Wireless passive condition monitoring system for aircraft

Abstract In response to the risk of settling in the long-term storage of viscoelastic fuel in aircraft solid engines, this study proposes a fuel-settling monitoring system based on the cooperation of implanted optical fibers and wireless passive sensors for the first time. The system does not require wiring holes in the original structure of the engine, avoiding unpredictable damage to the structure. At the same time, the elastic modulus of the settlement monitoring sensor is similar to that of solid fuel, overcoming the problem of measurement uncertainty caused by the mismatch of elastic modulus in traditional sensors. The optical fiber grating sensor arrays are used to calibrate the wireless passive sensor array so that the wireless passive sensors have accurate strain monitoring ability. In the paper, the strain sensitivity coefficient of the wireless passive sensor is up to 230.4 Hz/με, which is important for accurate monitoring of settlement. The fuel settlement is obtained based on the deformation inversion model and more quantitative studies will follow. Finally, the long-term accurate monitoring of the fuel settlement in the confined space is realized.