Vibration Detection Patents (Class 702/56)
  • Publication number: 20100036622
    Abstract: A method and system for predicting acoustic fields based on generalized moving frame acoustic holography are disclosed. The method includes acquiring a first wavenumber spectrum on a measurement plane according to a moving coordinate system, converting the first wavenumber spectrum to a second wavenumber spectrum on a reference coordinate system using a relative velocity between the measurement plane and a medium, converting the second wavenumber spectrum to a third wavenumber spectrum on a prediction plane using an acoustic wave propagation theory, converting the third wavenumber spectrum to a fourth wavenumber spectrum on a moving coordinate system using a relative velocity between the medium and the prediction plane, and computing acoustic fields on the prediction plane using the fourth wavenumber spectrum.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 11, 2009
    Publication date: February 11, 2010
    Applicant: KOREA RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND SCIENCE
    Inventor: Hyu-Sang Kwon
  • Publication number: 20100036621
    Abstract: Some embodiments of the present invention provide a system that characterizes a response of a component in a computer system to vibrations generated by the computer system. First, the system measures the response of the component to vibrations in a frequency range while the component is located outside of the computer system. The system also measures vibrations generated by the computer system in the frequency range during operation of the computer system, wherein the vibrations are measured at a location in the computer system which is configured to receive the component. The system then characterizes the response of the component to vibrations generated by the computer system based on the measured response of the component to vibrations in the frequency range and the measured vibrations in the frequency range at the location.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 11, 2008
    Publication date: February 11, 2010
    Applicant: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
    Inventors: Anton A. Bougaev, Aleksey M. Urmanov, Kenny C. Gross, David K. McElfresh
  • Patent number: 7659687
    Abstract: The invention relates to an electric drive (19) provided with a drive regulator (5), an electromotor (9) and a control device (3, 4, 7, 8) which is used to detect and monitor the threshold value of axis-relevant, electrical/mechanical operational state variables, and preventative error diagnosis. The control device (3, 4, 7, 8) comprises an additional monitoring device (6) which can analyze the operational state variables in order to recognize, at an earlier stage, possible deviations from tolerance ranges and to process the analysis results.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2010
    Assignee: Bosch Rexroth AG
    Inventors: Matthias Wahler, Christian Feistel, Alexander Schmitt
  • Publication number: 20100023281
    Abstract: The apparatus for monitoring appliances and machines having rotating components, particularly for monitoring compressors, vacuum pumps and other pumps, has a sensor, an evaluation electronics unit and an interface for the output of signals. The evaluation electronics unit has a microprocessor having three inputs for performing measurements in three different frequency ranges at different frequency resolutions, with the respective vibration intensities being averaged at a plurality of frequencies in line with the third-octave spectrum. The interface is a two-wire interface which is used to report different operating states using different DC values.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 24, 2009
    Publication date: January 28, 2010
    Inventors: Jörg Kortstock, Heiner Kösters
  • Publication number: 20100023280
    Abstract: Some embodiments of the present invention provide a system that characterizes a response of a device in a computer system to vibration over a frequency range. During operation, the device is vibrated at each frequency in a set of frequencies in the frequency range, wherein the device is vibrated at each frequency, one frequency at a time, until a stabilized response of the device is determined. The response of the device to vibration over the frequency range is then characterized based on information related to the stabilized response at each frequency in the set of frequencies.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 28, 2008
    Publication date: January 28, 2010
    Applicant: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
    Inventors: Dan Vacar, Anton A. Bougaev, David K. McElfresh, Kenny C. Gross
  • Patent number: 7640139
    Abstract: Provided are an envelope processor 103, for obtaining an envelope for a detected signal; a FFT unit 104, for converting the envelope into a frequency spectrum; a peak detector 105, for smoothing the frequency spectrum by calculating a moving average, for further performing smoothing and differentiation for the spectrum, and detecting, as peaks, frequency points at which a sign of a differential coefficient is changed from positive to negative, for extracting peaks having a predetermined threshold value or greater, and for sorting the extracted peaks and detecting upper peaks; and a diagnosis processor T, for diagnosing an abnormality based on the detected peaks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2005
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2009
    Assignee: NSK Ltd.
    Inventors: Juntaro Sahara, Yasushi Mutoh, Takanori Miyasaka, Masanobu Yamazoe
  • Publication number: 20090319206
    Abstract: A method is provided for identifying resonant frequency vibration events in an assembly of rotating blades mounted on a rotor. A plurality of circumferentially spaced stationary timing probes associated with the blades detect the times at which the blades pass the respective probes. The method includes the steps of: obtaining blade timings detected by the probes; determining, for successive rotations of the assembly, respective correlation factors for one or more of the blades, each correlation factor quantifying the degree of correlation between the blade timings detected by the probes for a particular blade on a particular rotation and the blade timings detected by the probes for that blade on the previous rotation; and identifying a resonant vibration event when the one or more correlation factors cross a predetermined threshold.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 20, 2009
    Publication date: December 24, 2009
    Applicant: ROLLS-ROYCE PLC
    Inventors: Peter Russhard, Jason D. Back
  • Publication number: 20090319205
    Abstract: There is described a monitoring system, especially a vibration monitoring system, and a method for operating said system. The system is finely adjustable between purely single-channel to one fault tolerant and limited two fault tolerant without the necessity of additional special hardware components.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 18, 2006
    Publication date: December 24, 2009
    Applicant: SIEMENS AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT
    Inventors: Thomas Borger, Walter Kreb, Ulrich Lehmann, Robert Schwab, Hans-Günther Sieberling, Raimund Trockel
  • Publication number: 20090314092
    Abstract: A method for identifying an unfolded non-synchronous blade vibration frequency in blades on a rotating rotor using a plurality of probes spaced from each other about the rotor. A set of data is acquired from the probes during a predetermined number of rotor revolutions and is processed using a Fourier analysis to generate an output representative of frequencies and phase shift angles corresponding to blade vibrations. The phase shift angles are used to identify a subharmonic for a blade vibration frequency to provide an output identifying the vibration frequency. A space dispersion and time dispersion of probes is described to increase the accuracy of the subharmonic determination using the phase shift angles.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 18, 2008
    Publication date: December 24, 2009
    Applicant: SIEMENS POWER GENERATION, INC.
    Inventor: Michael Twerdochlib
  • Publication number: 20090312966
    Abstract: A method for checking a vibration damper of a motor vehicle in the installed state includes setting start values of the damping constant kA, the spring rate cA, and the body mass mA for a wheel of a motor vehicle; inducing a vertical vibration of the motor vehicle with the aid of a defined excitation sRreal; determining the theoretical body vibration excursion sAmodel; optically detecting the positions of the wheel and the body shell of the motor vehicle at a plurality of detection instants during the vibration; minimizing the error function formed from the deviations between the theoretical body vibration excursion sAmodel and the observed body vibration excursion sAreal at the detection instants, and determining the damping constant kA, the spring rate cA, and the body mass mA therefrom; and determining the damping measure ? of the vibration damper.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 4, 2009
    Publication date: December 17, 2009
    Inventors: Guenter Nobis, Daniel Wegener, Steffen Abraham
  • Publication number: 20090299663
    Abstract: In a diagnostic method for at least one ball bearing, in particular for an angular-contact ball bearing for bearing a rapidly rotating spindle, mechanical vibration caused by the respective angular-contact ball bearing is acquired by at least one vibration sensor and outputted as a corresponding vibration signal. At least one bearing characteristic, fundamental kinematic frequency dependent on a current bearing rotational frequency is determined by computation. A corresponding bearing frequency in a measurement frequency spectrum of the respective vibration signal is determined by measurement. A first diagnostic message is output when at least one of the determined bearing frequencies deviates by a respective prescribed frequency deviation from the corresponding computational fundamental kinematic frequency.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 1, 2009
    Publication date: December 3, 2009
    Applicant: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: FELIX BUTZ, Karl Gebert
  • Patent number: 7627441
    Abstract: An process device for use in an industrial process control or monitoring system is configured to couple to a process. A vibration sensor is configured to sense vibrations. Diagnostic circuitry provides a diagnostic output based upon the sensed vibrations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2003
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2009
    Assignee: Rosemount Inc.
    Inventors: Randy J. Longsdorf, Chad C. Blumeyer
  • Publication number: 20090284383
    Abstract: A method and monitoring system for tracking operational parameters of a drive train of a monitored system includes a sensor unit affixed to the drive train. The sensor unit includes a sensor for generating an analog signal in response to an operating condition of the monitored system and an integrated local processor for processing the analog signal generated by the sensor. Actions of a sensor unit associated that is mounted from movement of a component of the drive system may be initiated via wireless receipt of instructions from another processing unit. FFT analysis may be performed by the sensor unit directly under certain speed conditions for alarm generation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 9, 2009
    Publication date: November 19, 2009
    Inventors: Jeffrey L. Wiles, Victor M. Ivers, Sarah A. Cox, Larry D. O'Cull
  • Patent number: 7620503
    Abstract: A fault detection system designed to evaluate the structural integrity of a material employs an array of sensors disposed over the material being evaluated. The sensors detect vibrations in the material and the sensor signals are fed to a data processor. The processor employs a method to analyze the linear and nonlinear characteristics of the sensor signals and then determines whether to proceed with a linear signal processing analysis or a nonlinear signal processing analysis of the sensor signals. Once the analysis is completed, the results are compared to baseline results to determine what if any divergence exists between the results and the baseline results. A significant divergence indicates a potential material failure. The fault detection system will indicate such a potential failure through a visual alarm on a graphical user interface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2009
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
    Inventors: Derke R. Hughes, Richard A. Katz, Albert H. Nuttall
  • Publication number: 20090276168
    Abstract: Methods and apparatuses for detecting fastener loosening. Sensors query a structure at a baseline value of an environment variable, such as temperature, and this baseline signal is stored for later use. Subsequently, users can query the structure remotely and at any time, and the signals from these queries are compared to the stored baseline signal. In some embodiments, an index is calculated, and the system determines that one or more fasteners have come loose if the calculated index exceeds a predetermined threshold value. It is desirable to select a time window within which the query signal is most sensitive to fastener loosening but least sensitive to variations in the environment variable. Accordingly, embodiments of the invention include methods and apparatuses for determining an optimal time window for use in calculating the above described index.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 29, 2009
    Publication date: November 5, 2009
    Inventors: Bao Liu, Lien Ouyang, Shawn J. Beard, Irene Li, Fu-Kuo Chang
  • Publication number: 20090266169
    Abstract: This present invention concerns a device having a mechanical bearing formed by two coaxial rings, one fixed relative to the machine and the other rotating, between which at least one rolling element is moveably positioned, at least one non-conducting positioning means secured to the fixed bearing ring, the positioning means including at least one placement holder for at least one conducting element forming a first plate of a capacitor, at a distance from a conducting part of the rotating ring forming the second plate of the capacitor, and with the positioning means attached to at least one partitioning means, the partitioning means being used to create a space between the two plates, thus forming a dielectric insulating medium, and to act as a sealed enclosure for this insulating medium (7) by being in contact with a part of the surface of the rotating ring.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 7, 2009
    Publication date: October 29, 2009
    Applicant: Universite De Reims Champagne Ardenne
    Inventors: Patrick MARCONNET, Bernard Pottier, Lanto Rasolofondraibe
  • Publication number: 20090271130
    Abstract: A method for measuring suspended sediment concentration (SSC) in water includes the steps of: placing a vibrating-type SSC measuring probe in a target water body whose SSC is to be measured, and causing the SSC measuring probe to vibrate; measuring a vibratory signal resulting from the vibration of the SSC measuring probe, and obtaining a vibration response of the SSC measuring probe according to the vibratory signal; and obtaining the SSC of the target water body based upon the vibration response and a pre-established relationship between vibration responses of the SSC measuring probe to various known SSCs.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 20, 2009
    Publication date: October 29, 2009
    Applicant: FENG CHIA UNIVERSITY
    Inventor: Yin-Sung HSU
  • Publication number: 20090263247
    Abstract: Vibration is monitored in a dual rotor engine. A first total vibration of the engine is measured during operation. Relative phase of the two rotors is then clocked, and a second total vibration of the engine is then measured during operation. First and second total unbalances are then resolved at a common response frequency from the measured total vibrations. First and second rotor unbalances are then resolved for the corresponding rotors from the first and second total unbalances. In a further method, corresponding corrective balance weights may be determined for offsetting the resolved rotor unbalances.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 21, 2008
    Publication date: October 22, 2009
    Inventor: Daniel Edward Mollmann
  • Patent number: 7603904
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for determining a characteristic, such as the stiffness, of a portion of a wood specimen characterised by the steps of a) producing an acoustic signal in the wood specimen part way along the length of the wood specimen, and b) sensing a response in the wood specimen part way along the length of the wood specimen including a reverberation from a first end of the wood specimen, and c) calculating a characteristic of a portion of the wood specimen from analysis of the sensed response. A related method and apparatus may be used to determine a characteristic of a portion of a tree stem during harvesting of a tree and the characteristic used to optimise the value of a log cut from the stem.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2009
    Assignee: Waratah NZ Limited
    Inventors: Paul David Harris, Alex James Stevenson, Paul Gamble, Russell John Petherick, Eberhard Juergen Deuss, Eugene Stytsenko, Frederic Lecarpentier, Michael Kenneth Andrews
  • Patent number: 7606673
    Abstract: A method of analyzing vibrations of a rolling element bearing installed in a rotating machine includes accessing vibration data corresponding to the bearing to be analyzed, determining a degraded condition factor BD for the bearing, selecting an expected designer-determined mean-time-to-failure MTTF of the bearing operating under a design load in the operating environment of the rotating machine, selecting a forecast time period, calculating a reduced mean-time-to-failure RMTTF of the bearing using the expected designer-determined mean-time-to-failure MTTF and the degraded condition factor BD, calculating a probability of failure of the bearing in the forecast time period using the reduced mean-time-to-failure RMTTF, accessing cost data corresponding to a cost of failure of the bearing in the rotating machine, calculating a financial risk from the calculated probability of failure in the forecast time period and the cost data, and displaying the financial risk for the selected time period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2009
    Assignee: Dynamic Measurement Consultants, LLC
    Inventor: John E. Judd
  • Patent number: 7599804
    Abstract: A method for detecting structure-borne noise events in a roller bearing, wherein a measuring signal M of a pressure or dilatation sensor arranged on a roller bearing is fed to a frequency filter for filtering out undesired signal parts. A first variance value is calculated from digital values of the frequency filter output signal and at least one second variance value is calculated from other digital values of the frequency filter output signal and a weighted arithmetic average of the at least two variance values is calculated with the aid of a recursive calculation of the variance value. If the weighted arithmetic variance average value exceeds a pre-selected variance threshold value, then it is assessed that a structure-borne noise event provoked by mechanical damage to the roller bearing has occurred.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2004
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2009
    Assignee: FAG Kugelfischer AG
    Inventor: Alfred Pecher
  • Patent number: 7599805
    Abstract: A system for determining an acoustic signature of a device is disclosed that includes a computer processor operable to determine strength and location of shock wave sound signals based on propagation of sound waves generated by the device. The strength and location of the shock wave signals are modified due to dissipation and dispersion effects in a non-uniform atmosphere. The shock wave signals are separated into even and odd numbered signals, and oscillations in the signals are smoothed by averaging even and odd numbered shock signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2009
    Assignee: Lockheed-Martin Corporation
    Inventor: Anthony R. Pilon
  • Publication number: 20090243419
    Abstract: A method for measuring a tangential tightness of a stator coil within an armature slot of a stator assembly in an electric generator. The stator coil is excited to produce a vibratory response therein. The vibratory response of the stator coil is detected and a frequency response function of the vibratory response is determined. A tangential tightness of the stator coil within the armature slot is estimated based on the frequency response function of the vibratory response of the stator coil.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 26, 2008
    Publication date: October 1, 2009
    Applicant: SIEMENS POWER GENERATION, INC.
    Inventors: Benjamin T. Humphries, Constance M. Smith, James F. Lau
  • Publication number: 20090248326
    Abstract: A vibration sensor includes a housing, a high G accelerometer installed in the housing to measure vibratory accelerations communicated to the housing; a low G accelerometer installed in the housing to measure vibratory accelerations communicated to the housing; and a processor installed within the housing to receive data from the high G accelerometer and the low G accelerometer. A method for using the vibration sensor includes employing the low G and the high G acceleration data. Another vibration sensor includes intrinsically safe buttons.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 9, 2008
    Publication date: October 1, 2009
    Applicant: BOSS PACKAGING INC.
    Inventor: DOUGLAS CHRISTIAN GREENING
  • Patent number: 7596458
    Abstract: Tracking vibrations on a pipeline network includes installing multiple vibration recorders on the pipeline network, with each recorder including a sensor, a timer, a processor, and a digital communication device. At each vibration recorder, vibration signals are received from the sensor at programmed times under the control of the processor of the vibration recorders and processed by the processor. The processed vibration signals are communicated from the vibration recorder to a reader device using the digital communication device. Thereafter, the processed vibration signals from the one or more reader devices are collected at a central computer system. Finally, the collected processed vibrations signals are analyzed at the central computer system to determine abnormal vibration patterns and to obtain measures of any leaks present in the pipeline network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 29, 2009
    Assignee: Flow Metrix, Inc.
    Inventor: Paul Lander
  • Patent number: 7587299
    Abstract: An anomaly diagnosis apparatus for analyzing sound or vibration data produced by a machine installation and diagnosing the presence or absence of an anomaly in a sliding member in the machine installation which is made up of a diagnosis processing server (1) and a user information processing terminal (3) which are connected through a network (2). The diagnosis processing server (1) receives the sound or vibration data produced by the machine installation and information for identifying the sliding member used with the machine installation through the network (2) from the user information processing terminal 3, makes an anomaly diagnosis of the machine installation based on the received data, and transmits the diagnosis result through the network (2) to the user information processing terminal (3), thereby lightening the burden of the user and executing anomaly diagnosis processing promptly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2009
    Assignee: NSK Ltd.
    Inventors: Takanori Miyasaka, Hirotoshi Aramaki, Yasushi Mutoh, Shinichiro Asaeda
  • Publication number: 20090222210
    Abstract: According to the invention, in the method for determining the earthquake protection of buildings, the natural frequency of a building is determined. Moreover, the natural frequency of the ground surrounding the building is determined. Thereafter, a rating value for the building is calculated based on a comparison of the natural frequency of the building to the natural frequency of the ground. Based on this rated value, the earthquake protection of a building can be determined. Preferably, a failure probability for the building and an average damage to the building are calculated on the basis of the rating value, depending on the magnitude of the earthquake.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 16, 2001
    Publication date: September 3, 2009
    Applicant: MICHEL BEREZOWSKY
    Inventors: Konstantin Meskouris, Hamid Sadegh-Azar, Michel Berezowsky, Holger Dumling, Rudiger Frenzel
  • Patent number: 7583200
    Abstract: A method and system for detecting the variations of speed (R) of a rotor. Signals are measured representative of the march-past of the teeth of a measurement device secured to the rotor for a determined duration (T). The measurements are sampled, digitized and stored to obtain an initial digital vector (B). A detection signal is extracted around a known disturbing frequency (F). The detection signal is compared with a predetermined threshold (SO) and an alert message is delivered in the event of overshoot.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2009
    Assignee: SNECMA
    Inventor: Valerio Gerez
  • Patent number: 7580802
    Abstract: A method for determining the condition of a turbine blade (2, 4) in a compressor and utilizing the collected information in an estimation of the lifetime of the turbine blade (2, 4), whereby a measured value reflecting the condition of the turbine blade (2, 4) is generated by a vibration sensitive sensor (10) connected to the compressor's (1) casing (6).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2009
    Assignee: Dynatrend AS
    Inventor: Lyder Moen
  • Patent number: 7574333
    Abstract: A projection is associated with a first signal and a second signal. The second signal includes a first portion associated with the first signal and a second portion not associated with the first signal. The projection at least substantially separates the first portion of the second signal from the second portion of the second signal. One or more parameters of a model are identified using at least a portion of the projection. The model associates the first signal and the first portion of the second signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2009
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventor: Joseph Z. Lu
  • Publication number: 20090192734
    Abstract: A system for determining slippage of row unit or chopping unit slip clutches of a corn head includes a microcomputer coupled to at least one vibration sensor and a display or aural annunciator. A slipping clutch or group of clutches including a slipping clutch may be identified by recognizing a speed dependent predominant frequency. A slipping clutch or group of clutches including a slipping clutch may be identified by comparing magnitudes or times of receipt of vibrations from a pair of sensors.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 10, 2008
    Publication date: July 30, 2009
    Inventor: Ryan P. Mackin
  • Publication number: 20090192723
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an arrangement for calculation and presentation of transferred vibration dose from a handheld machine to the hand of a user, wherein a sensor unit 2 is arranged in the palm 9 of the user. The sensor unit is integrated in a thin textile 1, designed to be worn under a protective glove or similar. The sensor unit 2 may be alternated between different positions in the user's palm 9. The presentation unit 4 communicates wirelessly with an analyzing unit 8 and comprises a fastening device 5 to be fastened around the sleeve of an outdoor garment.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 23, 2009
    Publication date: July 30, 2009
    Inventor: Peter Jonsson
  • Publication number: 20090192729
    Abstract: A method for determining the health of a structural element. The method includes providing a plurality of transducer elements arranged and disposed to permit measurement of vibration generated by at least one of the transducer elements at one or more of the other transducers elements. Vibration is induced with at least one transducer element. Vibration is measured at least one other transducer element, where the measured vibration corresponding to a vibratory path. At least one damage index value is calculated for each vibratory path in response to the measured vibration. At least one damage image is generated in response to the damage index value. The damage image assigns damage index values to each vibratory path. A damage location is determined from the damage image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 24, 2008
    Publication date: July 30, 2009
    Applicant: THE BOEING COMPANY
    Inventors: Lawrence E. PADO, James P. DUNNE, Jeong-Beom IHN
  • Patent number: 7567877
    Abstract: The present invention provides a system for computing the frequency of a low frequency wave. The system includes: a wave producer (3) configured for sending out a first wave with a high frequency; a device (4) configured for sending out a second wave with a low frequency to be computed, the first wave and the second wave interfering with each other thereby producing a third wave; a sensor (2) configured for receiving the third wave; and a computer (1) installed with wave analyzing software and linked with the sensor, and configured for receiving and analyzing the third wave to compute the frequency of the second wave.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2009
    Assignee: Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Yu-Hsu Lin
  • Publication number: 20090182515
    Abstract: A method for monitoring and diagnosing the health of a structure. The method includes providing a plurality of damage monitoring units each having at least one actuator, at least one sensor and a data collection device. The sensors are arranged and disposed to measure vibration produced by the actuator and provide a signal corresponding to the measured vibration to the data collection device. The actuator is activated and the vibration is measured with the sensor. The signal is compared to a reference signal and a damage index value is determined in response to the comparison between the signal and reference signal. The damage index value is transmitted for each vibratory path to a central processing device and the damage index values are analyzed for the plurality of damage monitoring units to determine the location of damage to the structure.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 16, 2008
    Publication date: July 16, 2009
    Applicant: THE BOEING COMPANY
    Inventors: Lawrence E. PADO, James P. DUNNE, John H. BELK
  • Patent number: 7559240
    Abstract: Degradation of the lubricant due to contamination of the lubricant with wear particles or moisture, which greatly affects the service life of rolling bearings, can be detected in a cost-effective manner through the use of a resonance frequency band signal or high-frequency signal of an accelerometer, and the service life of a rolling bearing can be estimated with high precision at an early stage on the basis of the detected state of the wear particles and lubricant.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2005
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2009
    Assignees: Chugoku Electric Power Co., Inc.
    Inventors: Takuzo Iwatsubo, Isao Shiromaru, Makoto Tanaka, Yoshibobu Akamatsu, Hideko Nagayasu, legal representative, Shingo Boda, Yoji Nagayasu
  • Publication number: 20090177419
    Abstract: An adjustment device of a rotary machine including a movable base formed rotatable around an axis, vibration sensors formed so that the sensors can measure amplitudes of longitudinal vibration and transverse vibration of the rotary machine, an adjustment weight to be arranged on the movable base, and a PC including a control section for calculating a position and weight of the adjustment weight, a storage section, and an amplifier are provided, an approximate expression is obtained by the PC from an amplitude measured by the vibration sensor, and a predetermined function, an optimum change amount x and position ? of the adjustment weight are calculated from the approximate expression, whereby the adjustment weight is arranged.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 30, 2008
    Publication date: July 9, 2009
    Inventor: Takeshi YAMANAKA
  • Publication number: 20090164145
    Abstract: A test stand is disclosed for estimating the dynamics of a Fluid Dynamic Bearing (FDB) coupling a spindle motor to a rotating hub. The hub includes an air target and displacement plate. At least one air jet strikes the air target, and at least one displacement sensor engages the displacement plate to create a displacement reading. The displacement reading(s) are analyzed to estimate the dynamics of the FDB. The estimates may include but is not limited to the stiffness and/or damping of the FDB.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 19, 2007
    Publication date: June 25, 2009
    Inventors: Ja Choon Koo, Myeong-Eop Kim, Anh Hoang
  • Publication number: 20090150094
    Abstract: A method for the nondestructive testing of pipeline, and internal or external coatings, using guided ultrasonic waves excited from the inside or outside diameter, wherein at least two transducers are employed to send and receive ultrasound, wherein a data normalization scheme is employed to account for transducer variability, and wherein the hardware arrangement has a number of pulser channels and a number of receiver channels for the collection and storage of signals.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 14, 2008
    Publication date: June 11, 2009
    Applicant: FBS, INC.
    Inventors: Jason K. Van Velsor, Steven E. Owens, Joseph L. Rose
  • Patent number: 7546211
    Abstract: A condition detection apparatus comprising an AE sensor 1 that detects AE waves, which elastically-occur when a plurality of balls included in an LM system self-rotate and revolve within a circulation section at the same time, and generates detection signals Sae, and a signal processing unit 4 that generates a first parameter indicating an intensity of the AE waves based on the generated detection signals Sae, generates based on the detection signals Sae a second parameter by weighting only detection signals Sae temporally-continuously detected among the detection signals Sae, generates based on the detection signals Sae a third parameter by weighting only detection signals Sae temporally-discontinuously detected in correspondence with the movement of the balls among the detection signals Sae, and judges contents of an operational condition of the LM system using any one of the first, second or third parameter, is provided to enable prognosis of occurrences of failures in the LM system, to improve maintainabi
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2005
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2009
    Assignee: THK Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takeo Yoshioka, Yoshiyuki Honjo, Shigeo Watanabe
  • Patent number: 7542860
    Abstract: A method and device detect a position of a pulsed mechanical effect on a plant component. An operating noise in the plant component is continuously recorded by sensors which are arranged on the plant component and converted by the above into a measured signal. The measured signals of the sensors undergo a transformation in a first time window. A first evaluation function is derived from a plurality of first transformations determined in this manner, the evaluation functions display an appearance of the pulsed mechanical effect. Accordingly, when detecting an effect following the second shorter time window having the same algorithms, second transformed and respectively, second evaluation functions are derived, from which, respectively, one time point is determined. Wherein the sound signal produced by the effect impacts upon the sensor. From there, running time differences produced between the sensors can be exactly reconstructed on the position of the effect.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2009
    Assignee: Areva NP GmbH
    Inventors: Bela Bechtold, Peter Jax, Vojtech Ocelik, Jan Zach
  • Patent number: 7536265
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a signal analysis method for vibratory interferometry to identify the vibratory characteristics of an object under test. A vibratory stroboscopic interferometric signal of an object under vibration is obtained. The vibratory stroboscopic interferometric signal is analyzed with a deconvolution operation to obtain a reformed vibratory stroboscopic interferometric signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2009
    Assignees: Industrial Technology Research Institute, National Taipei University of Technology
    Inventors: Liang-Chia Chen, Chung-Chu Chang, Yao-Ting Huang, Jin-Liang Chen
  • Patent number: 7525050
    Abstract: An apparatus and a method for determining the location of a pointing device in the vicinity of a set of receivers able to receive one or more locating signals transmitted through a medium. The method includes receiving at a receiver a signal that includes a locating signal and an interfering signal, determining an estimated interference signal indicative of the interfering signal included in the signal received, determining a signal indicative of the difference between the received signal and the estimated interference signal, and using the signal indicative of the difference to compute the location of the pointing device on a surface near the set of receivers. One version uses a separate receiver from which to determine the estimated interference signal, while another version uses the received signal at a time when there is expected to be no locating signal present in order to determine the estimated interference signal. An adaptive filter computes the estimated interference signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 20, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2009
    Assignee: Luidia, Inc.
    Inventors: Philip A. Weaver, Xiang Zhu
  • Publication number: 20090099796
    Abstract: The Aeroelastic Model using the Principal Shapes of modes (AMPS) is a method used to predict flutter in gas turbine engines. Modern gas turbine engines often include rotors with flexible disks and/or significant blade geometry variations. The AMPS method accounts for the varying blade mode shapes associated with flexible disks as well as changing blade geometry, providing accurate flutter predictions for a large number of modes from a relatively small number of CFD (computational fluid dynamics) simulations. The AMPS method includes determining a smaller set of principal shapes that approximates a larger set of structural modes of interest. Using linear superposition, aerodynamic forces associated with the vibration of the principal shapes can be used to construct the full aerodynamic coupling matrix associated with the structural modes of interest. An eigenvalue equation is solved to determine a damping distribution associated with the structural modes of interest.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 15, 2007
    Publication date: April 16, 2009
    Inventors: Ming-Ta Yang, James M. Bleeg, James A. Eley
  • Publication number: 20090093978
    Abstract: The described embodiments relate to systems and methods for acoustic monitoring of metallurgical furnace cooling elements. Some metallurgical furnaces have a tapblock that is blocked during operation of the furnace. The tapblock may be opened by lancing, drilling, tapping or by other means to release metal from the furnace. By monitoring acoustic emissions during the opening process, feedback may be provided to improve the opening process and to avoid excessive damage to the tapblock, the cooling elements, a refractory lining of the tapblock or other elements of the metallurgical furnace.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 29, 2008
    Publication date: April 9, 2009
    Inventors: Afshin Sadri, Pawel B. Gebski, Bert O. Wasmund, Nils W. Voermann
  • Publication number: 20090093975
    Abstract: A method of analyzing vibrations of a rolling element bearing installed in a rotating machine includes accessing vibration data corresponding to the bearing to be analyzed, determining a degraded condition factor BD for the bearing, selecting an expected designer-determined mean-time-to-failure MTTF of the bearing operating under a design load in the operating environment of the rotating machine, selecting a forecast time period, calculating a reduced mean-time-to-failure RMTTF of the bearing using the expected designer-determined mean-time-to-failure MTTF and the degraded condition factor BD, calculating a probability of failure of the bearing in the forecast time period using the reduced mean time to failure RMTTF, accessing cost data corresponding to a cost of failure of the bearing in the rotating machine, calculating a financial risk from the calculated probability of failure in the forecast time period and the cost data, and displaying the financial risk for the selected time period.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 30, 2007
    Publication date: April 9, 2009
    Applicant: DYNAMIC MEASUREMENT CONSULTANTS, LLC
    Inventor: John E. Judd
  • Patent number: 7512463
    Abstract: Determining adjustments to decrease vibrations caused by rotating blades from a plurality of rotors includes determining a first plurality of adjustment normalization values for a plurality of possible adjustments of blades of a first one of the plurality of rotors, where the first plurality of adjustment normalization values normalizes different types of adjustments having different units, determining a second plurality of adjustment normalization values for a plurality of possible adjustments of blades of a second one of the plurality of rotors, where the second plurality of adjustment normalization values normalizes different types of adjustments having different units and where, for a particular adjustment type, an adjustment normalization value of the first plurality of adjustment normalization values is independent of a corresponding adjustment normalization value of the second plurality of adjustment normalization values for the particular adjustment type, providing coefficient of vibration data that c
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 16, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2009
    Assignee: Simmonds Precision Products, Inc.
    Inventor: Eric Robert Bechhoefer
  • Patent number: 7508614
    Abstract: A drive for data storage includes a first component and a second component movable with respect to the first component. The drive also includes a first sensor and a second sensor. The first sensor is in connection with the first component and is configured to detect movement of the first component. The second sensor is in connection with the second component and is configured to detect movement of the second component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2009
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Ratnesh K. Sharma, Chandrakant D. Patel
  • Patent number: 7505852
    Abstract: A statistical process, and system for implementing the process, is described for the analysis of stress waves generated in operating machinery or equipment. This technique is called Probabilistic Stress Wave Analysis. The process is applied to a population of individual “feature” values extracted from a digitized time waveform (such as a 2 second Stress Wave Pulse Train, or a 2 month history of Stress Wave Energy). Certain numeric descriptors of the statistical distributions of computed features are then employed as inputs to decision making routines (such as neural networks or simple threshold testing) to accurately classify the condition represented by the original time waveform data, and thereby determine a status of the operating machine/equipment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2009
    Assignee: Curtiss-Wright Flow Control Corporation
    Inventor: David B. Board
  • Publication number: 20090070050
    Abstract: Modem rotary machine production requires built-in fault detection and diagnoses. The occurrence of faults, e.g. increased friction or loose bonds has to be detected as early as possible. Theses faults generate a nonlinear behavior. Therefore, a method for fault detection and diagnosis of a rotary machine is presented. Based on a rotor system model for the faulty and un-faulty case, subspace-based identification methods are used to compute singular values that are used as features for fault detection. The method is tested on an industrial rotor balancing machine.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 28, 2008
    Publication date: March 12, 2009
    Inventors: Joachim Baehr, Rolf Isermann, Wolfgang Scheithe, Dieter Thelen