EARLY DETECTION OF DAMAGE TO MACHINE ELEMENTS IN ROLLING ENGAGEMENT

• US 3,699,806 A
• Filed: 03/27/1970
• Issued: 10/24/1972
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/1967
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Amespace Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Bjorn Weichbrodt
• Inventors: Weichbrodt, Bjorn
• Primary Examiner(s): Gill, James J.
• Application Number:
  US05/023,252
• Time in Patent Office: 942 Days
• Field of Search: 73/67,67.2,69,71.2,71.4
• US Class Current: 73/593
• CPC Class Codes: G01H 1/003 of rotating machines G01H1/10 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 13/028 Acoustic or vibration analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 13/045 Acoustic or vibration analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2291/2696 Wheels, Gears, Bearings

Abstract

A system for detection of damage to a machine element in rolling engagement to another machine element utilizing the component of vibration produced by such damage. Successive cycles each including the component of vibration produced by the damage are summed to enhance and render detectable such component of vibration.

Claims

1. A system for detecting damage to a rolling element in a pair of engaging rolling elements, said damage producing a component of vibration having a periodicity corresponding to the periodicity of the rotation of said rolling element, a vibration sensor coupled to said rolling element for sensing vibrations thereof and converting said vibrations into an electrical signal, means for segmenting said electrical signal into a plurality of signal segments, each signal segment starting at the same phase of rotation of said rolling element, each signal segment including a plurality of signal elements occurring in sequence, means for summing corresponding signal elements of said signal segments coinciding with a respective phase position of said rolling element to produce a plurality of resultant signal elements, each corresponding with a respective phase position of said rolling element, means for combining said resultant signal elements to produce a resultant signal segment, said resultant signal segment having a duration equal to the duration of one of said signal segments and includes at least a peak corresponding to said component of vibration.

2. The combination of claim 1 in which said rolling element is a rolling element of a bearing.

3. The combination of claim 1 in which said pair of rolling elements are gears in which the teeth of one of said gears engage the teeth of the other of said gears.

4. The combination of claim 1 in which said segmenting means segments said electrical signal into segments having a duration which is at least equal to the period of rotation of said element of said engaging rolling elements.

5. The combination of claim 1 in which said summing means includes a summation analyzer which sums the corresponding signal and elements of a plurality of signal segments applied thereto in sequence and stores the resultant segmented signal therein and in which said signal segmenting means includes a source of regularly recurring impulses, each impulse synchronized with the occurrence of said component of vibration and initiating the summation sequence of the summation analyzer on said electrical signal applied thereto.

6. A system for detecting damage to a rolling element bearing supporting a rotating shaft thereon, said damage producing a vibration having a frequency related to the periodicity of the rotation of said shaft comprising a vibration sensor coupled to said bearing for sensing vibrations therein and converting said vibrations into an electrical signal, filter means for passing the frequency components of said signal lying with a predetermined band of frequencies including said frequency to produce a first resultant signal, means for segmenting said first resultant signal into a plurality of signal segments, each signal segment starting at the same phase of rotation of said shaft, each signal segment including a plurality of signal elements occurring in sequence, means for summing corresponding signal elements of said signal segments coinciding with a respective phase position of said shaft to produce a plurality of resultant signal elements, each corresponding with a respective phase position of said shaft, means for combining said resultant signal elements to produce a resultant signal segment, said resultant signal segment having a duration equal to the duration of one of said signal segments and includes at least a peak corresponding to said vibration.

7. The combination of claim 6 in which said bandpass filter passes signal components of frequencies of 100 to 5,000 cycles.

8. The combination of claim 6 in which means are provided for rectifying said first resultant signal and applying said rectified signal to said signal segmenting means.