WAVELET BASED DEMODULATION OF VIBRATION SIGNALS GENERATED BY DEFECTS IN ROLLING ELEMENT BEARINGS

摘要

Envelope detection or demodulation methods for bearing vibration response signals have been established as a dominant analysis method for bearing fault diagnosis, since they can separate the useful part of the signal from its redundant contents. A new effective demodulation method is proposed, based on the Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT). The method fully exploits the underlying physical concepts of the modulation mechanism, present in the vibration response of faulty bearings, using the excellent time-frequency localization properties of the wavelet analysis. Two key elements, resulting to the successful implementation of the method, are its practical independence from the choice of the specific wavelet family to be used and the limited number of the wavelet levels, that are required for its practical application. Experimental results and industrial measurements for three different types of bearing faults, confirm the validity of the overall approach.