Gas Turbine Engine Health Monitoring and Prognostics

A prototype health monitoring and prognostic system for the gas turbine engine on the US Army M1 Abrams tank is discussed. Comprising a set of sensors mounted on the turbine engine, a data acquisition system, and a computer to process the information, the system uses artificial neural networks, rule-based algorithms, and predictive trend analyses to diagnose and predict engine conditions. This paper describes the current status of the operational prototype and assesses potential maintenance and logistics implications of the technology.