Rolling bearing fault detection based on vibration signal analysis and cumulative sum control chart

Abstract

Monitoring the condition of rotating machines is essential for the systems' safety, reducing maintenance costs, and increasing reliability. In this research, a fault detection system for bearings was developed using the vibration analysis technique with the statistical control chart approach. A test rig was first designed and constructed; then, various bearing faults, such as inner race and outer race faults, were simulated and examined in the test rig. After capturing the vibration signals at different bearing health conditions, the time-domain signal analysis technique was employed for extracting different indicative features. The obtained time domain features were then analyzed to find out the most fault-significant feature. Then, only one feature was selected to design the control chart for bearing health condition monitoring. The cumulative sum control chart (CUSUM was utilized since it can detect the small changes in bearing health states. The results showed the effectiveness of utilizing this method, and it was found that the percentage of the out-of-control points in the event of the combined cage and ball fault to the number of tested samples is greater than the other fault types.