An environmental condition may be measured with a sensor (10) including a wire (20) having an ultrasonic signal transmission characteristic that varies in response to the environmental condition by sensing ultrasonic energy propagated through the wire using multiple types of propagation, and separating an effect of temperature on the wire from an effect of strain on the wire using the sensed ultrasonic energy propagated through the wire using the multiple types of propagation. A positive feedback loop may be used to excite the wire such that strain in the wire is based upon a sensed resonant frequency, while a square wave with a controlled duty cycle may be used to excite the wire at multiple excitation frequencies. A phase matched cone (200, 210) may be used to couple ultrasonic energy between a waveguide wire (202, 212) and a transducer (204, 214).

Provided are an acoustic sensor and a home appliance system comprising the same. The acoustic sensor comprises a communication unit, a microphone to collect an acoustic signal, a memory to store a failure acoustic signal of a home appliance, and a processor, wherein in response to the acoustic signal, collected by the microphone, corresponding to the failure acoustic signal of the home appliance, the processor transmits the collected acoustic signal, or data corresponding to the collected acoustic signal, to an external server or a terminal. Accordingly, failure of the home appliance may be easily diagnosed.

Provided are an acoustic sensor and a home appliance system comprising the same. The acoustic sensor comprises a communication unit, a microphone to collect an acoustic signal, a memory to store a failure acoustic signal of a home appliance, and a processor, wherein in response to the acoustic signal, collected by the microphone, corresponding to the failure acoustic signal of the home appliance, the processor transmits the collected acoustic signal, or data corresponding to the collected acoustic signal, to an external server or a terminal. Accordingly, failure of the home appliance may be easily diagnosed.

A method (400) of determining blade tip deflection characteristics is applied to moving rotor blades (R.sub.1, R.sub.2) in a turbomachine (10) comprising a housing and rotor including a shaft with the rotor blades attached thereto and at least one proximity probe (202). The method (400) includes measuring ((402) a proximity signal caused by a presence of a proximate tip of a moving rotor blade (R.sub.1) and calculating (404) by a control module (212) a shaft Instantaneous Angular Position (IAP) as a function of time, and performing (410) an order tracking process which includes expressing (412) the measured proximity signal in the angular domain and resampling (414) the expressed proximity signal to render it equidistant in the angular domain. The method (400) includes performing (416) a pulse localisation process which includes filtering (418) the proximity signal yielding a complex-valued response, expressing (420) the complex-valued response in terms of a local amplitude and phase, and calculating (422) local phase shifts between each expressed signal and a reference signal.

A method (400) of determining blade tip deflection characteristics is applied to moving rotor blades (R.sub.1, R.sub.2) in a turbomachine (10) comprising a housing and rotor including a shaft with the rotor blades attached thereto and at least one proximity probe (202). The method (400) includes measuring ((402) a proximity signal caused by a presence of a proximate tip of a moving rotor blade (R.sub.1) and calculating (404) by a control module (212) a shaft Instantaneous Angular Position (IAP) as a function of time, and performing (410) an order tracking process which includes expressing (412) the measured proximity signal in the angular domain and resampling (414) the expressed proximity signal to render it equidistant in the angular domain. The method (400) includes performing (416) a pulse localisation process which includes filtering (418) the proximity signal yielding a complex-valued response, expressing (420) the complex-valued response in terms of a local amplitude and phase, and calculating (422) local phase shifts between each expressed signal and a reference signal.

An unbalance detection device for detecting unbalance of a rotor of a turbo-cartridge which includes the rotor including a turbine wheel and a compressor wheel coupled via a rotational shaft and a bearing housing accommodating a bearing which supports the rotor rotatably, includes: a sound pressure sensor capable of detecting vibration upon rotation of the rotor by contactlessly measuring a sound pressure generated from vibration upon rotation of the rotor.

An ultrasound circuit comprising a trans-impedance amplifier (TIA) with built-in time gain compensation functionality is described. The TIA is coupled to an ultrasonic transducer to amplify an electrical signal generated by the ultrasonic transducer in response to receiving an ultrasound signal. The TIA is, in some cases, followed by further analog and digital processing circuitry.

A method for automatic diagnosis of a mechanical system of a group of mechanical systems sharing mechanical characteristics includes obtaining data relating to a vibration. The vibration-related data is acquired by a portable communications device configured to communicate with a remote processor. The processor automatically diagnoses the mechanical system by applying a relationship to the obtained vibration-related data. The relationship is based on sets of vibration-related data previously obtained from the mechanical systems. Each set of vibration-related data relates to vibrations of a mechanical system. The relationship is further based on sets of operation data previously obtained for mechanical systems of the group. Each set of operation data indicates a previous state of operation of a mechanical system. Each of the previous states of operation is associated with at least one of the previously obtained sets of vibration-related data.

A system includes a touchscreen display computing device including a touchscreen display and at least one processor. The touchscreen display may be communicatively coupled to the at least one processor. The touchscreen display computing device may be installed in a vehicle. The at least one processor may be configured to: receive vibration data from a vibration sensor installed onboard the vehicle; calculate, in real time, at least one slew setting associated with an adjustable sensitivity of the touchscreen display based at least on the vibration data; adjust, in real time, the adjustable sensitivity of the touchscreen display based at least on the at least one slew setting; receive, from a user in real time, a touch input from the touchscreen display using the adjusted adjustable sensitivity; and output an instruction based at least on the touch input.

A system includes a touchscreen display computing device including a touchscreen display and at least one processor. The touchscreen display may be communicatively coupled to the at least one processor. The touchscreen display computing device may be installed in a vehicle. The at least one processor may be configured to: receive vibration data from a vibration sensor installed onboard the vehicle; calculate, in real time, at least one slew setting associated with an adjustable sensitivity of the touchscreen display based at least on the vibration data; adjust, in real time, the adjustable sensitivity of the touchscreen display based at least on the at least one slew setting; receive, from a user in real time, a touch input from the touchscreen display using the adjusted adjustable sensitivity; and output an instruction based at least on the touch input.