An adaptive reweighted-Kurtogram for bearing fault diagnosis under strong external impulse noise

Abstract

In vibration-based fault diagnosis of rotating machinery, strong impulse noise constitutes a widely encountered source of external interference, thereby posing significant challenges to the effective extraction of diagnostic information. In this context, an adaptive reweighted-Kurtogram (ARKurtogram) method is proposed. The bearing transient fault signatures are accurately extracted through two aspects – that is, precise frequency band division and robust band selection indicator. Specifically, we use the dual-tree complex wavelet packet transform (DTCWPT) as the band division tool and propose the sub-bands rearranged and ensemble DTCWPT which addresses the band disorder problem, yields far richer band division patterns and maintains excellent performance of DTCWPT in signal decomposition. Meanwhile, we introduce a robust indicator characterizing periodic fault impulses to accurately select the fault band. In comparison with the classical kurtosis and the advanced reweighted-kurtosis, this indicator is insensitive to strong external impulse noise and its calculation process contains a sliding window averaging approach which makes the calculation entirely automated without human intervention. The validity of the ARKurtogram is investigated with the analysis of vibration signals measured from fault-injection experiments. The comparisons with the classical fast Kurtogram method and the advanced Autogram method highlight the advantages of the method in extracting bearing transient fault signatures from complex signals with strong external impulse noise. It shows high potential in the application of industrial bearing fault diagnosis.