MONITORING SYSTEMS AND METHODS

摘要

A monitoring system includes a plurality of modules to sense temperature and vibrations of a motor assembly, a hub computer to collect the sensed temperature and vibrations, and an analyzer computer to analyze the collected temperature and vibrations. The modules contain detectors that measure a temperature and vibrations in three axes of the motor assembly, a transceiver integrated circuit that measures a die temperature of the transceiver integrated circuit, a microcontroller integrated circuit that self-adjusts its clock pulses, and a memory that stores parameters set for the operation of the modules. The microcontroller integrated circuit and the memory are configured to check parameters corruption upon transferring the parameters from the memory to the microcontroller integrated circuit and prior to utilizing by the microcontroller integrated circuit. The microcontroller integrated circuit is also configured to perform power control operations by turning off sections of the microcontroller integrated circuit over periodic durations.

主权项

1. A monitoring system for monitoring a group of motor assemblies in a closed geographic area to determine an operating condition of the motor assemblies, comprising:
a plurality of modules that are adapted to be mounted to a motor assembly to sense vibrations generated by the motor assembly and sense temperature in close proximity to the motor assembly, wherein each module comprises: a shield, an enclosure, a temperature sensor that generates a temperature signal specifying a sensed temperature, a vibrations sensor that senses vibrations existing in three axes and generates three vibration signals specifying vibration measurements in x, y, and z axis's, a microcontroller integrated circuit that is configured to receive the temperature and vibrations signals and transmit the temperature and vibrations signals to external points, and is also configured: to perform power control operations by turning off sections of the microcontroller integrated circuit over periodic durations to save battery life, and to automatically turn on the sections of the microcontroller integrated circuit when a significant temperature event is determined to be an emergency by the microcontroller integrated circuit, when a significant vibration event is determined to be an emergency by the vibrations sensor, or when both emergencies are determined, a transceiver integrated circuit that implements a wireless mesh network protocol and is configured to receive and transmit the temperature and vibrations signals, a battery holder and a battery, and a printed circuit board, wherein the battery holder is mounted to the printed circuit board running lengthwise across the printed circuit board and the microcontroller integrated circuit is mounted on the printed circuit board in between the battery holder and the printed circuit board, each module has a dimension that is approximately 8-9 inches long, 1-2 inches wide, and 1-2 inches deep, and a hub computer configured to collect the temperature and vibrations signals via the network protocol from the modules and send the collected temperature and vibrations signals; an analyzer computer configured to receive the collected temperature and vibrations signals from the hub computer and process the collected temperature and vibrations signals by determining whether a threshold is reached and generating an alert when the temperature or vibration at any one of the modules is above the threshold.