Multi-Scale Enveloping Spectrogram for Bearing Defect Detection

This paper presents a new signal processing technique for bearing defect detection, called Multi-Scale Enveloping Spectrogram (MUSENS). The technique decomposes vibration signals measured on rolling bearings into different scales by means of a continuous wavelet transform (CWT). The envelope signal in each scale is then calculated from the modulus of the wavelet coefficients. Subsequently, Fourier transform is performed repetitively on the envelope of the signal at each scale, resulting in an “envelop spectrum” of the original signal at the various scales. The final output is a three-dimensional scale-frequency map that indicates the intensity and location of the defect-related frequency lines.