A VIBRATION MONITORING ACQUISITION AND DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEM FOR HELICOPTER DRIVE TRAIN BENCH TESTS

An automated drive train test stand vibration monitoring system called VMADS has been developed by Bell Helicopter Textron, Inc., and has been installed at Bell’s transmission bench test facility. VMADS provides the operator with warning and alarm indications for preselected degraded conditions, and acquires vibration data to be used by engineers to improve the diagnostics for better fault detection and fault isolation. VMADS is used as a test bed for new monitoring and diagnostic algorithm evaluation and validation, a necessary step to ensure development of accurate, reliable integrated health usage monitoring systems for the Bell rotorcraft fleet. This paper highlights the VMADS features for helicopter and tiltrotor aircraft drive train bench test monitoring and diagnostics and discusses supportive ongoing health and usage monitoring activities at BHTI, both military and commercial for enhanced safety and reduced maintenance costs. Bell is translating VMADS developed capability to airborne applications, while simultaneously enhancing the original VMADS capabilities.