VEHICLE MONITORING SYSTEM

• US 20100268403A1
• Filed: 04/21/2009
• Published: 10/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation (Rtx Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation (Rtx Corporation)
• Inventors: Poisson, Richard A.
• Granted Patent: US 9,092,029 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/3
• 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

An example reconfigurable vehicle monitoring arrangement includes a housing securable relative to a vehicle, a communication base at least partially disposed within the housing, and a universal connector assembly configured to selectively operatively connect the communication base with a plurality of different modules. At least one of the modules is configured to communicate data gathered from a plurality of vehicle data sources to the communication base.

Claims

1. A reconfigurable vehicle monitoring arrangement comprising:

a housing securable relative to a vehicle;

a communication base at least partially disposed within the housing; and

at least one universal connector assembly configured to selectively operatively connect the communication base with a plurality of different modules, at least one of the modules configured to communicate data gathered from a plurality of vehicle data sources to the communication base.

2. The arrangement of claim 1 wherein the at least one universal connector assembly comprises a bus connector portion of the communication base configured to selectively operatively connect to a corresponding bus connector portion on the plurality of different module types.

3. The arrangement of claim 1 wherein at least one of the modules is in communication with at least one sensor that gathers data from at least one of the plurality of vehicle data sources.

4. The arrangement of claim 1 wherein the vehicle is an aircraft.

5. The arrangement of claim 1 wherein at least one of the modules has a portion that extends outside the housing when operatively connected to the communication base.

6. The arrangement of claim 1 wherein the communication base is configured to power the different types of modules when the modules are operatively connected to the communication base.

7. The arrangement of claim 1 wherein one of the modules is a vibration monitoring module and another of the modules is a temperature monitoring module.

8. The assembly of claim 7 wherein the vibration monitoring module is configured to communicate with vibration sensors and the temperature monitoring module is configured to communicate with temperature sensors.

9. A modular vehicle monitoring system comprising:

a housing;

a communication base;

a first module;

a second module; and

a universal connector, wherein the communication base is configured to selectively engage the first module, the second module, or both using the universal connector portion, wherein at least one of the first module and the second module is configured to communicate data gathered from a plurality of vehicle data sources to the communication base.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the universal connector is a bus connector.

11. The system of claim 9 wherein the communication base includes a first portion of the universal connector, and the first module and the second module each include a corresponding second portion of the universal connector.

12. The system of claim 9 wherein the first module is configured to gather data from at least one first type of vehicle data sources and the second module is configured to gather data from at least one second type of vehicle data sources different from the first type of vehicle data sources.

13. The system of claim 9 wherein the data communicates from the first module to the communication base through the universal connection portion.

14. The system of claim 9 wherein the first module is operatively connected to at least one first sensor, and the second module is operatively connected to at least one second sensor, the at least one first sensor configured to gather data from a vehicle that is different than data that is gathered by the second sensor.

15. A method of monitoring data sources comprising:

connecting a first module arrangement to a communication base of a vehicle monitoring system using at least one universal connector, the first module arrangement configured to communicate with at least one vehicle data source; and

reconfiguring vehicle monitoring system to include a second module arrangement by connecting the second module arrangement to the communication base of the vehicle monitoring system using the at least one universal connector, the second module arrangement configured to communicate with at least one other vehicle data source.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the first module arrangement and the second module arrangement are connected to the communication base at the same time.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the universal connector is a bus connector.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein the communication base comprises a portion of the universal connector, and the first module arrangement and the second module arrangement include a corresponding portion of the universal connector.