Enhanced Turbine Engine Diagnostic System (ETEDS)

The maintenance of turboshaft engines constitutes a significant portion of the total operation and support (O&S) costs for Army aviation. Current engines are very reliable but have components with a high rate of false removals. The high false removal rates have been attributed to inadequate fault isolation procedures, conservative maintenance practices, and the ease of component replacement. This paper describes the results of a joint effort between the Army, GE Aircraft Engines, Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation and Qualtech Systems. Funding was provided by the Army and Joint Advanced Health and Usage Monitoring System (JAHUMS) program. The personal computer (PC) based turbine engine diagnostic system technology developed for a utility helicopter is integrated with web-based Interactive Electronic Technical Manuals (IETM) to provide enhanced and automated procedures to reduce the incidence of unnecessary electrical component replacement during engine or aircraft troubleshooting and repair.