INSPECT (In-situ optical inspection of engine components)

With the civil aviation sector continuing to grow year-on-year, an ever increasing number of routine in-situ gas turbine inspections are undertaken by both gas turbine providers and their customers. Whilst these are critical for ensuring a high-level of aeroengine safety, they are time intensive, vary between inspectors, and offer limited data capture and assessment possibilities. Through the INSPECT consortium, an optical inspection system will be developed that can be permanently and retrofittably embedded into the gas turbine borescope ports. Upon engine shutdown, probes are automatically inserted into the engine gas path, providing an fast, frequent, and standardised compressor inspection after every operation. INSPECT is a state-of-the-art inspection technology, enabling future Big Data Analytics, data mining, and trending. This will ultimately make Rolls-Royce and its customers data rich and able to optimise flight paths, maintenance schedules, and possibly even OEM design.