FAULT DIAGNOSIS APPROACH FOR ROLLER BEARINGS BASED ON EMPIRICAL MODE DECOMPOSITION METHOD AND HILBERT TRANSFORM

Based upon empirical mode decomposition (EMD) method and Hilbert spectrum, a method for fault diagnosis of roller bearing is proposed. The orthogonal wavelet bases are used to translate vibration signals of a roller bearing into time-scale representation, then, an envelope signal can be obtained by envelope spectrum analysis of wavelet coefficients of high scales. By applying EMD method and Hilbert transform to the envelope signal, we can get the local Hilbert marginal spectrum from which the faults in a roller bearing can be diagnosed and fault patterns can be identified. Practical vibration signals measured from roller bearings with out-race faults or inner-race faults are analyzed by the proposed method. The results show that the proposed method is superior to the traditional envelope spectrum method in extracting the fault characteristics of roller bearings.

MODELING OF OCCUPANT DYNAMIC RESPONSE TO CAR-BARRIERS CRASH ON HIGHWAY

The dynamic response involved in car-roadside barrier impacts is studied. Therisk of occupant injures in such accidents is investigated. An approach based on accident analysisand mathematical modeling is developed and described in three steps. Firstly a study of car-roadsidebarrier impact accidents is carried out with available data to define a system including car, road,roadside barrier, and occupant. Secondly a mathematical model to simulate car-to-barrier impact isdeveloped by using multi-body program MADYMO. Finally, dynamic responses of the occupant duringimpact are simulated using a car compartment model with a HYBRID III occupant model and an inputload pulse calculated in the second step. The dynamic responses of the car are analyzed by changingimpact conditions such as impact angle and impact velocity. The injury risks of the occupants arediscussed in terms of the occupant kinematics and calculated parameters: accelerations of the head,chest, and pelvis, as well as HIC value. Verification of model with experimental data is performed.Possible counter-measures for highway vehicle traffic safety and improvement of roadside barrierdesign are presented. Research prospects in this field are also proposed.

A Method for Gear Fault Diagnosis Based on the Empirical Mode Decomposition

According to the characteristics of gear fault vibration signals, a methodfor gear fault diagnosis based upon the empirical mode decomposition (EMD) is proposed in thispaper. By using EMD, any complicated signal can be decomposed into a finite and often small numberof intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) , which are based upon the local characteristic time scale of thesignal. Thus, EMD is perfectly suitable for non-stationary signal processing and faultcharacteristics extracting. It is well known that a gear vibration signal consists of a number offrequency family components, each of which is a modulated signal. Thus, we can use EMD to decomposea gear fault vibration signal into a number of IMF components, some of which correspond to thefrequency families, and the others are noises. Therefore, the frequency families can be separatedand the noise can be decreased at the same time. The proposed method has been applied to gear faultdiagnosis. The results show that both the sensitivity and the reliability of this method aresatisfactory.

A Multi-agent Framework of an Integrated Plant Maintenance System

Based on systematic analysis, an Integrated Plant Maintenance System (IPMS)is proposed in this paper to cope with challenges in plant maintenance. The characteristics of theIPMS are summarized and the necessity of its modeling is set forth. Based on the analysis andcomparison among structured, object-oriented and multi-agent modeling frameworks, a multi-agentmodeling framework is selected in this paper as a theoretical guidance and together with the Troposmethod for modeling, the system model of an integrated plant maintenance system is constructed. Thesystem model developed in this paper provides a guidance template for the Baling company in itsstepwise implementation of the IPMS.