Autonomous Hydraulic Actuator Health Monitoring System for Enhanced Condition Based Maintenance

Virginia class submarines feature 134 hydraulic actuators critical to operational readiness. Currently, hydraulic actuators are overhauled on a time-based schedule as part of 600 series work, regardless of usage or condition. Superfluous hydraulic actuator maintenance results in extended inoperability, increased costs, and may introduce failures from improper service or reinstallation. An automated method for monitoring hydraulic actuator health would facilitate condition based monitoring to decrease machinery overhauls, depot durations, and total ownership costs while improving fleet availability and extending component life-cycles. To meet this critical need, Luna proposes to develop a non-obtrusive, ultra low-power, wireless system comprised of vibration, flow, pressure, and temperature sensors to monitor hydraulic actuator health and provide actionable information at the sensing node. By converting raw data into maintenance instructions, the hydraulic actuator health monitoring system will have the ability to diagnose common failure mechanisms, including leakage, contamination, and excess friction or binding. The system will have the capability to wirelessly transmit in real-time, autonomously record data to embedded memory, and will require minimal retrofit implementation modifications. Finally, the system will be ruggedized to withstand the operating environment with considerations including temperature, vibration, and environmental effects.