An Intelligent System for Bearing Condition Monitoring

Rolling-element bearings are widely used in various mechanical and electrical applications. Accordingly, a reliable bearing health condition monitoring system is very useful in industries to detect incipient defects in bearings, so as to prevent machinery performance degradation and malfunction. Although several techniques have been reported in the literature for bearing fault detection and diagnosis, it is still challenging to implement a bearing condition monitoring system for real-world industrial applications because of the complexity of bearing structures and noisy operating conditions. The objective of this thesis is to develop a novel intelligent system for more reliable bearing fault diagnostics. This system involves two sequential processes: feature extraction and decision-making. The proposed strategy is to develop advanced and robust techniques at each processing stage so as to improve the reliability of bearing condition monitoring. First, a novel wavelet spectrum analysis technique is proposed for the representative feature extraction. This technique applies the wavelet transform to demodulate the resonance signatures that are related to bearing health conditions. A weighted Shannon function is proposed to synthesize the wavelet coefficient functions to enhance feature characteristics. The viability of this technique is verified by experimental tests corresponding to various bearing health conditions. Secondly, an enhanced diagnostic scheme is developed for automatic decision-making. This scheme consists of modules of classification and prediction: a novel neuro-fuzzy classifier is developed to effectively integrate the strengths of the selected fault detection techniques (i.e., the resulting representative features) for a more accurate assessment of bearing health conditions; a novel multi-step predictor is proposed to forecast the future states of bearing conditions, which will be used to further enhance the diagnostic reliability. The investigation results have demonstrated that the developed intelligent diagnostic system outperforms other related bearing fault diagnostic schemes

Contribution to gear pairs faults identification using mechanical vibration signal analysis techniques

Disertacija obrađuje problematiku pronalaženja pouzdane tehnike analize signala mehaničkih vibracija s ciljem identifikacije analiziranih tipova oštećenja zupčastih parova. U disertaciji je predložen postupak redukcije dimenzionalnosti obeležja primenom metode analize glavnih komponenata. Istraživanje uspešno demonstrira primenu naprednih tehnika procesiranja signala vibracija i inteligentnih metoda u vibrodijagnostici zupčastih parova te omogućava osobama koje nisu specijalisti iz oblasti dijagnostike da procene stanje zupčastog para. Predložena su najuniverzalnija obeležja u vibrodijagnostici zupčastih parova baziranih na signalima vibracija prikupljenih na kućištu zupčastog prenosnika.The dissertation deals with the issue of finding reliable signal analysis technique of mechanical vibrations to identify analyzed types of gear pair faults. The dissertation presents a method of reducing the dimensionality of features by using the method of principal components analysis. The study successfully demonstrates use of advanced signal processing techniques and artificial intelligent methods in diagnostics of gear pairs faults and allows engineers who are not specialists in the field to assess the condition of gear pair using vibration signals. The most universal features in diagnostics of gear pairs based on vibration signals collected on the gearbox housing are proposed

Study of Computational and Experimental Methodologies for Cracks Recognition of Vibrating Systems using Modal Parameters

Mostly the structural members and machine elements are subjected to progressive static and dynamic loading and that may cause initiation of defects in the form of crack. The cause of damage may be due to the normal operation, accidents or severe natural calamities such as earthquake or storm. That may lead to catastrophic failure or collapse of the structures. Thereby the importance of identification of damage in the structures is not only for leading safe operation but also to prevent the loss of economy and lives. The condition monitoring of the engineering systems is attracted by the researchers and scientists very much to invent the automated fault diagnosis mechanism using the change in vibration response before and after damage. The structural steel is widely used in various engineering systems such as bridges, railway coaches, ships, automobiles, etc. The glass fiber reinforced epoxy layered composite material has become popular for constructing the various engineering structures due to its valuable characteristics such as higher stiffness and strength to weight ratio, better damage tolerance capacity and wear resistance. Therefore, layered composite and structural steel have been taken into account in the current study. The theoretical analysis has been performed to measure the vibration signatures (Natural Frequencies and Mode Shapes) of multiple cracked composite and structural steel. The presence of the crack in structures generates an additional flexibility. That is evaluated by strain energy release rate given by linear fracture mechanics. The additional flexibility alters the dynamic signatures of cracked beam. The local stiffness matrix has been calculated by the inverse of local dimensionless compliance matrix. The finite element analysis has been carried out to measure the vibration signatures of cracked cantilever beam using commercially available finite element software package ANSYS. It is observed from the current analysis, the various factors such as the orientation of cracks, number and position of the cracks affect the performance and effectiveness of damage detection techniques. The various automated artificial intelligent (AI) techniques such as fuzzy controller, neural network and hybrid AI techniques based multiple faults diagnosis systems are developed using vibration response of cracked cantilever beams. The experiments have been conducted to verify the performance and accuracy of proposed methods. A good agreement is observed between the results

Multiple Damage Identification of Beam Structure Using Vibration Analysis and Artificial Intelligence Techniques

This thesis investigates the problem of multiple damage detection in vibrating structural members using the dynamic response of the system. Changes in the loading patterns, weakening/degeneration of structures with time and influence of environment may cause cracks in the structure, especially in engineering structures which are developed for prolonged life. Hence, early detection of presence of damage can prevent the catastrophic failure of the structures by appropriately monitoring the response of the system. In recent times, condition monitoring of structural systems have attracted scientists and researchers to develop on line damage diagnostic tool. Primarily, the structural health monitoring technique utilizes the methodology for damage assessment using the monitored vibration parameters. In the current analysis, special attention has been focused on those methods capable of detecting multiple cracks present in system by comparing the information for damaged and undamaged state of the structure. In the current research, methodologies have been developed for damage detection of a cracked cantilever beam with multiple cracks using analytical, Finite Element Analysis (FEA), fuzzy logic, neural network, fuzzy neuro, MANFIS, Genetic Algorithm and hybrid techniques such as GA-fuzzy, GA-neural, GA-neuro- fuzzy. Analytical study has been performed on the cantilever beam with multiple cracks to obtain the vibration characteristics of the beam member by using the expressions of strain energy release rate and stress intensity factor. The presence of cracks in a structural member introduces local flexibility that affects its dynamic response. The local stiffness matrices have been measured using the inverse of local dimensionless compliance matrix for finding out the deviation in the vibrating signatures of the cracked cantilever beam from that of the intact beam. Finite Element Analysis has been carried out to derive the vibration indices of the cracked structure using the overall flexibility matrix, total flexibility matrix, flexibility matrix of the intact beam. From the research done here, it is concluded that the performance of the damage assessment methods depends on several factors for example, the number of cracks, the number of sensors used for acquiring the dynamic response, location and severity of damages. Different artificial intelligent model based on fuzzy logic, neural network, genetic algorithm, MANFIS and hybrid techniques have been designed using the computed vibration signatures for multiple crack diagnosis in cantilever beam structures with higher accuracy and considerably low computational time