Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02592525 2015-08-24
WARRANTY CLAIM REPORT GENERATING SYSTEM FOR AIRCRAFT
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present disclosure relates to an automatic
warranty report generating system for aircraft.
BACKGROUND
In the aircraft industry, onboard engine performance
monitoring equipment is used to record engine and aircraft
performance data and to detect defects or the need for routine
engine maintenance. The onboard systems are used to generate
"fault codes" representing symptoms of engine and/or
performance problems. Ground maintenance personnel use the
fault codes to direct maintenance efforts using maintenance
manuals that provide suggestions for appropriate actions or
responses to each fault code. The maintenance log is updated by
ground personnel after carrying out the appropriate actions. If
a part is replaced, and the part is under warranty, a form is
filled out to request compensation from the engine manufacturer
for the part and possibly the cost of the labor. The warranty
claim is processed by the manufacturer of the engine. Data on
the history of the engine repair as well as hours logged are
consulted to assess the claim.
The prior art maintenance control systems are awkward
and inefficient to use, in that the fault codes, maintenance
manuals and warranty claim application systems are not
integrated, and the maintenance personnel is responsible for
transferring information between the various systems. The
warranty claim validation process,
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as known in the art, is also hampered by an overburden of
unacceptable or improperly substantiated claims, and by a
lack of the engine performance data in the warranty claim
application to be able to assess properly the claim.
SUMMARY
According to one aspect of the disclosure, there is
provided an aircraft maintenance control system comprising: a
data store of engine performance data including engine fault
code data, said engine performance data being obtained from an
aircraft onboard engine performance monitoring and recording
system; a maintenance and repair information display system for
displaying maintenance information in response to fault codes;
and a maintenance action controller connected to said data
store for causing said information display system to display
maintenance information for all fault codes in said fault code
data and for producing an output signal indicative of
completion of displaying said maintenance information for all
said fault codes in said fault code data, whereby said display
system is controlled to display said maintenance information
for all fault codes obtained from said aircraft.
According to yet another aspect of the disclosure
there is provided an aircraft maintenance control system
comprising: a data store of engine performance data including
engine fault code data, said engine performance data being
obtained from an aircraft onboard engine performance monitoring
and recording system; a display system for displaying fault
codes from said fault code data; user action confirmation means
for recording, in a maintenance action log, an action taken by
a user in response to said fault codes; and control means for
prompting said user to enter an action taken for all said fault
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codes and for generating an output signal indicative of
completion of recordal of said action for all said fault codes,
whereby said display system is controlled to display said
maintenance information for all fault codes obtained from said
aircraft.
It is yet a further object of the present disclosure
to provide a maintenance control system for use with aircraft
engines which automatically generates a warranty claim
application based on data available from maintenance records.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will be better understood by way of the
following detailed description of a preferred embodiment with
reference to the appended drawings, in which:
Figure 1 is a schematic block diagram of the
maintenance control system for use with aircraft engines
according to the preferred embodiment including user
maintenance action confirmation and automatic control of fault
code diagnostic and response;
Figure 2 is a schematic block diagram of the
maintenance control system for use with aircraft engines
according to the preferred embodiment including automatic
warranty claim application generation; and
Figure 3 is a flow chart of the maintenance manual
fault code analysis and display method according to the
preferred embodiment.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
It is an object of the present disclosure to
provide a maintenance control system for use with aircraft
engines which provides engine maintenance information
automatically from fault code data received from an onboard
engine performance monitoring computer. According to another
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object of the disclosure, the maintenance information may be
provided by a multi-media repair guide electronically linked
to the control system. The multi-media repair guide system
may comprise the actual engine or aircraft maintenance
electronic manual (on CD-ROM or the like) to avoid duplication
and the need for synchronization of the same information in
this integrated scheme. The maintenance CD-ROM guide can be
of multi-media type that includes text, graphics, audio
video clips and should provide hot-links to different
related sections to allow direct access to the needed
information.
It is a further object of the present disclosure to
provide a maintenance control system for use with aircraft
engines which automatically ensures that all fault codes
are responded to, i.e. that maintenance personnel carry
out the appropriate maintenance actions in response to each
and every fault code, with a view to improve quality
assurance of maintenance.
It is another object of the present disclosure to
provide a maintenance control system for use with aircraft
engines which automatically records maintenance actions of
maintenance personnel for the purposes of validating and/or
generating warranty claim applications.
As illustrated in Figure 1, the maintenance control
system has a fault code store 10 and an engine operation data
store 12. The data stores 10 and 12 are obtained from onboard
recorders as is known in the art.
The fault code store 10
contains all of the fault codes accumulated since the last
maintenance servicing of the aircraft engine. The engine
operation data 2 contains recorded values from the operation of
the engine and aircraft as recorded by the onboard data
recorder since the last servicing of the engine, and the engine
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operation data may also contain historical data
concerning past engine use and maintenance.
At the onset of maintenance using the ground-
based system according to the invention, data from the
aircraft data recorder 11 is compiled into a standard
format data file by a transfer module 19 for use with the
present invention. The use of the standard file format
allows different engine/aircraft models to be handled in
the same system. The conversion is done by the download
utility that can be engine specific as well as by the
recorder itself. The fault code store 10 and the engine
operation data 12 may be integrated into the same data
store as part of the same database. The exact inventory
of all parts to be tracked in an engine is stored in the
database. The
database is also managed to reflect
changes made in the parts installed in the engine so that
monitoring of such tracked parts can be carried out even
if parts are switched between engines. The database
configuration will allow the calculation of the
operational data (hours, cycles) of the related parts and
components from the aircraft/engine data. The modules in
the system are linked with the database via ODBC (Open
DataBase Connectivity) so that different types of
databases can be used without modifying the software.
The maintenance action controller 15 reads the fault
codes from the fault code store 10. The maintenance
action controller 15 may review all fault codes in order
to determine the most efficient order in which the fault
codes are to be handled. Additionally, the maintenance
action controller 15 may allow the user to view a list of
the fault codes and select the fault codes to be acted on
in a sequence or priority determined by the user. The
maintenance action controller 15 ensures that each and
every fault code is acted on or dispositioned.
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The controller 15 in the preferred embodiment
reads the data stored in the engine operation data store
12 to determine if additional fault codes representing
routine checks and inspections or replacements should be
created. Such fault codes are, in a way, maintenance
flags generated by the ground system and by not the
onboard systems. Such fault codes can be added to the
store of fault codes 10 by controller 15.
For each fault code to
be acted on, the
maintenance action controller 15 outputs a fault code
value to the fault diagnostic module 17. The diagnostic
module 17 obtains the appropriate diagnostic and response
information from a repair maintenance manual store 14 for
the particular engine, and outputs information concerning
the diagnosis of the fault and the appropriate response
in a fault response help display 16. In the preferred
embodiment, .the repair maintenance manual store 14 and
the fault response help display 16 are integrated into
the same device, namely the repair maintenance manual is
provided on a CD-ROM in HTML/SGML format, and the display
16 is provided by an HTML/SGML browser program running on
a general purpose personal computer. Of course, other
forms of electronic media and browsable file format may
be suitable. The
use of HTML allows the
maintenance/repair manual to be accessed via the Intranet
or Internet environment, if the access speed is adequate.
The fault diagnostic module 17 may initiate the execution
of the CD-ROM browser by giving it a parameter for the
specified page address for the fault code. This may be
done by appending the appropriate prefix and suffix code
to the actual fault code or the fault code may be
translated using a table into a help page address for the
HTML format repair manual 14 and the CD-ROM browser must
allow passing of the CD-ROM index (anchor name) as an
argument in the calling procedure. The prefix and suffix
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conventions and the browser names/locations can be
different from one engine model to another. They will be
defined in a setup option of the Fault Diagnostic Module
(FMD). For the same engine model the prefix and suffix
can be different from one range of fault codes to another
range. The use of conventions and setup options allow
adding new fault code diagnostics in the repair manual
without changing the FMD software itself. It also allows
the FMD to handle different engine/aircraft models in the
same system.
A particular fault code may require selection
of one out of a number of possible responses. The user
therefore has a certain number of options in browsing the
repair manual help text in order to locate the
appropriate response description for the fault code. For
example, the user may be requested to obtain further
data, measure a particular parameter or test a particular
component on the engine in order to confirm whether a
particular action is appropriate. In the preferred
embodiment, each action undertaken by the user is
confirmed to the maintenance action controller 15, and
the user inputs confirmation of his action using
interface 18. The fault diagnostic module 17 reports back
to the maintenance action controller 15 that the fault
code has been addressed along with data on all of the
users confirmed actions in response to the fault code.
After carrying out the diagnostic instructions related to
a fault code or a combination of fault codes, the user
returns to controller 15 and confirms that the fault code
has been acted upon by selecting the "DONE" button on the
GUI. The controller will request the user to log the
maintenance actions. A
tailored list of standard
maintenance actions (tasks) in response to the particular
fault code is used to facilitate the logging. The user,
however, can enter his own action if it is not on the
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list. If the maintenance action involves
removing/replacing a part, the controller will request
for additional information:
= reason for removal (also can be selected from a
standard list for the particular fault code);
= event that triggered the removal (such as in-flight
shut down (I.F.S.D.) induced or scheduled event);
= disposition of the part, such as discard, retained
pending warranty disposition, modified, inventory, or
repair If it is sent to a repair shop, the shipping
destination is also requested.
The controller will then generate a removal record that
also contains the operational data (cycles/hours flown)
related to the part and the engine. This record will be
stored in the database for further use in the tracking
and warranty process. It may optionally be printed out
on a form or traveler to physically accompany the part.
Controller 15 ensures that all fault codes are responded
to before confirming that the ground-based maintenance is
complete.
When all of the fault codes have been responded
to, the maintenance of the engine is complete. The
maintenance action controller 15 outputs engine use and
maintenance data to a maintenance action log 20. The
Maintenance Action Log compiles relevant data, including
the date stamp, task number and/or description, hours
spent, reason for the action and/or fault code(s),
operational data of the engine when the action is done.
The maintenance action log 20 provides a complete picture
of the status of the maintenance of the engine including
what actions maintenance personnel undertook in response
to the fault codes generated by the onboard engine
monitoring systems.
With reference to Figure 2, the automatic
warranty claim report generator will be described. A
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warranty action discriminator 22 reads the list of all
maintenance actions from the maintenance action log 20 or
responds to a user selection from the list. The
discriminator 22 checks each action against a list of
actions potentially covered by the engine's warranty
policy contained in a data store 24 to compile a list of
warranty actions to be validated. For each engine model,
a list of warranty parts/services are defined in the
database. A warranty action may be an engine part which
is replaced under warranty, or the warranty action may be
a service action not involving the replacement of a part.
A validator 26 analyses each of the warranty
actions to determine whether the warranty action is
properly covered by the terms of the warranty policy or
contract for the particular engine. The validator 26
determines what conditions must be met for a warranty
action to be covered by the warranty from an warranty
conditions data store 28. The "Warranty Condition" data
store will contain at least the information on maximum
allowable operational hours/cycles and maximum allowable
age of the part. For each of the conditions which needs
to be met, the validator 26 reads the necessary data from
the maintenance action log 20. The validator 26 also
looks at the status of related fault codes to see if all
were properly acted upon. If the .validator determines
that the maintenance action is covered by the warranty,
then the validator 26 outputs the maintenance action as a
valid warranty action to a warranty claim report
generator 30. If additional information is needed, the
validator will ask the user for input. For
those
maintenance actions that are unacceptable to the
validator, the user still has the option to override the
validator and include such actions in the claim. A
remark will be tagged for further evaluation by the
warranty administrators. The
printed form of the
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warranty claim preferably resembles a standard "Request
for Service Allowance" form.
The warranty claim report generator 30 compiles
all of the valid warranty actions to produce a single
warranty claim and then to generate a warranty claim
application report. The application report may be output
as a hard copy to printer 32, and it may be transmitted
by telecommunication means such as modem 34 directly to
the aircraft engine manufacture or servicing agent for
the purposes of processing the warranty claim. From the
date stamp and fault codes, data including performance
data logged at the time of the fault can be reviewed for
any indication of activity outside warranty conditions,
and the agent can assess the validity of the claim. A
hard copy report may be sent by telecopier or other
electronic means for immediate processing. The report may
include an identification which allows the claim
processor to know that the claim has been automatically
validated by the validator 26.
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