Wireless Blade Monitoring & Wireless Communication System

Many helicopters use pressurized rotor blades as a means to detect damage to their integrity. The gas pressure is monitored and a loss of pressure indicates the possible defects in the blade that could cause catastrophic failure leading to the loss of an aircraft. Currently used is a mechanical bellows indicator which includes a radioactive source and an on-board detector to provide remote sensing. Since this technology is expensive, maintenance intensive, environmentally hazardous and banned in some foreign military applications, the need exists for a rotor blade monitoring system that can provide an improved in-flight indication of potential rotor blade faults without use of radioactive isotopes and be easy to use and simple to install. As a result the Navy developed a tested a wireless/temperature measurement system for helicopter blade health monitoring that does not use any hazardous material, it’s easy to install, and more dependable. Benefits Easily Manufactured More dependable Does not utilize radioactive sources Able to communicate between laptop or handheld device Allows ground crews to monitor blade health System plugs into existing helicopter electrical system