Rolling element bearings find widespread domestic and industrial application. Defects in bearing unless detected in time may lead to malfunctioning of the machinery. Different methods are used for detection and diagnosis of the bearing defects. This paper is intended as a tutorial overview of bearing vibration signature analysis as a medium for fault detection. An explanation for the causes for the defects is discussed. Vibration measurement in both time domain and frequency domain is presented. Recent trends in research on the detection of the defects in bearings have been included.

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