Spectro's Oil & Debris Analysis Programs Growing Rapidly In US And Europe

Hampshire, UK - Demand for Spectro's oil and debris analysis programs in Europe and the United States, through its laboratory Jet-Care, is rapidly growing as manufacturers and operators recognize its potential to diagnose a problem before it becomes an expensive maintenance issue.

Spectro's sister-company Jet-Care, based in Cedar Knolls, New Jersey in the United States is now responsible for providing oil and debris analysis for the United States Coast Guard's new Turbomeca Arriel 2C2CG engines that power the USCG's re-engined HH-65C Dauphin helicopters. Jet-Care is providing analysis for more than 200 engines.

Eurocopter Mexico selected Jet-Care to provide oil and debris analysis for all its engines and gearboxes. Jet-Care is providing analysis for engines on more than 200 aircraft.

In addition, Spectro in the United Kingdom and Switzerland was awarded a three-year contract renewal by TUAG Triebwerk Unterhalt AG, a maintenance and service center in Switzerland, to provide oil and debris analysis for the Turbomeca engine fleet in Switzerland.

Helicopters Italia, a maintenance center that is integrated in the Eurocopter maintenance network, has awarded a contract to Spectro Switzerland to provide oil and filter debris analysis for Turbomeca's powered fleet in Italy.

"Unscheduled engine removals are unwelcome," said Spectro founder and President David Glass. "Even the most advanced power plants are susceptible to wear and erosion. Our value to operators is in being able to identify situations before they become expensive or contribute to operational delays.

"In the past year Jet-Care in the US has seen a large increase in operators and maintenance organizations selecting the company due to its proven quality, expertise and dedication. These include service centers, law enforcement and fire departments, offshore oil and emergency medical services."

Today, Spectro and Jet-Care are monitoring the health of more than 13,000 engines, in over 72 countries, seven days per week, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. With a 30-year history in fluid analysis, Spectro and Jet-Care have built up an incomparable amount of experience, providing the technology, data quality, timely response and cost effectiveness necessary for today's competitive engine business environment.

All three of the company's laboratories routinely analyze samples from all major original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and operators. OEMs such as Honeywell, Turbomeca, Williams International and Pratt & Whitney have given their approval to the facilities. Other long-time helicopter clients include CHC Scotia, Bristow, McAlpine Helicopters, Bond Air Services, Bond Offshore, FB Heliservices and The Queens Flight.

Key recent U.S. highlights include:

• The Los Angeles County Fire Department has awarded Jet-Care a contract to provide oil and debris analysis for its Sikorsky and Bell fleets.
• The Anaheim California Police Department has given Jet-Care a contract to provide debris and oil analysis for its fleet of MD500s.
• The Austin Texas Police Department has awarded Jet-Care a contract to provide oil and debris analysis for its fleet of EC120s.
• The Baltimore Police Department has given Jet-Care a contract to provide oil and debris analysis for four EC120s.
• Heavy Lift Helicopters, Inc. based in Apple Valley, CA has given Jet-Care a contract to provide oil and debris analysis for its fleet of helicopters with a payload of up to 20,000 pounds.
• Rogers Helicopters, one of the largest helicopter operators in California, has selected Jet-Care to provide oil and debris analysis for engine and gearbox monitoring.
• Era Aviation, with a fleet of nearly 100 helicopters and 21 fixed-wing aircraft, has selected Jet-Care to provide oil and debris analysis for a number of their twin-engine helicopters operating along the Gulf coast.

In commenting about the Eurocopter Mexico contract, Eduardo Mendoza, Eurocopter Mexico's quality manager, said "Jet-Care's software enables us to have an historical knowledge about all the aircraft we manage. We receive detailed information via the Jet-Care ECHO program; from here we can view the results and review the trends for each piece of equipment on monitor. That improves our reactivity skills towards our customers better than ever."

Mendoza said Eurocopter Mexico has been impressed with the speed of Jet-Care's response time. "As soon as Jet-Care receives an oil sample from us, the analysis is quickly performed and we're quickly informed about the results."

"We provide our customers with more than just numbers and graphs, but analysis borne of an extensive knowledge of all types of helicopters and aircraft engines," said Glass. "Our experience with both wet chemistry and debris analysis helps our customers efficiently maintain their engines."

Stephane Thomas of Tuag in Switzerland said, "during high season, Swiss operators operate more than 100 flight hours a month and need quick response for their oil analysis. Spectro provide results in less than 48 hours with a professional program."

Eric Galas of Helicopters Italia said a deciding factor in selecting Spectro in Europe was the short delivery time and speed in which Spectro performed and responded with an analysis.

US Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer Michael Fannin said the US Coast Guard was impressed with the analytical tools made available by Jet-Care. "One of the key reasons that the Coast Guard chose Jet-Care is its proven track record in providing analysis which can improve long-term efficiency and maintenance of engines."

Operators are taking advantage of the company's oil analysis reports through its Engine Condition Health Online (ECHO) software. The reporting program allows operators to receive a small data file from either Spectro or Jet-Care by email and when samples have been analyzed and go on to review the alert category, results and trend the data. The system offers fast response trending. If particular concerns are raised from a specific analysis result, the laboratory warns operators immediately by telephone. Technicians are available 24/7/365 to speak to operators and the company has a policy of having no answer phones during normal working hours.

Fleet operators have found ECHO particularly useful in comparison studies that permit them to make long-range plans regarding overhaul, maintenance, parts procurement and other planning and purchasing decisions. In addition, a chief engineer who is responsible for a diversified fleet with aircraft in different locations, for example, can forward graphs and results to key personnel requesting data on an engine's condition.

The oil and debris analysis program provides a highly reliable means of checking the metal content and other contamination within the oil system and uses the industry's most advanced techniques and equipment including SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopes) and ICP (Inductively Coupled Plasma) spectrometers and analyzes not just PPM (parts per million) but down to one part per 100 million.

"Studying turbine engine oil for microscopic metal debris, oxidation and other contaminants allows operators to catch potential problems early," said Peter Smith, head of technical services. "This prevents excessive wear in one subassembly from damaging others."

He said that by taking oil samples and trending raw data on a routine basis allows helicopter flight departments not only to save on engine maintenance costs, they can search for signs of imminent failure, making it possible to schedule aircraft availability around any AOGs likely to arise.

Smith explained the specific benefits of rotorcraft engine fluid and chip analyses.

"We are constantly looking for changes in the elements of oil that are related to wear such as wear of casings and bearings. You can get magnesium in a casing or titanium in a shaft. We look for hydraulic fluid contamination and fuel in the oil. We check for viscosity. Leaks in a fuel-cooled oil cooler can be found from changes in viscosity. We also look at wear elements in the oil and the physical properties of the oil."

Smith said chips are basically anything you can see. "We might be able to tell customers it's from the gearbox or the shaft. We can see that it doesn't even belong in that gearbox and that the customer shouldn't be concerned. Sometimes we see debris that has oxidized. That could indicate that it's debris from an old failure. Because this is a nondestructive test that is repeatable, we can inform a customer that there is new damage."

SOURCE: Spectro & Jet-Care