EFFECTIVE VIBRATION ANALYSIS OF IC ENGINES USING CYCLOSTATIONARITY. PART I-A METHODOLOGY FOR CONDITION MONITORING

Condition monitoring of IC engines through the analysis of their vibrations has been recognized to be a difficult issue, essentially because of the complexity of the signals that are involved. This paper introduces an original approach which explicitly takes into account the non-stationary nature of the vibration signals. The key idea is to rephrase the issue into the framework of cyclostationary processes, which is perfectly suited for describing physical phenomena generated on a cyclic basis. A general methodology is introduced that is based on angular sampling and cyclic signal processing. It serves as a strong basis for designing ad hoc diagnostic indicators.