Monitoring industrial equipment using audio
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for monitoring industrial equipment, such as HVAC systems, rely on invasive vibration sensors that require direct contact and are equipment-specific, leading to increased downtime and inefficiencies in fault detection and correction.
Innovation Solution
The use of non-invasive audio sensors that can detect faults without direct contact and are agnostic to equipment types, employing machine learning to identify anomalous audio patterns and facilitate proactive fault detection and correction through cloud-based analytics and crowd-sourced learning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If vibration sensors are used to detect faults in equipment, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity and ease of operation deteriorate due to invasive installation requirements and equipment-specific configurations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical vibration sensors that require direct contact with equipment with acoustic sensors that detect faults through sound waves in the air. This substitution eliminates the need for invasive installation while maintaining fault detection capability, as acoustic sensors can monitor equipment remotely through emitted sounds and vibrations transmitted through air.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces air as an intermediary medium between the equipment and the sensor. Instead of attaching sensors directly to equipment surfaces, acoustic sensors capture fault-related sounds and vibrations that propagate through the air, allowing non-invasive monitoring while preserving measurement precision.
2Measurement precision
If vibration sensors are used for fault detection, then measurement precision is improved, but productivity deteriorates due to increased downtime for sensor calibration and repair
Solution Approach 1:
By replacing contact-based vibration sensors with non-contact acoustic sensors, the system eliminates installation and calibration downtime. Acoustic sensors can be positioned remotely and begin monitoring immediately without requiring equipment shutdown or physical attachment, thereby maintaining productivity while achieving fault detection precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary fault detection setup by positioning acoustic sensors in optimal locations before equipment operation begins. This allows the monitoring system to be ready immediately without requiring calibration during equipment downtime, preserving productivity while ensuring measurement precision from the start.
3Measurement precision
If equipment-specific vibration sensors are used, then measurement precision is improved, but adaptability deteriorates as sensors cannot be used with different equipment types
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs acoustic sensors that can detect fault-related sounds and vibrations across multiple equipment types without requiring specialized sensors for each device. The universal acoustic sensing approach maintains measurement precision by capturing characteristic fault sounds while adapting to different equipment configurations and operating environments.
Solution Approach 2:
By substituting equipment-specific mechanical vibration sensors with general-purpose acoustic sensors, the system achieves universality across different equipment types. The acoustic sensors detect fault-related acoustic emissions that are common to various equipment, enabling adaptable deployment while preserving fault detection precision through acoustic signal analysis.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables early detection and minimal downtime for fault correction, automates the process, and facilitates the capture and distribution of expert knowledge across multiple facilities, improving fault detection efficiency and reducing the need for manual inspections.
Implementation Method 1
receive, from an audio sensor, audio sensed by the sensor during operation of industrial equipment
Data Source
AI summary
Systems, methods, and devices for monitoring industrial equipment using audio are described herein. One system includes two computing devices. The first computing device can receive, from an audio sensor, audio sensed during operation of industrial equipment, extract a plurality of features from the audio, determine whether any portion of the audio is anomalous, and send, upon determining a portion of the audio is anomalous, the anomalous portion of the audio to the second, remotely located, computing device. The second computing device can provide the anomalous portion of the audio to a user to determine whether the anomalous portion of the audio corresponds to a fault occurring in the equipment, and receive, from the user upon determining the anomalous portion of the audio corresponds to a fault occurring in the equipment, input indicating the anomalous portion of the audio corresponds to the fault to learn fault patterns in the equipment.