Synchronous Averaging Research Articles

Erratum to “Fault feature detection of planet gear in multi-stage planetary gearbox based on angle compensation synchronous averaging”

Erratum to “Fault feature detection of planet gear in multi-stage planetary gearbox based on angle compensation synchronous averaging”

Use of Tach from Vibration to Estimate Bearing Spall Length

Vibration analysis is often used for bearing fault diagnostics. Envelope analysis or other cyclo-stationary processes can capture a fault feature or condition indicator that is correlated to the spall length. However, no study has defined a process for estimating spall length on real-world data. The problem is that the spall length is a time-domain property of the signal. This paper generates a synthetic tachometer signal from the fault itself. It is synchronous to the rolling element exit from the spall, allowing for a time-domain representation of waveform using the time synchronous average. From this, an estimate of the length of the bearing fault can be determined.

The role of structural and insulating material in the structure-borne noise propagation of superyachts

The insulation and noise and vibration damping characteristics of complex systems used by humans, such as automobiles, airplanes and ships are becoming increasingly important from the early design stages to ensure an adequate level of comfort. Especially in the naval fields, the design of insulation plans is crucial to prevent the propagation of noise and vibrations on board of megayachts. Since it is quite complex to identify and correctly model the sources due to their deterministic and random nature, during the early design stage, the focus is on insulation rather than reducing the acoustic levels of the sources themselves. In this article, a method for analyzing sea trials on a superyacht will be proposed with the aim of analyzing how much the insulation materials can limit the levels of vibrational energy on board during the path between sources and receivers. A new a descriptor based on harmonic transmission energy through the structure is proposed for path insertion loss experimental identification. In particular, by using spectral analyses and synchronous averaging of sound levels in various areas of the superyacht, it will be possible to study the vibroacoustic insulation of structural materials and their damping coefficient.

Fault Diagnosis of Marine Diesel Engine Based on Multi-scale Time Domain Decomposition and Convolutional Neural Network

Abstract Marine diesel engines work in an environment with multiple excitation sources. Effective feature extraction and fault diagnosis of diesel engine vibration signals have become a hot research topic. Time-domain synchronous averaging (TSA) can effectively handle vibration signals. However, the key phase signal required for TSA is difficult to obtain. During signal processing, it can result in the loss of information on fault features. In addition, frequency multiplication signal waveforms are mixed. To address this problem, a multi-scale time-domain averaging decomposition (MTAD) method is proposed and combined with signal-to-image conversion and a convolutional neural network (CNN), to perform fault diagnosis on a marine diesel engine. Firstly, the vibration signals are decomposed by MTAD. The MTAD method does not require the acquisition of the key phase signal and can effectively overcome signal aliasing. Secondly, the decomposed signal components are converted into 2-D images by signal-to-image conversion. Finally, the 2-D images are input into the CNN for adaptive feature extraction and fault diagnosis. Through experiments, it is verified that the proposed method has certain noise immunity and superiority in marine diesel engine fault diagnosis.

A novel model-based Cauchy-Schwarz divergence condition indicator for gears monitoring during fluctuating speed conditions

Gear monitoring and fault diagnosis are vital for preventing accidents and minimizing economic losses in transportation and industrial systems. Traditional methods use vibration sensors and a two-stage analysis approach: preprocessing data to remove noise and extract relevant components, and generating a condition indicator to detect behavioral anomalies in the gears over time.Time synchronous averaging is a notable tool for monitoring gears at constant speeds. Such a tool filters sensor signals and extracts rotation-related components by using statistical measurements as condition indicators. However, it has limitations in scenarios with time-varying sampling rates and fluctuating speeds, where statistical measures may not fully capture changes in system parameters.This article proposes a novel methodology for monitoring gears in multivariate rotordynamical systems under fluctuating speed conditions. The method integrates time synchronous averaging, system identification algorithms, and statistical tools. It generates a time-synchronous average signal considering speed fluctuations, computes a state–space model of gear behavior in healthy states, extracts residual data from a data-driven model, and generates a condition indicator based on the Cauchy–Schwarz divergence.The proposed methodology was evaluated using experimental data from three rotor dynamical setups under different operational conditions. Validation showed its effectiveness, especially under high-load conditions with significant speed fluctuations.

Sliding time synchronous averaging based on independent extended autocorrelation function for feature extraction of bearing fault

Extracting fault feature is a key challenge during the early failure stage of bearings due to weak fault components and strong background noises. To solve this problem, an extension operation is introduced, and a novel algorithm called independent extended autocorrelation function is proposed. Subsequently, based on time synchronous averaging, the sliding time synchronous averaging method is developed to further enhance periodic components. The time dimension is added to generate a series of periodic impulses, which is advantageous to directly extract the fault characteristic. Therefore, the presented algorithm is called the sliding time synchronous averaging based on independent autocorrelation function (STSA-IEACF). Numerically simulated signals and two experimental datasets are employed to compare the performance of the STSA-IEACF with the mainstream blind deconvolution methods in fault feature extraction of bearing. The results show that the proposed algorithm performs better than the others in this terms of extracting fault characteristics.

Theory, validation, and improvement of four enhancement algorithms for repetitive impulses

Analyzing vibration of rotating machinery signals is a popular methodology derived on the potent tools provided by cyclostationary process theory. Among them, the autocorrelation function (ACF), the Fourier transform (FT), the short-time Fourier transform (STFT), and the time synchronous average (TSA) are widely used for enhancing and analyze random cyclostationary components, i.e., repetitive impulses. This paper aims to thoroughly investigate these techniques through a comprehensive scientific research process. Initially, theoretical analyses are conducted to discuss their noise suppression principles, on the foundation of mean and variance analysis. Results indicate that for Gaussian random noise, the variance of the noise linked to the ACF, the FT, and TSA almost decreases linearly with signal length, while the noise variance of the short-time Fourier transform does so with window length. Therefore, longer signal lengths for the ACF, the FT, and the TSA, or extended window lengths for the STFT, improve their denoising performance. Subsequently, a series of simulated signals are generated to validate these findings, complemented by public datasets for further verification. Finally, the paper discusses and concludes with enhancement approaches derived from these four methodologies.

Detect Gear Fault in Wind Turbine Gearbox based on Time Synchornous Averaging Without Phase Signal.

Wind energy is increasingly recognized as a worldwide sustainable and environmentally friendly power source. Nevertheless, an important barrier to further investment in wind energy is the large rate of failure that occurs to turbines. The gearbox, a crucial component, has a major effect on the performance of wind turbines. It consists of complex planetary and cylindrical gear systems, making it prone to failure and causing major defects in wind turbines. Therefore, there is an urgent need to minimize downtime and improve productivity in wind turbine gearbox operations. Recent decades have witnessed growing interest in fault diagnosis of gearboxes due to their widespread use and industry significance. The time synchronous averaging (TSA) method is widely used as a fundamental approach to detect faults in wind turbine gearboxes from mechanical vibration signals. Usually, applying this method requires a device to measure the vibration phase. Nevertheless, there are certain circumstances where installing a phase-measuring device might pose challenges. For instance, if the gearbox operates, it cannot be paused for installation. Additionally, if the gearboxes are enclosed, it becomes difficult to insert the device. The present paper presents an innovative technical approach to improve the time synchornous averaging method without requiring information about phase vibration. It also evaluates the effectiveness of the proposed method using feature values. An experimental test rig was set up to evaluate the algorithm's effectiveness, simulating different gear faults and load conditions.

Wheel flat detection by using the angular domain synchronous averaging method and axle box acceleration: Simulation and experiment

Wheel flats (WFs) can generate periodic impact forces and aggravate the wheel-rail interaction. Therefore, the early detection of WFs is significant for railway operators to lower the maintenance cost. In this work, the angular domain synchronous averaging (ADSA) method is employed to detect WFs on railway vehicles since it can handle the non-stationary vibration process of rotating machines by processing the vibration data in the angular domain. Furthermore, the short-time irregular impulses, such as those caused by crossings and rail joints, can be attenuated by using synchronous averaging technology. The periodic impact caused by WFs can be easily observed in the polar coordinate using the ADSA method, which is verified by one multibody system (MBS) simulation and one field experiment. Besides, the sensitivity of this method to various flat dimensions and multiple flats is also studied in the MBS simulation.

WIRELESS LAN DESIGN AND FUTURE INTERNET ARCHITECTURE

In this research thesis, an advance work is being done on the Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) design and future internet architecture for intrusion detection. There has been a large shift worldwide in using technology in almost every aspect of our lives. This trend has been termed in many industries as the "Internet of Things" (IoT), where the Internet and cloud- based activities are seeing more and more use for control, monitoring and data storage applications. As stated earlier, these assumptions were made because of the extreme difficulty in obtaining any related telemetry from an actual WLAN system or business-critical network. To improve the validity of the simulation, it would be beneficial to obtain even sanitized telemetry from an actual system. Then, the simulation could be refined to better reflect the dynamics of the signals in a real system. If actual WLAN system data is unobtainable, then the test by itself can be modified to reflect more processes seen in these systems. First, a small flow loop with sensing and control elements could be constructed and driven by the servers of the test bed. The primary server in the test bed that acts as the WLAN server could then be programmed to poll the sensors, issue commands and collect data. Time synchronous averaging techniques are used to resample telemetry sources that have different sampling rates. The research provides several case studies to prove the efficacy of the newly developed variable grouping technique for WLAN. Recall that variable grouping methods are needed to extract sets or subsets of variables that give the lowest model prediction errors. The research also presents AAKR and AAMSET model results for several successfully detected intrusion activities from two different data sets. The models utilized four different clusters of telemetry taken from the Linux kernel to determine which class of telemetry was more effective for intrusion detection. The knowledge-based system is certainly the most numerous and widely used type that uses signatures or features of known wireless network attacks for detection purposes. While this type is easy to implement and has a low rate of false/missed alarms, it will always miss the so-called zero-day wireless network attacks. Recall that a zero-day wireless network attack is a new, unknown intrusion. Because the knowledge-based system has never seen a zero-day intrusion event, it will classify this new behavior as normal. In contrast, the behavior-based system can detect known and zero-day wireless network attacks with an accuracy of 97.86% correctly. This type uses data-driven modeling techniques to learn normal system behavior. Once trained, any future monitored telemetry that deviates from this learned behavior will be labeled as an intrusion event.

Mixed Eccentricity Fault Detection for Induction Motors Based on Time Synchronous Averaging of Vibration Signals

This paper presents a method based on vibration signals to diagnose rotor mixed eccentricity faults in three-phase squirrel cage induction motors (SCIMs). Rotor eccentricity is a typical fault in SCIMs that significantly affects the performance of electrical machines and results in unwanted vibrations. The time synchronous averaging (TSA) signal, which consists of the harmonics components generated by the fault, is obtained via the characteristic frequency of the eccentricity fault. TSA is decomposed into two signals: TSA-regular and TSA-difference, which are respectively similar to approximate and details of wavelet transform. Based on the fault index, which is the maximum FFT value of the TSA-difference signal, the healthy and faulty motors can be distinguished. The proposed approach is evaluated on an experimental test rig equipped with a 1.5 kW SCIM supplied directly from the power grid under various load conditions. The results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach in detecting the rotor mixed eccentricity faults.

Early pitting fault detection for polymer gears using kurtosis-VMD based condition indicators

The vibration signals of a polymer gear are considerably weak and susceptible to ambient noise at the early stage of the fault, which makes the fault difficult to detect. Efficient detection of an early fault in a polymer gear may improve the operation safety of the machinery system that utilizes it for power transmission. This study introduces an innovative approach for the early detection of pitting faults in polymer gears, utilizing condition indicators (CIs) derived from kurtosis-variational mode decomposition (VMD). First, the vibration signal of the polymer gear is decomposed using VMD into several components. Second, the sensitive components are selected to construct a new signal from the first two largest kurtosis values. Third, the CIs are extracted from newly constructed signals, and envelope spectrum analysis is performed. It is observed from the results that the kurtosis-VMD based CIs are effective in the early pitting fault detection of polymer gears. Finally, it is found that the proposed method performs better in all operating conditions considered in the experiment, compared with raw signal and kurtosis-empirical mode decomposition (EMD) based analysis. The proposed method’s response to noise is also explored. Furthermore, the proposed method is compared with the existing time synchronous averaging (TSA), difference, and residual methods.

An Envelope Time Synchronous Averaging for Wind Turbine Gearbox Fault Diagnosis

An Envelope Time Synchronous Averaging for Wind Turbine Gearbox Fault Diagnosis

Application of Time Synchronous Averaging in Mitigating UAV Noise and Signal Loss for Continuous Scanning Laser Doppler Vibrometry

The laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV) has been shown to be effective for a wide application of vibration assessments that are well accepted. One of the new avenues for exploring alternative measurement scenarios, mounting LDVs on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is emerging as a potential avenue for remote and harsh environment measurements. Such configurations grapple with the challenge of the LDV sensor head being sensitive to UAV vibration during flight and signal loss due to tracking error. This study investigates the effectiveness of several Time Synchronous Averaging (TSA) techniques to circumvent these obstacles. Through comprehensive evaluations, all three TSA techniques under investigation demonstrated significant potential in suppressing UAV-induced noise and minimising the effects of signal dropout. Traditional TSA showcased a remarkable sixfold enhancement in signal quality when analysed via the mean square error. However, the study also highlighted that while TSA and Multi-Cycle Time Synchronous Average (MCTSA) elevated signal clarity, there is a trade-off between noise suppression and signal duration. Additionally, the findings emphasise the importance of synchronisation between scanning and target vibration. To achieve optimal results in Continuous Scanning Laser Doppler Vibrometer measurements, there is a need for advanced algorithms capable of estimating target vibration and synchronising scanning in real-time. As the study was rooted in steady-state vibrations, future research should explore transient vibration scenarios, thereby broadening the application scope of TSA techniques in UAV-mounted LDV systems.

Fault feature detection of planet gear in multi-stage planetary gearbox based on angle compensation synchronous averaging

Planetary gearboxes are often used for power transmission in wind turbines. It makes the gear fault detection of planetary gearboxes very useful and necessary. Generally, windowed synchronous averaging (WSA) is a widely used method to detect planet gear failure in planetary gearboxes. However, the WSA is not directly suitable for the multi-stage planetary gearbox since different planetary stages are working together and vibrations from different stages are coupled to each other. The coupled interference is the synchronous interference, which cannot be reduced by the WSA. It makes the faulty planet gear of interest difficult to detect. To address this issue, an angle compensation synchronous averaging (ACSA) scheme is proposed. The equi-angle resampling is applied to the obtained vibration first. Then, the synchronous interference can be constructed by applying the synchronous averaging-based angle compensation strategy, and removed by subtracting it from the resampled vibration. Subsequently, the fast spectral kurtosis is utilized on the residual vibration to obtain the envelope signal. Next, the WSA is further applied to the residual vibration and envelope signal for constructing the synthetic vibration and synthetic envelope signal corresponding to the planet gear of interest. Finally, the narrowband demodulation and envelope analysis are used to detect planet gear failure. Experiments on a two-stage planetary gearbox positively support the ACSA scheme.

A differential diagnosis approach of localized planet gear fault using overall transmission error

Owing to recent studies on the relationship between the transmission error and the localized gear fault, TE-based differential diagnosis (DD) technology has emerged as a promising approach to identifying the tooth flank spall and the gear fillet crack which have similar signatures but quite different fault mechanisms and prognoses. However, due to complex structural factors, the fault modes can hardly be identified from the calculated overall transmission error (OTE). In light of this, a novel DD framework based on encoder-measured data is proposed in this work. Specifically, the OTE signal calculated from resampled data are filtered by flexible time synchronous average. A reordered singular values decomposition (RSVD) approach guided by the sparse index L2/L1 norm is then developed for fault-dependent residual OTE extraction. Experimental results validate that the faulty events can be accurately identified by the proposed framework without prior information under different speed conditions for planet gear DD.

Period-refined CYCBD using time synchronous averaging for the feature extraction of bearing fault under heavy noise

Deconvolution methods have been widely used in machinery fault diagnosis. However, their application would be confined due to the heavy noise and complex interference since the fault feature in the measured signal becomes rather weak. Time synchronous averaging (TSA) can enhance the periodic components and suppress the others by the comb filter function. And in the iteration process of the deconvolution methods, the filtered signal after each iteration can be further processed using TSA, and the time delay with maximum Gini index value is refined as the iterative period for the next iteration. Benefitting from these advantages, a period-refined maximum second-order cyclostationarity blind deconvolution (PRCYCBD) using TSA is proposed for the weak fault detection of rolling element bearings (REBs) in this paper. Firstly, without any prior knowledge, the proposed method which can estimate the period more accurately is more suitable for the weak fault detection of REBs, especially incipient fault. Secondly, TSA is firstly applied to estimate the iterative period rather than just depending on the Signal Noise Ratio (SNR) of the filtered signal in the iterative process . Furthermore, the new improvement frame can be expanded to other deconvolution methods using iterative algorithms, especially under heavy noise. Finally, a simulation with a slight bearing fault as well as two real experimental data including the vibration signal with the wind turbine bearing fault and the acoustical signal with the locomotive wheel bearing fault is used to verify the superiority of the proposed PRCYCBD compared with the traditional minimum entropy deconvolution and the traditional autocorrelation-improved cyclostationarity blind deconvolution.

Tooth root crack detection of planet gear in industrial robot RV reducer

The windowed synchronous averaging (WSA) is widely utilized for planetary structures. However, it cannot be applied for the fault detection of the planetary structure in the industrial robot rotate vector (RV) reducer. The robot usually works within a specified angle range, which causes the RV reducer rotates incompletely. To address this issue, an angle compensation local synchronous fitting scheme is proposed. To detect the localized planet gear fault in the RV reducer, the observed vibration is equi-angle resampled. And the synchronous interference contained in the resampled vibration is constructed and removed according to the angle compensation strategy. The residual data is used to construct the synthetic vibration of the planet gear. Then, the fault feature of the planet gear can be detected. Experiments on the RV reducer test rig under the robot running conditions support the effectiveness of the proposed scheme positively.

Instantaneous-Angular-Speed-Based Synchronous Averaging Tool for Bearing Outer Race Fault Diagnosis

Synchronous averaging (SA) is a powerful signal processing tool to enhance the feature of interesting periodic events by suppressing non-synchronous components. However, the features related to the rolling element bearing (REB) fault may not be effectively enhanced by SA under random slip conditions. To address this issue, two instantaneous angular speed (IAS)-based synchronous averaging frameworks are proposed in this study. Then, an improved negentropy indicator is proposed to characterize the richness of the REB fault information. Additionally, based on the estimation feature of the IAS signal, the effects of the encoder resolution and structure damping factor on the waveform related to the faulty REB are studied, respectively. Simulation and experiment results show that the proposed schemes can be used to enhance the feature of the REB fault under random slip conditions.

Wheel flat detection on railway vehicles using the angular domain synchronous averaging method: an experimental study

Recently, composite brake blocks have been widely adopted in European railway systems to replace cast iron brake blocks in order to reduce braking noise. However, the poor heat dissipation of composite materials has caused more wheel tread damage, including wheel flats (WFs). The WF, as an undesirable tread defect in railway vehicles, can cause severe wheel/rail impact and increase the damage probability of wheelset components and track structures. Early detection of WFs is vital to ensure operational safety and reduced maintenance costs. In this work, to help understand the dynamic impact caused by WFs, a single WF with a length of 20 mm is artifically produced on a wheel of a tank wagon, and field experiments are performed. The influence of the WF on the axle box accelerations (ABAs), vertical accelerations of the bogie frame and vertical accelerations of the car body is discussed in the time and time-frequency domains. On the other hand, the angular domain synchronous averaging (ADSA) method is used to detect WFs by averaging the ABA signals in the angular domain over a fixed time interval, and it requires ABA data and the axle rotational speed as inputs. This method can greatly reduce the amount of measured data by averaging it in the angle domain and can eliminate the short-time influence of interference signals caused by switches and crossings, rail joints, and so on. The results show that the ADSA of a defective wheel with the WF has a clear peak with an amplitude of 21–104 m/s2 while that of a healthy wheel fluctuates around zero in the polar coordinate. Also, the waveform of defective signals can be well presented in polar coordinates. The effectiveness of this method is compared with the envelope spectrum technology in three scenarios and its application to three journeys is presented.