Method and apparatus for non-intrusive monitoring of rotating components

In a compressor having a plurality of rotating blades, a method of monitoring the integrity of the rotating blades comprising:

• disposing at least one sensor about the rotating blades to measure the entirety of a pressure field of a rotating blade;
• performing phase averaging of the measured pressure field to remove interference signals;
• comparing the phase average of the measured pressure field data with a reference value unique to said rotating blades to identify a fault in said rotating blade;
• and
• generating an output indicative of said fault.

In a gas turbine of the type having a compressor with a plurality of rotating members, a generator, and a turbine, a non-intrusive method of monitoring the integrity of a rotating member comprising:

• mounting at least one sensor in a stationary frame of reference in a casing and in sensing relation to a pressure field generated by said rotating members;
• measuring the entirety of a pressure field generated by the rotating member;
• performing phase averaging of measured pressure field data to remove interference signal content;
• comparing the phase average of the measured pressure field data with a reference value;
• identifying variations in the comparison step, the variations indicative of a fault in the rotating member;
• and
• generating an output indicative of an identified fault.

An apparatus for monitoring the integrity of rotating components of a gas turbine, comprising:

• at least one sensor operatively coupled to the compressor to measure the entirety of pressure fields of rotating components;
• a processor system operatively coupled to said at least one sensor for performing phase averaging of said measured pressure fields to produce measured field data;
• and
• a comparator operatively coupled to said processor system for comparing the measured pressure field data with a reference value.

A non-intrusive apparatus for monitoring the integrity of a rotating member, comprising:

• means for measuring the entirety of pressure fields of the rotating member;
• means for performing phase averaging of measured fields to remove random signal content;
• means for comparing the phase average of the measured pressure fields with a reference value to identify a fault in the rotating member;
• and
• means for generating an output indicative of the identified fault.

A non-intrusive method of monitoring the integrity of a rotating member among a plurality of rotating members, comprising:

• mounting at least one sensor in a stationary frame of reference in a casing and in sensing relation to a pressure field generated by said rotating members;
• measuring the entirety of a pressure field of each of the rotating members of a blade row;
• performing phase averaging of the measured pressure fields;
• comparing the phase average of the measured pressure fields of the rotating members with a reference average pressure field;
• identifying a faulty rotating member in the event of a mismatch in the comparison step;
• and
• generating an output indicative of an identified fault.