Information Theory and Its Application in Machine Condition Monitoring

Condition monitoring of machinery is one of the most important aspects of many modern industries. With the rapid advancement of science and technology, machines are becoming increasingly complex. Moreover, an exponential increase of demand is leading an increasing requirement of machine output. As a result, in most modern industries, machines have to work for 24 hours a day. All these factors are leading to the deterioration of machine health in a higher rate than before. Breakdown of the key components of a machine such as bearing, gearbox or rollers can cause a catastrophic effect both in terms of financial and human costs. In this perspective, it is important not only to detect the fault at its earliest point of inception but necessary to design the overall monitoring process, such as fault classification, fault severity assessment and remaining useful life (RUL) prediction for better planning of the maintenance schedule. Information theory is one of the pioneer contributions of modern science that has evolved into various forms and algorithms over time. Due to its ability to address the non-linearity and non-stationarity of machine health deterioration, it has become a popular choice among researchers. Information theory is an effective technique for extracting features of machines under different health conditions. In this context, this book discusses the potential applications, research results and latest developments of information theory-based condition monitoring of machineries

Vibration-based Fault Diagnostics in Wind Turbine Gearboxes Using Machine Learning

A significantly increased production of wind energy offers a path to achieve the goals of green energy policies in the United States and other countries. However, failures in wind turbines and specifically their gearboxes are higher due to their operation in unpredictable wind conditions that result in downtime and losses. Early detection of faults in wind turbines will greatly increase their reliability and commercial feasibility. Recently, data-driven fault diagnosis techniques based on deep learning have gained significant attention due to their powerful feature learning capabilities. Nonetheless, diagnosing faults in wind turbines operating under varying conditions poses a major challenge. Signal components unrelated to faults and high levels of noise obscure the signature generated by early-stage damage. To address this issue, we propose an innovative fault diagnosis framework that utilizes deep learning and leverages cyclostationary analysis of sensor data. By generating cyclic spectral coherence maps from the sensor data, we can emphasize fault-related signatures. These 2D color map representations are then used to train convolutional neural networks capable of detecting even minor faults and early-stage damages. The proposed method is evaluated using test data obtained from multibody dynamic simulations conducted under various operating conditions. The benchmark test cases, inspired by an NREL study, are successfully detected using our approach. To further enhance the accuracy of the model, subsequent studies employ Convolutional Neural Networks with Local Interpretable Model-Agnostic Explanations (LIME). This approach aids in interpreting classifier predictions and developing an interpretable classifier by focusing on a subset range of cyclic spectral coherence maps that carry the unique fault signatures. This improvement contributes to better accuracy, especially in scenarios involving multiple faults in the gearbox that need to be identified. Moreover, to address the challenge of applying this framework in practical settings, where standard deep learning techniques tend to provide inaccurate predictions for unseen faults or unusual operating conditions, we investigate fault diagnostics using a Bayesian convolutional neural network. This approach incorporates uncertainty bounds into prediction results, reducing overconfident misclassifications. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the Bayesian approach in fault diagnosis, offering valuable implications for condition monitoring in other rotating machinery applications

30th International Conference on Condition Monitoring and Diagnostic Engineering Management (COMADEM 2017)

Proceedings of COMADEM 201

Application of variational mode decomposition in vibration analysis of machine components

Monitoring and diagnosis of machinery in maintenance are often undertaken using vibration analysis. The machine vibration signal is invariably complex and diverse, and thus useful information and features are difficult to extract. Variational mode decomposition (VMD) is a recent signal processing method that able to extract some of important features from machine vibration signal. The performance of the VMD method depends on the selection of its input parameters, especially the mode number and balancing parameter (also known as quadratic penalty term). However, the current VMD method is still using a manual effort to extract the input parameters where it subjects to interpretation of experienced experts. Hence, machine diagnosis becomes time consuming and prone to error. The aim of this research was to propose an automated parameter selection method for selecting the VMD input parameters. The proposed method consisted of two-stage selections where the first stage selection was used to select the initial mode number and the second stage selection was used to select the optimized mode number and balancing parameter. A new machine diagnosis approach was developed, named as VMD Differential Evolution Algorithm (VMDEA)-Extreme Learning Machine (ELM). Vibration signal datasets were then reconstructed using VMDEA and the multi-domain features consisted of time-domain, frequency-domain and multi-scale fuzzy entropy were extracted. It was demonstrated that the VMDEA method was able to reduce the computational time about 14% to 53% as compared to VMD-Genetic Algorithm (GA), VMD-Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and VMD-Differential Evolution (DE) approaches for bearing, shaft and gear. It also exhibited a better convergence with about two to nine less iterations as compared to VMD-GA, VMD-PSO and VMD-DE for bearing, shaft and gear. The VMDEA-ELM was able to illustrate higher classification accuracy about 11% to 20% than Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD)-ELM, Ensemble EMD (EEMD)-ELM and Complimentary EEMD (CEEMD)-ELM for bearing shaft and gear. The bearing datasets from Case Western Reserve University were tested with VMDEA-ELM model and compared with Support Vector Machine (SVM)-Dempster-Shafer (DS), EEMD Optimal Mode Multi-scale Fuzzy Entropy Fault Diagnosis (EOMSMFD), Wavelet Packet Transform (WPT)-Local Characteristic-scale Decomposition (LCD)- ELM, and Arctangent S-shaped PSO least square support vector machine (ATSWPLM) models in term of its classification accuracy. The VMDEA-ELM model demonstrates better diagnosis accuracy with small differences between 2% to 4% as compared to EOMSMFD and WPT-LCD-ELM but less diagnosis accuracy in the range of 4% to 5% as compared to SVM-DS and ATSWPLM. The diagnosis approach VMDEA-ELM was also able to provide faster classification performance about 6 40 times faster than Back Propagation Neural Network (BPNN) and Support Vector Machine (SVM). This study provides an improved solution in determining an optimized VMD parameters by using VMDEA. It also demonstrates a more accurate and effective diagnostic approach for machine maintenance using VMDEA-ELM

Physicochemical, antioxidant and sensory properties of Mango Sorbet containing L-theanine as a potential functional food product

The non-proteinous amino acid L-theanine (L-THE) is associated with a range of health benefits including improvements in immune function, cardiovascular outcomes and cognition. The aims of this study were to develop a food product (mango sorbet; ms-L-THE) containing physiologically relevant doses of L-THE (0.2/100 g w/w) and determine its antioxidant, physicochemical and sensory properties in comparison to a mango sorbet without L-THE (ms). Total phenolic and flavanol content, and antioxidant analysis (DPPH, FRAP and ABTS) were determined spectrophotometrically. Both products were also evaluated for acceptability and likeability in healthy participants using the 9-point hedonic scale. Any differences that could be caused by the addition of L-THE were examined using the triangle test. Results indicated no significant differences between ms-L-THE and ms in taste of the products (p > 0.05), and the ms-L-THE was well received and accepted as a potential commercial product. Findings of the DPPH assay indicated significant difference between the two products (p < 0.05). In conclusion, we have successfully created a mango sorbet that contains a potentially physiologically relevant concentration of L-THE with antioxidant properties that could be used as a novel method of L-THE delivery to clinical and healthy populations

Iterative variational mode decomposition and extreme learning machine for gearbox diagnosis based on vibration signals

Vibration-based monitoring and diagnosis provide an excellent and reliable monitoring strategies for maintaining and sustaining a million dollars of industrial assets. The signal processing method is one of the key elements in gearbox fault diagnosis for extracting most useful information from raw vibration signals. Variational mode decomposition (VMD) is one of the recent signal processing methods that helps to solve many limitations in traditional signal processing method. However, pre-determine the input parameters especially the mode number become a challenging task for using this method. Then, this study aims to propose an iterative approach for selecting the mode number for the VMD method by using the normalized mean value (NMV) plot. The NMV value is calculates based on the ratio of a summation of VMD modes and the input signals. The result shows that the proposed iterative VMD approach can select an accurate mode number for the VMD method. Then, the vibration signals decomposed into different VMD modes and used for gearbox fault diagnosis. Statistical features have been extracted from the selected VMD modes and pass into extreme learning machine (ELM) for fault classification. Iterative VMD-ELM provide significance improvement of about 20% higher accuracy in classification result as compared with EMD-ELM. Hence, this research study offers a new mean for gearbox diagnosis strategy

Filter-informed Spectral Graph Wavelet Networks for Multiscale Feature Extraction and Intelligent Fault Diagnosis

Intelligent fault diagnosis has been increasingly improved with the evolution of deep learning (DL) approaches. Recently, the emerging graph neural networks (GNNs) have also been introduced in the field of fault diagnosis with the goal to make better use of the inductive bias of the interdependencies between the different sensor measurements. However, there are some limitations with these GNN-based fault diagnosis methods. First, they lack the ability to realize multiscale feature extraction due to the fixed receptive field of GNNs. Secondly, they eventually encounter the over-smoothing problem with increase of model depth. Lastly, the extracted features of these GNNs are hard to understand owing to the black-box nature of GNNs. To address these issues, a filter-informed spectral graph wavelet network (SGWN) is proposed in this paper. In SGWN, the spectral graph wavelet convolutional (SGWConv) layer is established upon the spectral graph wavelet transform, which can decompose a graph signal into scaling function coefficients and spectral graph wavelet coefficients. With the help of SGWConv, SGWN is able to prevent the over-smoothing problem caused by long-range low-pass filtering, by simultaneously extracting low-pass and band-pass features. Furthermore, to speed up the computation of SGWN, the scaling kernel function and graph wavelet kernel function in SGWConv are approximated by the Chebyshev polynomials. The effectiveness of the proposed SGWN is evaluated on the collected solenoid valve dataset and aero-engine intershaft bearing dataset. The experimental results show that SGWN can outperform the comparative methods in both diagnostic accuracy and the ability to prevent over-smoothing. Moreover, its extracted features are also interpretable with domain knowledge

Modified Stacked Autoencoder Using Adaptive Morlet Wavelet for Intelligent Fault Diagnosis of Rotating Machinery

Intelligent fault diagnosis techniques play an important role in improving the abilities of automated monitoring, inference, and decision making for the repair and maintenance of machinery and processes. In this article, a modified stacked autoencoder (MSAE) that uses adaptive Morlet wavelet is proposed to automatically diagnose various fault types and severities of rotating machinery. First, the Morlet wavelet activation function is utilized to construct an MSAE to establish an accurate nonlinear mapping between the raw nonstationary vibration data and different fault states. Then, the nonnegative constraint is applied to enhance the cost function to improve sparsity performance and reconstruction quality. Finally, the fruit fly optimization algorithm is used to determine the adjustable parameters of the Morlet wavelet to flexibly match the characteristics of the analyzed data. The proposed method is used to analyze the raw vibration data collected from a sun gear unit and a roller bearing unit. Experimental results show that the proposed method is superior to other state-of-the-art methods

A Fault Diagnosis Scheme for Gearbox Based on Improved Entropy and Optimized Regularized Extreme Learning Machine

The performance of a gearbox is sensitive to failures, especially in the long-term high speed and heavy load field. However, the multi-fault diagnosis in gearboxes is a challenging problem because of the complex and non-stationary measured signal. To obtain fault information more fully and improve the accuracy of gearbox fault diagnosis, this paper proposes a feature extraction method, hierarchical refined composite multiscale fluctuation dispersion entropy (HRCMFDE) to extract the fault features of rolling bearing and the gear vibration signals at different layers and scales. On this basis, a novel fault diagnosis scheme for the gearbox based on HRCMFDE, ReliefF and grey wolf optimizer regularized extreme learning machine is proposed. Firstly, HRCMFDE is employed to extract the original features, the multi-frequency time information can be evaluated simultaneously, and the fault feature information can be extracted more fully. After that, ReliefF is used to screen the sensitive features from the high-dimensional fault features. Finally, the sensitive features are inputted into the optimized regularized extreme learning machine to identify the fault states of the gearbox. Through three different types of gearbox experiments, the experimental results confirm that the proposed method has better diagnostic performance and generalization, which can effectively and accurately identify the different fault categories of the gearbox and outperforms other contrastive methods.</p