Defect Localization On Rolling Element Bearing Stationary Outer Race With Acoustic Emission Technology

Accurate rotational speed information is typically required to diagnose bearing failures under variable speed conditions. This paper proposes a fault localization method to obtain the defect position on a bearing based on the spatial localization of acoustic emission (AE). Firstly, a localization model independent of accurate wave propagation velocity is established for the annular structure of the bearing. Secondly, the Akaike Information Criterion method is used to calculate the arrival time of the AE signal; the characteristic function is used for the measured signal with low signal-to-noise ratio to improve the calculation accuracy of the arrival time. Lastly, the effectiveness of the method in the fault diagnosis of rolling bearings is verified by pencil lead break tests and dynamic tests using a thrust rolling bearing. The results of the experiments demonstrate that this method can locate AE sources. Future work will involve the implementation of the proposed method on larger bearings and verification of the accuracy in industrial machines. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.