Condition monitoring with non-linear signal processing

Condition monitoring plays a vital and indispensable role in the operation of any type of plant or machinery. In general, condition monitoring is achieved by processing and interpreting some characteristic signal from the plant under consideration. Traditionally, only linear second order statistical analysis has been used to process the characteristic signals from plant, however, a new approach to condition monitoring called higher order statistics is becoming increasingly prevalent. A small body of research has been concentrated on using higher order statistical techniques within a condition monitoring environment but the success of this work has been hampered by the lack of generality of the technique. This submission investigates a method of capitalising on the attractive properties of such techniques in an intelligent and simple fashion in the construction of a comprehensive, generalised condition monitoring tool. This is demonstrated by practical investigation of the condition monitoring of an induction machine.