CONDITION BASED ENGINE PARTS MONITORING

• US 20160258836A1
• Filed: 03/05/2015
• Published: 09/08/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/05/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ai Alpine Us Bidco LLC
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Raman, Venkatesh, Nandigama, Pavan Chakravarthy
• Granted Patent: US 10,378,994 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 13/028 Acoustic or vibration analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 15/14 Testing gas-turbine engines or jet-propulsion engines
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 5/0066 by exciting or detecting vibration or acceleration vibration testing of structures G01M7/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2291/269 Various geometry objects
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/04 Analysing solids using acoustic emission techniques G01N29/14
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/2437 Piezoelectric probes
• 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

Abstract

Condition based engine parts (e.g., movable engine parts) monitoring is disclosed. The techniques may enable detecting cracks present in engine parts while the engine is operational. In one embodiment, a system includes a wireless sensor configured to be disposed on a movable part internal to a machine and communicate wirelessly and a controller that includes a processor. The processor may be configured to initiate communication with the wireless sensor by receiving a wireless signal indicative of a frequency of vibration of the internal movable part from the wireless sensor, to obtain an acceptable threshold range of vibrations for the internal movable part from one or more data sources, to determine whether the frequency of vibration is within the acceptable threshold range of vibrations for the internal movable part, and to initiate preventative actions when the frequency is not within the acceptable threshold range.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a wireless sensor configured to be disposed on a movable part internal to a machine and communicate wirelessly; and

a controller comprising a processor configured to;

initiate communication with the wireless sensor by receiving a wireless signal indicative of a frequency of vibration of the internal movable part from the wireless sensor;

obtain an acceptable threshold range of vibrations for the internal movable part from one or more data sources;

determine whether the frequency of vibration is within the acceptable threshold range of vibrations for the internal movable part; and

initiate preventative actions when the frequency is not within the acceptable threshold range.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to initiate waiting for another wireless signal using a network interface when the frequency is within the acceptable threshold range.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to stop operation of the machine, send an alert to display on a user interface screen of the control system, send the alert to a local or remote workstation to display, or some combination thereof, as the one or more preventative actions.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to initiate communication with the wireless sensor by receiving a second wireless signal indicative of a second frequency of vibration of the internal movable part from the wireless sensor when the frequency is not within the acceptable threshold range prior to initiating preventative actions, determine whether the second frequency of vibration is within the acceptable threshold range of vibrations for the internal movable part, and to initiate preventative actions when the second frequency is not within the acceptable threshold range.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless sensor is configured to determine whether to transmit the wireless signal continuously or on a periodic basis based on a received direction from the controller.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to:

initiate communication with the wireless sensor by receiving a wireless signal indicative of one or more angular velocity, acceleration, displacement, or some combination thereof, of the internal movable part from the wireless sensor;

obtain an acceptable threshold range of angular velocity, acceleration, displacement, or some combination thereof, for the internal movable part from one or more data sources;

determine whether the angular velocity, the acceleration, the displacement, or some combination thereof, is within the acceptable threshold range for the internal movable part; and

initiate preventative actions when the angular velocity, the acceleration, the displacement, or some combination thereof, is not within the acceptable threshold range.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to generate an indication that the internal movable part has cracked when the frequency of vibration exceeds the acceptable threshold range of vibration.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless sensor comprises an accelerometer including a piezoelectric material used to generate an electric signal indicative of the frequency of vibration.

9. A device, comprising:

a processor configured to;

initiate communication with a wireless sensor disposed on a movable part internal to a machine by receiving a wireless signal indicative of a frequency of vibration of the internal movable part;

obtain an acceptable threshold range of vibrations for the internal movable part from one or more data sources;

determine whether the frequency of vibration is within the acceptable threshold range of vibrations for the internal movable part; and

initiate preventative actions when the frequency is not within the acceptable threshold range.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured to initiate waiting for another wireless signal using a network interface when the frequency is within the acceptable threshold range.

11. The device of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured to set a baseline value of the frequency of vibration when the wireless signal is initially received and to determine whether a phase of the frequency of vibration deviates from a phase of the baseline value for subsequently received wireless signals.

12. The device of claim 9, wherein obtaining the acceptable threshold range comprises accessing pre-stored test data, a design specification, or some combination thereof, related to the internal movable part.

13. The device of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured to initiate stoppage of operation of the machine, initiate sending of an alert to display on a user interface screen of the control system, initiate sending of the alert to a local or remote workstation to display, or some combination thereof, as the one or more preventative actions.

14. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing computer instructions thereon, the instructions, when executed by a processor, configured to:

initiate communication with a wireless sensor disposed on a movable part internal to a machine by receiving a wireless signal from the wireless sensor, the wireless signal indicative of a frequency of vibration of the internal movable part;

obtain an acceptable threshold range of vibrations for the internal movable part from one or more data sources;

determine whether the frequency of vibration is within the acceptable threshold range of vibrations for the internal movable part; and

initiate preventative actions when the frequency is not within the acceptable threshold range.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein initiating the one or more preventative actions comprises initiating stopping operation of the machine, initiating sending of an alert to display on a user interface screen of a controller, initiating sending of the alert to a workstation to display, or some combination thereof.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions are configured to initiate waiting for another wireless signal using a network interface when the frequency is within the acceptable threshold range.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein initiating communication comprises using a network interface to receive the wireless signal using wireless technology comprising Bluetooth, radio, infrared, WiFi, or ZigBee.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein obtaining the acceptable threshold range comprises obtaining the acceptable threshold range from local or remote data sources as the one or more data sources.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein obtaining the acceptable threshold range comprises retrieving pre-stored test data, a design specification, or some combination thereof, related to the internal movable part.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions are configured to determine that the internal movable part is cracked when frequencies of vibration exceed the acceptable threshold range of vibrations.