Equipment sound monitoring system and method

• US 9,971,667 B1
• Filed: 10/20/2015
• Issued: 05/15/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Discovery Sound Technology, LLC
• Original Assignee: Discovery Sound Technology, LLC
• Inventors: Jenkins, John, Samson, Howard, Stumpf, Mike
• Primary Examiner(s): Flanders, Andrew C
• Application Number:
  US14/918,201
• Time in Patent Office: 938 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 13/028 Acoustic or vibration analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3058 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring environmental properties or parameters of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring of power, currents, temperature, humidity, position, vibrations thermal management in cooling arrangements of a computing system G06F1/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3072 where the reporting involves data filtering, e.g. pattern matching, time or event triggered, adaptive or policy-based reporting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3089 Monitoring arrangements determined by the means or processing involved in sensing the monitored data, e.g. interfaces, connectors, sensors, probes, agents software debugging using additional hardware using a specific debug interface G06F11/3656; performance evaluation by tracing or monitoring G06F11/3466

Abstract

A system and method is provided for local collection of sound data from industrial equipment and comparative analysis of the data. A sound detection device includes transducers resiliently mounted to continuously collect sound signals perpendicular to the electromechanical device. A shrouding material situated between the transducers and the electromechanical device dampens physical vibration to the transducers to peak amplitude of ≤0.3 microvolts, and returns the transducers to a zero-degree angle of reference from a mounting position of the sound detection device by means of elastic retention. Digital sound data is transmitted to a remote server, which analyzes the data wherein comparative models of baseline data are associated with an operative status of the electromechanical device. Variations between the collected data and the baseline data may be associated with failure or substandard operation of the electromechanical device, wherein alerts are accordingly generated to notify a respective client user.

Claims

1. A system for comparative analysis of sound data associated with the operation of an electromechanical device, the system comprising:

at least one sound detection device embedded in a module mounted to the electromechanical device, wherein the module is configured to position one or more transducers transversely with respect to a surface of the electromechanical device, and wherein the transducers are configured to continuously collect analog sound signals from the electromechanical device and convert the collected sound signals into digital sound data,

wherein the sound detection device further comprises an elastic shrouding material situated between the one or more transducers and the electromechanical device, the shrouding material effective to isolate the one or more transducers from physical vibration;

wherein the sound detection device is further configured to generate one or more digital sound data files and to transmit each of said data files, location data, and electromechanical device type data via a communications network; and

a server comprising a processor operatively linked to the communications network and configured to

receive the digital data files from the sound detection device and store the received data files in data storage associated with the server,

determine baseline criteria according to one or more of the electromechanical device type, location, and sound data, wherein one or more comparative models of baseline data are associated with at least one status of operation of the electromechanical device,

compare the received digital sound data with the baseline data,

identify variations between the collected digital sound data and the baseline data associated with failure or substandard operation of the electromechanical device, and

generate an alert effective to notify a user of the failure or substandard operation of the electromechanical device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the shrouding material is further effective to return the one or more transducers to a zero-degree point of reference from the mounting position of the sound detection device by means of elastic retention.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the shrouding material dampens physical vibration to the one or more transducers to peak amplitude of 0.3 microvolts or less.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the baseline data is preconfigured in accordance with the electromechanical device type.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the sound detection device is further configured to collect environmental condition data comprising ambient pressure and temperature information and to transmit said environmental condition data to the server via the communications network.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the processor is further configured to identify an expected point of failure for the electromechanical device, said identification based on one or more of operative performance, threshold violations, trend patterns, and environmental conditions associated with the electromechanical device over a period of time.

7. The system of claim 6, the processor further configured to aggregate the digital data files from a plurality of sound detection devices in accordance with the baseline criteria.

8. The system of claim 7, the processor further configured to determine cost-benefit data from one or more of operative performance, repair cost, threshold violations, trend patterns, and environmental conditions associated with one or more electromechanical devices over a period of time.

9. The system of claim 8, the processor further configured to calculate a cost-benefit analysis from the cost-benefit data in relation to the expected cost of maintenance and repair for the electromechanical device over a period of time.

10. The system of claim 1, the processor further configured to generate a user interface effective to enable authorized users to monitor an operative status of the electromechanical device as determined by the comparison of the digital sound data to the baseline data.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein generating an alert effective to notify a user of the failure or substandard operation of the electromechanical device further comprises transmitting the alert via the communications network to an endpoint device associated with an authorized user.

12. A method for comparative analysis of sound data associated with the operation of an electromechanical device, the method comprising:

resiliently mounting one or more transducers to the electromechanical device, wherein the transducers continuously receive analog sound signals perpendicular to a surface of the electromechanical device over time;

converting the collected sound signals into digital sound data;

transmitting one or more data files comprising said digital sound data, location data and electromechanical device type data to a server via a communications network;

storing the received data files in a database in association with a profile associated with the electromechanical device,

determining baseline criteria according to one or more of the electromechanical device type, location, and sound data, one or more comparative models of baseline data associated with at least one status of operation of the electromechanical device,

aggregating the digital data files from a plurality of sound detection devices in accordance with the baseline criteria;

comparing the received digital sound data with the baseline data,

determining cost-benefit data from one or more of operative performance, repair cost, threshold violations, trend patterns, and environmental conditions associated with one or more electromechanical devices over a period of time;

calculating a cost-benefit analysis from the cost-benefit data in relation to the expected cost of maintenance and repair for the electromechanical device over a period of time;

identifying variations between the collected digital sound data and the baseline data associated with failure or substandard operation of the electromechanical device, and

generating an alert effective to notify a user of the failure or substandard operation of the electromechanical device.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising identifying an expected point of failure for the electromechanical device, said identification based on one or more of operative performance, threshold violations, trend patterns, and environmental conditions associated with the electromechanical device over a period of time.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising generating a user interface effective to enable authorized users to monitor the operative status of the electromechanical device as determined by the comparison of the digital sound data to the baseline data.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising transmitting the alert via the communications network to an endpoint device associated with an authorized user.

16. A system for comparative analysis of sound data associated with the operation of an electromechanical device, the system comprising:

a sound detection device mounted with respect to the electromechanical device and comprising

one or more transducers configured to continuously collect analog sound signals from the electromechanical device and convert the collected sound signals into digital sound data,

a shrouding material situated between the one or more transducers and the electromechanical device, the shrouding material configured to dampen physical vibration to the one or more transducers to a peak amplitude of 0.3 microvolts or less,

wherein the shrouding material is further configured to return the one or more transducers to a zero-degree point of reference from a mounting position of the sound detection device by means of elastic retention,

wherein the sound detection device is further configured to generate one or more digital sound data files and to transmit each of said data files, location data, and electromechanical device type data via a communications network; and

a computing device comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium having program instructions residing thereon, the instructions executable by a processor operatively linked to the communications network to direct the performance of operations comprising

receiving the digital data files from the sound detection device and storing the received data files in a data storage,

determining baseline criteria according to one or more of the electromechanical device type, location, and sound data, wherein one or more comparative models of baseline data are associated with at least one status of operation of the electromechanical device,

comparing the received digital sound data with the baseline data,

identifying variations between the collected digital sound data and the baseline data associated with failure or substandard operation of the electromechanical device, and

generating an alert effective to notify a user of the failure or substandard operation of the electromechanical device.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the baseline data is preconfigured in accordance with the electromechanical device type.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to identify an expected point of failure for the electromechanical device, said identification based on one or more of operative performance, threshold violations, trend patterns, and environmental conditions associated with the electromechanical device over a period of time.

19. The system of claim 16, the processor further configured to aggregate the digital data files from a plurality of sound detection devices in accordance with the baseline criteria.

20. The system of claim 19, the processor further configured to

determine cost-benefit data from one or more of operative performance, repair cost, threshold violations, trend patterns, and environmental conditions associated with one or more electromechanical devices over a period of time, and

calculate a cost-benefit analysis from the cost-benefit data in relation to the expected cost of maintenance and repair for the electromechanical device over a period of time.