Diagnosis of mechanical devices by the ICA with sub-band filter

This paper considers a method of separating the acoustic signals of mechanical devices by using independent component analysis (ICA) with a band-pass filter. The frequency distribution of a recorded acoustic signal of the operating mechanical device can be divided into three fields such as the low, the medium, and the high-frequency fields. Since only the medium-frequency components are the mixture of acoustic signals of gears and motors, the ICA with band-pass filters is expected to separate the acoustic signals of motors and gears more accurately than the conventional ICA. The simulation and experimental results show that the proposed method can separate the acoustic signals of motors and gears of mechanical devices successfully.