Method and apparatus for machine health inference by comparing two like loaded components

An apparatus for diagnosing degradation and predicting failure of similar machine components operated in parallel, comprising:

• a plurality of sensor means for producing signals indicative of a level of an operating parameter common to a plurality of the similar components;
• means for receiving said signals and for determining a difference between the operating parameter level of a first component and the operating parameter level of at least a second component to generate a differential value;
• means for averaging one or more differential values over a predefined trend period to generate a corresponding trend value for that period;
• and
• means for generating a trend based on one or more trend values to provide an indication of component performance useful in diagnosing component health.

A method for providing historical trend data regarding operating parameters of similar machine components operated in parallel, comprising the following steps:

• providing a plurality of parallel components with sensor means for producing signals indicative of a level of an operating parameter common to the similar components;
• determining from said signals a difference between the operating parameter level of a first component and the operating parameter level of a second component;
• averaging the difference over a trend period to generate a corresponding trend value for that period;
• and
• generating a trend based on one or more trend values indicative of relative performance of the components over time.

An apparatus for providing historical trend data regarding operating parameters of similar machine components operating in parallel, comprising:

• a plurality of component sensor means for producing signals indicative of a level of an operating parameter common to the similar components;
• means for receiving said signals and for determining a difference between the operating parameter level of a first component and the operating parameter level of a second component;
• means for averaging the difference over a trend period to generate a corresponding trend value for that period;
• and
• means for generating a trend based on one or more trend values indicative of relative performance of the components over time.

A method for providing historical data regarding machine operating parameters of similar machine components operated in parallel, comprising the steps of:

• producing signals indicative of a level of similar machine operating parameters, said similar machine operating parameters including a first operating parameter and one or more dependency parameters;
• selecting data representative of said first operating parameter in response to a dependency definition being satisfied, said dependency definition including a predefined range for each of said dependency parameters;
• further selecting data representative of said first operating parameter in response to a trap lag period being satisfied, said trap lag period comprising a period in which the dependency definition is satisfied;
• and
• processing the further selected data by trending to provide an indication of machine performance.