MAEX

The aim of the research project, which is carried out in cooperation with AMOtronics UG, was to improve the condition monitoring of rotating and oscillating rolling bearings using acoustic emission technology. With classical methods of condition monitoring, the condition of slowly rotating or oscillating bearings during operation can hardly be determined with a sufficiently long warning time.

This is where the MAEX research project comes in. By early recognition of a developing damage suitable maintenance measures can be accomplished or larger repairs can be planned according to demand. The direct and indirect maintenance costs saved as a result increase the economic efficiency of the plant and consequently the competitiveness of the affected companies.

Early fault detection on slowly rotating or oscillating bearings was carried out with the aid of acoustic emission technology. Typical frequencies of an acoustic emission signal range from >80 kHz to 2 MHz. Due to signal sampling in the two-digit MHz range, large amounts of data (several gigabytes) need to be processed during continuous data recording in a short time. A fundamental goal of MAEX was to reduce these data volumes in real time in order to enable a practical application of Acoustic Emission.

Within the scope of the project a powerful hardware was developed, which is able to process the high amounts of data. In addition, powerful reduction algorithms were developed which enabled data reduction and AE parameter extraction in real time and with a continuous, very high data flow. The main goals of the project were the combination of powerful hardware and the implementation of novel data reduction methods.