METHOD AND SYSTEMS FOR A RADIATOR FAN

• US 20170268439A1
• Filed: 03/18/2016
• Published: 09/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Transportation IP Holdings, LLC (Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation)
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: AHUJA, Munishwar, WORDEN, Bret Dwayne, CHANDRASEKARAN, Shankar, RAMU, Vinay, ARIWIBOWO, Adityo Kusumo
• Granted Patent: US 10,662,958 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: F01P 11/14 Indicating devices; Other safety devices
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 2041/227 Limping Home, i.e. taking specific engine control measures at abnormal conditions
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 2250/26 by applying a torque limit
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/22 Safety or indicating devices for abnormal conditions in air/fuel ratio feedback systems F02D41/1495, in electric control linkage F02D11/107, in purge control systems F02M25/0809
• CPC Class Codes: F04D 27/001 Testing thereof; Determination or simulation of flow characteristics; Stall or surge detection, e.g. condition monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: F04D 29/056 Bearings
• CPC Class Codes: F05D 2260/80 Diagnostics
• CPC Class Codes: F05D 2270/334 Vibration measurements
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 15/042 by monitoring a single specific parameter not covered by groups G01M15/06 - G01M15/12
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/40 Engine management systems

Abstract

Systems and a method are provided for determining a change in performance of a radiator fan. In one example, a system includes a controller configured to receive a signal output from an accelerometer positioned proximately to and/or operatively coupled with a bearing of a radiator fan, process the signal to determine a peak to peak acceleration value, and indicate a change in performance of the radiator fan when the peak to peak acceleration value is greater than a designated threshold value.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a controller configured to;

receive a signal output from an accelerometer at least one of positioned proximately to or operatively coupled with a bearing of a radiator fan;

process the signal to determine one or more of a peak to peak acceleration value, a correlation value, or a kurtosis value; and

indicate a change in performance of the radiator fan when one or more of the peak to peak acceleration value, the correlation value, or the kurtosis value is greater than a respective designated threshold value.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to extract a top envelope of the signal output from the accelerometer, extract a bottom envelope of the signal output from the accelerometer, and sum the top envelope and bottom envelope to generate a peak to peak acceleration signal, wherein the peak to peak acceleration value comprises a mean of the peak to peak acceleration signal, and wherein the kurtosis value is a kurtosis value of the peak to peak acceleration signal.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the accelerometer is coupled to a casing of a radiator fan housing and operatively coupled to the controller via a wired or wireless connection, and wherein the accelerometer comprises a piezo-film accelerometer, surface micro-machined capacitive accelerometer, a bulk micro-machined capacitive accelerometer, a piezo-electric accelerometer, a magnetic induction accelerometer, and/or an optical accelerometer.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to indicate a change in performance of the radiator fan when both the peak to peak acceleration value and kurtosis value are greater than the respective designated threshold values and when a radiator fan speed of the radiator fan is lower than a threshold speed value.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to indicate a change in performance of the radiator fan when both the peak to peak acceleration value and kurtosis value are greater than the respective designated threshold values and when an engine configured to receive cooling fluid from a radiator cooled by the radiator fan is operating at a load below a threshold load.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the controller is configured to increase a flow rate of the cooling fluid and/or operate the radiator fan at a reduced speed responsive to the indication of the change in performance of the radiator fan.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein controller is further configured to:

store a series of peak to peak acceleration values over time;

determine if one of the peak to peak acceleration values of the series differs from another of the peak to peak acceleration values of the series by an amount greater than a determined historical peak acceleration value threshold; and

indicate a change in performance of the radiator fan when one of the peak to peak acceleration values of the series differs from another of the peak to peak acceleration values of the series by the amount greater than the determined historical peak acceleration value threshold.

8. A system, comprising:

a radiator fan configured to cool cooling fluid from an engine at a radiator;

an accelerometer at least one of positioned proximate to or operatively coupled with a bearing of the radiator fan; and

a controller configured to;

responsive to an engine load being below a threshold load value and the radiator fan operating within a designated speed range, determine a peak to peak acceleration value of a signal output from the accelerometer; and

indicate a change in performance of the radiator fan based on the peak to peak acceleration value.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the peak to peak acceleration value comprises one or more of a mean of a peak to peak acceleration signal extracted from the signal output from the accelerometer, a correlation value of the peak to peak acceleration signal, or a kurtosis value of the peak to peak acceleration signal.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the controller is configured to extract a top envelope of the signal output from the accelerometer, extract a bottom envelope of the signal output from the accelerometer, and sum absolutes of the top envelope and bottom envelope to extract the peak to peak acceleration signal.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the system is mounted in a vehicle, wherein the engine has a longitudinal axis parallel to a plane of a ground on which the vehicle is configured to rest, and wherein the radiator fan has a rotational axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the engine.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the peak to peak acceleration value is a first peak to peak acceleration value of a signal in a first axis of the accelerometer, and wherein the controller is configured to determine a second peak to peak acceleration value of a signal in a second axis of the accelerometer.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein to indicate a change in performance of the radiator fan based on the peak to peak acceleration value, the controller is configured to sum the first peak to peak acceleration value and the second peak to peak acceleration value, and if the sum is greater than a threshold value, indicate the change in performance.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the controller is configured to, responsive to indicating the change in performance of the radiator fan, derate engine power.

15. The system of claim 8, wherein the controller is configured to engage a clutch of the radiator fan to operate the radiator fan at the designated speed range, and wherein during engine operation at engine loads above the threshold load, the controller is configured to disengage the clutch to operate the radiator fan within a second designated speed range, higher than the designated speed range.

16. The system of claim 8, wherein the controller is configured to determine a plurality of peak to peak acceleration values of the signal output from the accelerometer over a duration, and indicate the change in performance of the radiator fan when a rate of change of the plurality of peak to peak acceleration values over the duration is greater than a threshold rate of change.

17. A method comprising:

correlating a frequency content obtained from first acceleration data to frequency content obtained from second acceleration data; and

indicating a change in performance of a rotating device based on the correlation being greater than a designated value.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein correlating frequency content obtained from the first acceleration data to frequency content obtained from the second acceleration data comprises:

weighting each respective magnitude of one or more selected frequencies of the frequency content obtained from the first acceleration data;

weighting each respective magnitude of one or more selected frequencies of the frequency content obtained from the second acceleration data; and

determining a mean of the weighted magnitudes obtained from the first acceleration data and the second acceleration data.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein indicating a change in performance of the rotating body based on the correlation comprises indicating the change in performance of the rotating body when the mean of the weighted magnitudes exceeds the designated value.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising derating engine power responsive to indicating the change in performance.