Monitoring systems and methods for monitoring the condition of one or more components of an electrical device

A method of monitoring conditions of one or more components of an electrical generator, the method comprising:

• generating an image of a component of an electrical generator with an imaging device;
• and
• analyzing the image to determine a condition of the electrical generator;
• wherein the component of the electrical generator is a collector ring.

A method of monitoring conditions of one or more components of an electrical generator, the method comprising:

• generating an image of a component of an electrical generator with an imaging device;
• and
• analyzing the image to determine a condition of the electrical generator;
• wherein the component of the electrical generator is a commutator.

A method of monitoring conditions of one or more components of an electrical generator, the method comprising:

• generating an image of a component of an electrical generator with an imaging device;
• and
• analyzing the image to determine a condition of the electrical generator;
• wherein the component of the electrical generator is a brush.

A method of monitoring conditions of one or more components of an electrical generator, the method comprising:

• generating an image of a component of an electrical generator with an imaging device;
• and
• analyzing the image to determine a condition of the electrical generator;
• wherein the step of analyzing the image includes determining discoloration of the component.

A method of monitoring conditions of one or more components of an electrical generator, the method comprising:

• generating an image of a component of an electrical generator with an imaging device;
• and
• analyzing the image to determine a condition of the electrical generator;
• wherein the image is a thermal image;
• and
• wherein the step of analyzing the image includes determining the level of emitted radiation of the component by evaluating the color, shade or intensity of the thermal image.

A method of monitoring conditions of one or more components of an electrical generator, the method comprising:

• generating an image of a component of an electrical generator with an imaging device;
• and
• analyzing the image to determine a condition of the electrical generator;
• wherein the step of analyzing the image includes evaluating the position of the component.

A method of monitoring conditions of one or more components of an electrical generator, the method comprising:

• generating an image of a component of an electrical generator with an imaging device;
• and
• analyzing the image to determine a condition of the electrical generator;
• wherein the step of analyzing the image includes evaluating the temperature of the component.

A method of monitoring electrical generators at a plurality of remote facilities, an electrical generator having one or more brush holder assemblies including one or more brushes, the method comprising:

• providing a central control unit in communication with a plurality of remote monitoring locations;
• receiving data from the plurality of remote monitoring locations at the central control unit;
• and
• evaluating the data at the central control unit to monitor conditions of the electrical generators at the plurality of remote facilities.

A method for determining the state of a brush of a brush holder assembly, the brush being in contact with a rotating conductive surface of an electrical device, the method comprising:

• acquiring a first image of the rotating conductive surface or the brush;
• acquiring a second image of the rotating conductive surface or the brush;
• comparing the first image to the second image using an image analysis technique;
• and
• evaluating a state of the brush of the brush holder assembly.

A method of monitoring one or more components of an electrical generator, the method comprising:

• providing a processing unit;
• receiving a signal representative of a image of one or more components of an electrical generator at the processing unit;
• and
• evaluating the signal to determine an occurrence of an anomalous or threshold condition of the one or more components of the electrical generator.