A System for Complete C130 Propeller Bore Inspection

The measurement and quality control systems used for military aircraft must be operator independent, traceable, portable, and easy to use. During C-130 Propeller refurbishment activities, CMXG inspects the complete bore to its full depth using a fixed, borescope-based system. While this system can provide photographic evidence of corrosion, pitting, and larger-scale cracking, it provides no geometric information concerning the extent of these potentially damaging artifacts for subsequent evaluation. Creare’s Total Bore Scanner (TBS) replaces the use of a borescope with a mounted scanner to scan the entire interior of the bore, providing a more flexible workflow. In addition, our TBS will produce a digital record of any internal damage to the bore that can be used in subsequent finite-element analysis tools to determine the severity of the damage and develop repair strategies. Our program plan includes four major activities: proof-of-concept-level system design and test at Creare; prototype design, fabrication, and testing; development of the design of a fully integrated TBS; and full system integration at CMXG. Critically, the proposed effort will continue the development of a “digital thread” for the maintenance and production activities, with complete digital records for each propeller inspected by CMXG.