The Acoustic Emission technique (AE) is concerned with the detection of the high frequency component of naturally occurring elastic wave activity. In the Condition Monitoring (CM) role the principal source mechanisms are impacts and friction. The extreme sensitivity of the AE technique to these processes and the dynamic nature of the signal makes it a very sensitive indicator of the presence and evolution of machine fault conditions in addition to offering a means of probing the dynamics of the processes involved. One of the consequences of the high signal to noise ratio (SNR) of AE compared to the more traditional vibration technique has been the development of CM instrumentation that is simpler to use and easier to interpret.
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