Data acquisition system for system monitoring

Abstract

A method and monitoring system for tracking operational parameters of a drive train of a monitored system includes a sensor unit affixed to the drive train. The sensor unit includes a sensor for generating an analog signal in response to an operating condition of the monitored system and an integrated local processor for processing the analog signal generated by the sensor. Actions of a sensor unit associated that is mounted from movement of a component of the drive system may be initiated via wireless receipt of instructions from another processing unit. FFT analysis may be performed by the sensor unit directly under certain speed conditions for alarm generation.

1 . A method of tracking operational parameters of a drive system including at least one drive component, the method comprising:
 associating a sensor unit with the drive component, the sensor unit including an integrated local processor and a vibration sensor,   the sensor unit converting analog vibration signals from the vibration sensor into digital signal samples;   the integrated local processor performing an FFT operation on the digital signal samples to produce an FFT spectrum;   the integrated local processor generating an alarm based upon analysis of the FFT spectrum.   
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the alarm is generated if the FFT spectrum exceeds one or more threshold values. 
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the alarm is communicated to a downstream processing unit that is in communication with the integrated local processor of the sensor unit. 
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein a filter is established for analyzing the FFT spectrum. 
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the filter includes a fundamental frequency of the drive component and multiple harmonics of the fundamental frequency. 
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the integrated local processor evaluates a speed of the drive component during the operation that produced the alarm and disregards the alarm if the speed is not within a predefined speed range. 
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the FFT spectrum is sent to a downstream processing unit that is in communication with the integrated local processor and the downstream processing unit stores the FFT spectrum for at least a certain time period. 
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 7  wherein the FFT spectrum is deleted after the certain time period. 
   
   
       9 . A method of tracking operational parameters of a drive system including at least one drive component, the method comprising:
 associating a sensor unit with the drive component, the sensor unit including an integrated local processor and a vibration sensor,   the sensor unit converting analog vibration signals from the vibration sensor into digital signal samples;   the integrated local processor:
 identifying a drive system speed condition; 
 performing an FFT operation on digital signal samples produced during the drive system speed condition to produce an FFT spectrum; 
 analyzing the FFT spectrum using an alarm band filter associated with the drive system speed condition; and 
 generating an alarm if the analysis indicates the FFT spectrum is outside bounds defined by the alarm band filter. 
   
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 9  wherein the alarm band filter is stored in on-board memory of the sensor unit. 
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 10  where the alarm band filter is one of multiple alarm band filters stored in on-board memory of the sensor unit for evaluating multiple drive system speed conditions.