Rolling Element Bearing Condition Monitoring

1. Signature Generation mechanism

Bearing characteristic defect frequencies

(Braun and Datner 1979)

Where

1
 2. Signature waveform and its spectrum:
Bearing and its nearby structure resonate.
Bearing signature is impulsive and low duty
cycle.

1/f

Resonance1 Resonance2
noise

f
Note: The signal energy is distributed over a
wide-band and can be easily masked by noise.

Signal Processing Schemes:

1. Levels : rms level or just magnitude. Not very
sensitive at the onset of defect because the
overall levels little change due to small and
low duty cycle of bearing signature.

2. On the other extreme, crest

factor = Peak to Valley will register even a
r.m.s
single peak regardless of its duration. Crest
factor is a measure of impulsiveness.
It is too sensitive to a single peak which may
have nothing to do with the bearing.

(x )
4

4
3. Kurtosis = is a statistical variable
that measures the overall impulsiveness
of the Signature (Bad bearing if Kurtosis>3)
In fact, all even moments (4th, 6th,) can be
used. Alternatively, odd moments of rectified
signal can be used as well.

The higher the moment, the higher the

sensitivity to signal as well as noise.

2
 4. Shock-pulse counter:

Sensor (resonance freq = 32 KHz)

Counter
threshold (reset
periodically)

5. High- Frequency Resonance Technique (HFRT)

- Demodulation Technique (enveloping)

Vibration
C.F.
FFT
5k
High-pass filtering enveloping (e.g. short time energy)

Advantage:
Excellent immunity to noise

Disadvantage:
At early stage of damage, the amplitude
modulation effect may not be obvious.
At the final stage, when a number of rollers
strike defects all over the raceway, it also
looses its effectiveness. ( like driving on a
gravel road )

3
6. Short-time Signal Processing

Short-time energy:
It is a demodulation scheme. The squaring
emphasizes the larger amplitude, the convolution
with a window is a low-pass filtering, i.e.,
enveloping.

Short-time zero crossing:

It responds to periodic ringings of high
frequency resonances even if
the amplitude is not modulated. - Early detection

7. Bicoherence
Bearing signal
1
acceleration

0 0.5 1
time

Spectrum
100
(accl)2 /Hz

50

0
0 0.5
frequency (f/fN)

4
 e.g. f1=fc.f. , f2= fc.f. f3= 2 fc.f.

8. Time-frequency Distribution

5
9. Wavelet
Ringing of natural frequencies becomes
more obvious after wavelet transform due to
the band pass filtering.

6
7
8
10. Model Residual
Residual
Vib. Sequence
AR Model

Every time there is a ringing the

residual peak will indicate that.

11. Synchronized averaging :Preprocessing with

this scheme to enhance frequency components
that are integer multiple of characteristic
frequencies.

12. Oil-film thickness monitoring

Oil film metal/metal

V contact

threshold

time

Count the rate of occurrence for metal/metal

contact

9
 BEARINGS

1. C.O. Li, K. Chen, S.M. Wu, A Scheme of

Monitoring and Diagnosing Bearing Malfunction
by Microprocessor, Computers in Engineering
1982, Vol. 2, pp. 215-218. ASME Proc. Of the
2nd International Comp. Engine. Conference.

2. S. Braun, B. Datner, Analysis of Roller/Ball

Vibration, Journal of Mechanical Design,
January 1979, Vol. 101, pp. 118-125.

3. R.A. Collacott, Sonic Monitoring of Plain

Bearing Subject to Seizure, Tribology
International, June 1975, p. 123-126.

4. James I. Taylor, Bearing Failure Case History

Proceedings Machine Vibration Monitoring &
Analysis Seminar and Meeting, New Orleans,
April 1980, Vib. INS. pp. 157-161.

5. D. Dyer,R. M., Stewart, Detection of Rolling

Element Bearing Damage By Statistical
Vibration Analysis, Journal of Mechanical
Design, April 1987, Vol. 100, pp 229-235
Presented at the Design Engineering
Technical Conference, Chicago, IL, Sept.
26-30, 1977.

6. L.D. Meyer, F.F. Ahlgren, B. Weichbrodt,

An Analytic Model for Ball Bearing Vibrations
to Predict Vibration Response to Distributed
Defects, Journal of Mechanical Design, April
1980, Vol. 102, pp 205. Presented at the Design
Engineering Technical Conference, St. Louis,
MO, Sept. 10-12, 1979.

10
 7. P.D. McFadden, J.D. Smith, Vibration
Monitoring of Rolling Element Bearings by
the High Frequency Resonance Technique:
A Review, Tribology International, 17,
January 84, pp3.

8. B.M. Strauss, Fault Tree Analysis of Bearing

Failures, Lubrication Engineering, Vol. 40, 11
pp. 674-680, November 1984, Presented at the
38th Annual Meeting in Houston, TX, April
24-28, 1983

9. R.S. Heemskerk, K. N. Vermeir, en H. Dolfsma,

Measurement of Lubrication Condition in
Rolling Element Bearing, ASLE Transaction,
Vol. 25, 4, pp. 519-527. Presented at ASLE/
ASME Lubrication Conference, New Orleans,
Louisiana, Oct. 5-7, 1981.

10. Teruo Igarashi, Shiroji Yabe, Studies on the

Vibration and Sound of Defective Rolling
Bearing, Bull. Of the JSME, Vol. 26, No. 220
October 1983, pp. 1791.

11. L.B. Elliott, H.H. Mabie, M.J. Furey, L.D.

Mitchell, A Vibration Analysis of a Bearing/
Cartridge Interface for Fretting Corrosion
Study, Trans. of ASME, J. of Lubrication
Technology, Vol. 105, October 1983, pp. 518.
Presented at the ASME/ASLE Joint
Lubrication Conference, Washington DC.,
October 5-7, 1982.

12. A.G. Ray, Monitoring Rolling Contact Bearings

Under Adverse Conditions, 2nd International
Conference Vibrations in Rotating Machinery,
I Mech E, 1980, pp. 187-194

11
13. J. Matthew, R.J. Alfredson, The Condition
Monitoring of Rolling Element Bearings Using
Vibration Analysis, Journal of Vibration,
Acoustic, Stress, and Reliability in Design,
Vol. 106, July 1984, pp. 447. Presented at the
WAM, Boston, MA, November 13-18, 1983.

14. Thomas A. Ballas, Periodic Noise in Bearings

SAE Paper No. 9. 690756. Presented at the
National Powerplant Meeting, Cleveland, OH,
Oct. 27-29, 1969.

15. R.L. Widner, W.E., Littman, Bearing Damage

Analysis, 740508, Proc. 20th Meeting of the
Mechanical Failures Prevention Group,
Gaithersburg, MD, 1974, pp. 67-84. National
Bareau of Standards Special Publication 423.

16. R.L. Widner, J.O. Wolfe, Analysis of Tapered

Roller Bearing Damage, 671016, American
Society for Metals, Technical Report No. C7-
11.1, Presented at the 1967 National Metal
Congress, Oct. 16-19, 1967

17. J.D. Smith, Vibration Monitoring of Bearing

at Low Speeds, Tribology International, Vol.
15, p-139, June 1982.

18. Yoshioka, T. and T. Fujiwara, Application of

Acoustic Emission Technique to Detection of
Rolling Bearing Failure, Proceeding of ASME,
1984.

19. Berry, James E., How to Track Rolling

Element Bearing Health with Vibration
Signature Analysis, Sound and Vibration,
Nov. 1991, pp, 24-35

12
20. Koizumi, T., M, Kiso, and R. Taniguchi,
Preventive Maintenance for Roller and
Journal Bearing of Induction Motor Based on
The Diagnostic Signature Analysis, ASME
Transactions, Journal of Vibrations, Acoustics
Stress and Reliability in Design, Vol. 108,
Jan. 1986, pp, 26-31.

21. M.W. Hawman and W.S. Galianitis, Acoustic

Emission Monitoring of Rolling Element
Bearing, 1988, Ultrasonic Symposium, IEEE
pp, 885

Model- Based Mechanical Diagnostic:

After System ID, we have a difference equation:

N M

a y(n k) = b x(n r) =>

k =0
k
r =0
r a k , br and residuals

or
M

Y (z)
b z r
r

G(z ) = = r =0
N
X(z)
a z k
k

k=0

We can also obtain an n and from every pair of

conjugate roots of the characteristic equation (the
denominator).
an z N + an1 z ( N1) + ... + a0 = 0
Let z = e j , we have the frequency response.
(Bode plot)
M

13
e.g. F(t)

m n changes as the stiffness, K ,

Changes.

K C
Cantilever beam

e.g.
increases as the tool wear
advances.

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