11/7/2017 An overview of DREAM/DCFIL bearing measurement systems

An overview of DREAM/DCFIL bearing measurement systems

Contents:

What DREAM does

Basic features of DREAM and DCFIL bearing test systems
Basic methods used by DREAM for diagnostics and prediction
What DCFIL does

What DREAM does

Detects and identifies the bearing’s defects after mounting and during operation
including problems of installation.
Diagnoses the bearing’s condition by one vibration measurement, no history
required.
Makes a long-term prediction of the rolling element bearing’s condition by one
vibration measurement
Collects and stores the data about the bearings’ condition.

Basic features of DREAM and DCFIL bearing test systems

Automatic optimization and setup of the data collection system at the time the
data is collected without operator interaction except for large changes in shaft
rotating frequency.
Automatic processing of the envelope spectrum and mean high frequency bearing
housing vibration including automatic removal of interference from other machine
sources
Automatic identification of 12 types of bearing defects with an indication of their
levels (incipient, medium or severe).
Automatic prediction of the bearing’s non-failure operation until the next
measurement (the time period between measurements can be up to 20% of a
bearing's MTBF)
Practically unlimited number of bearings in the database which the customer can
configure. The configuration can be corrected or added to very simply.
Automatic determination of recommended danger defect levels plus the ability to
adjust them in unusual circumstances.
Automatic speed compensation and corrections for variations of the number of
rolling elements that can occur using different manufacturer's versions of the same
nominal bearing designations.
Supplemental measurement capability including:
Normal auto-spectra
Normal time domain data

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Envelope detected time domain data with operator control of highpass or

bandpass filter frequencies. This allows emulation of other commercial
envelope detection systems for measurement comparisons.
Display smoothed spectra with synchronous signals removed-useful for
detecting machine resonances
Display envelope detector input filter shape.
Storage of the results of intermittent vibration measurements and an unlimited
number of successive measurements for each of the bearings.
Simple diagnostic measurements and automatic testing of the compatibility of the
current spectrum and previous ones.
Advanced search and output facilities.
A detailed diagnostic process with the ability to display the results of different stages
of the process on the screen.
Context-sensitive help
Output and printing of the following data:
a list of the bearings’ designations with their specification data
a list of the analyzer setup during the measurements.
a history of diagnostic data of the chosen bearing
a list of the bearings’ condition with an indication of most severe defect, its
depth and recommended date of the next measurement
a list of recommendations on maintenance of the bearings
a condition based list of bearings requiring diagnostic measurements on the day
the operator states.

Basic methods used by DREAM for diagnostics and prediction

The method used is based on envelope spectrum analysis of random vibrations created
by friction forces in the bearings. In a non-defective bearing, the friction force is constant
in time and the exited high frequency vibration is a stationary, random process. During the
rotation of a defective bearing, the friction force and the random vibration become
amplitude modulated with a period, T, and depth, m, because of a periodic change in the
friction coefficient or pressure on the race surface. Shock pulses are considered to be a
particular case of amplitude modulated friction forces whose appearance results from a
periodic change in the friction coefficient. Thus, in the case of the defects, harmonic
components appear in the envelope spectrum which are absent in envelope spectrum of a
non-defective bearing. The type of defect can be identified by the harmonic component
frequencies, the defect depth by the difference L between the harmonic Lh and the
random Lr components, or in the time function by T and m respectively (see below).

12 types of bearing defects (below)

No. Type of defect Main frequencies of Comments

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modulation
1 Revolution around outer fr
(fixed) race
2 Nonuniform radial tension 2fr
3 Misalignment of outer race 2fout
4 Wear of outer race fout
5 Cavities (cracks) on outer kfout; k=1,2,3...
race
6 Wear of inner race kfr; k=1,2,3... the decay of amplitudes with
increase of k
7 Cavities (cracks) on inner kfin
race
8 Wear of cage and rolling fc or (fr-fc)
elements
9 Cavities, spallings on kfrol
rolling elements
10 Defects of several bearing fout + fin = zfr or no fout-fr or (fr-fc)(z-1)
surfaces fout + fr
(fr-fc)(z+1)
11 Slip of race kfr k=1,2,3... no other frequencies of
modulation
12 Defects of lubrication increase of high frequency
vibration level

Defect Frequency Equations (below)

- rotor frequency
- cage frequency
- rolling element rotation frequency
- rolling element pass frequency, outer
race
- rolling element pass frequency, inner
race
z - number of rolling elements
drol - diameter of rolling element

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dc - diameter of cage
- contact angle between balls and outer
race

Defect type identification (above) and defect level characterization (below).

With one single measurement, this method can give an accurate prediction for non-failure
operation of a bearing for up to 20% of the specified bearing’s service life, as was proven
by experimental work in a 15 year period with bearings having dimensions from 20 mm
to 2 m in machines with rotating speeds from 10 to 10000 RPM. The program was
designed to make the process of diagnostics and prediction automatically, increasing
bearing diagnostic productivity and effectiveness. The combined use of Data Physics or
Vibration Specialties Corporation hardware and DREAM/DCFIL software gives even an
unqualified operator the following abilities:

to monitor and give a long-term condition prediction for rolling element bearings,
to supervise the quality control of bearing mounting,
to significantly decrease maintenance expenses.

The input data for the program are:

from the operator - the rotation frequency

from the bearing archive - bearing’s inner and outer race diameters, the number and
diameter of the rolling elements, the number of rows and the contact angle, bearing’s
specified service life in the diagnosed machine.

The output data for the program are:

the estimation of the bearing condition,

the types and severity (incipient, medium, severe) of the identified defects,
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the predicted service life without failure,

the recommendations for corrective actions.

What DCFIL does.

Much of the superior performance of DREAM may can be attributed to the methods it
uses to control the content of the envelope spectrum data. DREAM controls the relative
sensitivities of bearing's friction forces and impact forces and the effective bandwidth of
the measurement system by selecting specific bandpass filters applied to the input data
before demodulation using criteria based on bearing's dimensions and shaft rotating
frequencies. DCFIL generates the filters specified by DREAM, processes the input data,
automatically removes interfering signals from the data before the data is demodulated,
and then does the remaining demodulation and other signal processing necessary for
DREAM. In most cases, DCFIL also controls the measurement hardware, although it
may also be used to process previously collected time domain data.

Typical filter specified by DREAM and

implemented with DCFIL.

Typical filter specified by DREAM and

implemented with DCFIL and
automatically modified to remove
interference from other machine
sources.

For more detailed information, see our on-line technical library.

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