Short-time matrix series based singular value decomposition for rolling bearing fault diagnosis

Rolling element bearing faults are among the main causes of rotating machines breakdown. It is important to distinguish the incipient fault before the bearings step into serious failure. Based on the traditional singular value decomposition (SVD) theory, short-time matrix series (STMS) and singular value ratio (SVR) are introduced to the vibration signal processing. The proposed signal processing method is called S-SVDR (STMS based SVD method using SVR) and it has been proved to have a good local identification capability in the rolling bearing fault diagnosis. The detailed description of applying S-SVDR methods to rolling bearing fault diagnosis is given through the artificial fault signal processing in experiment 1. In experiment 2, rolling element bearing accelerated life test is performed in Hangzhou Bearing Test & Research Center (HBRC). The experimental result shows that the incipient fault can be well detected through S-SVDR processing method. However, the envelope analysis of original signal cannot detect the fault due to the existence of signal interference. A conclusion can be made that the proposed S-SVDR method has a good effect on de-noising and eliminating the signal interference of rolling bearing for the fault diagnosis. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.