Vibration Waveform Thinning Using Block Spectral Correlation

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Solution Overview

Problem

The storage requirements for continuous vibration waveform data from rotating machines are excessively large, limiting the duration of real-time and long-term data storage due to the need for significant storage space, often leading to data overwriting and inadequate historical data access.

Innovation Solution

A method that thins vibration waveform data by dividing it into sequential blocks, comparing each block to a reference block based on differences and spectral correlation, and discarding redundant data, thereby reducing storage and bandwidth requirements without losing substantive machine vibration information.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If continuous waveform data is stored in real-time, then complete vibration information is preserved, but storage space requirements become excessively large

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecompleteness of vibration informationVSAvoidstorage space

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSQuantity of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts and removes redundant waveform data blocks that do not contain substantive machine vibration information. By comparing spectral content and identifying blocks with minimal changes from reference blocks, the system extracts only the essential vibration data for storage, dramatically reducing storage requirements while preserving diagnostic information.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent discards redundant waveform data blocks that can be reconstructed or inferred from reference blocks. When a discarded block is needed for analysis, the system can recover the information by interpolating from adjacent reference blocks, thereby reducing storage needs while maintaining data availability for diagnostic purposes.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #34Discarding and recovering

2Duration of action of stationary object

If large amounts of waveform data are stored for long-term analysis, then historical data access is improved, but storage device capacity is exceeded

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedata retention periodVSAvoidstorage capacity

Core Design Contradiction:

Duration of action of stationary objectVSQuantity of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts only the essential vibration information by removing redundant blocks, enabling long-term data retention within limited storage capacity. By storing only non-redundant blocks and allowing reconstruction of discarded blocks when needed, the system extends the duration of stored historical data from days to months or years.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

3Loss of information

If all waveform data blocks are retained, then no information is lost, but data transmission bandwidth requirements increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvevibration information completenessVSAvoidtransmission bandwidth

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSLoss of energy

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts and transmits only the essential vibration data by identifying and removing redundant blocks. By transmitting only non-redundant blocks and enabling reconstruction of discarded blocks at the receiving end, the system dramatically reduces transmission bandwidth requirements while preserving complete diagnostic information.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

4Quantity of substance

If redundant waveform data is discarded to reduce storage, then storage efficiency improves, but risk of losing substantive information increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvestorage efficiencyVSAvoidinformation accuracy

Core Design Contradiction:

Quantity of substanceVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent uses feedback mechanisms by continuously comparing each waveform block against reference blocks and using spectral analysis to determine whether a block contains substantive information. This feedback loop ensures that only truly redundant blocks are discarded, maintaining information accuracy while improving storage efficiency.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

Solution Approach 2:

The patent replaces simple deletion mechanisms with sophisticated spectral analysis and correlation algorithms. By using Fast Fourier Transforms and spectral comparison, the system intelligently determines which blocks to discard based on actual vibration content rather than arbitrary criteria, ensuring information accuracy is maintained.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

Data Source

PatentUS11237042B2Waveform data thinning

Publication Date: 2022.02.01 COMPUTATIONAL SYSTEMS INC

AI summary

A method for producing a thinned representation of vibration waveform data. The waveform vibration data is received and divided into sequential blocks. For each sequential block, each serially designated in turn as a current block, the following steps are performed. When the current block is also a first block, the current block is passed as a reference block. A representative value for the current block is computed and compared to the representative value for the reference block to determine a difference. The representative value for the current block is compared to a minimum representative value. The current block is transformed into a spectrum and compared to the spectrum for the reference block to determine a correlation value. When the representative value for the current block is above the minimum representative value, the current block is passed as the reference block whenever at least one of the following is true, (a) the first difference is greater than a given difference, (b) the correlation value is less than a given correlation value, and (c) a numerical count of blocks between the current block and a most recently passed reference block is greater than a given maximum.