Gastops receives IDEaS funding
26/11/2021
Gastops has been selected by Canada’s Department of National Defence to contribute to the ‘All Systems Go!’ challenge, an initiative of the government of Canada’s Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS) programme.The objective of the challenge is to drive innovation in predicting and optimising maintenance for military platforms through health and usage monitoring systems (HUMS) that will support the transition from schedule-based maintenance to condition-based maintenance (CBM) and, ultimately, to a truly predictive maintenance regime that will optimise the use of limited maintenance resources while increasing the operational platform availability.
Gastops will use the challenge funding to accelerate the development of the company’s multi-sensor, multi-platform HUMS solution for rotating and reciprocating equipment. The solution will address the gap between current oil condition and contamination sensor technologies and integrate machine learning to enable the detection and tracking of early-stage fault conditions. The company will also develop a model to identify diesel engine maintenance and cost drivers.
Shaun Horning, President and CEO of Gastops, said: “‘All Systems Go!’ and the entire IDEaS programme puts innovators together with military platform operators at the beginning of the solution cycle, when out-of-the-box thinking can lead to the greatest dividends. It mirrors the Gastops approach to condition-based maintenance solutions development and we are very excited to make our contribution.”
Gastops plans to produce a prototype HUMS solution including hardware and software that will drive the transition of oil changes from a scheduled activity, irrespective of equipment and oil condition, to an on-condition activity triggered by actual health and usage data. This transition will provide significant cost savings and environmental benefits in the form of reduced oil consumption and increased platform availability, thanks to the elimination of unnecessary maintenance downtime. Gastops will also deliver a comprehensive set of solution requirements (including fault data models, sensor technologies required and packaging requirements) to ensure that platform operators realise high value for money.
