Evaluating Contact-Less Sensing and Fault Diagnosis Characteristics in Vibrating Thin Cantilever Beams with a MetGlas® 2826MB Ribbon

The contact-less sensing and fault diagnosis characteristics induced by fixing short Metglas® 2826MB ribbons onto the surface of thin cantilever polymer beams are examined and statistically evaluated in this study. Excitation of the beam’s free end generates magnetic flux from the vibrating ribbon (fixed near the clamp side), which, via a coil suspended above the ribbon surface, is recorded as voltage with an oscilloscope. Cost-efficient design and operation are key objectives of this setup since only conventional equipment (coil, oscilloscope) is used, whereas filtering, amplification and similar circuits are absent. A statistical framework for extending past findings on the relationship between spectral changes in voltage and fault occurrence is introduced. Currently, different levels of beam excitation (within a frequency range) are shown to result in statistically different voltage spectral changes (frequency shifts). The principle is also valid for loads (faults) of different magnitudes and/or locations on the beam for a given excitation. Testing with either various beam excitation frequencies or different loads (magnitude/locations) at a given excitation demonstrates that voltage spectral changes are statistically mapped onto excitation levels or occurrences of distinct faults (loads). Thus, conventional beams may cost-efficiently acquire contact-less sensing and fault diagnosis capabilities using limited hardware/equipment.