Method and device for monitoring status of turbine blades

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9689660-B2
Application number	US-201414316393-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 26, 2014
Priority date	Jun 28, 2013
Publication date	Jun 27, 2017
Grant date	Jun 27, 2017

Abstract

An object of this invention is to sense a transient displacement of the blade position to thereby detect abnormalities early. The invention includes: one or more first sensors mounted so as to be removable from an outer surface of a casing opposed to blade tips; a second sensor for acquiring a signal from a fixed point on a rotor shaft of the blades; a section configured to extract data groups from an output signal of the first sensor on the basis of information acquired by the second sensor; a section configured to average the data groups; a section configured to determine thresholds from averaged data obtained under a healthy condition; and an assessing section configured to compare magnitude of the thresholds and sensor signals obtained during blade status monitoring. Since a transient displacement of blade position can be sensed, abnormalities can be detected early in this invention. This early detection, in turn, enables a rotation to be stopped during an initial phase of blade damage. The invention is therefore advantageous in minimizing impacts on other devices.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A device for monitoring status of turbine blades, the device comprising:
one or more first sensors mounted so as to be removable from an outer surface of a casing opposed to blade tips;
a second sensor for acquiring a signal from a fixed point on a rotor shaft of the blades;
a section configured to extract data groups from an output signal of the first sensor on the basis of information acquired by the second sensor;
a section configured to average the data groups;
a section configured to determine thresholds from averaged data obtained under a healthy condition; and
an assessing section configured to compare magnitude of the thresholds and sensor signals obtained during blade status monitoring,
wherein the section configured to determine the thresholds from the averaged data obtained under the healthy condition analyzes a frequency component of an averaged time-series signal and extracts, as thresholds, signal intensities of frequencies: a frequency “f 1 ” corresponding to an inverse of a signal interval obtained from the second sensor, a frequency “f 2 ” corresponding to an inverse of a blade-by-blade pulse signal interval of the averaged time-series signal, and a frequency component between “f 1 ” and “f 2 ”, and
wherein the assessing section configured to compare the magnitude of the thresholds and the sensor signals obtained during blade status monitoring compares magnitude of signal intensities of the frequencies.

2. The device for monitoring the status of the turbine blades according to claim 1 , comprising as the first sensor and the second sensor:
sensors of at least one of a magnetic field type and an eddy-current type.

3. A method for monitoring status of blades involved in a turbine, the turbine comprising:
one or more first sensors mounted so as to be removable from an outer surface of a casing opposed to blade tips, and
a second sensor for acquiring a signal from a fixed point on a rotor shaft of the blades, the method comprising the step of:
extracting data groups from an output signal of the first sensor on the basis of information acquired by the second sensor;
averaging the data groups;
determining thresholds from averaged data obtained under a healthy condition; and
comparing magnitude of the thresholds and sensor signals obtained during blade status monitoring,
wherein the step of determining the thresholds is the step of analyzing a frequency component of an averaged time-series signal and extracting, as thresholds, signal intensities of frequencies: a frequency “f1” corresponding to an inverse of a signal interval obtained from the second sensor, a frequency “f2” corresponding to an inverse of a blade-by-blade pulse signal interval of the averaged time-series signal, and a frequency component between “f1” and “f2,” and
wherein the step of comparing magnitude of the thresholds and sensor signals obtained during blade status monitoring is the step of comparing magnitude of signal intensities of the frequencies.

Assignees

• Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Sys

Inventors

• Nishimizu Akira
• Hiraoka Toshiyuki
• Tooma Masahiro
• Narishige Soushi
• Matsui Tetsuya

Classifications

• G01B7/16 Primary

  for measuring the deformation in a solid, e.g. by resistance strain gauge · CPC title

• F01D21/003

  Arrangements for testing or measuring (for measuring vibrations G01H) · CPC title

• G05B2219/37124

  Magnetic sensor · CPC title

• G04C5/00

  Electric or magnetic means for converting oscillatory to rotary motion in time-pieces, i.e. electric or magnetic escapements (regulators G04C3/00) · CPC title

• G05B2219/37185

  Magnetic ring and sensor · CPC title