Wireless Sensors use MEMS to Monitor Bearings in Jet Aircraft Engines
Researchers at Purdue University, working with the U.S. Air Force, have developed tiny wireless sensors resilient enough to survive the harsh conditions inside jet engines to detect when critical bearings are close to failing and prevent breakdowns.
Dimitrios Peroulis, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue, holds a new MEMS sensor at an “environmentally controlled probe station.” The wireless sensors are being developed to detect impending bearing failure in jet engines. The probe station recreates extreme conditions inside engines, enabling researchers to test the sensors.
The devices are an example of an emerging technology known as “micro electromechanical systems,” or MEMS, which are machines that combine electronic and mechanical components on a microscopic scale.
“The MEMS technology is critical because it needs to be small enough that it doesn’t interfere with the performance of the bearing itself,” said Farshid Sadeghi, a professor of mechanical engineering. “And the other issue is that it needs to be able to withstand extreme heat.”
The engine bearings must function amid temperatures of about 300 degrees Celsius, or 572 degrees Fahrenheit.
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