Citation:
David Mba, Acoustic Emissions and monitoring bearing health, Tribology
Transactions, 2003 Vol. 46 No. 3, pp 447-451
Abstract:
Acoustic emission (AE) was originally developed for non-destructive testing of
static structures. however, over the years its application has been extended to
health monitoring of rotating machines and bearings. It offers the advantage of
earlier defect detection in comparison to vibration analysis. Current
methodologies of applying AE for bearing diagnosis are reviewed. The
investigation reported in this paper was centered on the application of standard
acoustic emissions IAE) characteristic parameters on a radially loaded bearing.
An experimental test-rig was designed to allow seeded defects on the inner and
outer race. It is concluded that irrespective of the radial load, rotational
speed and high levels of background noise. simple AE parameters such as e.m.s.
and AE counts provided an indication of bearing defect. In addition to
validating already established AE techniques, this investigation focuses on
establishing an appropriate threshold level for AE counts.
