Bearing fault detection based on time-frequency representations of vibration signals

To prevent failures of a rolling bearing in the gearbox drive system, acceleration sensors are used to detect fault-related signals of the bearing. It is a big challenge to observe and identify signals caused by bearing defects in the time domain or the frequency spectrum by a conventional Fourier analysis. The time-frequency representation of the fault-related signals implemented by the windowed Fourier transform is studied in this work. It is shown that the fault characteristic frequencies can be clearly identified in the time-frequency spectrum if a fault occurs in the bearing of the gearbox at different speeds. Otherwise, the shaft frequency and its multiples are the main harmonics in the spectrum.