Proportional Selection Scheme: A Frequency Band Division Tool for Rolling Element Bearing Diagnostics

The cyclic spectral coherence analysis has been proved to be a useful tool to reveal the hidden periodic or repetitive patterns, and how to determine an optimal demodulation band is crucial for characterizing the fault characteristic of the rolling element bearing (REB). Thus, a proportional selection scheme based on a bottom-up strategy is proposed in this study, which can determine an optimal demodulation band and realize bearing fault feature extraction under the conditions of poor frequency resolution and a lower signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). First, compared with conventional frequency division structures, such as the 1/3-binary tree structure, the finer frequency band groups with the same bandwidth in each division level can be obtained automatically and strictly under poor frequency resolution conditions. Second, the richness of the REB fault information of each divided frequency band can be evaluated by the improved diagnostic feature indicator under a lower SNR condition. By using the scheme, the fault characteristic of the REB can be exposed. The efficacy of the proposed scheme is supported by simulations and experiments under some tough conditions

Automated summary

A proportional selection scheme based on a bottom-up strategy is proposed in this study to achieve bearing fault feature extraction under poor frequency resolution and low SNR conditions. The richness of the REB fault information in each divided frequency band is evaluated by an improved diagnostic feature indicator, revealing the fault characteristic of the REB.