AUTOMATED SENSOR SPECIFIC CALIBRATION THROUGH SENSOR PARAMETER DOWNLOAD

• US 20100188100A1
• Filed: 01/27/2009
• Published: 07/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/27/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Chan, David So Keung, Dasgupta, Samhita, Ren, Zhiyuan, Herron, William Lee, Hasz, Wayne Charles, Shaddock, David Mulford, Balasubramaniam, Mahadevan, Esler, David Richard, Down, John Harry, Parry, David Walter, Herron, Cheryl, Andarawis, Emad Andarawis
• Granted Patent: US 8,022,715 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 324/601
• CPC Class Codes: F01D 11/14 Adjusting or regulating tip-clearance, i.e. distance between rotor-blade tips and stator casing rotors with blades adjustable in operation F01D7/00
• CPC Class Codes: F01D 21/003 Arrangements for testing or measuring for measuring vibrations G01H
• CPC Class Codes: F01D 21/04 responsive to undesired position of rotor relative to stator or to breaking-off of a part of the rotor, e.g. indicating such position
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 7/14 for measuring distance or clearance between spaced objects or spaced apertures G01B7/30 takes precedence

Abstract

A sensor system for measuring a clearance parameter between a stationary component and a rotating component of a rotating machine is provided. The system includes a clearance sensor to output a clearance measurement signal. A sensor memory is attached to the sensor for storing a first sensor information. A second sensor information is stored in a electronics interface memory. The first and the second sensor information are read and the clearance sensor is matched with a respective plurality of calibration data by an electronic interface based on the first and the second sensor information.

Claims

1. A sensor system comprising:

a clearance sensor configured to measure a clearance between a stationary component and a rotating component of a rotating machine and to output a clearance measurement signal;

a sensor memory coupled to the clearance sensor and configured to store a first sensor information;

an electronics interface memory configured to store a second sensor information; and

an electronics interface configured to read the first and the second sensor information and to match the clearance sensor with a respective plurality of calibration data based on the first and the second sensor information.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the stationary object comprises a shroud of the rotating machine.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the rotating object comprises a rotating blade of the rotating machine.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the clearance sensor is selected from the group consisting of a capacitive sensor, a microwave based sensor, an optical based sensor, an eddy current sensor and combinations thereof.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor memory and the electronics interface memory are selected from the group consisting of an electronic memory, an electrical memory, a mechanical memory and combinations thereof.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronics interface periodically probes the sensor memory to detect a change in the clearance sensor.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the first sensor information comprises the calibration data for the clearance sensor, and wherein the electronics interface uses the calibration data to calibrate the clearance measurement signal.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the first sensor information comprises a sensor identification number.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the electronics interface issues an alerting when a mismatch is detected between the sensor ID and the calibration parameters.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the first sensor information comprises a plurality of scaling parameters with respect to a plurality of proto-calibration data for the clearance sensor.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the first sensor information comprises a mathematical relationship between the clearance between the stationary and rotating components and the clearance measurement signal.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the second sensor information comprises a plurality of calibration data with a respective identification number for each of the calibration data points.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the second sensor information comprises a plurality of calibration data for a proto-sensor.

14. A method for calibrating a clearance sensor, the method comprising:

storing a first sensor information in a clearance sensor memory;

storing a second sensor information in a electronics interface memory;

reading the first sensor information from the clearance sensor memory; and

calibrating the clearance sensor based on the first sensor information and the second sensor information.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising tracking the clearance sensor deterioration over time based on the first sensor information and the second sensor information.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein storing a second sensor information comprises detecting a change in the clearance sensor and manually downloading a plurality of new calibration data into the electronics interface memory.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the first sensor information comprises a plurality of calibration data for the clearance sensor.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the first sensor information comprises a sensor identification number.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the first sensor information comprises a plurality of scaling parameters with respect to a plurality of proto-calibration data for the clearance sensor.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the clearance sensor is configured to monitor a clearance between a rotating component and a stationary component, and wherein the first sensor information comprises a mathematical relationship between the clearance between the stationary and rotating components and the clearance measurement signal.

21. The method of claim 14, wherein the second sensor information comprises a plurality of calibration data with a respective identification number for each of the calibration data points.

22. The method of claim 14, wherein the second sensor information comprises a plurality of calibration data for a proto-sensor.

23. A calibrated sensor comprising

a sensor element;

and

a memory coupled to the sensor element, wherein the memory is configured to store a plurality of sensor specific information.

24. The sensor of claim 23, wherein the sensor element is selected from the group consisting of a capacitive sensor element, a microwave based sensor element, an optical based sensor element, an eddy current sensor element and combinations thereof.

25. The sensor of claim 23, wherein the memory is selected from the group consisting of an electronic memory, an electrical memory, a mechanical memory and combinations thereof.