FREQUENCY-ADAPTABLE STRUCTURAL HEALTH AND USAGE MONITORING SYSTEM

• US 20130211737A1
• Filed: 02/11/2013
• Published: 08/15/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/10/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Appareo Systems LLC (AGCO Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Appareo Systems LLC (AGCO Corporation)
• Inventors: Batcheller, Barry D., Wiig, Johan A.
• Granted Patent: US 9,797,801 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/34
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 17/08 Railway vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 7/00 Vibration-testing of structures; Shock-testing of structures G01M9/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers

Abstract

A structural health monitoring system comprising intelligent sensors, wherein the intelligent sensors are individually programmable and can be tuned to listen to specific frequencies based on a scaling factor based on the sensor'"'"'s location in the system being monitored, a set of pre-known frequencies based on the sensor'"'"'s location in the system being monitored, and the output of a central frequency-based system sensor.

Claims

1. A health and usage monitoring system on a dynamic mechanical system, comprising at least a first intelligent sensor, a central control module, and a communication network connecting the at least a first intelligent sensor and the central control module, wherein the at least a first intelligent sensor comprises:

a signal processing circuit,

software executing on said signal processing circuit,

a sensor capable of sensing vibrations in at least one axis of motion,

a communications device for transmitting data to and receiving data from a remote location, and

a mount,

wherein the intelligent sensor is mounted near a first component on the dynamic mechanical system and monitors the operation of the first component.

2. The health and usage monitoring system of claim 1 wherein the dynamic mechanical system is selected from the group:

aircraft, land vehicle, assembly line, and manufacturing facility.

3. The health and usage monitoring system of claim 1 wherein said remote location is a second intelligent sensor mounted near a second component on the dynamic mechanical system, wherein data received from the second intelligent sensor is used by the software means to configure the operation of the at least a first sensor.

4. The health and usage monitoring system of claim 3 wherein data received from the second intelligent sensor comprises a digital representation of an operating frequency of the second component on the vehicle, and the digital representation is used to derive key system frequencies to which the at least a first intelligent system will be configured to monitor.

5. The health and usage monitoring system of claim 4 wherein the operating frequency of the second component is a multiple of an output from an RPM sensor, wherein the RPM sensor is measuring the revolutions of a rotating component on the dynamic mechanical system.

6. A health and usage monitoring system on a dynamic mechanical system, which includes:

a sensor adapted for providing an output signal corresponding to an operating condition of said mechanical system,

a processor receiving input from said sensor and providing an output, software executing on said processor and adapted for processing said sensor output,

said processor providing an output corresponding to a dynamic operating condition of said mechanical system, and

a communications device connected to said processor and adapted for transmitting data to then receiving data from a remote location.

7. The health and usage monitoring system of claim 6 wherein the dynamic mechanical system is selected from the group:

aircraft, land vehicle, assembly line, and manufacturing facility.

8. The health and usage monitoring system of claim 6 wherein said remote location is a second intelligent sensor mounted near a second component on the dynamic mechanical system, wherein data received from the second intelligent sensor is used by the software means to configure the operation of the at least a first sensor.

9. The health and usage monitoring system of claim 8 wherein data received from the second intelligent sensor comprises a digital representation of an operating frequency of the second component on the vehicle, and the digital representation is used to derive key system frequencies to which the at least a first intelligent system will be configured to monitor.

10. The health and usage monitoring system of claim 9 wherein the operating frequency of the second component is a multiple of an output from an RPM sensor, wherein the RPM sensor is measuring the revolutions of a rotating component on the dynamic mechanical system.

11. A method for creating a real-time health and usage monitoring system, comprising the steps of:

mounting one or more intelligent sensors near operating components of a dynamic mechanical system, such that the intelligent sensors can detect the state of the operating components,

connecting the intelligent sensors by a communications network,

connecting a central control module to the communications network,

loading operational profile information into the central control module, wherein the operational profile information defines an acceptable performance range for each of the operating components,

using the intelligent sensors to detect when one or more of the operating components is performing outside its acceptable performance range,

notifying an operator when an operating component has moved outside of its acceptable performance range,

wherein the step of notifying an operator is defined by a method selected from the group;

communicating in real-time to an operator of the dynamic mechanical system,

transmitting information to a remote location separated from the dynamic mechanical system, or

storing the information for later retrieval and processing.

12. The method for creating a real-time health and usage monitoring system of claim 11, further comprising the step of commanding the central control module to place the health and usage monitoring system into one of several pre-defined operational modes.

13. The method for creating a real-time health and usage monitoring system of claim 12, wherein the pre-defined operational modes comprise a simple data record mode, system fault alert mode, analog pass-through mode, and a digitized waveform mode.

14. An intelligent sensor core comprising

a signal processing circuit,

a software means executing on said signal processing circuit,

a first communication means for transmitting data to and receiving data from a separate sensing unit,

a second communication means for transmitting data to and receiving data from a remote central control module, and

a mounting means,

wherein the separate sensing unit may be located remotely from the intelligent sensor core, wherein the separate sensing unit may be readily replaced with a different sensing unit with different functionality.

15. An intelligent sensor comprising

a signal processing circuit,

a software means executing on said signal processing circuit,

a sensing means capable of sensing vibrations in at least one axis of motion,

a second communication means for transmitting data to and receiving data from a remote location, and

a mounting means,

wherein the intelligent sensor is capable of receiving data transmitted from the remote location, wherein data received from the remote location may be used by the software means to configure the operation of the intelligent sensor.

16. The intelligent sensor of claim 15 wherein the remote location is a second intelligent sensor.