Bearing fault diagnosis using FFT of intrinsic mode functions in Hilbert-Huang transform

A number of techniques for detection of faults in rolling element bearing using frequency domain approach exist today. For analysing non-stationary signals arising out of defective rolling element bearings, use of conventional discrete Fourier transform (DFT) has been known to be less efficient. One of the most suited time-frequency approach, wavelet transform (WT) has inherent problems of large computational time and fixed-scale frequency resolution. In view of such constraints, the Hilbert-Huang Transform (HHT) technique provides multi-resolution in various frequency scales and takes the signal's frequency content and their variation into consideration. HHT analyses the vibration signal using intrinsic mode functions (IMFs), which are extracted using the process of empirical mode decomposition (EMD). However, use of Hilbert transform (HT)-based time domain approach in HHT for analysis of bearing vibration signature leads to scope for subjective error in calculation of characteristic defect frequencies (CDF) of the rolling element bearings. The time resolution significantly affects the calculation of corresponding frequency content of the signal. In the present work, FFT of IMFs from HHT process has been incorporated to utilise efficiency of HT in frequency domain. The comparative analysis presented in this paper indicates the effectiveness of using frequency domain approach in HHT and its efficiency as one of the best-suited techniques for bearing fault diagnosis (BFD). (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.