High Pass Filtering And Tacho Signals

http://blog.prosig.com/2001/06/06/high-pass-filtering-and-tacho-signals/

By Dr Colin Mercer On 6 June 2001 In signal processing

It is sometimes necessary to pass a signal through a high pass filter to eliminate low
frequency signals. These may arise for instance from whole body vibrations when perhaps
our interest is in higher frequency components from a substructure such as an engine or
gearbox mounting. The vibration levels are speed sensitive and the usual scheme is to record
a once per revolution tacho signal with the vibration data. The tacho signal, which ideally is
a nice regular pulse train, is processed to find rotational speed and hence to select which part
of the vibration signal is to be frequency analyzed. The most common form of analysis is a
waterfall type such as shown below.

Fig. 1 : A typical waterfall

Fig. 1 : A typical waterfall

Suppose now we need to eliminate the low frequencies. This is quite simple as all we need to
do is to high pass filter the vibration data. Because normal filtering causes a time delay then
we must also filter the tacho signal. Conventional wisdom is that if all signals are filtered the
same way then the effects of time delays may be ignored as they are all the same relatively.
This, however, ignores the time domain effect on the signals, which is important for tacho
signals.Processing a tacho signal is essentially based on determining the time interval
between successive rising edges as illustrated for the ideal tacho shown below.

Fig. 2 : An ideal tacho signal

If each pulse represents one revolution then the speed between the two successive pulses is
clearly (1/T). A real tacho pulse is rarely as clean as above. The figure below is a typical
tacho signal measurement. In fact, as far as tachos go the example is quite a good quality
tacho.

Fig. 3 : An typical tacho signal

Because of the effects of noise we need to choose a threshold amplitude level as our trigger
point to determine the time interval between successive pulses. If the tacho goes between Vmin
and Vmax then generally a suitable threshold level is (Vmax+Vmin)/2.

Fig. 4 : A tacho after filtering

Suppose now we need to high pass filter our data to eliminate some low frequency
characteristics. Applying the same filter to the tacho may cause some dramatic effects. The
example below is the tacho signal above filtered with a simple 4 pole high pass Butterworth

filter set at 5Hz. This is a well behaved non aggressive filter but its effects on the tacho
waveform are quite significant.

Fig. 5 : A tacho after filtering

ilst we have the same average temporal delays the detail effects are such that we may run into
serious difficulties in selecting a trigger point. It could be as much as half a revolution in
error if we used a negative level on the positive slope port. As the high pass filter is set to a
higher cut off then the resultant tacho becomes totally invalid. For example, using a cut off of
35Hz on the original tacho gives a result which would indicate the engine was running at
twice the speed. As shown below the tacho is now almost unrecognisable!

Fig. 6 : A tacho after phaseless filtering

The solution is to use phaseless filtering. This gives no time delay effects as there is zero
phase. Applying a phaseless 4 pole high pass Butterworth with a 35Hz cut off gives a signal
which is almost identical to the original. The dc level and other low frequency components
have been removed without the harmful time delay distortions, the filter is no longer acting as
differentiator.

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