Integrated Incipient Fault Detection System for High-Performance Conventional and Ceramic Bearings

Impact Technologies, LLC (Impact) proposes to further develop and demonstrate diagnostic and prognostic (D&P) technologies specifically designed for real-time, automated health assessment of high-performance conventional and ceramic bearings. Bearing components play an integral role in machine design and subsequent failures result in catastrophic damage, potentially incurring excessive downtime and costs for repair. With the military’s continuing development of advanced drive train systems, traditional methods for estimating and tracking bearing health fall short in light of system complexities and the influence of highly dynamic, extreme operating conditions on the component. In Phase I, Impact developed a health management framework that resolves these difficulties by integrating information from multiple sensors with physics of failure models to provide a final prognostic output representative of the specific bearing being monitored and the operating conditions. Impact proposes to mature the system developed in Phase I by further advancing algorithms and models demonstrated in the first period to the application of high-performance conventional and ceramic bearings. In addition, Impact will integrate expert prognostic reasoning algorithms that will ultimately utilize a diverse array of health indicators, including: diagnostic features created from multi-sensor fusion, physics of failure model outputs, system operating parameters, historical failure modes, and inspection feedback. Based on these information metrics, the planned health management system will provide a health prognostic vector for decision support. Impact plans to offer the overall health management system in three variants: a complete hardware/software desktop package, an embedded hardware/software package, and a standalone software product. For Phase II demonstration, Impact will select one of three prototype platforms for full product fabrication but will also identify feasibility and transition readiness for the remaining options.