Automatic bearing fault diagnosis using particle swarm clustering and Hidden Markov Model

Ball bearings are integral elements in most rotating manufacturing machineries. While detecting defective bearing is relatively straightforward, discovering the source of defect requires advanced signal processing techniques. This paper proposes an automatic bearing defect diagnosis method based on Swarm Rapid Centroid Estimation (SRCE) and Hidden Markov Model (HMM). Using the defect frequency signatures extracted with Wavelet Kurtogram and Cepstral Liftering, SRCE+HMM achieved on average the sensitivity, specificity, and error rate of 98.02%, 96.03%, and 2.65%, respectively, on the bearing fault vibration data provided by Case School of Engineering of the Case Western Reserve University (CSE) which warrants further investigation.