MACHINE HEALTH MONITORING SYSTEM AND METHOD

• US 20160370259A1
• Filed: 05/16/2016
• Published: 12/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: KCF Technologies, Inc. (SKC Company Limited)
• Original Assignee: KCF Technologies, Inc. (SKC Company Limited)
• Inventors: LOVERICH, Jacob R., FRANK, Jeremy E., KRAIGE, David R.
• Granted Patent: US 10,908,048 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 13/00 Testing of machine parts
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 99/008 by doing functionality tests
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2291/0258 Structural degradation, e.g. fatigue of composites, ageing of oils
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/14 using acoustic emission techniques echo of particles G01N29/046; measuring mechanical vibrations or acoustic waves in solids in general G01H1/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/2481 Wireless probes, e.g. with transponders or radio links
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/4472 Mathematical theories or simulation
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0283 Predictive maintenance, e.g. involving the monitoring of a system and, based on the monitoring results, taking decisions on the maintenance schedule of the monitored system; Estimating remaining useful life [RUL] preventive maintenance, i.e. planning maintenance according to the available resources without monitoring the system G06Q10/06

Abstract

A machine health monitoring method may include receiving vibration data indicating vibration of a machine or a component of the machine, determining damage to the machine or the component for each of a plurality of load cycles based on the vibration data, determining the time rate of change of the damage to the machine or the component over the plurality of load cycles, and determining a damage rate based on the time rate of change of the damage to the machine or the component relative to a baseline damage rate.

Claims

1. A machine health monitoring method, comprising:

receiving vibration data indicating vibration of a machine or a component of the machine;

determining damage to the machine or the component for each of a plurality of load cycles based on the vibration data;

determining the time rate of change of the damage to the machine or the component over the plurality of load cycles; and

determining a damage rate based on the time rate of change of the damage to the machine or the component relative to a baseline damage rate.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the damage for each of the plurality of load cycles comprises determining the damage for each of the plurality of load cycles at a critical failure-prone location as proportional to a load on the machine or the component raised to a material-dependent exponent.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the damage for each of the plurality of load cycles comprises relating a load on the machine or the component to one or more measurements from the vibration data using a transfer function.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the transfer function is frequency dependent.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the load is proportional to acceleration.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the load is proportional to velocity.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the load is proportional to displacement.

8. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

acquiring the one or more vibration measurements using wireless vibration accelerometers.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the damage rate comprises determining one or more damage rates from one or more sensors at the machine or the component.

10. A machine health monitoring apparatus, comprising:

a processor configured to receive vibration data indicating vibration of a machine or a component of the machine, the processor being configured to;

determine damage to the machine or the component for each of a plurality of load cycles based on the vibration data;

determine the time rate of change of the damage to the machine or the component over the plurality of load cycles; and

determine a damage rate based on the time rate of change of the damage to the machine or the component relative to a baseline damage rate.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processor is configured to determine the damage for each of the plurality of load cycles at a critical failure-prone location as proportional to a load on the machine or the component raised to a material-dependent exponent.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processor is configured to determine the damage for each of the plurality of load cycles by relating a load on the machine or the component to one or more measurements from the vibration data using a transfer function.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the transfer function is frequency dependent.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the load is proportional to one of acceleration, velocity, or displacement.

15. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processor is configured to determine one or more damage rates from one or more sensors at the machine or the component.

16. A machine health monitoring system, comprising:

at least one vibration sensor configured to sense vibration of a machine or a component of the machine;

a wireless receiver configured to receive vibration data from the at least one vibration sensor, the vibration data indicating vibration of the machine or the component of the machine; and

a processor configured to receive the vibration data from the wireless receiver, the processor being configured to;

determine damage to the machine or the component for each of a plurality of load cycles based on the vibration data;

determine the time rate of change of the damage to the machine or the component over the plurality of load cycles; and

determine a damage rate based on the time rate of change of the damage to the machine or the component relative to a baseline damage rate.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the processor is configured to determine the damage for each of the plurality of load cycles at a critical failure-prone location as proportional to a load on the machine or the component raised to a material-dependent exponent.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the processor is configured to determine the damage for each of the plurality of load cycles by relating a load on the machine or the component to one or more measurements from the vibration data using a transfer function.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the transfer function is frequency dependent.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the load is proportional to one of acceleration, velocity, or displacement.

21. The system of claim 16, wherein the processor is configured to determine one or more damage rates from one or more sensors at the machine or the component.