1. A tire and sensor system comprising:
a tire having an inflatable radially inward tire casing and a radially outward tire tread ring situated on the casing;
a first conductive member affixed to a radially inward surface of the tread ring;
a second conductive member affixed to a radially outward surface of the casing, the second conductive member operatively contacting the first conductive member in a first relative orientation between the tire casing and the tread ring and operatively separating from the first conductive member in a second relative orientation between the tire casing and the tread ring;
sensor means connected to the second conductive member for operatively detecting separation of the second conductive member from the first conductive member.
2. The tire and sensor system of claim 1, wherein the first conductive member extends continuously about the tread ring and the second conductive member includes at least one gap.
3. The tire and sensor system of claim 2, wherein a separation of the second conductive member from the first conductive member operatively creates an open circuit in the second conductive member.
4. The tire and sensor system of claim 3, wherein the sensor means comprises a continuity sensor.
5. The tire and sensor system of claim 4, wherein the continuity sensor comprises a Wheatstone bridge circuit.
6. The tire and sensor system of claim 2, wherein the first conductive member comprises a circumferentially continuous layer composed of conductive material.
7. The tire and sensor system of claim 6, wherein the second conductive member comprises a plurality of layers composed of conductive material and disposed on the tire casing and forming at least one gap located between opposing layer ends.
8. The tire and sensor system of claim 1, wherein the sensor means further comprises a wireless transmitter for transmitting data indicative of the position of the second conductive member relative to the first conductive member.
9. The tire and sensor system of claim 8, wherein the data indicative of the position of the second conductive member relative to the first conductive member is operatively indicative of the relative position of the tread ring and the tire casing.
10. The tire and sensor system of claim 1, wherein the sensor means comprises a continuity sensor electrically connected to the second conductive member and a wireless data transmitter.
11. The tire and sensor system of claim 1, wherein the tire casing is in a relatively inflated condition in the first relative orientation with the tread ring and in a relatively deflated condition in the second relative orientation with the tread ring.
12. A method for sensing a relative orientation between a tire radially inward casing and tire radially outward tire tread ring situated on the casing, comprising:
a. affixing a first conductive member to a radially inward surface of the tread ring;
b. affixing a second conductive member to a radially outward surface of the casing;
c. placing the second conductive member in contact with the first conductive member in a first relative orientation between the tire casing and the tread ring;
d. deploying sensor means to operatively detect separation of the second conductive member from the first conductive member.
13. The method of claim 12, wherein further comprising initiating separation of the second conductive member from the first conductive member by a change in relative orientation between the tread ring and the tire casing.
14. The method of claim 12, wherein further comprising initiating separation of the second conductive member from the first conductive member by the tire casing moving from a relatively inflated condition to a relatively deflated condition.
15. The method of claim 12, wherein further comprising configuring the sensor means to detect a discontinuity in the second conductive member after separation of the second conductive member from the first conductive member.
16. The method of claim 12, wherein further comprising transmitting data to a remote receiver indicative of the position of the second conductive member relative to the first conductive member.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A direct current machine monitoring system comprising:
(a) a sensor configured to monitor a load current of the machine and provide a signal indicative of an alternating current component of the load current; and
(b) a computer configured for
(i) transforming the load current to provide a time domain transformation of the alternating current component of the load current,
(ii) identifying features in the time domain transformation corresponding to sparking, and
(iii) assessing a condition of the direct current machine using the features.
2. The direct current machine monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the computer is further configured for:
determining a sparking frequency of the direct current machine using the features;
determining a sparking intensity of the direct current machine using the features; and
wherein the assessing is performed using the sparking frequency and the sparking intensity.
3. The system of claim 2, wherein the determining the sparking intensity includes:
determining a magnitude of a feature in the time domain transformation.
4. The system of claim 2, wherein the determining the sparking frequency includes:
determining a frequency of occurrence of a feature in the time domain transformation.
5. The system of claim 2, wherein the assessing includes:
determining a sparking index based on the sparking frequency and the sparking intensity.
6. The system of claim 5, wherein the assessing further includes:
comparing the sparking index to a threshold value.
7. The system of claim 5, wherein the assessing further includes:
performing statistical analysis using the sparking index.
8. The system of claim 5, wherein the determining the sparking index includes at least one of:
multiplying the sparking frequency and sparking intensity; and dividing a sum of a plurality of sparking intensities by the sparking frequency.
9. The system of claim 1, wherein the transforming is performed using a wavelet transform.
10. A direct current machine monitoring system comprising:
(a) a sensor configured to monitor a load current of the machine and provide a signal indicative of an alternating current component of the load current; and
(b) a computer configured for
(i) transforming the signal using a wavelet transform to provide a time domain transformation of the signal,
(ii) determining a magnitude of at least one feature in the time domain transformation of the signal to provide a sparking intensity,
(iii) determining a frequency of occurrence of the at least one feature in the time domain transformation to provide a sparking frequency, and
(v) assessing a condition of the direct current machine using the sparking intensity and the sparking frequency.
11. The system of claim 9, wherein the assessing includes:
determining a sparking index based on the sparking frequency and the sparking intensity.
12. The system of claim 11, wherein the assessing further includes:
comparing the sparking index to a threshold value.
13. The system of claim 11, wherein the assessing further includes:
performing statistical analysis using the sparking index.
14. A method of monitoring a direct current machine, the method comprising:
sensing a load current to the direct current machine to provide a signal indicative of an alternating current component of the load current;
transforming the signal to provide a time domain transformation of the alternating current component of the load current;
identifying features in the time domain transformation corresponding to sparking; and
assessing a condition of the direct current machine using the features.
15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:
determining a sparking frequency of the direct current machine using the features,
determining a sparking intensity of the direct current machine using the features, and
wherein the assessing is performed using the sparking frequency and the sparking intensity.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein the determining the sparking intensity includes:
determining a magnitude of a feature in the time domain transformation.
17. The method of claim 15, wherein the determining the sparking frequency includes:
determining a frequency of occurrence of a feature in the time domain transformation.
18. The method of claim 15, wherein the assessing includes:
determining a sparking index based on the sparking frequency and the sparking intensity.
19. The method of claim 18, wherein the assessing further includes:
comparing the sparking index to a threshold value.
20. The method of claim 18, wherein the assessing further includes:
performing statistical analysis using the sparking index.
21. The method of claim 14, wherein the transforming is performed using a wavelet transform.
22. A method of monitoring a direct current machine, the method comprising:
sensing a load current to the direct current machine to provide a signal indicative of an alternating current component of the sensed current;
transforming the signal using a wavelet transform to provide a time domain transformation of the alternating current component of the sensed current;
determining a magnitude of at least one feature in the time domain transformation to provide a sparking intensity,
determining a frequency of occurrence of the at least one feature in the time domain transformation to provide a sparking frequency, and
assessing a condition of the direct current machine using the sparking intensity and the sparking frequency.
23. The system of claim 22, wherein the assessing includes:
assigning a sparking index based on the sparking frequency and the sparking intensity.
24. The system of claim 23, wherein the assessing further includes:
comparing the sparking index to a limit value.
25. The system of claim 23, wherein the assessing further includes:
performing statistical analysis using the sparking index.