Methods and systems for filtering unwanted noise in a material metering machine
First Claim
1. A system, comprising:
- (A) a material metering machine having a load cell, the load cell being configured to generate an analog signal, the analog signal being indicative of a load on the load cell;
(B) an analog-to-digital converter configured to convert the analog signal into a digital signal, the digital signal having a sampling rate of 307.2 kHz;
(C) a preliminary decimation element comprising;
(C1) a first finite-impulse-response (FIR) filter having a decimation ratio of 16, the first FIR filter being configured to reduce the sampling rate of the digital signal from 307.2 kHz to 19.2 kHz; and
(C2) a second FIR filter serially coupled to the first FIR filter, the second FIR filter having a decimation ratio of 16, the second FIR filter being configured to reduce tbe sampling rate of the digital signal from 19.2 kHz to 1200 Hz;
(D) a primary decimation element serially coupled to the preliminary decimation element, the primary decimation element comprising;
(D1) a third FIR filter having a decimation ratio of 2, the third FIR filter being configured to reduce the sampling rate of the digital signal from 1200 Hz to 600 Hz;
(D2) a fourth FIR filter having a decimation ratio of 10, the fourth FIR filter being configured to reduce the sampling rate of the digital signal from 600 Hz to 60 Hz; and
(D3) a fifth FIR filter having a decimation ratio of 6, the fifth FIR filter being configured to reduce the sampling rate of the digital signal from 60 Hz to 10 Hz; and
(E) a filter bank serially coupled to the primary decimation element, the filter bank comprising;
(E1) selectable filters, each filter being configured to reduce the noise, the selectable filters including a filter having a sub-hertz 3-dB cutoff frequency, the selectable filters comprising a filter selected from the group consisting of;
(E1a) a SINC filter; and
(E1b) a raised cosine filter; and
(E2) a selectable filter switch configured to select a selectable filter, the selectable filter being selected as a function of operating criteria, the operating criteria being associated with the material metering machine, the operating criteria being determined through a closed feedback loop.
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Abstract
Methods and systems for filtering an analog signal sampled at a very high frequency and outputting a digital signal that has a very low sampling frequency to drive a material metering machine. The high frequency digital input signal is input to a first decimation element, which filters out the noise in the signal introduced by an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter and reduces the sampling frequency of the digital signal to a lower sampling frequency of 1200 hertz. The reduced rate digital signal is input into a second decimation element that contains several decimation filters, which reject the 60 hertz line noise and its harmonics while simultaneously reducing the sampling frequency of the digital signal to 10 hertz. The output of the second decimation element is then passed to a bank of selectable filters with sub-hertz cutoff frequencies to remove the machine noise from the material metering machine.
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Citations
31 Claims
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1. A system, comprising:
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(A) a material metering machine having a load cell, the load cell being configured to generate an analog signal, the analog signal being indicative of a load on the load cell; (B) an analog-to-digital converter configured to convert the analog signal into a digital signal, the digital signal having a sampling rate of 307.2 kHz; (C) a preliminary decimation element comprising; (C1) a first finite-impulse-response (FIR) filter having a decimation ratio of 16, the first FIR filter being configured to reduce the sampling rate of the digital signal from 307.2 kHz to 19.2 kHz; and (C2) a second FIR filter serially coupled to the first FIR filter, the second FIR filter having a decimation ratio of 16, the second FIR filter being configured to reduce tbe sampling rate of the digital signal from 19.2 kHz to 1200 Hz; (D) a primary decimation element serially coupled to the preliminary decimation element, the primary decimation element comprising; (D1) a third FIR filter having a decimation ratio of 2, the third FIR filter being configured to reduce the sampling rate of the digital signal from 1200 Hz to 600 Hz; (D2) a fourth FIR filter having a decimation ratio of 10, the fourth FIR filter being configured to reduce the sampling rate of the digital signal from 600 Hz to 60 Hz; and (D3) a fifth FIR filter having a decimation ratio of 6, the fifth FIR filter being configured to reduce the sampling rate of the digital signal from 60 Hz to 10 Hz; and (E) a filter bank serially coupled to the primary decimation element, the filter bank comprising; (E1) selectable filters, each filter being configured to reduce the noise, the selectable filters including a filter having a sub-hertz 3-dB cutoff frequency, the selectable filters comprising a filter selected from the group consisting of; (E1a) a SINC filter; and (E1b) a raised cosine filter; and (E2) a selectable filter switch configured to select a selectable filter, the selectable filter being selected as a function of operating criteria, the operating criteria being associated with the material metering machine, the operating criteria being determined through a closed feedback loop. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A system, comprising:
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a material metering machine comprising a decimation element, the decimation element configured to reduce an initial sampling rate of a digital signal to a reduced sampling rate; and a filter bank, the filter bank comprising; an input node adapted to receive the digital signal from the decimation element, the digital signal having noise from the material metering machine; and selectable filters, each selectable filter having a sub-hertz 3-dB cutoff frequency, each filter being configured to reduce the noise. - View Dependent Claims (4)
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5. A filtering apparatus, comprising:
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a primary input node configured to receive a digital signal, the digital signal having an initial sampling rate, the digital signal further having line noise; and a primary decimation element having a decimation ratio, the primary decimation element further having a filter length, the primary decimation element being configured to reduce the line noise at 50 Hz, the primary decimation element further being configured to reduce the line noise at60 Hz, the primary decimation element further being configured to reduce the initial sampling rate to a reduced sampling rate as a function of the decimation ratio; further comprising the steps of; receiving an analog data signal from a load cell, the load cell being located on a material metering machine; and converting the analog signal into the digital signal.
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6. A filtering method, comprising the steps of:
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receiving a digital signal, the digital signal having an initial sampling rate, the digital signal further having line noise; filtering the line noise at 50 Hz; flitering the line noise at 60 Hz; and reducing the initial sampling rate of the digital signal to a reduced sampling rate further comprising the steps of; receiving an analog data signal from a load cell, the load cell being located on a material metering machine; and converting the analog signal into the digital signal. - View Dependent Claims (7)
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8. A filtering apparatus, comprising:
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a primary input node configured to receive a digital signal, the digital signal having an initial sampling rate, the digital signal further having line noise; and a primary decimation element having a decimation ratio, the primary decimation elcment including a low pass filter having a filter length, the primary decimation element being configured to reduce the line noise at 50 Hz, the primary decimation element further being configured to reduce the line noise at 60 Hz, the primary decimation element further being configured to reduce the initial sampling rate to a reduced sampling rate as a function of the decimation ratio while simultaneously filtering line noise at 50 Hz and 60 Hz. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16)
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15. A filtering apparatus comprising:
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a primary input node configured to receive a digital signal, the digital signal having an initial sampling rate, the digital signal further having line noise; and a primary decimation element having a decimation ratio, the primary decimation element having a filter length, the primary decimation element being configured to reduce the line noise at 50 Hz, the primary decimation element further being configured to reduce the line noise at 60 Hz, the primary decimation element further being configured to reduce the initial sampling rate to a reduced sampling rate as a function of the decimation ratio; wherein the primary decimation element comprises; a first filter having a decimation ratio of 2; a second filter serially coupled to the first filter, the second filter having a decimation ratio of 10; and a third filter serially coupled to the second filter, the third filter having a decimation ratio of 6.
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17. A filtering apparatus, comprising:
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a primary input node configured to receive a digital signal, the digital signal having an initial sampling rate, the digital signal further having line noise; and a primary decimation element having a decimation ratio, the primary decimation element further having a filter length, the primary decimation element being configured to reduce the line noise at 50 Hz, the primary decimation element further being configured to reduce the line noise at 60 Hz, the primary decimation element further being configured to reduce the initial sampling rate to a reduced sampling rate as a function of the decimation ratio; further comprising a preliminary decimation element having an input, the preliminary decimation element further having an output, the output of the preliminary decimation element being communicatively coupled to the primary input node, the preliminary decimation element comprising; a first filter having a decimation ratio of 16; and a second filter serially coupled to the first filter, the second filter having a decimation ratio of 16. - View Dependent Claims (18)
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19. A filtering method, comprising the steps of:
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receiving a digital signal, the digital signal having an initial sampling rate, the digital signal further having line noise; reducing the line noise at 50 Hz and 60 Hz by filtering the line noise in the digital signal at 50 Hz and 60 Hz; using a low pass filter, and simultaneously reducing the initial sampling rate of the digital signal to a reduced sampling rate. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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Specification