Bearing noise test station

When it makes sense

Sorting by ear reaches its limit

Sorting bearings by ear, or against one broadband vibration limit, misses many faults. A dedicated station makes sense when:

An operator sorts parts by ear or by one broadband vibration limit today.
A bearing fault that passed inspection shows up later as a field warranty claim.
Every bearing, or every assembly that holds one, needs the same check before it ships.

Hardware

What the station uses

The bearing, or the assembly around it, spins under a drive. A vibration sensor or a microphone and a speed reference feed the OpenEOL workflow, which turns the signal into a pass or fail result.

The test

How the test works

Spin the bearing, or the assembly that holds it, at a constant test speed.
Record the vibration or the sound together with the speed reference.
Calculate the fault frequencies from the bearing geometry, and run the envelope analysis.
Compare the envelope energy at the fault frequencies with the limit, and store the result with the serial number.

Software

The open-source software behind it

Your plantReceives the results

MES and quality databaseResults over OPC UA, MQTT or SQL

OpenEOLRuns the workflow

Task engine Open sourceRuns the spin test and the analysis step by step

GUI framework Open sourceOperator screens with live data and the result

Reports and database Open sourceOne record for each bearing or assembly

AnalysisGrades the bearing

pyBearing fault frequencies Open sourceFault frequencies from bearing geometry or a bundled database

pyBearing envelope analysis Open sourceHilbert envelope with an automatic search for the best demodulation band

Pass or fail limitEnvelope energy at the fault frequencies, checked against a limit

DriversTalk to the hardware

OpenEOL IO drivers Open sourceNI DAQmx, Dewesoft or other OpenEOL drivers for the sensor and the speed reference

pyBearing runs inside the OpenEOL workflow, so your engineers can read and change every step. The program itself is built for each project on top of it.

Related use cases

Other rotating machine tests

Electric motor end-of-line test bench

NVH and functional checks on every motor before it ships, with the bearing scalar as one input.

Details

Fan end-of-line test rig

Airflow, noise and vibration checked on every fan, with bearing condition as one of the limits.

Industrial gearbox noise test bench

Gear mesh and bearing frequencies checked together on a loaded or unloaded test bench.