Helicopter Vibrational Health Monitoring (VHM) Analyst

<p>We urgently require a Helicopter Vibrational Health Monitoring (VHM) Analyst, for th efollowing study:</p> <p>The tasks to be carried out in the study shall be as follows:&nbsp;</p> <p>Phase 1 &nbsp; 1. Analyse the proposed strategies for rotor and drive train component incipient failure&nbsp; detection through a survey of the existing literature and using available incident /&nbsp; accident data in order to provide a consolidated view on the main failure modes of&nbsp; rotating parts (transmission and rotor system) and respectively what deviations from&nbsp; normal behaviour occur. A series of reference cases to assess different detection&nbsp; techniques and technologies shall be determined.&nbsp; &nbsp; Perform a survey of detection techniques and sensing technologies from existing&nbsp; literature and through a consultation of key industries and research organisations. As&nbsp; the case may be customer might introduce the contractor to the concerned research&nbsp; consortiums.&nbsp; &nbsp; 2. Based on the results of task 1, assess the main techniques and related technologies&nbsp;identified against the reference cases for transmission / rotor system faults. &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; The assessment shall encompass the quantitative determination of performance&nbsp; figures for each detection technique proposed while quantitatively analyse their&nbsp; respective limitations. The risk of false alert shall also be considered.&nbsp; &nbsp; The environment of a helicopter main gearbox (MGB) in terms of space and weight&nbsp; constraints, temperature, lubrication, etc. shall be taken into account to assess the&nbsp; integration of proposed new fault detection techniques. A comparison with current&nbsp; HUMS systems used for large helicopters shall also be developed.&nbsp; &nbsp; The conclusion of Phase 1 shall be a list of the new detection methods and sensing&nbsp; technologies assessed and a synopsis of each one indicating whether there is possibility that&nbsp;they could provide a reliable and practical method for improved advance warning of rotor or&nbsp;drive system component failures. &nbsp; &nbsp; This will be reviewed with the customer in order to determine the detection methods&nbsp; and/or sensing technologies for the tests to be performed during Phase 2. Customer&nbsp; reserves the right to at its full discretion end the contract at the end of Phase 1.&nbsp; &nbsp; Should the customer following its analysis of the second interim report at the end of&nbsp; Phase 1, decide to let the Contractor continue the execution of the tasks foreseen&nbsp; by the contract in Phase 2 it shall instruct the Contractor to that effect in writing. &nbsp; Phase 2&nbsp; &nbsp; 3. For the new detection methods and sensing technologies selected for Phase 2, prepare&nbsp;the test plan and test fixtures to demonstrate the basic functioning of each technique&nbsp;on a transmission / rotor mock-up(s). &nbsp; The test cases to perform shall include a seeded fault test and a bearing fault test in a&nbsp; MGB. For comparison a typical set of HUMS accelerometers shall also be installed on &nbsp;the test fixture. A test plan shall be submitted to EASA for review prior to the&nbsp; performance of tests. &nbsp; 4. Perform the agreed test cases and analyse the results with respect to the objective of &nbsp;improving the detection of incipient failure and comparing to existing HUMS.&nbsp; &nbsp; 5. Identify the main lessons learnt during the tests and the conclusions regarding the&nbsp; different drive train components for which effective incipient failure detection can be&nbsp; provided. &nbsp;The recommendations to support the further development and introduction of new HUMS&nbsp;techniques shall be identified. Any recommendations shall be justified and shall address&nbsp;practical steps to be taken. &nbsp;The &nbsp;final report shall provide a complete view on the tasks performed, clearly identifying&nbsp;the main results obtained and the remaining open issues. Recommendations for complete&nbsp;assessment of new HUMS techniques as well as the status of the on-going research activities&nbsp;shall be provided in this report.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</p>