Apparatus and method for identifying health indicators for rolling element bearings
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- receiving, by a bearing health monitoring device, an input signal from a vibration sensor, the input signal comprising information associated with at least one of;
a rolling element bearing and a piece of equipment containing the rolling element bearing;
decomposing the input signal into a frequency-domain signal;
determining multiple families of frequencies corresponding to multiple failure modes of the rolling element bearing, each family of frequencies comprising a defect frequency associated with a particular failure mode and a number of harmonics of the defect frequency;
generating a first reconstructed input signal using the multiple families of frequencies and the frequency-domain signal;
generating an additional reconstructed input signal for each failure mode using the family of frequencies associated with that failure mode, wherein generating the additional reconstructed input signal for each failure mode comprises identifying maximum amplitudes of the frequency-domain signal in multiple frequency windows, each frequency window comprising a different frequency range associated with one of the frequencies in the family of frequencies for that failure mode;
using the additional reconstructed input signal associated with each failure mode to determine a value identifying a likelihood that the rolling element bearing is suffering from a defect associated with that failure mode;
determining, using the first reconstructed input signal, an indicator identifying an overall health of the rolling element bearing; and
outputting the indicator to allow a determination regarding a repair or replacement of the rolling element bearing.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method includes receiving an input signal containing information associated with a rolling element bearing and/or a piece of equipment containing the rolling element bearing. The method also includes decomposing the input signal into a frequency-domain signal and determining at least one family of frequencies corresponding to at least one failure mode of the rolling element bearing. The method further includes generating a reconstructed input signal using the at least one family of frequencies and the frequency-domain signal. In addition, the method includes determining, using the reconstructed input signal, an indicator identifying an overall health of the rolling element bearing. The indicator could be determined using a baseline signal associated with either (i) normal operation of the rolling element bearing and/or the piece of equipment or (ii) defective operation of the rolling element bearing and/or the piece of equipment (where a severity of the defective operation will increase over time).
128 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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receiving, by a bearing health monitoring device, an input signal from a vibration sensor, the input signal comprising information associated with at least one of;
a rolling element bearing and a piece of equipment containing the rolling element bearing;decomposing the input signal into a frequency-domain signal; determining multiple families of frequencies corresponding to multiple failure modes of the rolling element bearing, each family of frequencies comprising a defect frequency associated with a particular failure mode and a number of harmonics of the defect frequency; generating a first reconstructed input signal using the multiple families of frequencies and the frequency-domain signal; generating an additional reconstructed input signal for each failure mode using the family of frequencies associated with that failure mode, wherein generating the additional reconstructed input signal for each failure mode comprises identifying maximum amplitudes of the frequency-domain signal in multiple frequency windows, each frequency window comprising a different frequency range associated with one of the frequencies in the family of frequencies for that failure mode; using the additional reconstructed input signal associated with each failure mode to determine a value identifying a likelihood that the rolling element bearing is suffering from a defect associated with that failure mode; determining, using the first reconstructed input signal, an indicator identifying an overall health of the rolling element bearing; and outputting the indicator to allow a determination regarding a repair or replacement of the rolling element bearing. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. An apparatus comprising:
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at least one interface configured to receive from a vibration sensor an input signal comprising information associated with at least one of;
a rolling element bearing and a piece of equipment containing the rolling element bearing; andat least one processing device configured to; decompose the input signal into a frequency-domain signal; determine multiple families of frequencies corresponding to multiple failure modes of the rolling element bearing, each family of frequencies comprising a defect frequency associated with a particular failure mode and a number of harmonics of the defect frequency; generate a first reconstructed input signal using the multiple families of frequencies and the frequency-domain signal; generate an additional reconstructed input signal for each failure mode using the family of frequencies associated with that failure mode by identifying maximum amplitudes of the frequency-domain signal in multiple frequency windows, each frequency window comprising a different frequency range associated with one of the frequencies in the family of frequencies for that failure mode; use the additional reconstructed input signal associated with each failure mode to determine a value identifying a likelihood that the rolling element bearing is suffering from a defect associated with that failure mode; determine, using the first reconstructed input signal, an indicator identifying an overall health of the rolling element bearing; and output the indicator to allow a determination regarding a repair or replacement of the rolling element bearing. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium containing a computer program that causes a processing system to perforin a process, the computer program comprising:
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computer readable program code configured to cause the processing system to decompose an input signal from a vibration sensor to produce a frequency-domain signal, the input signal comprising information associated with at least one of;
a rolling element bearing and a piece of equipment containing the rolling element bearing;computer readable program code configured to cause the processing system to determine multiple families of frequencies corresponding to multiple failure modes of the rolling element bearing, each family of frequencies comprising a defect frequency associated with a particular failure mode and a number of harmonics of the defect frequency; computer readable program code configured to cause the processing system to generate a first reconstructed input signal using the multiple families of frequencies and the frequency-domain signal; computer readable program code configured to cause the processing system to generate an additional reconstructed input signal for each failure mode using the family of frequencies associated with that failure mode by identifying maximum amplitudes of the frequency-domain signal in multiple frequency windows, each frequency window comprising a different frequency range associated with one of the frequencies in the family of frequencies for that failure mode; computer readable program code configured to cause the processing system to use the additional reconstructed input signal associated with each failure mode to determine a value identifying a likelihood that the rolling element bearing is suffering from a defect associated with that failure mode; computer readable program code configured to cause the processing system to determine, using the first reconstructed input signal, an indicator identifying an overall health of the rolling element bearing; and computer readable program code configured to cause the processing system to output the indicator to allow a determination regarding a repair or replacement of the rolling element bearing. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification