Experimental Study on Condition Monitoring of Low Speed Bearings : Time Domain Analysis

In condition monitoring of low speed rolling element bearings (REBs), traditional techniques involving vibration acceleration may not be able to detect a growing fault due to the low impact energy generated by the relative motion of the components. This study presents an experimental evaluation for incipient fault detection of low speed REBs by using an acoustic emission (AE) sensor and an accelerometer. A low speed fault simulation test rig was developed to simulate common machine faults with shaft speeds as low as 10rpm under loading conditions. Tests were conducted on the rig with various seeded defect bearings. This study reveals the best frequency bandwidth and suitable parameters for condition monitoring using AE signal for early detection of low speed bearing defects by means of statistical parameters in time domain.

[1]  D Mba,et al.  Condition monitoring of slow-speed rolling element bearings using stress waves , 2001 .

[2]  J. Mathew,et al.  Frequency domain methods for monitoring the condition of rolling element bearings , 1985 .

[3]  T. Yoshioka,et al.  Detection of rolling contact sub-surface fatigue cracks using acoustic emission technique , 1993 .

[4]  Fabrice Bolaers,et al.  Advanced detection of rolling bearing spalling from de-noising vibratory signals , 2004 .

[5]  Steven Y. Liang,et al.  BEARING CONDITION DIAGNOSTICS VIA VIBRATION AND ACOUSTIC EMISSION MEASUREMENTS , 1997 .

[6]  John G. Proakis,et al.  Probability, random variables and stochastic processes , 1985, IEEE Trans. Acoust. Speech Signal Process..

[7]  Mohd Jailani Mohd Nor,et al.  Statistical analysis of sound and vibration signals for monitoring rolling element bearing condition , 1998 .

[8]  David Mba,et al.  Development of Acoustic Emission Technology for Condition Monitoring andDiagnosis of Rotating Machines; Bearings, Pumps, Gearboxes, Engines and RotatingStructures. , 2006 .

[9]  Thomas R. Kurfess,et al.  Vibration analysis for Bearing outer race condition diagnostics , 1999 .

[10]  P. D. McFadden,et al.  Vibration monitoring of rolling element bearings by the high-frequency resonance technique — a review , 1984 .

[11]  T. I. Liu,et al.  Intelligent monitoring of ball bearing conditions , 1992 .

[12]  Andy C. C. Tan,et al.  Development of Testing Facilities for Verification of Machine Condition Monitoring Methods for Low Speed Machinery , 2006 .