Aerospace Predictive Maintenance

Book excerpt: Aerospace Predictive Maintenance: Fundamental Concepts, written by longtime practitioner Charles E. Dibsdale based in the UK, considers PdM a subset of Condition Based Maintenance (CBM), and must obey the same underlying rules and pre-requisites that apply to it. Yet, PdM is new because it takes advantage of emerging digital technology in sensing, acquiring data, communicating the data, and processing it. This capability can autonomously analyse the data and send alerts and advice to decision makers, potentially reducing through-life cost and improving safety. Aerospace Predictive Maintenance: Fundamental Concepts provides a history of maintenance, and how performance, safety and the environment make direct demands on maintenance to deliver more for less in multiple industries. It also covers Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) that aims to provide a platformcentric framework for PdM in the mobility domain. The book discusses PdM maturity, offering a context of the transformation of data through information and knowledge. Understanding some of the precepts of knowledge management provides a really useful and powerful perspective on PdM as an information system. On the other hand, Aerospace Predictive Maintenance: Fundamental Concepts also discusses disadvantages of PdM and shows how these may be addressed. One of the fundamental changes PdM implies is a shift from deterministic black-and-white thinking to more nuanced decision making informed by probabilities and uncertainty. Other concerns such as data management, privacy and ownership are tackled as well. Aerospace Predictive Maintenance: Fundamental Concepts covers additional technologies, such as the Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT) that will result in proliferation of cheap, wireless, ultra-low-power sensors, and will transform PdM into a more economical option. The book brings in the future possibilities of nano technology, which can be used for new sensors, micro-robotics for inspections and self-healing/repairing of systems which can be intergrated with PdM.