The application of the improved local maximum iterative synchronizing transform in the diagnosis of mechanical faults

Abstract Mechanical equipment operating in complex environments is often subjected to time-varying loads, speeds, transient impacts, and other non-stationary conditions, which can lead to frequent failures. This paper presents an improved local maximum iterative synchrosqueezing transform (ILMISST) method for diagnosing issues in such equipment. The iterative instantaneous frequency (IF) estimation operator (ILMISST) is developed by combining the local maximum SST (LMSST) and iterative synchrosqueezing transform (ISST) approaches to generate an enhanced time-frequency representation (TFR). After two rounding processes, the iterative IF estimate operator is assigned to a frequency point, addressing the non-reassigned points problem at designated time-frequency locations. Finally, testing and simulation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed method.