Micro-Plasma Blade Monitoring Sensor System

The ability to monitor the structural health of the rotating components, especially in the hot sections of turbine engines, is of major interest to the aero community in improving engine safety and reliability. This is also true for the Department of Defense (DoD) where current developmental and future engines will need to operate at high efficiencies to meet the mission-weighted fuel burn (MWFB) requirements. This means that engines operate with tighter running clearances, increased blade loading, at substantially higher temperatures. Current blade health monitoring sensors are capable of operating at 1100F continuously uncooled, and have been demonstrated to work up to 1800F with cooling. However, the use of active cooling brings forth undersired effects, and hence, a need exists to develop uncooled sensors that can operate in a +2500F environment in the aft end of the turbo machinery. The Innoveering team is proposing an innovative, low cost, low weight, compact, rugged, in-situ engine sensor system that can operate uncooled at temperatures in excess of 2500F.