APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR IDENTIFYING A DEFECT AND/OR OPERATING CHARACTERISTIC OF A SYSTEM

• US 20080306705A1
• Filed: 06/06/2007
• Published: 12/11/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Progress Rail Services Corporation (Caterpillar Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Progress Rail Services Corporation (Caterpillar Incorporated)
• Inventors: Luo, Huageng, Ruggiero, Andrew Lawrence, Mathews, Harry Kirk JR., Tait, Robert William, Church, Benjamin Paul, Sun, Zongqi, Durling, Michael Richard, Tougas, Thomas Anthony
• Granted Patent: US 7,693,673 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/134
• CPC Class Codes: B61K 9/04 Detectors for indicating the overheating of axle bearings and the like, e.g. associated with the brake system for applying the brakes in case of a fault
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 25/021 Measuring and recording of train speed
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 25/026 Relative localisation, e.g. using odometer
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 13/08 in rotary movement
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 15/00 Testing or calibrating of thermometers

Abstract

An apparatus and methods for identifying a defect and/or an operating characteristic of a system being monitored (and/or one or more of the system'"'"'s components) are described. In an embodiment, orthogonally related data monitored by two or more detectors may be fused to determine whether a component of a system is defective and/or malfunctioning. Additionally or alternatively, data from a first detector may be determined to be accurate using non-orthogonally related data outputted by a second detector. Both types of determinations may be made with minimal or no false indications, which lowers the cost of operating the system being monitored. Embodiments of the invention may also be configured to forecast and/or prevent accidents and/or damage to the system being monitored by predicting whether a defect and/or a malfunction will occur

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

collecting with a temperature detector data indicative of a temperature (“

temperature data”

) produced by a component of a mechanical or an electromechanical system (“

system”

);

determining from non-orthogonally related data collected by at least one non-orthogonally related detector whether the temperature data is a true reading; and

reading

fusing the temperature data with orthogonally related data collected by at least one orthogonally-related detector to reduce a false indication rate.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the temperature detector is one of a hot bearing detector and a hot wheel detector.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one non-orthogonally related detector comprises at least one of:

an accelerometer, an output signal integrity sensor, and a sunlight sensor.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the accelerometer is coupled with the hot bearing detector and configured to detect vibrations of the hot bearing detector that may cause microphonics.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the temperature detector comprises at least one of:

an infrared sensor, a photovoltaic sensor, a piezoelectric sensor, a pyroelectric sensor, and a thermopile.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the system is a piece of railway rolling stock, and wherein the component is a wheel bearing assembly.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one orthogonally related detector is an acoustical detector that comprises a microphone.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

collecting acoustical data; and

identifying at least one of a defect and an operating characteristic of the component from the collected acoustical data.

9. The method of claim 3, wherein the non-orthogonally-related data further comprises microphonic data produced by at least by one of the system and its environment, and wherein the method further comprises:

detecting the microphonic data with the accelerometer; and

eliminating, based on the detected microphonic data, a false indication in the temperature data.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising at least one of:

alerting an operator of the system of an identified defect and/or an identified operating characteristic of the system; and

predicting whether at least one of a defect and a malfunction will occur.

11. A method, comprising:

collecting acoustical data produced by a mechanical or an electromechanical system (hereinafter, “

system”

) using an acoustic detector having a microphone;

analyzing the acoustical data to identify a defect of the system and/or to identify an operating characteristic of the system; and

performing signal-processing on the acoustical data, wherein the signal-processing at least includes an instant frequency analysis method.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising;

fusing the acoustical data with orthogonally-related data collected by an orthogonally-related detector to reduce a false indication rate and improve an accuracy of defect detection and operating characteristic identification.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

alerting an operator of the system of an identified defect and/or an identified operating characteristic of the system.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the instant frequency analysis method comprises:

receiving a short duration signal produced by the system;

filtering the short duration signal;

applying a Hilbert transform to the short duration signal;

extracting phase information from the result of the Hubert transform step;

calculating a first derivative of the phase with respect to time and

obtaining an instant frequency.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of analyzing the acoustical data further comprises:

analyzing the instant frequency to identify the defect of the system and/or to identify the operating characteristic of the system; and

wherein the step of fusing the acoustical data further comprises;

fusing the instant frequency with the orthogonally-related data collected by at least the one other detector to reduce the false indication rate.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the system is selected from the group consisting of a piece of railroad rolling stock, a turbine, manufacturing equipment, and machining equipment.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the orthogonally-related detector is a temperature detector.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

predicting whether at least one of a defect and a malfunction will occur.

19. An apparatus, comprising:

a first detector configured to collect data indicative of a temperature (“

temperature data”

) produced by a component of a mechanical or an electromechanical system;

a detector coupled with the temperature detector and configured to output non-orthogonally related data used to determine whether the temperature data outputted by the temperature detector is a true reading; and

an orthogonally related detector configured to output orthogonally related data to be fused with the temperature data to reduce a false indication rate.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the temperature detector is one of a hot bearing detector and a hot wheel detector that comprises at least one of an infrared sensor, a photovoltaic sensor, a piezoelectric sensor, and a thermopile.

21. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the non-orthogonally related detector comprises at least one of:

an accelerometer, an output signal integrity sensor, and a sunlight sensor.

22. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the orthogonally related detector comprises a microphone.