Unified data acquisition system and method

• US 20060136177A1
• Filed: 12/16/2004
• Published: 06/22/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GE Digital Holdings LLC (GE Aerospace)
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Patanian, John Jacob
• Granted Patent: US 7,143,009 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/187
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0213 Modular or universal configuration of the monitoring system, e.g. monitoring system having modules that may be combined to build monitoring program; monitoring system that can be applied to legacy systems; adaptable monitoring system; using different communication protocols

Abstract

A unified data acquisition system (UDAS) includes a portable computer configured to monitor data from a system installation. The system installation may be a gas turbine, steam turbine, combined cycle, or power generation system installation. The UDAS is also configured to log both raw and processed data from a plurality of data sources at the system installation, and to permit relocation and reconfiguration of the UDAS at a different system installation for monitoring and logging of data at the different system installation.

Claims

1. A unified data acquisition system (UDAS) comprising a portable computer configured to:

monitor data from a system installation selected from the group consisting of gas turbine, steam turbine, combined cycle, and power generation system installations;

log both raw and processed data from a plurality of data sources at said system installation; and

permit relocation and reconfiguration of said UDAS at a different system installation for monitoring and logging of data at said different system installation.

2. A UDAS in accordance with claim 1 wherein to permit reconfiguration, said UDAS is reconfigurable utilizing a graphical user interface to utilize a plurality of data acquisition instrumentation from a predefined list of said data acquisition instrumentation.

3. A UDAS in accordance with claim 2 wherein to log both raw and processed data from each said monitored installation, said UDAS is configured to log raw data in a comma separated value formatted file and said processed data in a relational database.

5. A UDAS in accordance with claim 3 configured to time-synchronize the logging of raw data from a plurality of sources in said comma separated value formatted file, and to time-synchronize the logging of processed data from a plurality of sources in said relational database.

6. A UDAS in accordance with claim 1 further configured to

transmit test status and current data to a remote location.

8. A UDAS in accordance with claim 6 configured deployed as a performance monitor at a monitored system installation to process data from the monitored system installation essentially concurrently as it is received.

9. A UDAS in accordance with claim 6 wherein said UDAS is configurable to perform custom calculations with said data from the monitored installation utilizing instructions specified by a user of said UDAS.

10. A UDAS in accordance with claim 9 wherein said UDAS is further configured to offer a selection of preprogrammed performance testing functions to the user.

4. (canceled)

7. (canceled)

11. A method for acquiring data for thermal performance testing, said method comprising:

utilizing a portable data acquisition system to monitor data from plurality of data sources at a system installation selected from the group consisting of gas turbine, steam turbine, combined cycle, and power generation system installations, wherein said portable data acquisition system comprises a personal computer relocatable and reconfigurable for monitoring and logging of data from different system installations; and

logging both raw and processed data from the monitored system installation.

12. A method in accordance with claim 11 further comprising reconfiguring said personal computer via a graphical user interface to utilize a plurality of data acquisition instrumentation from a predefined list of said data acquisition instrumentation.

13. A method in accordance with claim 12 wherein logging both raw and processed data further comprises logging raw data in a comma separated value formatted file and logging said processed data in a relational database.

15. A method in accordance with claim 13 wherein raw data is logged from a plurality of sources and processed data is logged from a plurality of sources, and further comprising time-synchronizing the logging of raw data from a plurality of sources in said comma separated value formatted file and time-synchronizing the logging of processed data from a plurality of sources in said relational database.

17. A method in accordance with claim 11 further comprising transmitting test status and current data to a remote location and processing data from the monitored installation essentially as it is received.

19. A method in accordance with claim 17 further comprising at least one of configuring the personal computer via a graphical user interface to perform custom calculations with said data from the monitored installation or selecting preprogrammed performance testing functions.

14. (canceled)

16. (canceled)

18. (canceled)

20. A machine readable medium having recorded thereon instructions for acquiring data for thermal performance testing, said instructions configured to:

instruct a portable data acquisition system to monitor data from plurality of data sources at a system installation selected from the group consisting of gas turbine, steam turbine, combined cycle, and power generation system installations, wherein said portable data acquisition system comprises a personal computer, and said instructions include instructions for monitoring and logging of data from different system installations; and

log both raw and processed data from the monitored system installation.

21. A machine readable medium in accordance with claim 20 further having instructions recorded thereon configured to reconfigure the personal computer via a graphical user interface to utilize a plurality of data acquisition instrumentation from a predefined list of said data acquisition instrumentation.

22. A machine readable medium in accordance with claim 21 wherein to log both raw and processed data, said instructions are further configured to log raw data in a comma separated value formatted file and to log said processed data in a relational database.

24. A machine readable medium in accordance with claim 22 wherein said instructions include instructions to log raw data from a plurality of sources and to log processed data from a plurality of sources, and said instructions further include instructions configured to time-synchronize the logging of raw data from a plurality of sources in the comma separated value formatted file and to time-synchronize the logging of processed data from a plurality of sources in said relational database.

26. A machine readable medium in accordance with claim 20 wherein said instructions further comprise instructions configured to transmit test data and current data to a remote location and to process data from the monitored installation essentially as it is received.

28. A machine readable medium in accordance with claim 26 further having instructions recorded thereon to at least one or configure the personal computer via a graphical user interface to perform custom calculations with said data from the monitored installation or to provide preprogrammed performance testing functions selectable via said graphical user interface.

23. (canceled)

25. (canceled)

27. (canceled)