Prognostic Methodologies for Electronics or Mechanical Systems Model-Free Estimators Applied to Fatigue Life Modeling

If used long enough, any mechanical or electronic device will fail at some point - friction and heat guarantee it. Determining the fatique life of various components on complex platform such as as a helicopter has great operational significance. OINCON will utilize recurrent neural networks to model the fatigue life of various components of the U.S. Army Ch-47 Helicopter (control system components, transmissions, rotors). Accurately predicting the fatigue life of these components will save the U.S. Army millions of dollars in operations and supply costs. Phase I includes an operational problem definition, requirements analysis, system specification, and a working model demonstration using data jointly defined with Boeing Helicopters Division. Phase II will expand the working model into an engineering prototype for multiple platforms.