Enhanced means of processing signals used to interpret the condition of machinery

An electronic apparatus for processing electrical signals which span a large dynamic range in order to enable the signal to be processed in its entirety without the need for the signal gain or signal attenuation to be dynamically altered by the amount determined by the signal level, said electronic apparatus comprising;

• means for splitting of the signal along at least two paths, each path having a different amount of amplification or attenuation;
• a smaller dynamic range circuit coupled to each of said at least two paths for producing a logarithmically-scaled representation of the average magnitude of the signal level at its input;
• and
• means for summing logarithmically scaled representations coupled to the output of said at least two smaller dynamic range circuits for producing a resultant logarithmically-scaled signal representative of the average magnitude of the input signal over said large dynamic range.

An electronic apparatus for processing electrical signals spanning a large dynamic range which processes the signal in its entirety without the need for dynamically altering the signal gain or signal attenuation by an mount determined by the signal level, said electronic apparatus comprising;

• input means for sensing physical phenomenon, such as acoustic emissions, vibration, and noise;
• a first amplifier coupled to said input means;
• a first root mean square to DC converter coupled to the said output of first amplifier;
• a first precision clamp coupled to said first root mean square to DC converter;
• a first DC offset timing circuit coupled to said first root mean square to DC converter;
• a second amplifier coupled to the output of said first amplifier;
• a second root mean square to DC converter coupled to said second amplifier;
• a second DC offset timing circuit coupled to said second root mean squared DC converter;
• a second precision clamp coupled to the output of said second root mean square to DC converter;
• and
• a summing amplifier coupled to the outputs said first precision clamp and said second precision clamp producing an output voltage level equal to the sum of the output voltage levels from the first dynamic range circuit and from the second dynamic range circuit.