Early Fault Detection in Rolling Element Bearings Using Signal Processing Techniques

Many studies show that bearings are the most vulnerable components in low-voltage motors. While advanced bearing diagnostic systems exist, their cost can be a barrier for non-critical machinery due to the potential wait time to see a return on investment. This research explores the feasibility of using basic signal processing techniques on vibration data for bearing condition monitoring. The primary goal is to analyze benchmark data from the Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) dataset and establish a baseline performance for this data-driven approach. The results suggest that, with appropriate signal processing, it's possible to achieve early detection of bearing faults, leading to more efficient time-to-fault identification with higher detection accuracies ranging from 83 % to 100 % for each method.