Method and apparatus to detect onset of combustor hardware damage
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsEamon Patrick Gleeson, Warren James Mick, George Edward Williams, Fei Han, Shivakumar Srinivasan, Scott Alan Kopcho, Ilan Leibu
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Abstract
A method for determining when a combustor is experiencing hardware damage includes sensing acoustic vibrations of a plurality of combustor cans, determining a center frequency for each acoustic tone of the sensed acoustic vibrations within a predetermined frequency range, and indicating an alarm when a center frequency of one or more of the combustor cans changes in a different manner compared to a representative center frequency of the plurality of combustor cans.
Claims20
A method for determining when a combustor is experiencing hardware damage, said method comprising:
- sensing acoustic vibrations of a plurality of combustor cans;
- determining a center frequency for each acoustic tone of the sensed acoustic vibrations within a predetermined frequency range;
- indicating an alarm when a center frequency of one or more said combustor cans changes in a different manner compared to a representative center frequency of the plurality of combustor cans.
A system for determining when a combustor is experiencing hardware damage, said system comprising:
- a plurality of sensors configured to sense acoustic vibrations of a plurality of combustor cans;
- a processor configured to determine a center frequency for each acoustic tone of the sensed acoustic vibrations within a predetermined frequency range;
- and
- an alarm responsive to the processor, and said processor configured to activate the alarm when a center frequency of one or more said combustor cans changes in a different manner compared to a representative center frequency of the plurality of combustor cans.
A power generating plant comprising:
- a plurality of combustion cans;
- a plurality of sensors configured to sense acoustic vibrations of a plurality of combustor cans;
- a processor configured to determine a center frequency for each acoustic tone of the sensed acoustic vibrations within a predetermined frequency range;
- and
- an alarm responsive to the processor, and said processor configured to activate the alarm when a center frequency of one or more said combustor cans changes in a different manner compared to a representative center frequency of the plurality of combustor cans.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.