Patent ID: 7654141

Claim:
A method for detecting at least one structure-borne acoustic vibration in a component of an agricultural harvesting machine, comprising the steps of determining a transit-time difference of a structure-borne acoustic vibration that is received by a pulse detector, the pulse detector comprising at least a first structure-borne sound sensor adapted for identifying harvested grains striking the pulse detector and at least a second structure-borne sound sensor adapted for identifying harvested grains striking the pulse detector using a timer; based on the transit-time difference, determining a source of the structure-borne acoustic vibration; using the transit-time difference and a specified maximum possible transit time to calculate at least one transit time required by the structure-borne acoustic vibration to travel from the source until said vibration is received by the first structure-borne sound sensor or by the second structure-borne sound sensor; using the calculated transit time and a specific sound velocity to calculate a distance between the source of the structure-borne acoustic vibration and the first or the second structure-borne sound sensor; and using the distance as an indication of the source of the acoustic vibration in the component.