WiBeaM:Wireless Bearing Monitoring System

Abstract

Sensor nodes combined with MEMS sensors can form a complete replacement for the existing cumbersome predictive maintenance systems. We have designed a system that can be used to monitor the bearing conditions of induction motors. The system called as WiBeaM (wireless bearing monitoring system) forms a network of sensor nodes that sense the vibration on motors and transmit the same to a central base station, this data is further analyzed through signal processing for defect diagnosis. We have used cheap off the shelf components to realise a real world application at a very low cost. Considering the low cost and the ease of deployment, our application is one of its kind in the domain. The solution has been implemented on Moteiv's Tmote-Sky nodes using ADXL105 accelerometer from Analog devices.The solution includes an application layer, transport layer for reliable data transfer and a MAC protocol for low power consumption. The challenges in the implementation span from the hardware to software. The aim was to select a cheap yet efficient sensor that could be compatible with the sensor node and build a software that can automat the otherwise cumbersome process of bearing monitoring. Whilst developing the application we have found that by proper selection of transmit power of the radio, single hop wireless transmission is more power efficient than the multihop. In sum, we have proved the viability of machinery vibration monitoring with wireless network technology by conducting testbed trials.