NPO Energomash (part of Roscosmos State Corporation) completes developing the liquid-propelled rocket engine functional diagnostics system. The system is meant for the reasons of safety during the engine fire trials directly at the test fixture.

The solution has already been acknowledged highly effective. The diagnostics system analyzes the engine condition online using measurable parameters and forms a decision on various engine operating peculiarities right during the test process.

“Basically, this is a step forward compared with the emergency protection system which is used in the company during liquid-propelled engine fire trials. Increasing computer capacity multiplied the volumes of received and processed information about the engine condition – using not only several measurable constantly fluctuating parameters monitored by the emergency protection system, but employ dozens of parameters, measured directly and indirectly” – says doctor of technical sciences, professor David Martirosov, Head of NPO Energomash Heat Exchange, Thermogasdynamics and Hydraulics Department.

The system was created at the intersection of several disciplines including mathematics, physics, as well as the theory of probability, the theory of pattern recognition and several others. The system is based on a computational-experimental mathematical model of the engine, which describes the parameters interconnection in a well-behaved engine and produces diagnostic signs showing its status.

To connect the diagnostic signs, special algorithms have been developed. These algorithms are able to localize the evolving abnormality within the contour limit, unit or engine structural element. During the test this computational-experimental model adjusts itself to the engine in question and uses its unique characteristics. This is the system advantage over the emergency protection system.

The project was implemented due to the cooperation between NPO Energomash and Moscow’s Aviation Institute, which developed the ways and means to dock the engine sensors with the diagnostics system. The industrial use of the liquid-propelled rocket engine functional diagnostics system at Energomash is planned to begin by the end of March 2020.