Search results

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the asymptotic models of different parts with a pitting fault in rolling bearings.

For rolling bearings with a pitting fault, the displacement deviation between raceways and rolling elements is usually considered to vary instantaneously. However, the deviation should change gradually. Based on this shortcoming, the variation rule and calculation method of the displacement deviation are explored. Asymptotic models of different parts with a pitting fault are discussed, respectively. Besides, rolling bearing systems have prominent fractional characteristics unconsidered in the traditional models. Therefore, fractional calculus is introduced into the modeling of rolling bearings. New dynamic asymptotic models of different parts with a pitting fault are proposed based on fractional damping. The numerical simulation is performed based on the proposed model, and the dynamic characteristics are analyzed through the bifurcation diagrams, trajectory diagrams and frequency spectrograms.

Compared with the model based on integral calculus, the proposed model can better reflect the periodic characteristics and fault characteristics of rolling bearings. Finally, the proposed model is verified by the experiment. The dynamic characteristics of rolling bearings at different rotating speeds are analyzed. The experimental results are consistent with the simulation results. Therefore, the proposed model is effective.

(1) The above models are idealized, i.e. the local pitting fault is treated as a rectangle. When a component comes into contact with the fault, the displacement deviation between the component and the fault component immediately releases if the component enters the fault area and restores if the component leaves. However, the displacement deviation should change gradually. Only when the component touches the fault bottom, the displacement deviation reaches the maximum. (2) Due to the material's memory and fluid viscoelasticity, rolling bearing systems exhibit significant fractional characteristics. However, the above models are all proposed based on integral calculus. Integral calculus has some local characteristics and is not suitable for describing historical dependent processes. Fractional calculus can better describe the essential characteristics of the system.

SOME faulty castings of aluminium—and magnesium—alloys were partly statically loaded and partly dynamically loaded in imitation of operational conditions, up to the point of rupture. From the test results it was possible to obtain some basic facts for the estimation of casting faults.

Usually, the machinery in process plants is exposed to harsh and uncontrolled environmental conditions. Even after taking different types of preventive measures to detect and isolate the faults at the earliest possible opportunity becomes a complex decision-making process that often requires experts’ opinions and judicious decisions. The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework to detect, isolate and to suggest appropriate maintenance tasks for large-scale complex machinery (i.e. gearboxes of steel processing plant) in a simplified and structured manner by utilizing the prior fault histories available with the organization in conjunction with case-based reasoning (CBR) approach. It is also demonstrated that the proposed framework can easily be implemented by using today’s graphical user interface enabled tools such as Microsoft Visual Basic and similar.

CBR, an amalgamated domain of artificial intelligence and human cognitive process, has been applied to carry out the task of fault detection and isolation (FDI).

The equipment failure history and actions taken along with the pertinent health indicators are sufficient to detect and isolate the existing fault(s) and to suggest proper maintenance actions to minimize associated losses. The complex decision-making process of maintaining such equipment can exploit the principle of CBR and overcome the limitations of the techniques such as artificial neural networks and expert systems. The proposed CBR-based framework is able to provide inference with minimum or even with some missing information to take appropriate actions. This proposed framework would alleviate from the frequent requirement of expert’s interventions and in-depth knowledge of various analysis techniques expected to be known to process engineers.

The CBR approach has demonstrated its usefulness in many areas of practical applications. The authors perceive its application potentiality to FDI with suggested maintenance actions to alleviate an end-user from the frequent requirement of an expert for diagnosis or inference. The proposed framework can serve as a useful tool/aid to the process engineers to detect and isolate the fault of large-scale complex machinery with suggested actions in a simplified way.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the monitoring of the friction condition of mechanical seals.

Acoustic emission signals from the friction of the seal end face were obtained, and their bispectral characteristics were extracted. The variation of non-Gaussian information with the degree of friction was investigated, and by combining bispectral characteristics with information entropy, a bispectral entropy index was established to represent the friction level of the seal end face.

In the start-up stage, the characteristic frequency amplitude of the micro-convex body contact is obvious, the friction of the end face is abnormal, the complexity of the system increases in a short time and the bispectral entropy rises continuously in a short time. In the stable operation stage, the characteristic frequency amplitude of the micro-convex body contact varies with the intensity of the seal face friction, the seal face friction is stable and the bispectral entropy fluctuates up and down for a period of time.

The bispectral analysis method is applied to the seal friction monitoring, the seal frequency domain characteristics are extracted, the micro-convex body contact characteristic frequency is defined and the bispectral entropy characteristic index is proposed, which provides a certain theoretical basis for the mechanical seal friction monitoring.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-07-2023-0242/

The purpose of this paper is to present a weakly supervised learning method to perform health evaluation and predict the remaining useful life (RUL) of rolling bearings.

Based on the principle that bearing health degrades with the increase of service time, a weak label qualitative pairing comparison dataset for bearing health is extracted from the original time series monitoring data of bearing. A bearing health indicator (HI) quantitative evaluation model is obtained by training the delicately designed neural network structure with bearing qualitative comparison data between different health statuses. The remaining useful life is then predicted using the bearing health evaluation model and the degradation tolerance threshold. To validate the feasibility, efficiency and superiority of the proposed method, comparison experiments are designed and carried out on a widely used bearing dataset.

The method achieves the transformation of bearing health from qualitative comparison to quantitative evaluation via a learning algorithm, which is promising in industrial equipment health evaluation and prediction.

The method achieves the transformation of bearing health from qualitative comparison to quantitative evaluation via a learning algorithm, which is promising in industrial equipment health evaluation and prediction.

The ECU safety system is such that all internal and external fault monitoring circuit outputs are consolidated and passed through a short time‐constant filter to eliminate transient effects. Once this signal appears a 500mS time‐out is started. At the end of this period a lane changeover is initiated together with a cockpit fault warning. If the fault condition is removed during the time‐out period, it is reset.

Prefabricated technology is gradually being applied to the construction of subway stations due to its characteristic of mechanization. However, the prefabricated subway station in China is in the initial stage of development, which is prone to construction safety issues. This study aims to evaluate the construction safety risks of prefabricated subway stations in China and formulate corresponding countermeasures to ensure construction safety.

A construction safety risk evaluation index system for the prefabricated subway station was established through literature research and the Delphi method. Furthermore, based on the structure entropy weight method, matter-element theory and evidence theory, a hybrid evaluation model is developed to evaluate the construction safety risks of prefabricated subway stations. The basic probability assignment (BPA) function is obtained using the matter-element theory, the index weight is calculated using the structure entropy weight method to modify the BPA function and the risk evaluation level is determined using the evidence theory. Finally, the reliability and applicability of the evaluation model are verified with a case study of a prefabricated subway station project in China.

The results indicate that the level of construction safety risks in the prefabricated subway station project is relatively low. Man risk, machine risk and method risk are the key factors affecting the overall risk of the project. The evaluation results of the first-level indexes are discussed, and targeted countermeasures are proposed. Therefore, management personnel can deeply understand the construction safety risks of prefabricated subway stations.

This research fills the research gap in the field of construction safety risk assessment of prefabricated subway stations. The methods for construction safety risk assessment are summarized to establish a reliable hybrid evaluation model, laying the foundation for future research. Moreover, the construction safety risk evaluation index system for prefabricated subway stations is proposed, which can be adopted to guide construction safety management.

The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a study that used measurements of shaft relative rotational position, made using inexpensive Hall Effect sensors and magnets mounted at the ends of a gearbox input and output shafts, to determine gear “transmission variance.” The transmission variance signals, as a function of gear/shaft rotational position, were then used to detect and diagnose gear faults.

Two sets of spur gears (one plastic and one steel) were used to experimentally determine the relative shaft rotational position between the input and the output gearbox shafts. Fault-free and faulted (damaged tooth faces and cracked tooth bases) gears were used to collect representative dynamic signals. Signal processing was used to extract transmission variance values as a function of shaft rotational position and then used to detect and diagnose gear faults.

The results show that variations in the relative rotational position of the output shaft relative to that of the input shaft (the transmission variance) can be used to reveal gear mesh characteristics, including faults, such as cracked or missing gear teeth and flattened gear tooth faces, in both plastic gears and steel gears under appropriate (realistic) loads and speeds.

The operational mode of the non-contact rotational position sensors and the dynamic accuracy limitations are explained along with the basic signal processing required to extract transmission variance values.

The results show that shaft rotational position measurements can be made accurately and precisely using relatively inexpensive sensors and can subsequently reveal gear faults.

The inexpensive and yet trustworthy fault detection methodology developed in this work should help to improve the efficiency of maintenance actions on gearboxes and, therefore, improve the overall industrial efficiency of society.

The method described has distinct advantages over traditional analysis methods based on gearbox vibration and/or oil analysis.

The purpose of this paper is to present a data fusion methodology for online oil condition and wear particles monitoring for assessment of a mechanical spur gear transmission system.

In this work, a background understanding of the tribological phenomena behind oil degradation and wear on the contact surface of mechanical elements is presented. Experimental results were obtained from oil continuously sampled from an operating a single-stage gearbox. Sampling was done by a multi-sensor automated prototype and online analysis performed by algorithms implemented in a C-code programmed graphical user interface.

Two sets of experiments were performed to observe different fault events frequently occurred in an industrial environment. Fault detection was achieved in appropriate time under constant operating conditions. Under variable operating conditions, same results were obtained by adjusting analysis parameters to critical operation conditions.

The value of this research work is the integration of the hardware and software necessary for online monitoring of oil condition and mechanical wear. The setup integrates online sampling with data acquisition, wireless communication, change detection and fault recognition computation. The approach has application in non-destructive online condition-based maintenance.

The problem of premature failure of galvanized steel hot‐water tanks and, more occasionally, galvanized steel cold‐water cisterns, has attracted much attention. For several years the B.N.F.M.R.A. have been investigating the causes of these failures and remedial measures and in the course of this work have organised fairly extensive field trials on the use of magnesium anodes for providing cathodic protection of the galvanized steel. In trials lasting about seven years at a number of sites where there has been a history of early failures of galvanized steel tanks or cisterns, it has been demonstrated that magnesium anodes provide a satisfactory answer.