Multiple-fault detection methodology based on vibration and current analysis applied to bearings in induction motors and gearboxes on the kinematic chain

© 2016 Juan Jose Saucedo-Dorantes et al. Gearboxes and induction motors are important components in industrial applications and their monitoring condition is critical in the industrial sector so as to reduce costs and maintenance downtimes. There are several techniques associated with the fault diagnosis in rotating machinery; however, vibration and stator currents analysis are commonly used due to their proven reliability. Indeed, vibration and current analysis provide fault condition information by means of the fault-related spectral component identification. This work presents a methodology based on vibration and current analysis for the diagnosis of wear in a gearbox and the detection of bearing defect in an induction motor both linked to the same kinematic chain; besides, the location of the fault-related components for analysis is supported by the corresponding theoretical models. The theoretical models are based on calculation of characteristic gearbox and bearings fault frequencies, in order to locate the spectral components of the faults. In this work, the influence of vibrations over the system is observed by performing motor current signal analysis to detect the presence of faults. The obtained results show the feasibility of detecting multiple faults in a kinematic chain, making the proposed methodology suitable to be used in the application of industrial machinery diagnosis.Postprint (published version

Low-speed bearing fault diagnosis based on permutation and spectral entropy measures

Despite its influence on wind energy service life, condition-based maintenance is still challenging to perform. For offshore wind farms, which are placed in harsh and remote environments, damage detection is critically important to schedule maintenance tasks and reduce operation and maintenance costs. One critical component to be monitored on a wind turbine is the pitch bearing, which can operate at low speed and high loads. Classical methods and features for general purpose bearings cannot be applied effectively to wind turbine pitch bearings owing to their specific operating conditions (high loads and non-constant very low speed with changing direction). Thus, damage detection of wind turbine pitch bearings is currently a challenge. In this study, entropy indicators are proposed as an alternative to classical bearing analysis. For this purpose, spectral and permutation entropy are combined to analyze a raw vibration signal from a low-speed bearing in several scenarios. The results indicate that entropy values change according to different types of damage on bearings, and the sensitivity of the entropy types differs among them. The study offers some important insights into the use of entropy indicators for feature extraction and it lays the foundation for future bearing prognosis methods.Postprint (published version

Data-Driven Thermal Anomaly Detection in Large Battery Packs

The early detection and tracing of anomalous operations in battery packs are critical to improving performance and ensuring safety. This paper presents a data-driven approach for online anomaly detection in battery packs that uses real-time voltage and temperature data from multiple Li-ion battery cells. Mean-based residuals are generated for cell groups and evaluated using Principal Component Analysis. The evaluated residuals are then thresholded using a cumulative sum control chart to detect anomalies. The mild external short circuits associated with cell balancing are detected in the voltage signals and necessitate voltage retraining after balancing. Temperature residuals prove to be critical, enabling anomaly detection of module balancing events within 14 min that are unobservable from the voltage residuals. Statistical testing of the proposed approach is performed on the experimental data from a battery electric locomotive injected with model-based anomalies. The proposed anomaly detection approach has a low false-positive rate and accurately detects and traces the synthetic voltage and temperature anomalies. The performance of the proposed approach compared with direct thresholding of mean-based residuals shows a 56% faster detection time, 42% fewer false negatives, and 60% fewer missed anomalies while maintaining a comparable false-positive rate

Mutual information and meta-heuristic classifiers applied to bearing fault diagnosis in three-phase induction motors

Producción CientíficaThree-phase induction motors are extensively used in industrial processes due to their robustness, adaptability to different operating conditions, and low operation and maintenance costs. Induction motor fault diagnosis has received special attention from industry since it can reduce process losses and ensure the reliable operation of industrial systems. Therefore, this paper presents a study on the use of meta-heuristic tools in the diagnosis of bearing failures in induction motors. The extraction of the fault characteristics is performed based on mutual information measurements between the stator current signals in the time domain. Then, the Artificial Bee Colony algorithm is used to select the relevant mutual information values and optimize the pattern classifier input data. To evaluate the classification accuracy under various levels of failure severity, the performance of two different pattern classifiers was compared: The C4.5 decision tree and the multi-layer artificial perceptron neural networks. The experimental results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed approach.Consejo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico - (processes 474290/2008-5, 473576/2011-2, 552269/2011-5, 201902/2015-0 and 405228/2016-3

Machine learning-based fault detection and diagnosis in electric motors

Fault diagnosis is critical to any maintenance industry, as early fault detection can prevent catastrophic failures as well as a waste of time and money. In view of these objectives, vibration analysis in the frequency domain is a mature technique. Although well established, traditional methods involve a high cost of time and people to identify failures, causing machine learning methods to grow in recent years. The Machine learning (ML) methods can be divided into two large learning groups: supervised and unsupervised, with the main difference between them being whether the dataset is labeled or not. This study presents a total of four different methods for fault detection and diagnosis. The frequency analysis of the vibration signal was the first approach employed. This analysis was chosen to validate the future results of the ML methods. The Gaussian Mixture model (GMM) was employed for the unsupervised technique. A GMM is a probabilistic model in which all data points are assumed to be generated by a finite number of Gaussian distributions with unknown parameters. For supervised learning, the Convolution neural network (CNN) was used. CNNs are feedforward networks that were inspired by biological pattern recognition processes. All methods were tested through a series of experiments with real electric motors. Results showed that all methods can detect and classify the motors in several induced operation conditions: healthy, unbalanced, mechanical looseness, misalignment, bent shaft, broken bar, and bearing fault condition. Although all approaches are able to identify the fault, each technique has benefits and limitations that make them better for certain types of applications, therefore, a comparison is also made between the methods.O diagnóstico de falhas é fundamental para qualquer indústria de manutenção, a detecção precoce de falhas pode evitar falhas catastróficas, bem como perda de tempo e dinheiro. Tendo em vista esses objetivos, a análise de vibração através do domínio da frequência é uma técnica madura. Embora bem estabelecidos, os métodos tradicionais envolvem um alto custo de tempo e pessoas para identificar falhas, fazendo com que os métodos de aprendizado de máquina cresçam nos últimos anos. Os métodos de Machine learning (ML) podem ser divididos em dois grandes grupos de aprendizagem: supervisionado e não supervisionado, sendo a principal diferença entre eles é o conjunto de dados que está rotulado ou não. Este estudo apresenta um total de quatro métodos diferentes para detecção e diagnóstico de falhas. A análise da frequência do sinal de vibração foi a primeira abordagem empregada. foi escolhida para validar os resultados futuros dos métodos de ML. O Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) foi empregado para a técnica não supervisionada. O GMM é um modelo probabilístico em que todos os pontos de dados são considerados gerados por um número finito de distribuições gaussianas com parâmetros desconhecidos. Para a aprendizagem supervisionada, foi utilizada a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN). CNNs são redes feedforward que foram inspiradas por processos de reconhecimento de padrões biológicos. Todos os métodos foram testados por meio de uma série de experimentos com motores elétricos reais. Os resultados mostraram que todos os métodos podem detectar e classificar os motores em várias condições de operação induzida: íntegra, desequilibrado, folga mecânica, desalinhamento, eixo empenado, barra quebrada e condição de falha do rolamento. Embora todas as abordagens sejam capazes de identificar a falha, cada técnica tem benefícios e limitações que as tornam melhores para certos tipos de aplicações, por isso, também e feita uma comparação entre os métodos