Patent ID: 7400943

Claim:
A system for analyzing an engine unbalance condition, comprising: a control component; an input/output device adapted to receive vibrational data; and a processor arranged to analyze the vibrational data, the processor including: a first portion adapted to receive vibrational data from a plurality of locations distributed over at least one of an engine and surrounding engine support structure; a second portion adapted to input the vibrational data into a neural network inverse model; a third portion adapted to establish a relationship between the vibrational data from the plurality of locations and the engine unbalance condition using the neural network inverse model; and a fourth portion adapted to output diagnostic information from the neural network inverse model, wherein the diagnostic information indicates at least one of the engine unbalance condition and information indicating the quantity and position of corrective engine balance weights needed to achieve desirable vibrational characteristics at the plurality of locations, and wherein the diagnostic information includes an unbalance magnitude and an angular location as a function of a rotational frequency of the engine.