Diagnosis of machinery fault status using transient vibration signal parameters

This paper reports the results of an investigation in which a Prony model based method is developed. The method shows potential for analysing transient vibration signals. An example is included that shows how the procedure was employed to analyse the transient vibration signals created from faulty low speed rolling element bearings. Spectral plots generated by applying the procedure to very short data samples, as well as trending parameters based on these spectral estimations and Prony parameters, are presented. An equation was also derived to quantitatively determine the fault status. It is shown that application of the Prony model based method has the potential to be an effective as well as efficient machine condition monitoring and diagnostic tool where short duration transient vibration signals are being generated.