The Innoveering Particulate Sensor detects air-born particulates that aircraft engines ingest in flight or during landing. The sensor determines size, quantity and speciation of particles. The sensor survives high temperatures inside the engine or is mounted on exterior aircraft surfaces. The sensor uses high temperature plasma as a sensing element and has been developed thru TRL 5 by Innoveering LLC, a technology company focused on high speed and harsh environment applications associated with hypersonic flight. The Particulate Sensor has been adapted for conventional turbine engines powering aircraft such as the V-22. The Particulate Sensor can alert pilots or maintenance crews to harmful engine operating conditions. Prototypes have been tested in laboratory turbine engines in preparation for customers with significant maintenance costs due to contaminant ingestion.
Innoveering is developing a sensor system that is capable of operating uncooled in the ultra-high temperature environments (>2500 oF) of gas turbine engines to provide real-time turbine blade health monitoring information. A micro-distributed transduction approach in combination with novel processing enables real-time tracking of blade tip dynamics with high spatial and temporal resolution. Fabricated miniature probes leverage high temperature materials and exceed current size requirements. A frequency response in excess of 1MHz has been demonstrated in subscale gas turbine tests. The targeted application is the Joint Strike Fighter Program and improved understanding of integration requirements will assure a successful transition, and support Innoveering’s mission of developing revolutionary technologies that address sensing and control challenges in the aerospace, defense and energy markets.
