Monitoring rotating machinery using radio frequency probes
First Claim
1. A method for monitoring rotating machinery, the method comprising:
- providing at least one transmitter antenna with access to at least a portion of the rotating machinery;
providing at least one receiver antenna with access to the portion of the rotating machinery;
obtaining at least one receiver signal resulting from at least one transmitter signal that has propagated from the transmitter antenna to the receiver antenna by way of the portion of the rotating machinery;
forming at least a first signal pair which comprisesa first receiver signal and a first transmitter signal, orfirst and second receiver signals which are obtained from spatially-separated receiver antennas, orfirst and second receiver signals which are attributable to different transmitter signals, orfirst and second receiver signals which are obtained from non-orthogonally polarized portions of one or more receiver antennas, ora coherent beam signal associated with a plurality of receiver antennas or a coherent beam signal associated with a plurality of transmitter antennas, ora combination transmitter signal comprising a combination of two or more transmitter signals or a combination receiver signal comprising a combination of two or more receiver signals;
determining amplitude and phase information of a plurality of frequency components for each signal in the first signal pair;
determining a set of comparison values for the first signal pair by comparing respective frequency component phases and respective frequency component amplitudes of the signals in the first signal pair; and
analyzing a characteristic of the rotating machinery using the set of comparison values,wherein the rotating machinery comprises a gas turbine engine.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and methods for monitoring rotating machinery are disclosed. Transmitter and receiver antennas can be provided with access to the rotating machinery. At least one receiver signal resulting from at least one transmitter signal that has propagated through a portion of the rotating machinery can be obtained. A first signal pair can be formed from a first receiver signal and a first transmitter signal, or from first and second receiver signals obtained from spatially-separated receiver antennas, or from first and second receiver signals which are attributable to different transmitter signals. Amplitude and phase information of a plurality of frequency components for each signal in the first signal pair can be determined. A set of comparison values for the first signal pair can be determined by comparing respective frequency component phases or respective frequency component amplitudes. A characteristic of the rotating machinery can then be analyzed using the comparison values.
42 Citations
43 Claims
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1. A method for monitoring rotating machinery, the method comprising:
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providing at least one transmitter antenna with access to at least a portion of the rotating machinery; providing at least one receiver antenna with access to the portion of the rotating machinery; obtaining at least one receiver signal resulting from at least one transmitter signal that has propagated from the transmitter antenna to the receiver antenna by way of the portion of the rotating machinery; forming at least a first signal pair which comprises a first receiver signal and a first transmitter signal, or first and second receiver signals which are obtained from spatially-separated receiver antennas, or first and second receiver signals which are attributable to different transmitter signals, or first and second receiver signals which are obtained from non-orthogonally polarized portions of one or more receiver antennas, or a coherent beam signal associated with a plurality of receiver antennas or a coherent beam signal associated with a plurality of transmitter antennas, or a combination transmitter signal comprising a combination of two or more transmitter signals or a combination receiver signal comprising a combination of two or more receiver signals; determining amplitude and phase information of a plurality of frequency components for each signal in the first signal pair; determining a set of comparison values for the first signal pair by comparing respective frequency component phases and respective frequency component amplitudes of the signals in the first signal pair; and analyzing a characteristic of the rotating machinery using the set of comparison values, wherein the rotating machinery comprises a gas turbine engine. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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23. A system for monitoring rotating machinery, the system comprising:
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at least one transmitter antenna configured to access to at least a portion of the rotating machinery; at least one receiver antenna configured to access to the portion of the rotating machinery; and a processor configured to obtain at least one receiver signal resulting from at least one transmitter signal that has propagated from the transmitter antenna to the receiver antenna by way of the portion of the rotating machinery; form at least a first signal pair which comprises a first receiver signal and a first transmitter signal, or first and second receiver signals which are obtained from spatially-separated receiver antennas, or first and second receiver signals which are attributable to different transmitter signals, or first and second receiver signals which are obtained from non-orthogonally polarized portions of one or more receiver antennas, or a coherent beam signal associated with a plurality of receiver antennas or a coherent beam signal associated with a plurality of transmitter antennas, or a combination transmitter signal comprising a combination of two or more transmitter signals or a combination receiver signal comprising a combination of two or more receiver signals; determine amplitude and phase information of a plurality of frequency components for each signal in the first signal pair; determine a set of comparison values for the first signal pair by comparing respective frequency component phases and respective frequency component amplitudes of the signals in the first signal pair; and analyze a characteristic of the rotating machinery using the set of comparison values, wherein the rotating machinery comprises a gas turbine engine. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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Specification