Temperature and Vibration Condition Monitoring of a Polymer Hybrid Ball Bearing

Background Regular condition monitoring of bearings has an important role in early detection of serious damages may occur on the machine. Many methods can be used to detect bearing faults, such as vibration and acoustic masurements, temperature measurements and wear analysis. Friction causes the systems temperature to rise, while the shaft-bearing system is running. Purpose The purpose of this work, to investigate the lifetime of polymer ball bearings with regular control the vibration and temperature datas, the test rig has been designed. 6804 deep groove hybrid ball bearing consists of steel balls, polymer races has been tested. Methods The accelerometer has been placed on the test rig for receiving and investigating vibration characteristics of the system. In addition, to determine the change of the temperature, thermocouple has been located on the test bearing housing when system working. Taken datas from the sensors have been saved on a computer with developing an algorithm environment within the experimental work. Results Vibration results have been analyzed in time and frequency domain and associated with temperature change. The temperature-time graph and the vibration graphs which are time and frequency domain has been evaluated together. Conclusion The results showed that accelerometer and temperature data were compatible, and temperature variation can be used to monitor bearing failure.