| Patent application number | Description | Published |
|---|
| 20090003991 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TURBINE ENGINE CLEARANCE CONTROL WITH RUB DETECTION - A method of detecting rubs during operation of a turbomachine comprising at least one rotating object having a tip and a shelf is provided. The method includes generating signals representative of a sensed parameter and processing the signals to generate height versus time data for the tip. The height of the tip corresponds to the distance between the tip and the shelf. The method further includes monitoring the height versus time data, in order to determine whether a change in the height data exceeds a threshold value, and detecting a rub of the rotating object(s) on a second object, when the change in the height data exceeds the threshold value. A rub detection system for a turbomachine and a turbine engine system with rub detection are also provided. | 01-01-2009 |
| 20090138199 | Location determination system for vehicles - A vehicle location determination system and method provide an estimate of real time location of the vehicle along a route in response solely to vehicle GPS information and vehicle speed information such that the estimated real time distance is robust to errors and disturbances associated with both the vehicle GPS information and vehicle speed information to ensure the estimated real time location information is accurate. | 05-28-2009 |
| 20090281766 | CLEARANCE ESTIMATION SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR A ROTARY MACHINE - A method of estimating a clearance between at least one rotating object of a rotary machine and a second object is provided. The method includes measuring an operating parameter of the rotary machine. The method also includes obtaining signals corresponding to the at least one rotating object across multiple revolutions in time, wherein the number of the revolutions is determined based upon the measured operating parameter. The method further includes generating waveforms corresponding to the at least one rotating object from the obtained signals for the revolutions. The method also includes estimating the clearance between the second object and the at least one rotating object based upon the generated waveforms. | 11-12-2009 |
| 20090320609 | Turbomachinery system fiberoptic multi-parameter sensing system and method - A fiberoptic multi-parameter sensing system for monitoring turbomachinery system shaft static and dynamic torques, vibration modes and associated operation status includes a multi-furcated fiber bundle based optical splitter configured to transmit light to a surface of at least one turbomachinery system shaft through a plurality of optical fiber bundles disposed at a plurality of locations in proximity to the surface of the at least one shaft, in which the plurality of locations together are arranged in a substantially axial direction between the ends of the at least one shaft. The system further includes an array of high-temperature bifurcated fiber bundle based reflectance probes to receive reflectance signals from the shaft surface and send to an array of photosensitive detectors, configured to detect dynamic light reflected from the at least one turbomachinery system shaft surface in response to the transmitted light during rotation of at least one turbomachinery system shaft and generate dynamic reflected light signals there from. A sensing mechanism is configured to determine a torque or vibration on at least one turbomachinery system shaft in response to the dynamic reflected light signal signatures based on time-domain and frequency-domain signal processes. | 12-31-2009 |
| 20100077830 | ELECTRONIC SELF-CALIBRATION FOR SENSOR CLEARANCE - Self-calibration of a multiple channel clearance sensor system, which in one embodiment includes at least one sensor for measuring at least one clearance parameter signal between a stationary object and a rotating object of a rotating machine. The sensor output is processed as a clearance parameter by an offset correction section configured to determine an offset error in the clearance parameter signal which is used by a level shifter. The level shifter is also switchably coupled to the clearance parameter signal wherein the output of the level shifter, which may be amplified and digitally converted, is processed by a signal level analyzer to determine a channel gain signal. | 04-01-2010 |
| 20100174427 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR LIMITING IN-TRAIN FORCES OF A RAILROAD TRAIN - A system and method for determining and managing a slack state of a train and for is disclosed. The system acquires railway system parameters for a plurality of railway vehicles and for a track segment traversed by the plurality of railway vehicles, the parameters including a grade of the track segment at each of a plurality of locations therealong and an acceleration of each of the plurality of railway vehicles at each of the plurality of locations. The system calculates a coupler force for each of the plurality of railway vehicles at each of the plurality of locations based on the railway system parameters, determines a slack state for the plurality of railway vehicles based on the calculated coupler forces, and determines a limit on a tractive effort generated by locomotive consists included in the railway vehicles based on the determined slack state. | 07-08-2010 |
| 20100188100 | AUTOMATED SENSOR SPECIFIC CALIBRATION THROUGH SENSOR PARAMETER DOWNLOAD - A sensor system for measuring a clearance parameter between a stationary component and a rotating component of a rotating machine is provided. The system includes a clearance sensor to output a clearance measurement signal. A sensor memory is attached to the sensor for storing a first sensor information. A second sensor information is stored in a electronics interface memory. The first and the second sensor information are read and the clearance sensor is matched with a respective plurality of calibration data by an electronic interface based on the first and the second sensor information. | 07-29-2010 |
| 20100191502 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CLEARANCE ESTIMATION BETWEEN TWO OBJECTS - A processing system for clearance estimation in a rotating machine includes one or more sensors and one or more digital signal processors for calculating the estimated clearance. The processing system may include techniques for obtaining real-time clearance estimates and techniques for obtaining averaged clearance estimates. Aspects of the processing system may also include a method of switching between real-time clearance estimates and averaged clearance estimates depending on the operating conditions of the rotating machine. Other aspects of the processing system include the use of two digital signal processors: a first digital signal processor configured to receive signals from a clearance sensor and perform a first set of high speed processing tasks, and a second digital signal processor configured to receive signals from the first digital signal processor and perform a second set of lower speed processing tasks. | 07-29-2010 |
| 20110032527 | ADAPTIVE LINEAR FILTER FOR REAL TIME NOISE REDUCTION IN SURFACE PLASMON RESONANCE SYSTEMS - A method for linear filtering of noise in a SPR sensorgram generated from a surface plasmon resonance apparatus is provided. The method includes providing a linear filter of variable length to filter an output signal in the sensorgram. The method further includes determining an optimal length of the linear filter based on a slope of the signal in the sensorgram and multiple timing of occurrences of events during measurement of refractive index in the apparatus to reduce noise in the sensorgram. | 02-10-2011 |
