System for detecting peaks in vibrational energy spectra

Abstract

The magnitude and frequency of a peak in detected vibrational energy emitted from a component that includes a periodic portion is provided to monitor the component for faults. A Fast Fourier Transform of the signal is taken to generate a spectrum. A maximum index in the spectrum is found between a determined frequency bound. An array of parameters is generated and a determined optimized transform root is used on the array of parameters. An interpolated peak location is estimated based on the array and an interpolated frequency is found based on the peak location. An interpolated magnitude is then determined. The use of the optimized transform root in the processing results in significant improvements to the magnitude and frequency estimations, which can improve, for example, detection of defects from vibration spectra of rotating components, estimates of energy radiated from an electronic component, or analysis of spectral content of ionizing radiation.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for detecting faults for components of a helicopter comprising:
 a ball bearing of a component of the helicopter, wherein the ball bearing includes a cage, a ball, an inner race, and an outer race;   an accelerometer positioned to detect vibrational energy emitted from the ball bearing, wherein the vibrational energy includes vibrational energy emitted by the cage, the ball, the inner race, and the outer race, wherein the vibrational energy includes at least one periodic, sinusoidal portion, and wherein the accelerometer generates a signal representative of the detected vibrational energy; and   a processor configured to receive the signal and determine a frequency peak and magnitude of the at least one periodic, sinusoidal portion based on an optimized transform root.   
     
     
         2 . A system for detecting faults for components of a helicopter comprising:
 a bearing of a component of the helicopter, wherein the bearing includes a cage, a ball, an inner race, and an outer race;   an accelerometer positioned to detect vibrational energy emitted from the bearing, wherein the vibrational energy includes vibrational energy emitted by the cage, the ball, the inner race, and the outer race, wherein the vibrational energy includes at least one periodic portion, and wherein the accelerometer generates a signal representative of the detected vibrational energy; and   a processor configured to receive the signal and determine a frequency peak and magnitude of the at least one periodic portion based on the signal and an optimized transform root.