Airport Ground Support Equipment: Bearing Fault Discoverd Within One Week of Deployment
Executive Summary
A major Canadian international Airport wanted to increase the reliability of its ground support equipment to ensure timely operations for passengers and aircraft.
The Result: Within 1 week of implementing Nanoprecise monitoring, the MachineDoctor IoT Sensors detected a early-stage bearing fault, which provide the airport maintenance teams approximately 250 hours (six weeks) to plan and repair, preventing a critical gear box failure in their baggage handling system.
This early detection enabled the airport to replace the motor during a planned maintenance window, avoiding operational disruptions, and passenger delays across the airport.
Airport Customer Profile
The customer is a major Canadian international airport serving over 8 million passengers annually. With passenger traffic growing at an average rate of approximately 4.2% per year, the airport prioritizes operational efficiency, safety, and reliability across all critical infrastructure.
As part of its long-term strategy, the airport invests in advanced technologies and innovation partners to improve convenience, efficiency, and reliability for travelers. A key focus area was ensuring Airport Ground Support Equipment (GSE), particularly the baggage handling system, operated reliably under continuous and peak-load conditions, and reducing Airport GSE maintenance.
The Challenge
The airport’s baggage handling system is a critical component of its ground support operations and directly impacts passenger satisfaction and on-time departures. These systems rely on a complex network of conveyors, scanners, motors, and gearboxes, many of which operate in sub-level environments that are difficult to access.
Failure of a single drive motor or gearbox can force manual baggage handling, which is slow, labor-intensive, and error-prone. During peak travel periods, such failures can cause cascading delays, misplaced baggage, and significant operational disruptions.
Without continuous condition monitoring, failures often occurred without warning, leaving maintenance teams to respond reactively after damage had already escalated.
Solution Deployed
To reduce unplanned downtime and shift toward proactive maintenance, the airport selected Nanoprecise’s MachineDoctor as a solution. This 6-in-1 wireless sensor, was installed on:
- Drive motors
- Gear input shafts
- Gear output shafts
This solution provided continuous, real-time monitoring using
- Vibration analysis
- Accoustic emissions
- Temperature
- Humidity
- RPM
- Magnetic Flux
Sensor data was transmitted via WiFi from the edge to the cloud, where AI-driven analytics delivered actionable insights through the Nanoprecise dashboard. Maintenance teams received automated alerts, fault identification, and Remaining Useful Life (RUL) predictions to support timely decision-making.
Airport Ground Support Equipment Assets Monitored
Some, but not all, of the monitored assets included:
- Baggage handling system gearboxes
- Drive motors
- Conveyor drive assemblies
- Critical ground support equipment components
Observation & Analysis
Fault Modes Identified
- Bearing inner race fault (critical stage alarm)
- Progressive deterioration affecting bearing outer race, balls, and cage.
Burn marks on the outer race indicated the bearing was nearing catastrophic failure.
Condition Trends
- Increasing vibration amplitude
- Rapid decline in Remaining Useful Life
- Progressive fault severity across bearing component
Early Detection
Within the first week of monitoring, Nanoprecise detected a bearing inner race fault in the drive motor of one gearbox and motor assembly. Continuous monitoring allowed the deterioration trend to be tracked as additional bearing fault modes emerged.
Corrective Actions Recommended on Airport GSE Equiment
- Inspect bearings for deposits, damage, or surface defects
- Replace affected bearings
- Schedule motor replacement during the next planned shutdown
Outcomes & Impact
Nanoprecise quickly and accurately diagnosed the leading fault on the gearbox and motor assembly and alerted airport maintenance teams approximately 250 hours (six weeks) before total failure.
When the Remaining Useful Life reached a critical threshold, the motor was replaced during a regularly scheduled maintenance outage. Upon inspection, technicians confirmed severe pitting on each ball of the non-drive-end bearing, along with burn marks on the outer race, indicating imminent catastrophic failure.
Following the repair, vibration levels dropped significantly, validating both the diagnosis and the effectiveness of the corrective action.
Key Outcomes Included
- Six weeks of advance warning before failure
- Avoided unplanned downtime in the baggage handling system
- Prevented passenger delays and baggage disruptions
- Improved maintenance planning and resource allocation
- Increased reliability of critical ground support equipment
Conclusion
In high-traffic airport environments, even a single gearbox or motor failure can disrupt thousands of passengers and significantly impact operations.
By leveraging vibration analytics, acoustic emission monitoring, and AI-driven Remaining Useful Life predictions, Nanoprecise enabled this Canadian international airport to detect a critical bearing fault early, plan maintenance proactively, and prevent an unplanned failure.
This case demonstrates how predictive maintenance transforms ground support equipment reliability, reduces operational risk, and supports safer, more efficient airport operations.