Apparatus and Method for Analyzing Periodic Motions in Machinery

• US 20160217587A1
• Filed: 12/09/2015
• Published: 07/28/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RDI Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: RDI Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Hay, Jeffrey R.
• Granted Patent: US 10,459,615 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0077 Devices for viewing the surface of the body, e.g. camera, magnifying lens
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/01 Measuring temperature of body parts ; Diagnostic temperature sensing, e.g. for malignant or inflamed tissue clinical contact thermometers G01K13/20
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/024 Detecting, measuring or recording pulse rate or heart rate A61B5/0205, A61B5/021 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0816 Measuring devices for examining respiratory frequency measuring frequency of electric signals G01R23/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/165 Evaluating the state of mind, e.g. depression, anxiety
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4815 Sleep quality
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7435 Displaying user selection data, e.g. icons in a graphical user interface
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2291/028 Material parameters
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/44 Processing the detected response signal , e.g. electronic circuits specially adapted therefor digital signal processing per se G06F17/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/7335 Graphical querying, e.g. query-by-region, query-by-sketch, query-by-trajectory, GUIs for designating a person/face/object as a query predicate end-user interface involving hot spots associated with the video H04N21/4725; end-user interface for selecting a Region of Interest H04N21/4728
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2200/24 involving graphical user interfaces [GUIs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10016 Video; Image sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20056 Discrete and fast Fourier transform, [DFT, FFT]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20216 Image averaging
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30004 Biomedical image processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30164 Workpiece; Machine component
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0016 involving temporal comparison
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/11 Region-based segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/248 involving reference images or patches
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/262 : using transform domain methods, e.g. Fourier domain methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/52 : Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/20 : Movements or behaviour, e.g. gesture recognition recognition of facial expressions G06V40/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 : Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast

Abstract

An apparatus for monitoring machine components includes:

• • a device for acquiring video image files;
  • a data analysis system including processor and memory;
  • a computer program operating in said processor to identify an area in said images where periodic movements associated with a mechanical vibration may be detected and quantified using an adaptive array comparison procedure; and,
  • an interface to output said vibration information in a usable form.

The apparatus may further include a graphical user interface and an accessible database. An associated method for using the apparatus is also disclosed

Claims

1. An apparatus for monitoring machine components comprising:

a device for acquiring video image files;

a data analysis system including processor and memory;

a computer program operating in said processor to identify an area in said images where periodic movements associated with a mechanical vibration may be detected and quantified; and

,

a user interface that displays a graphical image of said machine component modified to include visual features indicative of said quantified vibration information.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said device for acquiring video files is selected from the group consisting of:

video cameras, webcams, digital cameras integral in a mobile device, and memory devices containing prerecorded video files.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said graphical image of said component comprises a series of frames creating an amplified visualization of said periodic movements.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said computer program creates visual motion amplification by the steps of:

choosing a reference frame;

comparing each frame to the reference frame to determine the difference frames;

combining the original frames and the difference frames, with a selected amplification factor; and

,

displaying the resulting frames as a new video at a selected frame rate.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said graphical image of said component comprises at least one frame displaying a visual representation of the phase of said periodic movements.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said computer program creates a phase image from said video file by the steps of:

performing a fast Fourier transform along the time axis for every pixel in the image, thereby producing a frequency spectrum for each pixel, along with amplitude and phase for each frequency; and

,

displaying the phase information as a phase image corresponding to a selected frequency.

7. A method for monitoring machinery comprising the steps of:

acquiring a video file of a selected machine component;

providing a data analysis system including processor and memory to analyze said acquired video file and calculate a parameter characteristic of a mechanical vibration of said selected component as a function of time and determine the periodicity thereof;

displaying a graphical image of said machine component modified to include images in which the motions of said component are visually amplified.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein said motions are visually amplified by the steps of:

choosing a reference frame;

comparing each frame to the reference frame to determine the difference frames;

combining the original frames and the difference frames, with a selected amplification factor; and

,

displaying the resulting frames as a new video at a selected frame rate.

9. A method for monitoring machinery comprising the steps of:

acquiring a video file of a selected machine component;

providing a data analysis system including processor and memory to analyze said acquired video file and calculate a parameter characteristic of a mechanical vibration of said selected component as a function of time and determine the periodicity thereof;

displaying a graphical image of said machine component modified to include images containing a visual indication of phase information for a selected frequency.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein said phase image is calculated from said video file by the steps of:

performing a fast Fourier transform along the time axis for every pixel in the image, thereby producing a frequency spectrum for each pixel, along with amplitude and phase for each frequency; and

,

displaying the phase information as a phase image corresponding to a selected frequency.