Experimental detection of localized surface defects in ball bearings using vibration analysis

Abstract

This study aimed at the monitoring of bearing health condition, based on vibration measurement. For that purpose, small circular defects were seeded on outer and inner rings of similar bearings, by using the principle of Electro-Discharge Machining. The defects sizes in this investigation ranged from 0.35 mm up to 3 mm. All tested bearings had the same testing conditions. Firstly, a healthy bearing (without any defect) was installed on the test rig, and vibration measurements were taken to serve as reference data later. Secondly, vibration measurements were taken from all damaged bearings. The results obtained from this work show that different parameters could be extracted from the time domain and the frequency domain. These parameters were found to be sensitive to the growth of defects sizes to different extent, which allows the assessment of bearing health condition