Aircraft heat exchanger fouling detection based on valve control command

摘要

Heat exchanger is a core component in aircraft engine bleed air temperature regulation systems. A potential fault associated with heat exchanger is fouling, which reduces the heat transfer efficiency and introduces additional resistance to flow, causing extra drag and fuel consumption. This article presents a heat exchanger fouling detection method based on the valve control command of an engine bleed air temperature regulation system. Heat exchanger fouling is monitored by estimating the deviation of valve control command using an extended Kalman filter. Computer simulations and experiments on a simulated bleed air temperature regulation system have been conducted and the results have confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed method.