Condition-Based Maintenance System for Aircraft (HS Original Research)
In high school, I participated in the Honors Science Research program, in which I found a mentor at Mide Technology in Woburn, MA to design and conduct an independent research study in mechanical/aerospace engineering. The subject of my study was the Slam Stick vibration data loggers (now called enDAQ), evaluating their performance in monitoring the structural health and condition of bearings in aeronautical environments. I performed the research over the course of 2 summers, in 2019 in-person at Mide’s facilities, and in 2020 at home (due to COVID) in the aircraft that I was using for Private Pilot flight training.
In the lab, I created an experimental setup for standard ball bearings and thrust ball bearings that put them under extreme heat and contamination using an environmental chamber and DC motor. The data loggers were fixed to the system and monitored vibration as conditions deteriorated. Vibration data demonstrated several strong patterns in the time and frequency domain (primarily Fast Fourier Transform) that accurately represented bearing conditions. In the aircraft, the sensors were mounted to the floor of the cabin, and the resulting data clearly demonstrated varying conditions of the aircraft in critical phases of flight such as takeoff, landing, and steep turns. The significance of this study was that the data loggers are suitable for use in a condition-based maintenance system for aircraft, which would help to reduce maintenance costs and time while improving overall passenger safety.
For my research, I was selected as a 2021 Regeneron Science Talent Search (STS) scholar. For more information, check out the abstract and presentation.
