein issuing the control command to the ASOTE comprises the controller issuing a command to at least one of:
 reduce a pressure requirement of an aircraft bleed system;   limit an operation of a foreign object damage door of the aircraft;   limit an operation of a cabin passenger support system to rebalance an electrical power requirement of the aircraft; and   limit an operation of an aviation electronics of the aircraft.   
     
     
         19 . The aircraft controller of  claim 16 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
 issue a plurality of control commands to a plurality of ASOTE, wherein the plurality of control commands collectively cause the plurality of ASOTE to reduce a power required of the engine to below the maximum transient operating line.   
     
     
         20 . The aircraft controller of  claim 16 , wherein issuing the control command to the ASOTE comprises the controller issuing a command to modify an aircraft speed or an aircraft angle of ascent or descent to reduce a thrust demand on the engine.