The combined use of order tracking techniques for enhanced Fourier analysis of order components

Order tracking is one of the most important vibration analysis techniques for diagnosing faults in rotating machinery. It can be performed in many different ways, each of these with distinct advantages and disadvantages. However, in the end the analyst will often use Fourier analysis to transform the data from a time series to frequency or order spectra. It is therefore surprising that the study of the Fourier analysis of order-tracked systems seems to have been largely ignored in the literature. This paper considers the frequently used Vold–Kalman filter-based order tracking and computed order tracking techniques. The main pros and cons of each technique for Fourier analysis are discussed and the sequential use of Vold–Kalman filtering and computed order tracking is proposed as a novel idea to enhance the results of Fourier analysis for determining the order components. The advantages of the combined use of these order tracking techniques are demonstrated numerically on an SDOF rotor simulation model. Finally, the approach is also demonstrated on experimental data from a real rotating machine.