Continuous-scale mathematical morphology-based optimal scale band demodulation of impulsive feature for bearing defect diagnosis

Integer-scale structuring element is usually used in the traditional mathematical morphology (MM) for signal processing. When applied for impulsive feature demodulation of vibration signal of rolling element bearings, the integer-scale MM (ISMM) may lead to low resolution result and thus undermines its defect diagnosis capability. For this reason, this paper proposes a continuous-scale MM (CSMM) scheme by interpolation and re-sampling to improve scale resolution for more reliable fault signature extraction. Based on the frequency domain kurtosis criterion, a narrowband merging operation is employed to locate the optimal scale band that best reflects the impulsive feature from the CSMM analysis results. The demodulated components in the optimal scale band are employed to detect the existence of the bearing fault. The proposed optimal CSMM demodulation technique is evaluated using both simulated and experimental bearing vibration signals. The results show that, the CSMM is capable of generating demodulation signals with higher resolution, and the optimal scale band demodulation based on the CSMM can reliably extract impulsive features for bearing defect diagnosis.