Improved RUL prediction method of wind turbine gearbox bearings under strong noises

As essential components within the wind turbine gearbox, bearings are critical, and forecasting their Remaining Useful Life (RUL) is paramount. To enhance the integration of current inputs with historical data in Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) models, the Mogrifier Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) approach has been devised. It interacts with inputs and recurrent data in a predetermined fashion, marking its initial application in wind turbine gearbox bearing RUL prediction. Furthermore, the Relative Standard Deviation of Envelope Spectrum (RSDES), a reliable health indicator (HI) under high noise conditions, is introduced for precise evaluation of the gearbox bearing health. Consequently, a novel RUL prediction technique is introduced. Initially, RSDES from vibration data serves as HIs. Subsequently, utilizing these HIs, the Mogrifier LSTM predicts future HIs, and the bearing’s RUL is determined once the predicted HI surpasses the failure threshold. Empirical outcomes underscore the proposed method’s superiority over existing techniques in bearing RUL prediction.