A case study of bearing condition monitoring using SPM

Bearings consist one of the most widely used industrial rotating machine elements, especially rolling bearings and journal bearings. The capability to detect fast, accurately and easily the existence and severity of bearing fault during operation is very important as an unexpected failure of machine can lead to significant economic losses. This paper mainly introduces an actual case study of bearing condition monitoring in industry. As an effective tool in inspection the bearing condition, shock pulse method (SPM) is utilized to monitor the bearings of test rig which includes an electric motor and a wind turbine. Through analysing the frequency spectrum derived from the SPM instrument, the faulty bearing is located accurately. The case study validates that SPM is quite effective for monitoring the bearings condition in industrial applications.