Abstract: A fuel control system having a combustive energy value evaluator determining a combustive energy value of the fuel, and a controller calculating a desired flow rate based at least on the combustive energy value and controlling a fuel metering device such that the fuel flow rate corresponds to the desired fuel flow rate.

Abstract: The invention relates to a gas turbine, especially an aircraft engine, with at least one compressor, at least one turbine and one combustion chamber, whereby fuel is supplyable to the combustion chamber by a fuel pump, and whereby upon identification of a break of a shaft, which couples a compressor with a turbine, the gas turbine can be shut off. According to the invention, at least one current conductor is arranged on the or each shaft, which current conductor is a component of a current supply for the fuel pump or a component of a current supply for a fuel pump regulation, whereby the integrity of the or each current conductor is monitored in such a manner that upon a change of the integrity of the or each current conductor the current supply of the fuel pump or of the fuel pump regulation is interrupted in order to automatically shut off the gas turbine.

Abstract: Engine control systems utilize a number of potential control loop regimes optimized for particular engine conditions. These loops may relate to transient conditions or engine steady state. The choice of engine control loop is made by a selector by the error divergence between measured signals and reference signals. These reference signals generate adjustment demands for the engine. It is possible for the nature of the selector to select the steady state control loop prior to acquisition of the desired target performance criteria. The steady state control loop will take longer to achieve the optimum performance conditions. The present invention provides for a multiplier, such as squaring of the error divergence, in order to retain authority for the transient control loop control beyond the normal selector determined error divergence criteria.

Abstract: A method includes controlling an aircraft during descent, and controlling the engine pressure ratio of a jet engine so that the engine has a substantially equal pressure at the exhaust, and at the front of the engine during the descent.

Abstract: A method for controlling the rate of transfer between operation with gas and liquid fuel types to minimize the time in undesirable operational mode, thereby preventing excessive wear and damage to gas turbine hardware. The method includes completing a fuel prefill for the oncoming fuel type through the fuel system and determining if a total fuel demand for the oncoming fuel type is greater than a predetermined flow rate for the oncoming fuel type. The method also includes selecting a fuel transfer rate and transfering from the offgoing fuel type to the oncoming fuel type at the selected fuel transfer rate. Further, the method includes determining if the offgoing fuel flowrate has decreased below a predetermined flow rate for the offgoing fuel type, selecting a final fuel transfer rate and completing the transfer from offgoing fuel type to oncoming fuel type at a selected final fuel transfer rate.

Abstract: The invention validates propulsion data used in engine performance diagnostics based on heuristic knowledge of the physical relationships between engine parameters. The method identifies data anomalies, reduces overall scatter, and allows for the detection of true engine fault events. The method uses persistency to aid in differentiating between anomalous and fault event data, and it replaces anomalous data with the best-known level for that parameter, thereby preserving the overall mean signal level.

Abstract: A method for controlling a dynamic response of a fuel control valve in a gas turbine fuel control system is provided. The method includes regulating a fuel supply pressure for a gas turbine using a component model, sensing a pressure of a fuel supply to the gas turbine, and applying a proportional plus integral control algorithm combined with a gas supply pressure feedforward signal to a pressure command signal controlling the fuel control valve to increase a system response in rejecting a pressure disturbance and increase a disturbance rejection bandwidth of a fuel control valve response.

Abstract: An isolation method and system is described for distinguishing between turbine case cooling (TCC) and high pressure turbine (HPT) performance faults. A trend is observed in gas path parameter data during cruise and a resulting percent ? signature across the shift in the gas path parameters is assignable to either an HPT or TCC performance fault. During either fault, exhaust gas temperature (EGT) will shift upward. Since take-off EGT margin is calculated from take-off data, the shift, or lack of shift in EGT margin may be used to differentiate between TCC and HPT faults.

Abstract: A method for determining how well configurations for a gas turbine propulsion system attain selected acoustic wave energy emissions criteria based on acquiring a plurality of acoustic frequency spectra representations of a noise representation therefor over an operating duration. Relative peaks in the acoustic frequency spectra representations are then located and the forms of at least one of those peaks is altered with respect to acoustic frequency in manners substantially matching acoustic wave energy emissions changes corresponding to configuration changes in gas turbine propulsion systems which are then evaluated to provide an operating parameter noise value. One of those operating parameter noise values that best meets the selected acoustic wave energy emissions criteria is used to aid in determining corresponding configurations changes to thereby better meet those criteria.

Abstract: System, method and computer product for baseline modeling a product or process. A service database contains process data. A preprocessor processes the data into a predetermined format. A baseline modeling component builds a baseline model from the preprocessed data, wherein the baseline model relates process performance variables as a function of process operating conditions.

Abstract: An on-engine data storage device for a gas turbine engine includes a housing, an interface device, and a memory device. The interface device can communicate with a peripheral device. The memory device is mounted within the housing and is operable to store engine data related to the gas turbine engine.

Abstract: A method from discriminating between spurious and genuine surges in a gas turbine engine is provided which includes the steps of receiving an engine speed signal over a global engine surge investigation region that includes a plurality of operating regions (e.g. speed bands) in which engine surges can occur, identifying a specific operating region in which an engine surge event occurs, incrementing a surge counter corresponding to the operating region in which the engine surge event occurred, identifying the operating regions in which no engine surge event occurred, decrementing a surge counter corresponding to each operating region in which no engine surge event occurred; enabling a surge avoidance signal when the magnitude of the surge counter for a particular operating region has reached a predetermined value; and adapting an engine acceleration schedule in the operating region corresponds to the surge avoidance signal.

Abstract: A system and method is provided for fault detection in a turbine engine. The fault detection system and method uses discrete event system modeling to provide improved fault diagnosis and prognosis. The fault detection system and method receives sensor taken at multiple dynamic events occurring in different time windows. An event determination mechanism evaluates the received sensor data to determine if specified events have occurred. Indications of the occurrence of specified events are then passed to a discrete event system model. The discrete event system model analyzes the timing and sequencing of the event occurrences to determine if a fault has occurred. This method does not require a detailed modeling of the system, and thus can be applied to complex systems such as turbine engines.

Abstract: An internal combustion engine includes parallel first and second intake passages, and the intake passages respectively include first and second superchargers. A first airflow meter measures the intake air amount in the first intake passage. A second airflow meter measures the intake air amount in the second intake passage. An ECU obtains an air amount difference between the intake air amount measured by the first airflow meter and the intake air amount measured by the second airflow meter to compare the obtained air amount difference with a predetermined abnormality determination value. The ECU determines that an abnormality has occurred in one of the superchargers when the air amount difference exceeds the abnormality determination value. The abnormality determination of the superchargers is based on the air amount difference between the intake passages. This accurately determines the occurrence of an abnormality in the superchargers regardless of structure of the intake passages.

Abstract: A method and an apparatus for predicting intake manifold pressure are presented, to compensate for a large lag or a large time delay without producing an overshot or discontinuous behaviors of a predicted value. The method comprises the step of obtaining a difference of values of a variable to be predicted and a difference of values of another variable ahead of the variable to be predicted. The method further comprises the step of filtering the differences with adaptive filters. The method further comprises the step of obtaining a predicted difference of values of the variable to be predicted, through algorithm of estimation with fuzzy reasoning. The method further comprises the step of adding the predicted difference of values of the variable to be predicted, to a current value of the variable to be predicted, to obtain a predicted value of the variable to be predicted.

Abstract: In a method of controlling an exhaust gas turbocharger of an internal combustion engine charged by a compressor wherein as guide value for the control an operating point of the compressor is used, the operation of each cylinder bank of the internal combustion engine is controlled by dividing the total air mass flow by the number of cylinder banks and an equal amount of desired air mass flow is assigned to each cylinder bank and if the air mass flow to any of the cylinder banks is smaller than that to the other or others air from the other cylinder bank or banks is supplied to the one cylinder bank via a compensation arrangement so that the air mass flows to all cylinder banks are essentially equal.

Abstract: A method for predicting lean blow-outs (LBOs) in a gas turbine engine includes extracting a plurality of tones in pressure signals representative of pressure within monitored combustor cans, tracking a frequency of a hot tone in each monitored can, and utilizing the extracted tones and the tracked frequency to determine a probability of an LBO.

Abstract: The invention detects gas turbine bleed valve position discordances. The invention derives a modified exhaust gas temperature derivative as the predictive criteria in conjunction with a control logic to determine bleed valve position discordances that may indicate a mechanical failure in a valve, or in the control means for a valve.

Abstract: A system and method for estimating the impact of compressor fouling in a combined cycle power block. The current performance of the combined cycle power block is determined and normalized to one or more reference conditions. A baseline performance of a gas turbine of the combined cycle power block is also determined. A predicted performance of the combined cycle power block is then determined by substituting the baseline performance of the gas turbine for the current performance of the gas turbine. A recoverable impact to the combined cycle power block due to compressor fouling is then determined by subtracting the normalized current performance from the predicted performance and a recoverable impact to the fuel consumption of the combined cycle power block is determined from the recoverable impact.

Abstract: A method from discriminating between spurious and genuine surges in a gas turbine engine is provided which includes the steps of receiving an engine speed signal over a global engine surge investigation region that includes a plurality of operating regions (e.g. speed bands) in which engine surges can occur, identifying a specific operating region in which an engine surge event occurs, incrementing a surge counter corresponding to the operating region in which the engine surge event occurred, identifying the operating regions in which no engine surge event occurred, decrementing a surge counter corresponding to each operating region in which no engine surge event occurred; enabling a surge avoidance signal when the magnitude of the surge counter for a particular operating region has reached a predetermined value; and adapting an engine acceleration schedule in the operating region corresponds to the surge avoidance signal.

Abstract: A method to compensate for blade tip clearance deterioration between rotating blade tips and a surrounding shroud in an aircraft gas turbine engine includes determining one or more variables based on at least one or more moving averages of one or more engine operating parameters respectively averaged over a fixed number of operational engine flight cycles and adjusting a flow rate of thermal control air to counter the blade tip clearance deterioration based on the one or more variables. The engine operating parameters may include running number of engine cycles, takeoff and cruise exhaust gas temperature margins, a cruise turbine efficiency, takeoff and cruise maximum turbine speeds, a cruise fuel flow. Some or all of the variables may be differences between the moving averages and corresponding baselines of the engine operating parameters respectively or the variables may all be moving averages. The flow rate may be adjusted incrementally.

Abstract: A mapping device maps each burner mode at various bleed settings to generate control schedules for a combustion controller that ensure combustion dynamic (acoustic) pressures, and emissions limits and ring flame temperatures are within operational limits. In general, a method of combustor mapping involves adjusting the bulk ring flame temperature to meet emissions and acoustic requirements. The dome (ring) ring flame temperature is then adjusted to determine maximum and minimum ring flame temperature boundary limits. At both the maximum and minimum ring flame temperatures, the emissions levels and acoustic pressures are checked to see that they are within specification limits. If they are not, the bulk ring flame temperature is adjusted, and the entire process is repeated for that bleed setting and burner mode. If the emissions levels and acoustic pressures are within specification limits, then the power is increased to a different mode and bleed setting combination, and the process is again repeated.

Abstract: A gas turbine output learning circuit is configured to compute a current combustion gas temperature TIT at an inlet of a gas turbine by linear interpolation by use of two characteristic curves A and B respectively representing relations between a pressure ratio and an exhaust gas temperature in the cases of the combustion gas temperature at the inlet of the gas turbine at 1400° C. and 1500° C., then to compute ideal MW corresponding to this combustion gas temperature TIT at the inlet of the gas turbine by linear interpolation according to 1400° C.MW and 1500° C.MW (temperature controlled MW), and then to correct the 1400° C.MW and the 1500° C.MW so as to match the ideal MW with a measured gas turbine output (a power generator output).

Abstract: A method and control for predicting the remaining useful life of an airfoil for a gas turbine engine includes the steps of monitoring conditions of the blade such as flutter, leaning, etc. A measured amount of deflection of the airfoil is compared to tabulated data to predict an expected crack length which is likely causing the deflection, etc. Once a predicted crack length has been identified, the amount of accumulated damage to the airfoil at the crack is monitored and stored. The amount of useful life for the blade can be predicted by compiling the accumulated damage over time. The useful life remaining can be displayed such that flight plans or maintenance schedules for the aircraft can be modified as appropriate.

Abstract: A method of viewing data of a turbine monitoring system from a remote location is provided. The turbine monitoring system includes a programmable logic controller having an interface rack. In an exemplary embodiment, the method includes supplying an on-site monitoring computer, installing at least one communications gateway card in the interface rack, connecting the on-site monitoring computer to the at least one gateway card by a local area network, and connecting the on-site monitoring computer also to a wide area network.

Abstract: A method for monitoring engine performance includes sampling exhaust gas temperature associated with a turbine engine over an interval of operational time of the turbine engine. The method further includes applying a first test to identify statistical outliers on the sampled exhaust gas temperature data and removing identified statistical outliers from the sampled exhaust gas temperature data. Subsequently, the method includes applying a second test to identify step changes in slope of the exhaust gas temperature data and dividing the interval of operational time into one or more segments based upon the identified step changes. Finally, the method includes determining a slope for each segment and combining the segments to obtain a rate of performance deterioration of the turbine engine.

Abstract: A method for performing a fault estimation based on residuals of detected signals includes determining an operating regime based on a plurality of parameters, extracting predetermined noise standard deviations of the residuals corresponding to the operating regime and scaling the residuals, calculating a magnitude of a measurement vector of the scaled residuals and comparing the magnitude to a decision threshold value, extracting an average, or mean direction and a fault level mapping for each of a plurality of fault types, based on the operating regime, calculating a projection of the measurement vector onto the average direction of each of the plurality of fault types, determining a fault type based on which projection is maximum, and mapping the projection to a continuous-valued fault level using a lookup table.

Abstract: A method for modeling engine operation comprising the steps of: 1. collecting a first plurality of sensory data, 2. partitioning a flight envelope into a plurality of sub-regions, 3. assigning the first plurality of sensory data into the plurality of sub-regions, 4. generating an empirical model of at least one of the plurality of sub-regions, 5. generating a statistical summary model for at least one of the plurality of sub-regions, 6. collecting an additional plurality of sensory data, 7. partitioning the second plurality of sensory data into the plurality of sub-regions, 8. generating a plurality of pseudo-data using the empirical model, and 9. concatenating the plurality of pseudo-data and the additional plurality of sensory data to generate an updated empirical model and an updated statistical summary model for at least one of the plurality of sub-regions.

Abstract: In a method for limiting a boost pressure of an internal combustion engine which is supercharged by the compressor of an exhaust gas turbocharger including a control unit in which a desired boost pressure value is compared with a limiting value and when the desired boost pressure value exceeds the limiting value, the boost pressure is limited to the limiting value, and the limiting value is determined by a simulation model in the form of a group of a characteristic curves established as a function of an existing operating state of the internal combustion engine, a temperature, a pressure (p1), and a air mass flow rate which occur upstream of a compressor of the exhaust gas turbocharger.

Abstract: A turbine mechanical output computation device computes a gas turbine mechanical output P from the following equation P = Pe + J × g × ( 2 ? ? 60 ) 2 × N × ? N ? t where Pe represents a generator effective power measured by a generator effective power wattmeter, N represents the rotational speed of a gas turbine measured by a gas turbine tachometer, J represents the moment of inertia of the gas turbine, and g represents gravitational acceleration. A combustion air amount controller controls the amount of combustion air based on the gas turbine mechanical output P.

Abstract: An integrated system for monitoring a deployed product on a movable platform, gathering data about the deployed product, and disseminating the data about the deployed product is disclosed. The system includes a server located on the movable platform capable of communication with the server from a remote location. The server communicates with a source of data about the deployed product. The system further includes a portal onto which data gathered by the server may be downloaded and with which one can upload information to the server. The system includes a dual architecture card which may be mounted in an electronic controller of the deployed product. The dual architecture card may include a closed architecture section executing proprietary software, and an open architecture receiving processed data from the closed architecture section through a secured connection. One or both of the closed architecture section and closed architecture section may include a microserver.

Abstract: An integrated system for monitoring a deployed product on a movable platform, gathering data about the deployed product, and disseminating the data about the deployed product is disclosed. The system includes a server located on the movable platform capable of communication with the server from a remote location. The server communicates with a source of data about the deployed product. The system further includes a portal onto which data gathered by the server may be downloaded and with which one can upload information to the server. The system includes a dual architecture card which may be mounted in an electronic controller of the deployed product. The dual architecture card may include a closed architecture section executing proprietary software, and an open architecture receiving processed data from the closed architecture section through a secured connection. One or both of the closed architecture section and closed architecture section may include a microserver.

Abstract: A method for determining a target exhaust temperature for a gas turbine including: determining a target exhaust temperature based on a compressor pressure condition; determining a temperature adjustment to the target exhaust temperature based on at least one parameter of a group of parameters consisting of specific humidity, compressor inlet pressure loss and turbine exhaust back pressure; and adjusting the target exhaust temperature by applying the temperature adjustment.

Abstract: A method for balancing vibrations in a rotating machine is provided. The rotating machine has a first and a second plane of imbalance. The method includes determining a first set of solution mass vectors that includes a first solution mass vector for the first plane and a first solution mass vector for the second plane. Each first solution mass vector includes a mass and a phase angle. A first phase difference between a phase angle of the first solution mass vector for the first plane and a phase angle for the first solution mass vector for the second plane is calculated. The first phase difference is compared to a pre-selected value. If the first phase difference is less than the pre-selected value, the first set of solution mass vectors is retained. The first set of solution mass vectors is then incremented to create a second set of solution mass vectors that includes a second solution mass vector for the first plane and a second solution mass vector for the second plane.

Abstract: The present invention provides an aircraft engine vibration system that provides information about engine health. Embodiments of the present invention monitor for excessive vibration, monitor for bird strike, monitor for ice build up on the fan section, and monitor general engine health. An embodiment of the present invention utilizes neural network architecture for the detection of excessive vibration and ice detection build-up on the fan section of a turbo-fan engine and to monitor engine health through the high-pressure turbine section of the engine.

Abstract: A method and system of designing the operations and controls of a gas turbine, includes generating an operations model for the gas turbine including at least one objective function and defining operations and control constraints for the operations model of the gas turbine. An online dynamic optimizer/controller dynamically optimizes and controls operation of the gas turbine using model based control based on the operations model and the operations and control constraints. The model based control may include model predictive control.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a system and a method for developing an engine model. The system broadly comprises a module for generating a state variable model of an engine, which module receives a plurality of inputs to an engine representative of a particular flight condition and generates a set of estimated engine parameters representative of the model. The system further comprises a comparator for comparing the set of estimated engine parameters to a set of measured engine parameters for generating a set of residuals and an artificial neural network module to be trained and to be used in an implementation configuration after training has been completed. The artificial neural network receives the set of residuals and the engine inputs during a training phase and generates a set of estimated residuals representative of the engine condition.

Abstract: There is provided a supercharger controller module of a supercharger system for use in conjunction with a vehicle computer system of a vehicle engine including a microprocessor in communication with the vehicle computer system. The supercharger controller module may be configured to control a fuel system transducer of the supercharger system. The supercharger controller module may also be configured to control a vacuum system transducer of the supercharger system. The supercharger controller module may be further configured to receive instructions from a user through a remote controller panel. The microprocessor is configured to receive and modify at least one signal from the vehicle computer system, where the at least one signal controls at least one operating parameter of the vehicle engine. The microprocessor may be configured to modify a mass air flow sensor signal. The microprocessor may be further configured to control a pump of the supercharger system.

Abstract: A method for testing a fuel nozzle assembly including blocking all but a selected number of the fuel nozzles with a flow impeding assembly and moving part of a rig to align the selected number of the fuel nozzles with at least one flow measurement apparatus.

Abstract: A method for determining an engine part life usage of a gas turbine engine life limited part used on an aircraft. The method includes operating a gas turbine engine that includes a plurality of rotating components and a plurality of sensors configured to monitor a plurality of gas turbine engine operating parameters, obtaining outputs from the plurality of sensors, and utilizing at least some of the outputs to calculate the life usage of at least one life limited part to facilitate tracking the life-usage of an individual life limited part on the gas turbine engine that is consumed on a flight by flight basis.

Abstract: An asset management server for a network of an enterprise. The enterprise has one or more assets and two or more data sources and each source has a unique name for each asset. The server determines from an incoming message from the data sources about the assets which of the other data sources needs to receive the message and the unique name for the asset used by those sources. The server prepares the outgoing message to the sources.

Abstract: A gas turbine control apparatus, etc. are provided by which combustion fluctuation, even if arising in plural frequency bands, can be effectively suppressed. If the combustion fluctuation arises in plural frequency bands, corresponding to a predetermined priority order, adjustment is done so that the combustion fluctuation of the frequency band of a high priority order is suppressed. If the gas turbine state changes after the adjustment, this is reflected on a data base 30. If no sufficient data is stored yet in the data base 30 for any the reason, such as immediately after installation of the gas turbine, correction is made using data of countermeasures based on data of another same type gas turbine contained in a basic data base 31 and data of countermeasures based on experiences of skilled adjusting operators contained in a knowledge data base 32. Also, in a stabilized operation, operation condition may be varied so that an optimal operation condition is automatically searched.

Abstract: In a fault detection logic for an engine controller for the detection of too low or too high a thrust relative to an intended positive or negative acceleration, the positive or negative error of the engine pressure ratio and the positive or negative acceleration of an engine shaft are simultaneously compared with a specified threshold, with the simultaneously determined transgression of both thresholds safely identifying a loss of thrust control. Disturbances caused by engine surge or signal noise are eliminated.

Abstract: An integrated system for monitoring a deployed product on a movable platform, gathering data about the deployed product, and disseminating the data about the deployed product is disclosed. The system includes a server located on the movable platform capable of communication with the server from a remote location. The server communicates with a source of data about the deployed product. The system further includes a portal onto which data gathered by the server may be downloaded and with which one can upload information to the server. The system includes a dual architecture card which may be mounted in an electronic controller of the deployed product. The dual architecture card may include a closed architecture section executing proprietary software, and an open architecture receiving processed data from the closed architecture section through a secured connection. One or both of the closed architecture section and closed architecture section may include a microserver.

Abstract: A gas turbine washing-date determination apparatus of the present invention is equipped with a sum cost calculation means for calculating a sum of loss cost due to not washing a compressor from a compressor efficiency calculated, and determines a gas turbine washing-date with using the sum of the loss cost. Meanwhile, in the gas turbine washing-date determination apparatus the compressor efficiency is calculated from process data of a gas turbine plant, and a compressor washing-date is determined, based on the compressor efficiency.

Abstract: Fuel control systems for use with a gas turbine engines which accounts for real-time thermodynamic engine effects when attempting to match or track the NDOTActual rate to the NDOTDemand rate. The fuel control system includes a mechanism for measuring several engine operating parameters and a mechanism for determining an initial engine fuel demand based on the measured engine operating parameters. The control system further includes a mechanism for estimating, during engine operation and based on the measured operating parameters, the amount of heat transferred between fuel combustion gases and the engine metal and estimating an effective fuel flow adjustment based therefrom. The control system disclosed herein also includes a mechanism for determining a final engine fuel demand based on the initial predicted engine fuel demand and the estimated effective fuel flow adjustment.

Abstract: Electronic control apparatus for a vehicle, in particular a heavy goods vehicle, which apparatus includes an electronic control unit (ECU) adapted to control actuation of vehicle brakes. The ECU has a non volatile storage memory for storing braking related control parameters particular to the vehicle and a discretely programmable storage device to carry operating data for one or more auxiliary functions of the vehicle. The ECU is operable to check one or more incoming and outgoing variables and control algorithms against a predefined list such as to safeguard the braking function against error modes.

Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention includes an internal combustion engine with a turbocharger. The turbocharger includes a compressor with an outlet coupled to an intake of the engine and a turbine coupled to an exhaust manifold of the engine. A a turbocharger speed estimate is determined from engine speed and a ratio between inlet and boost pressure for the compressor. The turbocharger speed estimate is further adjusted as a function of compressor boost pressure variation with time.

Abstract: In a multimedia information and control system for use in an automobile, at least one interface is employed which enables a user to access information concerning the automobile and control vehicle functions in an efficient manner. The user may select one of a plurality of displayed options on a screen of such an interface. Through audio, video and/or text media, the user is provided with information concerning the selected option and the vehicle function corresponding thereto. Having been so informed, the user may activate the selected option to control the corresponding vehicle function.

Abstract: A diagnostic system and method for testing the operation of a rotary flow device, such as a turbine or compressor of a turbocharger with a variable-geometry mechanism, such as adjustable vanes, is provided. The system includes a flow generator configured to provide a flow of gas through the device, a power source configured to adjust a position of the variable vanes or other variable-geometry mechanism of the device, and a controller configured to selectively control the adjustment of the position of the vanes. The controller and power source can be configured to actuate the variable vanes to at least one predetermined position so that an operational condition of the device can be determined according to the flow of air through the device. For example, the system can detect the operation of a valve or other adjustment device that controls the position of the vanes. Further, the system can monitor the flow of gas through the device to detect the configuration and operability of the vanes.