A low quiescent power wireless rotating machinery condition monitoring system

Abstract

Vibration-based monitoring of rotating machinery is rapidly evolving within the aerospace industry with priority on detecting impending failures. The workhorse of such monitoring system remains a piezoelectric-based accelerometers which requires a wired-harnesses, connectors, significant power, and signal conditioning, etc. Raytheon Technologies Research Center (RTRC) along with Collins Aerospace and Sandia National Laboratory have jointly developed an Aluminum-Nitride Resonant Integrated Accelerometer Sensors (ARISE). 
 This is a low power alternate for a conventional wired vibration-based monitoring system. This self-contained sensor system includes: (1) a low quiescent power sensing element with a wake-up module, (2) a wireless communication module, and (3) a coin-cell battery. Leveraging work performed under Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) N-Zero program. This wireless health monitoring system can operate in a quiescent low power mode (~10nW) for a period of several years without servicing. With an exceedance above a preset vibration level (at designate characteristic frequencies), the sensor wakes up and wirelessly sends a warning of a precursor-to-failure.
 The ARISE sensor and wake-up module package has been validated with a replicated vibration environment acquired from a selected rotating machinery subject to progressive damage at the Structural Dynamics Laboratory at RTRC. The failure precursor is successfully detected by the sensor which triggers the wake-up module.
 This research was developed with funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Micro Technology Office (MTO), under Aluminum-Nitride Resonant Integrated Accelerometer Sensors (ARISE) program.