METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DETECTION OF MACHINE OPERATION STATE FOR MONITORING PURPOSES

• US 20120136627A1
• Filed: 11/30/2010
• Published: 05/31/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Baker Hughes Holdings LLC (Baker Hughes Company)
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Jensen, Raymond Verle
• Granted Patent: US 8,793,103 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/182
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/50185 Monitoring, detect failures, control of efficiency of machine, tool life
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0221 Preprocessing measurements, e.g. data collection rate adjustment; Standardization of measurements; Time series or signal analysis, e.g. frequency analysis or wavelets; Trustworthiness of measurements; Indexes therefor; Measurements using easily measured parameters to estimate parameters difficult to measure; Virtual sensor creation; De-noising; Sensor fusion; Unconventional preprocessing inherently present in specific fault detection methods like PCA-based methods
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0235 based on a comparison with predetermined threshold or range, e.g. "classical methods", carried out during normal operation; threshold adaptation or choice; when or how to compare with the threshold

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention described herein use an output of an energy harvester as an indication of the operating state of the machine, device, or process the energy harvester is associated with. In one aspect, a system is described. The system is comprised of at least one of a machine or process, a processor, and an energy harvesting device associated with the machine or process. The processor is configured to use an output of the energy harvesting device created by the machine or process to determine whether the machine or process is in a first operating state or a second operating state.

Claims

1. A system comprised of:

at least one of a machine or process;

a processor; and

an energy harvesting device associated with the machine or process that creates an output from the machine or process, wherein the processor is configured to use the output of the energy harvesting device to determine an operating state of the machine or process.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprised of a monitoring system, wherein one or more outputs of the monitoring system are correlated by the processor with the operating state of the machine or process as determined by the output of the energy harvesting device.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the monitoring system includes a condition monitoring system, a vibration monitoring system, a thermal monitoring system, a noise monitoring system, an electrical parameters monitoring system, a performance monitoring system, an environmental monitoring system, a process monitoring system, and combinations thereof.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the processor correlating the one or more outputs of the monitoring system with the operating state of the machine or process as determined by the output of the energy harvesting device comprises the processor determining whether the one or more outputs of the monitoring system were produced during a time period that the machine or process was in a first operating state or during a time period that the machine or process was in a second operating state as determined by the output of the energy harvesting device.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the energy harvesting device is selected from the group consisting of a piezoelectric device, a pyroelectric device, a thermoelectric device, a micro wind turbine, an electrostatic device, a kinetic device, and a vibrational device.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one machine or process is selected from the group consisting of an electric motor, an electric generator, an internal-combustion engine, a jet engine and a turbine.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the output of the energy harvesting device used to determine the operating state of the machine or process comprises a voltage output.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the output of the energy harvesting device used to determine the operating state of the machine or process comprises a current output.

9. A system comprised of:

a machine;

a processor;

a monitoring system; and

an energy harvesting device associated with the machine that creates an output from the machine, wherein the output of the energy harvesting device is used by the processor to determine an operating state of the machine, and wherein one or more outputs of the monitoring system are correlated with the operating state of the machine as determined by the output of the energy harvesting device.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor correlating the one or more outputs of the monitoring system with the operating state of the machine as determined by the output of the energy harvesting device comprises determining whether the one or more outputs of the monitoring system were produced during a time period that the machine was in a first operating state or during a time period that the machine was in a second operating state as determined by the output of the energy harvesting device.

11. A method comprising:

receiving, from an energy harvesting device associated with at least one of a machine or process, an output from the energy harvesting device created by the machine or process, wherein said output is used to determine an operating state of the machine or process;

receiving, from a monitoring system associated with the machine or process, one or more outputs from the monitoring system; and

correlating, by a processor, the one or more outputs of the monitoring system with the operating state of the machine or process as determined by the output of the energy harvesting device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein receiving, from a monitoring system associated with the machine or process, one or more outputs from the monitoring system comprises receiving the one or more outputs from one or more of a condition monitoring system, a vibration monitoring system, a thermal monitoring system, a noise monitoring system, an electrical parameters monitoring system, a performance monitoring system, an environmental monitoring system, a process monitoring system, or a combination thereof.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein correlating, by the processor, the one or more outputs of the monitoring system with the operating state of the machine or process as determined by the output of the energy harvesting device comprises determining whether the one or more outputs of the monitoring system were produced during a time period that the machine or process was in a first operating state or during a time period that the machine or process was in a second operating state as determined by the output of the energy harvesting device.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein receiving, from an energy harvesting device associated with a machine or process, an output comprises receiving the output from a energy harvesting device selected from the group consisting of a piezoelectric device, a pyroelectric device, a thermoelectric device, a micro wind turbine, an electrostatic device, a kinetic device, and a vibrational device.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein receiving, from an energy harvesting device associated with a machine or process, an output, comprises receiving the output from an energy harvesting device associated with a machine selected from the group consisting of an electric motor, an electric generator, an internal-combustion engine, a jet engine and a turbine.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the output used to determine the operating state of the machine or process comprises a voltage output.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the output used to determine the operating state of the machine or process comprises a current output.