Diagnosis of thermal spray gun ignition

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016356747-A1
Application number	US-201615172441-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 3, 2016
Priority date	Jun 4, 2015
Publication date	Dec 8, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

An example system includes at least one acoustic sensor configured to generate at least one acoustic data signal indicative of an acoustic signal generated by a thermal spray system comprising a flowstream, a computing device, and an acoustic data signal processing module operable by the computing device to determine an ignition attribute of the thermal spray system by analyzing at least a pre-ignition window of the acoustic data signal received by the computing device.

First claim

1 . A system comprising:
at least one acoustic sensor configured to generate at least one acoustic data signal indicative of an acoustic signal generated by a thermal spray system comprising a flowstream; a computing device comprising at least one processor; and an acoustic data signal processing module operable by the at least one processor to determine an ignition attribute of the thermal spray system by analyzing at least a pre-ignition window of the acoustic data signal received by the computing device.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the ignition attribute comprises at least one of a satisfactory ignition, an unsatisfactory ignition, and an ignition failure.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the acoustic data signal processing module is further operable by the at least one processor to transform the at least one acoustic data signal to a frequency-domain spectrum using at least one of a discrete Fourier transform or a fast Fourier transform.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the acoustic data signal processing module is operable by the at least one processor to identify an ignition event by at least comparing intensities of a plurality of frequencies to respective threshold intensity values and selecting a portion of the at least one acoustic data signal preceding the ignition event as the pre-ignition window.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the acoustic data signal processing module is operable by the at least one processor to compare a peak intensity within a selected frequency band with a predetermined intensity range for the selected frequency band to determine the ignition attribute of the thermal spray system.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the acoustic data signal processing module is operable by the at least one processor to compare a peak frequency within a selected frequency band with a predetermined frequency range to determine the ignition attribute of the thermal spray system.

7 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the selected frequency band comprises frequencies from about 3.8 kHz to about 4.5 kHz.

8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the pre-ignition window comprises less than about 3 seconds of the at least one acoustic data signal preceding the ignition event.

9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the computing device further comprises an output device configured to output at least one of an alert or a representation of at least one of the at least one acoustic data signal, the ignition attribute, or a spectrogram.

10 . A method comprising:
receiving, by a computing device, from at least one acoustic sensor, at least one acoustic data signal indicative of an acoustic signal generated by a thermal spray system comprising a flowstream; and determining, by the computing device, an ignition attribute of the thermal spray system by analyzing at least a pre-ignition window of the acoustic data signal.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the ignition attribute comprises at least one of a satisfactory ignition, an unsatisfactory ignition, and an ignition failure.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein determining the ignition attribute comprises transforming, by the computing device, the at least one acoustic data signal to a frequency-domain spectrum using at least one of a fast Fourier transform or a discrete Fourier transform.

13 . The method of claim 10 , wherein determining the ignition attribute comprises comparing a peak intensity within a selected frequency band with a predetermined intensity range.

14 . The method of claim 10 , wherein determining the ignition attribute comprises comparing a peak frequency within a selected frequency band with a predetermined frequency range.

15 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the selected frequency band comprises frequencies from about 3.8 kHz to about 4.5 kHz.

16 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the pre-ignition window comprises less than about 3 seconds of the at least one acoustic data signal preceding the ignition event.

17 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the analyzing comprises identifying an ignition event by at least comparing intensities of a plurality of frequencies to respective threshold intensity values and selecting a portion of the at least one acoustic data signal preceding the ignition event as the pre-ignition window.

18 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising outputting, by the computing device, at least one of an alert or a representation of at least one of the at least one acoustic data signal, the ignition attribute, or a spectrogram.

19 . A computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor to:
receive, from at least one acoustic sensor, at least one acoustic data signal indicative of an acoustic signal generated by a thermal spray system comprising a flowstream; and determine an ignition attribute of the thermal spray system by analyzing at least a pre-ignition window of the acoustic data signal.

20 . The computer readable medium of claim 19 , further comprising instructions, that when executed, cause the at least one processor to transform the at least one acoustic data signal to a frequency-domain spectrum using at least one of a fast Fourier transform or a discrete Fourier transform and determine the ignition attribute by at least one of comparing a peak intensity within a selected frequency band with a predetermined intensity range and comparing a peak frequency within the selected frequency band with a predetermined frequency range.

Assignees

• Hudson Mark
• Rolls Royce Corp
• Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties Inc
• Rolls Royce Plc

Inventors

• Cybulsky Michael
• Sinatra Raymond J
• Mcintyre Roy Peter
• Blair Taylor K
• Pickrell Gary
• Batra Romesh
• Hudson Mark

Classifications

• B05B7/1606

  the spraying of the material involving the use of an atomising fluid, e.g. air (B05B7/168, B05B7/1686, B05B7/20, B05B7/22 take precedence) · CPC title

• G01M99/008

  by doing functionality tests · CPC title

• B05B12/008

  integrated in or attached to a discharge apparatus, e.g. a spray gun · CPC title

• B05B12/004

  comprising sensors for monitoring the delivery, e.g. by displaying the sensed value or generating an alarm (B05B12/08 takes precedence; registering or indicating the condition or the working of machines or other apparatus in general G07C3/00) · CPC title

• B05B7/226

  the material being originally a particulate material · CPC title