Parametric spectral estimation to detect and diagnose faults in low speed rolling element bearings: Preliminary investigations

Abstract

The monitoring of low speed bearings (⩽100 rpm) is fraught with difficulties, not the least of which is the impracticality of recording sufficiently long periods of data for appropriate data analysis to be performed. Based on current fast Fourier transform (FFT) techniques, it would be normal to analyse data for several minutes if low frequency bandwidths are being investigated. A parametric model based approach could reduce the data acquisition period to a fraction of the time taken by the FFT technique. This paper presents a brief review of the parametric spectral estimation method, as well as report on some preliminary work that compares the two methods when applied to low speed rolling element bearings.