Condition based monitoring system based on radar sensor

• US 9,482,573 B2
• Filed: 04/28/2011
• Issued: 11/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/24/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Peczalski, Andy, Mylaraswamy, Dinkar
• Primary Examiner(s): Breene, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): BLOSS, STEPHANIE E
• Application Number:
  US13/096,253
• Publication Number:
  US 20110288796A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,014 Days
• Field of Search: 702/56, 356/28.5, 342/127, 342/61
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01H 9/00 Measuring mechanical vibrations or ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves by using radiation-sensitive means, e.g. optical means

Abstract

A sensing system comprising a radar-based vibration sensor and processing unit used to collect and process vibration information from a machine of interest. The radar-based vibration sensor obtains vibration data from mechanical operation of a component or series of components in the machine, and may be steered toward specific regions of interest of the machine. The processing unit analyzes the data, and may fuse data from a plurality of vibration sensors, such as radar-based vibration sensors and multiple machine-mounted sensors such as accelerometers. From this analysis, indications related to a status of the mechanical operation of the components in the machine of interest may be provided to relevant users.

Claims

1. A sensing system comprising:

a radar-based vibration sensor, the radar-based vibration sensor configured to obtain vibration data from mechanical operation of a component in a machine of interest using radio frequency energy directed at a first location;

a vibration sensor mounted to the machine of interest, the machine mounted vibration sensor configured to obtain vibration data from mechanical operation of the component proximate to mounting at a second location; and

a processing unit configured to analyze the vibration data obtained by the radar-based vibration sensor, analyze the data obtained by the machine mounted vibration sensor, fuse the vibration data obtained by the machine mounted vibration sensor with the vibration data obtained by the radar-based vibration sensor, exclude relative vibration of the machine of interest at the first location and the second location identified in the vibration data, and provide indications related to a status of the mechanical operation of the component in the machine of interest determined from the vibration data.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the radar-based vibration sensor is a displacement sensor transmitting radar signals using Doppler radar techniques, and wherein the vibration data includes temporal and spectral data related to the mechanical operation of the component.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the radar-based vibration sensor is configured to detect vibrations from a plurality of different locations of the mechanical operation for the machine of interest.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the radar-based vibration sensor provides a tunable field of view used to focus on a specific area of the mechanical operation for the machine of interest.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is operably coupled to a decision support module configured to calculate at least one of machine health indicators and potential maintenance actions in connection with the indications related to the status of the mechanical operation of the component.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

one or more additional vibration sensors mounted to the machine of interest, the additional machine mounted vibration sensors configured to obtain vibration data from mechanical operation of additional components proximate to locations of mounting; and

wherein the processing unit is further configured to analyze the data provided by the one or more additional machine mounted vibration sensors, fuse the data provided by the one or more additional machine mounted vibration sensors with the information from the radar-based vibration sensor, and exclude relative vibration of the machine of interest at the locations of mounting determined from the vibration data of the one or more additional vibration sensors.

7. The system of claim 6, further comprising:

one or more additional radar-based vibration sensors configured to obtain vibration data from mechanical operation of additional components in the machine of interest;

wherein the processing unit is further configured to analyze the data provided by the one or more additional radar-based vibration sensors, and fuse the data provided by the one or more additional radar-based vibration sensors with the information from the machine mounted vibration sensors and the radar-based vibration sensor; and

wherein at least one of the machine mounted vibration sensors is an accelerometer.

8. A sensing system comprising:

a radar-based displacement sensor configured to collect vibration data at directed areas using radio frequency energy, the vibration data including temporal and spectral data;

multiple machine mounted vibration sensors configured to collect vibration data from regions proximate to the mounting of the vibration sensors;

a steering system configured to direct the radar-based displacement sensor to collect the vibration data from different locations of mechanical operation for a machine of interest; and

a processing system configured to analyze the data collected by the radar-based vibration sensor, analyze the data collected by the multiple machine mounted vibration sensors, combine the vibration data collected by the multiple machine mounted vibration sensors with the vibration data collected from the radar-based displacement sensor, identify relative vibration of the machine of interest in the combined vibration data, filter the combined vibration data to exclude the identified relative vibration, and provide user indications related to status of the mechanical operation for the machine of interest based on the filtered vibration data.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the steering system directs the radar-based displacement sensor to focus radar energy at predetermined locations of the machine of interest, causing monitoring of specific components of the machine of interest.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the steering system directs the radar-based displacement sensor to focus radar energy at additional locations of mechanical operation periodically.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the steering system directs the radar-based displacement sensor to focus radar energy at additional locations of mechanical operation based on sensed vibrations determined within the processing system.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the processing unit system is operably coupled to a decision support module configured to calculate at least one of machine health indicators and potential maintenance actions.

13. The system of claim 8, further comprising:

one or more additional radar-based displacement sensors configured to collect vibration data;

wherein the processing system is further configured to analyze the data collected by the one or more additional radar-based displacement sensors, and combine the vibration data collected by the one or more additional radar-based displacement sensors with the vibration data collected from the machine mounted vibration sensors and the radar-based displacement sensor; and

wherein at least one of the machine mounted vibration sensors is an accelerometer.

14. A method performed by a sensing system, comprising:

collecting a first set of vibration data from a radar-based displacement sensor, the radar-based displacement sensor being directed to measure vibrations from a region of interest on an operating machine using radio frequency energy, and the first set of vibration data including one or both of temporal and spectral data;

processing the first set of vibration data collected from the radar-based displacement sensor to analyze vibration measurements from the radar-based displacement sensor;

collecting a second set of vibration data from a multiple mounted vibration sensors configured to measure vibrations from an area proximate to the mounted vibration sensors on the operating machine, wherein the area proximate to the multiple mounted vibration sensors differs at least in part from the directed area measured with the radar-based displacement sensor;

processing the second set of vibration data collected from the multiple mounted vibration sensors to analyze vibration measurements from the mounted vibration sensors;

combining the second set of vibration data collected from the mounted vibration sensors in the area proximate to the multiple mounted vibration sensors with the first set of vibration data collected from the radar-based displacement sensor in the directed area;

identifying relative vibration in the combined vibration data;

filtering the combined vibration data that is common to the mounted vibration sensors and the radar-based displacement sensor, by excluding the identified relative vibration that is constant in operation of the operating machine;

deriving a status of mechanical operation for the operating machine from the filtered vibration data; and

providing user indications related to the status of the mechanical operation for the operating machine.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

transmitting motion instructions to a steering mechanism for the radar-based displacement sensor to steer the radar-based displacement sensor and focus radar energy at a different region of interest, thereby collecting vibration information from the different region of interest on the operating machine.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the motion instructions provided to steer the radar-based displacement sensor to focus radar energy at a different region of interest are determined based on a predetermined schedule or the status of the mechanical operation for the operating machine.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

evaluating the status of the mechanical operation for the operating machine to produce one or both of suggested maintenance actions and machine health indicators; and

providing the one or both of suggested maintenance actions and machine health indicators in connection with the user indications.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

collecting a third set of vibration data from one or more additional radar-based displacement sensors; and

processing the third set of vibration data collected from the one or more additional radar-based displacement sensors, and combining the vibration data collected from the one or more additional radar-based displacement sensors with the first set of vibration data collected from the mounted vibration sensors and the second set of vibration data collected from the radar-based displacement sensor;

wherein the mounted vibration sensors comprise a plurality of accelerometers.