Seminar: Spinning Digital Threads in Aerospace

In the past 5 years, the intersection of high speed microprocessors, inexpensive data storage, and wireless communication technology has led to a paradigm shift in how physical assets are operated and monitored.  While the use of Prognostic Health Monitoring has been fairly commonplace in military aircraft products over the past two decades or more, this paradigm shift has now bridged and expanded into the commercial aviation marketspace.  Leveraging GE’s deep domain knowledge with data streams from engine assets is at the heart of the Digital Industrial revolution.

Digital Industrial is more than just data.  It’s maximizing value for customer fleets in a number of ways, including:  Asset Monitoring, to help reduce unplanned maintenance and inspection burden; Fleet Optimization, to ensure flight paths and fuel burn are as efficient as possible; and Improved Reliability, to understand changes in operation severity that may adversely affect the performance of the product.

Advanced manufacturing, including the advent of large-scale 3D printing, encompasses the intersection of digital and manufacturing technologies.  The initial performance and geometry of aircraft engine components is the beginning of the Digital Twin life of every asset deployed in the field.  Digital Twin asset models thereby demand integration of sensor and inspection technology on the manufacturing shop floor, at levels never before demanded of supply chain.

This presentation will illustrate the framework that makes the Digital Industrial possible in the aircraft engine industry, connecting the dots between sensors, digital twin models, and analytics to provide additional value to the customer.  Examples will be provided to illustrate how analytics are used to help the customer and product.  The presentation will also discuss some of the challenges facing industry today, providing context for future research directions.

Hosted by Professor Marcelo Dapino