Cost-effective intelligent engine health monitoring for naval gas turbines

The Marine Olympus and Tyne are long serving marine gas turbine engines, which entered service in the early 70's and whose design heritage goes as far back as the 1950's. The engines, still in active service with twenty three navies, continue to provide propulsion power for aircraft carriers, frigates and destroyers in every ocean around the globe. Rolls-Royce has developed a "Total Care" (TC) contract with one of its major naval customers to replace the traditional "as incurred" support arrangement. Under Total Care, Rolls-Royce for a fixed price will provide engines, their spares and technical support for a 12 year period. A fundamental element of the "Total Care" strategy was to install Data Acquisition and Intelligent Engine Health Monitor / Hazard alert systems. This paper will describe the technical requirement and business justification for the introduction of an Engine Health Monitor at a seemingly late stage in the engine product life cycle. The paper will also show how the customer and other stakeholders were satisfied that such an investment was both cost effective and achievable. Topics covered include the unique approach required for legacy products, system supplier and cost issues, sensor selection, prototyping, campaigning the equipment into the fleet and how to effectively manage large quantities of data. The paper will show how the use of intelligent hazard detection processes and diagnostic systems extract maximum value through asset longevity and protection for the benefit of both the service provider and customer.