When a car has engine trouble, it's inconvenient. When a commercial airplane has a similar problem, it could have million-dollar implications. Most troubleshooting jobs require the plane to be taken out of commission and the engine to be disassembled in order to gain access to the necessary sections and perform repairs.
According to a recent NewScientist article, engineers at Rolls-Royce, a leading jet engine manufacturer, may have found a solution to that problem. They are working on developing "snake robots" that will hopefully be able to repair damage and keep planes safely in the air.
As the article points out, roughly 100 sensors measuring things like temperature, vibration and air pressure are onboard these aircraft and are monitored from the ground. When a sensor signals a potential problem, a check must be performed using a specialized fiber optic device. But, with the number of planes in operation today, there aren't enough individuals skilled in the device's use to manage entire fleets.
An engineer would be able to bolt the snake onto the engine, at which point it would slither its way inside and handle the bulk of the work with a bevy of attached devices, including a grinding tool used to sand down blades damaged by errant birds and other debris. What's more, it will be able to withstand the approximately 3,000 degree temperatures inside an engine's core, reports the news source.
Today, state-of-the-art sensors detect the slightest of problems and protect the safety of everyone flying the blue skies. Tomorrow, innovative methods of joining dissimilar metals may enable agile, flexible robotic snakes and similar tools to conduct repairs that airlines simply don't have the manpower to deal with otherwise. The combination of the two has the potential to save literally millions of dollars that are lost whenever an aircraft is sidelined because of lengthy diagnostics and troubleshooting.