Monitoring humidity in retired C130 aircraft engines
CASE STUDY:CONDITION MONITORING
Background
The aerospace company is contracted to maintain a retired fleet of C130 aircraft before they are sold. Traditional methods involve service engineers manually inspecting environmental conditions inside protective covers, reporting their findings, and taking corrective actions if needed.
CASE STUDY:CONDITION MONITORING
The challenge & solution
MANUAL INSPECTIONS
Manual inspections are inefficient, time-consuming, and prone to human error. Additionally, the outdated method only provides occasional readings, which may delay necessary actions like replacing desiccant bags. High humidity inside the covers can lead to corrosion risks.
BLUETOOTH TAGS + SMART GPS
Our solution involved deploying a minimal infrastructure setup. Smart GPS units were placed on each wing to scan for tags and broadcast data to the cloud via cellular. Tags were placed on engine inlets to monitor humidity readings, with data being sent to the cloud every 6 hours.
CASE STUDY:CONDITION MONITORING
The results
The company completely eliminated manual checks, achieving a 95% efficiency improvement. Automatic humidity alerts help them react quickly to deviations, improving compliance and service quality. They are now exploring additional humidity monitoring methods to further enhance operations.
We’re very happy with Pathfindr’s solution. It took some testing and time to balance the configuration of GPS Units and Tags, but in the end, the ROI was a no-brainer. Automating manual processes just makes sense. We’re now looking to use this technology in other areas.
Transformation Specialist
CASE STUDY:CONDITION MONITORING
Before & after tracking
The company conducted an average of 2 humidity checks per month on 64 of their sensitve assets. Each check takes an average of 45 minutes to access the asset, take a reading, and then report/review the readings. This results in an annual cost of £57,600 for the business spent on manual monitoring, based on an hourly business cost of £100 p/h.
Metric | Before Pathfindr | With Pathfindr |
|---|---|---|
Humidity Check Events Per Month | 128 | 128 |
Time Taken To Monitor Per Event | 45 Minutes | 2 Minutes |
Annual Cost Of Monitoring | £115,200 | £5,130 |
CASE STUDY:CONDITION MONITORING
Investment vs ROI
16 Smart GPS Units + 64 Tags
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ROI
Cost Savings - Investment
Investment
£53,765
Per Year
£1,040
Solution Cost Per Month
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This results in a saving for each check of
£63.55
16 Smart GPS Units and 64 BLE Tags were used to monitor the estate of 64 sensitive assets.