Use of the continuous wavelet tranform to enhance early diagnosis of incipient faults in rotating element bearings

This thesis focused on developing a new wavelet for use with the continuous wavelet transform, a new detection method and two de-noising algorithms for rolling element bearing fault signals. The work is based on the continuous wavelet transform and implements a unique Fourier Series estimation algorithm that allows for least squares estimation of arbitrary frequency components of a signal. The final results of the research also included use of the developed detection algorithm for a novel method of estimating the center frequency and bandwidth for use with the industry standard detection algorithm, envelope demodulation, based on actual fault data. Finally, the algorithms and wavelets developed in this paper were tested against seven other wavelet based de-noising algorithms and shown to be superior for the de-noising and detection of inner and outer rolling element race faults.