IDMS signal processing to distinguish inlet particulates
AssigneeUnited Technologies Corporation
InventorsAlexander I. Khibnik, Ravi Rajamani, Coy Bruce Wood, Rajendra K. Agrawal, William Donat
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for operating a debris monitoring system comprises continuously sensing the passage of particulates through a gas turbine engine to produce a time-domain sensor signal. The time-domain sensor signal is Fourier transformed to produce a frequency domain sensor signal. The frequency domain sensor signal is partitioned into bins corresponding to particulate composition categories. At least one feature is identified within each bin, and is used to determine the amount of particulate flow in each particulate composition category.
Claims23
A signal processing method for an inlet debris monitoring system, the method comprising:
- retrieving time-domain signals from inlet debris sensors responsive to debris passing through an engine of an aircraft;
- Fourier transforming the time-domain signals to produce a frequency domain sensor signal;
- subdividing the frequency domain signal into bins corresponding to different particulate compositions;
- and
- analyzing a feature of the frequency domain signal to determine particulate quantity and composition.
A method for operating a debris monitoring system, the method comprising:
- continuously sensing the passage of particulates through a gas turbine engine to produce a time-domain sensor signal;
- Fourier transforming the time-domain sensor signal to produce a frequency domain sensor signal;
- partitioning the frequency domain into frequency range bins corresponding to particulate composition categories;
- identifying a plurality of primary features within each bin;
- and
- determining the amount of particulate flow in each particulate composition category from the primary features identified within each corresponding bin.
An inlet debris monitoring system comprising:
- an inlet debris sensor located at an inlet of a gas turbine engine to produce a sensor signal in response the passage of debris through the gas turbine engine;
- a filter which removes noise and non-debris components from the sensor signal;
- a signal analysis module which Fourier transforms the sensor signal, subdivides the sensor signal into bins, and identifies features of the sensor signal in each bin;
- and
- a decision module which determines mass flow rate and particulate composition from the features in each bin.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.