Brush holder assembly monitoring apparatus, assembly, system and method
AssigneeCutsforth, Inc.
InventorRobert S. Cutsforth
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods and systems for monitoring a brush holder assembly and/or detecting wear of a brush in a brush holder assembly are disclosed. One method includes sending data from a plurality of remote monitoring locations to a central control unit, where the data may be evaluated in order to monitor states of brushes at a plurality of remote electrical facilities. For example, multiple images of a marker tracking longitudinal movement of the brush may be acquired. A comparison of the images, for example, a comparative imaging technique, such as pixel-by-pixel comparison, may then be performed in order to evaluate a condition of the brush, such as the wear rate, wear state, or life expectancy of the brush.
Claims19
A method of monitoring a brush holder assembly of an electrical device including a carbon brush at a remote monitoring location, the carbon brush of the brush holder assembly being in contact with a rotating conductive surface, the brush holder assembly permitting linear movement of the carbon brush toward the rotating conductive surface as the carbon brush wears, the method comprising:
- acquiring data indicative of linear displacement of the carbon brush relative to the brush holder assembly;
- and
- evaluating the data to predict an estimated projection of a future condition of the carbon brush at a future date.
A method of monitoring a brush holder assembly of an electrical device at a plurality of remote monitoring locations, the brush holder assembly at each of the plurality of remote monitoring locations including a carbon brush in contact with a rotating conductive surface, the brush holder assembly permitting linear movement of the carbon brush toward the rotating conductive surface as the carbon brush wears, the method comprising:
- acquiring data indicative of linear displacement of each of the carbon brushes relative to the respective brush holder assembly at each of the plurality of remote monitoring locations;
- evaluating the data to predict an estimated projection of a future condition of the carbon brush at a future date;
- and
- receiving the data at a central control unit in communication with the plurality of remote monitoring locations.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.