Claims
- 1. A method of generating a number value representative of the width of a noisy pulse in an analog signal, said method comprising:
sampling the analog signal at predetermined sample intervals to generate a sampled signal including samples; creating bunches of successive samples in the sampled signal over a predetermined bunched sample period to generate a sequence of bunched samples; and multiplying the bunched samples over at least two successive bunched sample periods to generate a first product value, where the first product value is representative of the width of the noisy pulse.
- 2. The method according to claim 1 further comprising determining a root mean square of each bunched sample, and multiplying the root mean square of successive bunched samples over the at least two bunched sample periods to generate the first product value.
- 3. The method according to claim 1 further comprising averaging a predetermined number of the first product values to generate the number value.
- 4. The method according to claim 3 wherein averaging the first product value includes one of finding an average value, finding a peak value or finding a percentile value.
- 5. The method according to claim 1 further comprising multiplying each bunched sample by itself to generate a second product value, where the first product value and the second product value are ratioed to generate the number value.
- 6. The method according to claim 1 wherein sampling the analog signal includes converting the analog signal to a digital signal.
- 7. The method according to claim 1 wherein the sample intervals are 5 kHz.
- 8. The method according to claim 1 wherein the bunched samples includes 25 samples.
- 9. The method according to claim 1 wherein the at least two successive bunched sample periods is three bunched sample periods so that three bunched samples are multiplied together.
- 10. The method according to claim 1 wherein the analog signal is a down-converted ultrasonic signal emitted from a cylinder of an engine.
- 11. The method according to claim 10 wherein the engine is a locomotive engine.
- 12. A method of generating a number value representative of the width of a noisy pulse in an analog signal, where the analog signal is a down-converted ultrasonic signal emitted from a cylinder of a locomotive engine, said method comprising:
sampling the analog signal at predetermined sample intervals to generate a sampled signal including samples; creating bunches of successive samples in the sampled signal over a predetermined bunched sample period to generate a sequence of bunched samples; generating a root mean square of each bunched sample; multiplying at least two successive bunched samples to generate a first product value; cubing each root mean squared bunched sample to generate a second product value; averaging the first product value and the second product value over a plurality of product values to generate a first averaged product value and a second averaged product value; and ratioing the first averaged product value and the second averaged product value to generate the number value.
- 13. The method according to claim 12 wherein averaging the first product value and the second product value includes one of finding an average value, finding a peak value or finding a percentile value.
- 14. The method according to claim 12 wherein sampling the analog signal includes converting the analog signal to a digital signal.
- 15. The method according to claim 12 wherein the sample intervals are 5 kHz, and the bunched samples includes 25 samples.
- 16. The method according to claim 12 wherein the at least two successive bunched sample periods is three successive bunched sample periods so that three bunched samples are multiplied together.
- 17. A system for generating a number value representative of the width of a noisy pulse in an analog signal, said system comprising:
a sampling device for sampling the analog signal at predetermined sample intervals to generate a sampled signal including samples; a bunching device for bunching successive samples in the sampled signal over a predetermined bunched sample period to generate a sequence of bunched samples; and a first multiplying device for multiplying the bunched samples over at least two successive bunched sample periods to generate a first product value, where the first product value is representative of the width of the noisy pulse.
- 18. The system according to claim 17 further comprising a root mean square device for root mean squaring each bunched sample, wherein the first multiplying device multiplies the root mean square of successive bunched samples over the at least two bunched sample periods to generate the first product value.
- 19. The system according to claim 17 further comprising an averaging device for averaging a predetermined number of the first product values to generate the number value.
- 20. The system according to claim 17 further comprising a second multiplying device for multiplying each bunched sample by itself to generate a second product value, wherein the first product value and the second product value are ratioed to generated the number value.
- 21. The system according to claim 17 wherein the analog signal is a down-converted ultrasonic signal emitted from a cylinder of a locomotive engine.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application No. 60/357,516, titled “Technique for Computing a Measure on an Ultrasonic Signal Having Application to Identify Valve Defects in Operating Engines,” filed Feb. 15, 2002.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60357516 |
Feb 2002 |
US |