Aero Engine Round Table – Innovation in Inspection 28/06/17
Aero Engine Round Table – Innovation in Inspection – 28/06/17
On Wednesday June 28th, the second of four Aero Engine Round Table sessions planned to take place in 2017 was held at KLM Engineering & Maintenance at Schiphol based on the theme “Innovation in Inspection”. The session focused on establishing an overview of existing and newly developed inspection techniques in combination with the identification of the potential to improve the efficiency & effectiveness of these inspection techniques in the future.
Paul Chün (GM KLM E&M Engine Services) welcomed the 25 participants and highlighted the need for constant innovation in order to remain competitive in a world where cost reduction and short turn-around times are the order of the day. Thereafter, Jacques van den Elshout (KLM E&M) provided an overview of the various inspection techniques used in an aero engine maintenance environment, and the various initiatives undertaken by KLM E&M to improve the operational efficiency such as thermal analysis-based inspection of HPT blades, and automated eddy-current inspection of engine disks. Pieter Troost (TIAT) and Rutger van Duijn (Dacon) presented an overview of the future developments in NDT inspection techniques, and showed a real-time example of a remote visual & dimensional borescope-based inspection of the inside of KLM engine performed by one of their colleagues via a wifi-connection.
A lively discussion ensued amongst the participants revolving around the possibilities and challenges to automate the various inspections techniques ranging from CMM dimensional measurement through to shearography. Viewpoints were shared taking manufacturing as well as maintenance inspection needs into account where similarity versus variety of the parts inspected in combination with the total number of identical parts to be inspected annually proved to be the main driver to create a viable business case for future investment.
The Round Table concluded with a shop tour through the KLM E&M Engine Shop where Jacques van den Elshout highlighted the various investments made by KLM E&M over the years to broaden its business base (now including the GEnX engine family) as well as its repair expertise (such as high speed grinding, electronic beam welding, laser cladding).
The Aero Engine Round Table was made possible by a topsector HTSM TKI Grant.
Click this link for the pictures.