Application of cepstrum pre-whitening for the diagnosis of bearing faults under variable speed conditions

Diagnostics of rolling element bearings involves a combination of different techniques of signal enhancing and analysis. The most common procedure presents a first step of order tracking and synchronous averaging, able to remove the undesired components, synchronous with the shaft harmonics, from the signal, and a final step of envelope analysis to obtain the squared envelope spectrum. This indicator has been studied thoroughly, and statistically based criteria have been obtained, in order to identify damaged bearings. The statistical thresholds are valid only if all the deterministic components in the signal have been removed. Unfortunately, in various industrial applications, characterized by heterogeneous vibration sources, the first step of synchronous averaging is not sufficient to eliminate completely the deterministic components and an additional step of pre-whitening is needed before the envelope analysis. Different techniques have been proposed in the past with this aim: The most widely spread are linear prediction filters and spectral kurtosis. Recently, a new technique for pre-whitening has been proposed, based on cepstral analysis: the so-called cepstrum pre-whitening. Owing to its low computational requirements and its simplicity, it seems a good candidate to perform the intermediate pre-whitening step in an automatic damage recognition algorithm. In this paper, the effectiveness of the new technique will be tested on the data measured on a full-scale industrial bearing test-rig, able to reproduce the harsh conditions of operation. A benchmark comparison with the traditional pre-whitening techniques will be made, as a final step for the verification of the potentiality of the cepstrum pre-whitening.

Three-dimensional geological modelling of the Galilee and central Eromanga basins, Australia: New insights into aquifer/aquitard geometry and potential influence of faults on inter-connectivity

Study region The Galilee and Eromanga basins are located in central Queensland, Australia. Both basins are components of the Great Artesian Basin which host some of the most significant groundwater resources in Australia. Study focus This study evaluates the influence of regional faults on groundwater flow in an aquifer/aquitard interbedded succession that form one of the largest Artesian Basins in the world. In order to assess the significance of regional faults as potential barriers or conduits to groundwater flow, vertical displacements of the major aquifers and aquitards were studied at each major fault and the general hydraulic relationship of units that are juxtaposed by the faults were considered. A three-dimensional (3D) geological model of the Galilee and Eromanga basins was developed based on integration of well log data, seismic surfaces, surface geology and elevation data. Geological structures were mapped in detail and major faults were characterised. New hydrological insights for the region Major faults that have been described in previous studies have been confirmed within the 3D geological model domain and a preliminary assessment of their hydraulic significance has been conducted. Previously unknown faults such as the Thomson River Fault (herein named) have also been identified in this study.

A Design for Testability of Undetectable Crosspoint Faults in Programmable Logic Arrays

In this paper, the validity of'single fault assumption in deriving diagnostic test sets is examined with respect to crosspoint faults in programmable logic arrays (PLA's). The control input procedure developed here can be used to convert PLA's having undetectable crosspoint faults to crosspoint-irredundant PLA's for testing purposes. All crosspoints will be testable in crosspoint-irredundant PLA's. The control inputs are used as extra variables during testing. They are maintained at logic I during normal operation. A useful heuristic for obtaining a near-minimal number of control inputs is suggested. Expressions for calculating bounds on the number of control inputs have also been obtained.

An on-line algorithm for the location of cross point faults in programmable logic arrays

An on-line algorithm is developed for the location of single cross point faults in a PLA (FPLA). The main feature of the algorithm is the determination of a fault set corresponding to the response obtained for a failed test. For the apparently small number of faults in this set, all other tests are generated and a fault table is formed. Subsequently, an adaptive procedure is used to diagnose the fault. Functional equivalence test is carried out to determine the actual fault class if the adaptive testing results in a set of faults with identical tests. The large amount of computation time and storage required in the determination, a priori, of all the fault equivalence classes or in the construction of a fault dictionary are not needed here. A brief study of functional equivalence among the cross point faults is also made.

An On-Line Algorithm for the Location of Cross Point Faults in Programmable Logic Arrays

An on-line algorithm is developed for the location of single cross point faults in a PLA (FPLA). The main feature of the valgorithm is the determination of a fault set corresponding to the response obtained for a failed test. For the apparently small number of faults in this set, all other tests are generated and a fault table is formed. Subsequently, an adaptive procedure is used to diagnose the fault. Functional equivalence test is carried out to determine the actual fault class if the adaptive testing results in a set of faults with identical tests. The large amount of computation time and storage required in the determination, a priori, of all the fault equivalence classes or in the construction of a fault dictionary are not needed here. A brief study of functional equivalence among the cross point faults is also made.

An intelligent approach using support vector machines for monitoring and identification of faults on transmission systems

Power system disturbances are often caused by faults on transmission lines. When faults occur in a power system, the protective relays detect the fault and initiate tripping of appropriate circuit breakers, which isolate the affected part from the rest of the power system. Generally Extra High Voltage (EHV) transmission substations in power systems are connected with multiple transmission lines to neighboring substations. In some cases mal-operation of relays can happen under varying operating conditions, because of inappropriate coordination of relay settings. Due to these actions the power system margins for contingencies are decreasing. Hence, power system protective relaying reliability becomes increasingly important. In this paper an approach is presented using Support Vector Machine (SVM) as an intelligent tool for identifying the faulted line that is emanating from a substation and finding the distance from the substation. Results on 24-bus equivalent EHV system, part of Indian southern grid, are presented for illustration purpose. This approach is particularly important to avoid mal-operation of relays following a disturbance in the neighboring line connected to the same substation and assuring secure operation of the power systems.

Temperature-dependent stability of stacking faults in Al, Cu and Ni: first-principles analysis

We present comparative analysis of microscopic mechanisms relevant to plastic deformation of the face-centered cubic (FCC) metals Al, Cu, and Ni, through determination of the temperature-dependent free energies of intrinsic and unstable stacking faults along 1 (1) over bar 0] and 1 (2) over bar 1] on the (1 1 1) plane using first-principles density-functional-theory-based calculations. We show that vibrational contribution results in significant decrease in the free energy of barriers and intrinsic stacking faults (ISFs) of Al, Cu, and Ni with temperature, confirming an important role of thermal fluctuations in the stability of stacking faults (SFs) and deformation at elevated temperatures. In contrast to Al and Ni, the vibrational spectrum of the unstable stacking fault (USF1 (2) over bar 1]) in Cu reveals structural instabilities, indicating that the energy barrier (gamma(usf)) along the (1 1 1)1 (2) over bar 1] slip system in Cu, determined by typical first-principles calculations, is an overestimate, and its commonly used interpretation as the energy release rate needed for dislocation nucleation, as proposed by Rice (1992 J. Mech. Phys. Solids 40 239), should be taken with caution.

Protection of Digital Telecom Exchanges Against Lightning Surges and Earth Faults

Low-power electronic devices used in digital telecom exchanges are vulnerable to surge voltages and currents primarily originating from natural lightning or due to the direct interactions between electric power and telecommunication lines, etc., causing the earth/ground potential rise, neutral potential rise, and faults in the system. The fault currents may flow directly to telecom lines or through the equipment to the customer's premises, causing adequate damage to the equipment and personnel safety. In wireline applications, analog or digital, central office, exchanges, and subscriber sides have to be protected. Decisive protection and protective methods have to be employed for proper functioning of the equipment under overvoltage/overcurrent conditions. Current investigation reports some interesting results obtained on the recently developed high-voltage high-current protection cards used in digital telecom exchanges. The performances of protection cards both for the ring wave and hybrid wave surges are evaluated and presented. The surge generators required for the investigation are developed and fabricated in house as per the relevant telecom standards.

Frictional properties of faults : from observation on the Longitudinal Valley Fault, Taiwan, to dynamic simulations

Faults can slip either aseismically or through episodic seismic ruptures, but we still do not understand the factors which determine the partitioning between these two modes of slip. This challenge can now be addressed thanks to the dense set of geodetic and seismological networks that have been deployed in various areas with active tectonics. The data from such networks, as well as modern remote sensing techniques, indeed allow documenting of the spatial and temporal variability of slip mode and give some insight. This is the approach taken in this study, which is focused on the Longitudinal Valley Fault (LVF) in Eastern Taiwan. This fault is particularly appropriate since the very fast slip rate (about 5 cm/yr) is accommodated by both seismic and aseismic slip. Deformation of anthropogenic features shows that aseismic creep accounts for a significant fraction of fault slip near the surface, but this fault also released energy seismically, since it has produced five M_w>6.8 earthquakes in 1951 and 2003. Moreover, owing to the thrust component of slip, the fault zone is exhumed which allows investigation of deformation mechanisms. In order to put constraint on the factors that control the mode of slip, we apply a multidisciplinary approach that combines modeling of geodetic observations, structural analysis and numerical simulation of the "seismic cycle". Analyzing a dense set of geodetic and seismological data across the Longitudinal Valley, including campaign-mode GPS, continuous GPS (cGPS), leveling, accelerometric, and InSAR data, we document the partitioning between seismic and aseismic slip on the fault. For the time period 1992 to 2011, we found that about 80-90% of slip on the LVF in the 0-26 km seismogenic depth range is actually aseismic. The clay-rich Lichi M\'elange is identified as the key factor promoting creep at shallow depth. Microstructural investigations show that deformation within the fault zone must have resulted from a combination of frictional sliding at grain boundaries, cataclasis and pressure solution creep. Numerical modeling of earthquake sequences have been performed to investigate the possibility of reproducing the results from the kinematic inversion of geodetic and seismological data on the LVF. We first investigate the different modeling strategy that was developed to explore the role and relative importance of different factors on the manner in which slip accumulates on faults. We compare the results of quasi dynamic simulations and fully dynamic ones, and we conclude that ignoring the transient wave-mediated stress transfers would be inappropriate. We therefore carry on fully dynamic simulations and succeed in qualitatively reproducing the wide range of observations for the southern segment of the LVF. We conclude that the spatio-temporal evolution of fault slip on the Longitudinal Valley Fault over 1997-2011 is consistent to first order with prediction from a simple model in which a velocity-weakening patch is embedded in a velocity-strengthening area.

Raman scattering detection of stacking faults in free-standing cubic-SiC epilayer

We report on stacking fault (SF) detection in free-standing cubic-SiC epilayer by the Raman measurements. The epilayer with enhanced SFs is heteroepitaxially grown by low pressure chemical vapour deposition on a Si(100) substrate and is released in KOH solution by micromechanical manufacture, on which the Raman measurements are performed in a back scattering geometry. The TO line of the Raman spectra is considerably broadened and distorted. We discuss the influence of SFs on the intensity profiles of TO mode by comparing our experimental data with the simulated results based on the Raman bond polarizability (BP) model in the framework of linear-chain concept. Good agreement with respect to the linewidth and disorder-induced peak shift is found by assuming the mean distance of the SFs to be 11 angstrom in the BP model.

Study on the stacking faults in hexagonal GaN grown by epitaxy lateral overgrowth with synchrotron radiation

By means of low temperature photoluminescence and synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction, existence of stacking faults has been determined in epitaxy lateral overgrowth GaN by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition.