Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 128 (2019) 93–109

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ymssp

Time-Frequency demodulation analysis via Vold-Kalman filter

for wind turbine planetary gearbox fault diagnosis under
nonstationary speeds
Zhipeng Feng ⇑, Wenying Zhu, Dong Zhang
School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Wind turbine planetary gearbox fault diagnosis under nonstationary speeds is a challeng-
Received 19 July 2018 ing topic, because of the high complexity and strong time variability of vibration signals. In
Received in revised form 23 December 2018 order to resolve time-varying gear fault features, a quality time-frequency analysis method
Accepted 25 March 2019
is in demand. Time-frequency representations based on Hilbert transform and analytic
signal approach have fine time-frequency resolution, and are free from both outer
(cross-term) and inner (auto-term) interferences, thus providing an effective approach to
Keywords:
nonstationary signal analysis. However, they rely on accurate instantaneous frequency
Planetary gearbox
Fault diagnosis
estimation, and thereby are subject to mono-component constraint. To address this issue,
Vold-Kalman filter Vold-Kalman filter is exploited to construct time-frequency representation, by virtue of its
Time-frequency analysis capability to decompose the multi-component vibration signal of rotating machinery into
Demodulation constituent mono-component harmonic waves. Even so, intricate time-varying sidebands
inherent with raw planetary gearbox vibration signals in joint time-frequency domain
are still a hurdle, because they do not link to gear fault frequency directly. To solve this
problem, the proposed time-frequency analysis method is further extended to generate
time-varying amplitude and frequency demodulated spectra, inspired by the fact that gear
fault frequency is manifested straight by the amplitude and frequency modulating fre-
quencies. The proposed method is illustrated by numerical simulation, and is further val-
idated using lab experimental signals of a wind turbine planetary gearbox. Both the
localized and distributed faults on gears are successfully diagnosed under nonstationary
speeds.
Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Planetary gearboxes are used as a key unit in wind turbine drivetrains. Once a fault occurs to planetary gearboxes, it will
result in transmission inefficiency, or even shutdown of the entire wind turbine. Therefore, fault diagnosis plays an impor-
tant role to maintain reliable and steady operation of wind turbines [1–3].
Planetary gearbox vibration signals have strong modulation features, including both amplitude modulation (AM) and fre-
quency modulation (FM) due to gear faults and/or imperfections, as well as the extra AM effect caused by time-varying
vibration transfer path from sun-planet and planet-ring meshing locations to sensors usually fixed on a stationary gearbox

⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: fengzp@ustb.edu.cn (Z. Feng).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymssp.2019.03.036
0888-3270/Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
94 Z. Feng et al. / Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 128 (2019) 93–109

casing. In time domain, such an AM-FM signal is a product of the AM terms and the FM carrier signal. According to the con-
volution property of Fourier transform, in frequency domain, its Fourier spectrum amounts a spectral convolution of the AM
term and FM carrier signal. In addition, the Fourier spectrum of FM carrier signal alone involves infinite order of Bessel series
expansion. Therefore, planetary gearbox vibration signal spectrum features intricate sideband structure in frequency
domain, but the frequency location of sideband peaks links inexplicitly to gear characteristic frequencies [4,5]. Planetary
gearbox fault diagnosis essentially relies on detecting the presence of or monitoring magnitude changes in these sidebands.
To this end, McFadden [6], McNames [7], and Mosher [8] studied the spectral characteristics of planetary gearbox vibration
signals, and found they are typically asymmetric due to the planet carrier rotation. Inalpolat and Kahraman [9,10] studied
the sidebands of planetary gearbox vibration signals, considering the modulation effects caused by planet carrier rotation
and manufacturing errors of gears. Mark and Hines [11,12] investigated the sideband characteristics caused by non-
uniform planet loading and planet carrier torque modulation. All the above studies focus on steady conditions only, where
running speed and load are constant.
However, in practice, wind turbine planetary gearboxes often work under variable running conditions, due to highly vola-
tile wind velocity and directions, thus resulting in nonstationary vibration signals. Variable running conditions, particularly
unsteady running speeds, lead to time-varying sidebands since gear characteristic frequencies are proportional to gearbox
running speed. Therefore, resolving time-varying sidebands and identifying the associated gear characteristic frequencies
from such nonstationary signals is the key to success in wind turbine planetary gearbox fault diagnosis. Nevertheless, to
our best knowledge, research on this topic has been limited in reported literature. Angular resampling techniques have been
attempted in fixed-shaft gearboxes. For example, Wang et al [13] resampled gearbox vibration signals under time-varying
speeds with the encoder signal as reference, and detected gear tooth root cracks through the envelope spectrum analysis
of angular resampled signals. Singh and Parey [14] converted nonstationary gearbox vibration and sound emission signals
into quasi-stationary signals in the angular domain through independent angular resampling, and extracted gear fault fea-
tures from angular domain averaged signals via wavelet transform. However, angular resampling is unable to separate the
waveform of true order components, and may result in interpolation or undecimation errors. Feng and his colleagues pro-
posed to extract time-variant gear fault frequencies via joint time-frequency analysis including adaptive optimal kernel
[15], and iterative generalized synchrosqueezing transform [16]. These studies aim to resolve fault feature from time-
varying sidebands only, but have enriched the literature on planetary gearbox condition monitoring, and demonstrated
the potential of time-frequency analysis in time-varying gear fault feature extraction under nonstationary conditions.
In order to well resolve time-varying gear fault signatures, quality time-frequency analysis methods are in demand. Gear
fault sidebands are not time-varying only, but also neighbor closely to each other, and even overlap in frequency domain,
particularly during time variant low speed processes. Therefore, fine time-frequency resolution, and free of both outer
(cross-term) and inner (auto-term) interferences are necessary to effectively discern time-varying fault features. Conven-
tional time-frequency analysis methods have some drawbacks. For instance, linear time–frequency representations, such
as short time Fourier transform and wavelet transform, are subject to Heisenberg uncertainty principle, and therefore suffer
from imperfect time–frequency resolution [17,18]. Bilinear time-frequency representations, including Cohen and affine class
distributions based on Wigner-Ville distribution, suffer from outer interferences (cross term) when analyzing multi-
component signals, as well as inner interference when analyzing mono-component signals with nonlinearly time-varying
instantaneous frequencies [17–19].
Hilbert transform based methods offers a high quality of time-frequency representations [17,20]. Given a mono-
component signal, its amplitude envelope and instantaneous frequency can be estimated through Hilbert transform based
analytic signal approach. Joint time-frequency distribution can be derived by allocating signal amplitude or energy to a
time-frequency location specified by time instant and associated instantaneous frequency. This method calculates instanta-
neous frequency as the derivative of a signal local phase, thus highlighting the local characteristics of signals, and featuring
higher time-frequency resolution than linear time-frequency representations (such as short time Fourier transform and
wavelet transform). Moreover, the generated time-frequency distribution is a superposition of all components’ time-
frequency representation, rather than a double integral involving quadratic terms of multiple components (for example
Cohen and affine class distributions). As such, it is free of both outer interferences (existent in bilinear time-frequency rep-
resentation of multi-component signals) and inner interferences (inherent in that of even mono-component signals but with
a nonlinear instantaneous frequency). These merits make Hilbert transform based time-frequency analysis capable of iden-
tifying time-varying intricate sidebands of planetary gearbox vibration signals for fault diagnosis under variable speeds.
Accurate instantaneous frequency estimation is a key factor to construct time-frequency representations via Hilbert
transform. Nevertheless, it is subject to a mono-component condition. Planetary gearbox vibration signals are mainly com-
posed of gear meshing frequency harmonics and associated sidebands with spacing equal to gear characteristic frequencies.
These frequencies are essentially gearbox rotating frequency harmonics, since they are proportional to gearbox speed [4,5].
Under variable speed conditions, they follow the time-varying speed and change over time. Vold-Kalman filter is suited for
harmonic component separation from such time-varying multi-component signals [21–24], thus fulfilling the mono-
component requirement by instantaneous frequency estimation, and thereby enabling construction of quality time-
frequency representations based on Hilbert transform for complex time-varying frequency identification.
However, it is somewhat difficult to extract gear fault feature from intricate time-varying sidebands, because: gear fault
frequency is not indicated by sidebands directly but by the sideband spacing, while sideband spacing may link to irrelevant
sun gear and planet carrier rotating frequencies in addition to gear fault frequency, and even their sum or difference com-
 Z. Feng et al. / Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 128 (2019) 93–109 95

binations [15,16]. Fortunately, the AM and FM parts of planetary gearbox vibration signals contain gear fault information,
because their modulating frequencies relate to gear fault frequency. These modulating frequencies follow proportionally
the gearbox speed, and change over time under variable speeds. To reveal the time-varying modulating frequency, time-
frequency analysis can be applied to amplitude envelope and instantaneous frequency of fault sensitive component. In
time-varying amplitude and frequency demodulated spectra, gear fault signature can be extracted more effectively, thus
avoiding the intricate sideband analysis problem.
In this paper, we propose a quality time-frequency analysis method, and extend it to time-varying amplitude and fre-
quency demodulation analysis, to address nonstationary complex modulation signal analysis issue often encountered in
planetary gearbox fault diagnosis. We separate harmonic components from highly nonstationary planetary gearbox vibra-
tion signals via Vold-Kalman filter for instantaneous frequency estimation, and construct quality time-frequency represen-
tation based on Hilbert transform. Vold-Kalman filter still needs shaft speed information to estimate the instantaneous
frequency profile of harmonic components, while it does not need to resample signals in angle domain. Therefore, the pro-
posed method is free of interpolation or decimation errors. More importantly, it can extract the waveform of harmonic com-
ponents. These are major advantages over angular resampling techniques. We exploit the good time-frequency readability to
pinpoint intricate time-varying sidebands from raw signals, and identify time-varying AM and FM modulating frequencies
from amplitude envelope and instantaneous frequency, for gear fault diagnosis under variable speeds. This paper makes two
major contributions. In terms of time-frequency analysis, our proposed method addresses the open issues inherent with con-
ventional methods, including low time-frequency resolution, and both outer (cross term) and inner (auto term) interfer-
ences. In terms of planetary gearbox fault diagnosis, our proposed time-varying amplitude and frequency demodulation
analysis can extract time-varying gear fault frequencies under variable speeds more effectively, thus overcoming the diffi-
culty caused by time-varying intricate sidebands.
Hereafter, this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 introduces the time–frequency representation, based on Vold-
Kalman filter and Hilbert transform. Section 3 illustrates the principle of proposed method through a numerical simulated
signal analysis. Section 4 validates the proposed method using lab experimental data of a wind turbine planetary gearbox.
Conclusions are drawn in Section 5.

2. Time-frequency representation via Vold-Kalman filter and Hilbert transform

2.1. Vold-Kalman filter

Vold-Kalman filer is suited for separation of rotating frequency harmonics from rotating machinery vibration signals,
however complex the time-varying profile of rotating frequency is. Planetary gearbox vibration signals are mainly composed
of gearbox input/output shaft rotating frequency harmonics, gear characteristic frequency harmonics, and sidebands around
gear meshing frequency harmonics with spacing equal to the gear characteristic frequency. These frequency components are
essentially the harmonics or sub-harmonics of gearbox rotating frequency. Therefore, Vold-Kalman filter can be extended to
separate these frequency components under time-varying speed conditions.
Rotating machinery vibration signals can be modeled as [21–24]
X
1
xðtÞ ¼ Ak ðtÞHk ðtÞ; ð1Þ
k¼1

where the carrier signal

Z t
Hk ðtÞ ¼ exp½jk xðsÞds; ð2Þ
0

k is the harmonic order, Ak ðtÞ the amplitude envelope of kth harmonic component, xðsÞ the instantaneous angular fre-
Rt
quency, and 0 xðsÞds the instantaneous phase.
Because of rotor inertia, the amplitude envelope varies slowly compared with the carrier signal. This means the amplitude
envelope can be approximated by a lower order polynomial. For discrete signals, such a smoothness condition requires a
small repeated difference
rs Ak ðnÞ ¼ ek ðnÞ; ð3Þ
where r denotes the difference operator, s the difference order, and ek ðnÞ a small non-homogeneous term.
Let the difference order s ¼ 2, then Eq. (3) becomes
Ak ðn  1Þ  2Ak ðnÞ þ Ak ðn þ 1Þ ¼ ek ðnÞ: ð4Þ
For real signals, assume Ak ð0Þ ¼ Ak ðN þ 1Þ ¼ 0, then Ak ð0Þ  2Ak ð1Þ þ Ak ð2Þ ¼ 2Ak ð1Þ þ Ak ð2Þ ¼ ek ð1Þ (when n ¼ 1), and
Ak ðN  1Þ  2Ak ðNÞ þ Ak ðN þ 1Þ ¼ Ak ðN  1Þ  2Ak ðNÞ ¼ ek ðNÞ (when n ¼ N, where N is the number of samples, i.e. the signal
length). Under this assumption, Eq. (4) can be rewritten as
96 Z. Feng et al. / Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 128 (2019) 93–109

2 3 2
32 3
2 1 0 Ak ð1Þ
0 ek ð1Þ
6 2 1    0 7 6 7 6 7
6 1 76 Ak ð2Þ 7 6 ek ð2Þ 7
6 .. 76 7 6 7
6 76 Ak ð3Þ 7 6 ek ð3Þ 7
6 0 1 2    . 76 7¼6 7: ð5Þ
6 .. .. .. .. 76 . 7 6 . 7
6 76 . 7 6 . 7
4 . . . . 1 54 . 5 4 . 5
0 0    1 2 Ak ðNÞ ek ðNÞ
Correspondingly, the polynomials at different difference orders can be written as
MA ¼ e; ð6Þ
where M is an N  N matrix.
For a real measured signal yðnÞ, it often consists of several true harmonic components and background noise or measure-
ment error, i.e.
X
yðnÞ  Ak ðnÞHk ðnÞ ¼ dðnÞ; ð7Þ
k

where dðnÞ is the noise or error.

Eq. (7) can be rewritten as
2 3
A1
6A 7
6 27
y  ½ C1 C2    C k 6 7
6 .. 7 ¼ d; ð8Þ
4 . 5
Ak
where
3
2 2 3 2 3 2 3
yð1Þ Hk ð1Þ 0  0 Ak ð1Þ dð1Þ
6 yð2Þ 7 6 0 Hk ð2Þ    0 7 6 A ð2Þ 7 6 dð2Þ 7
6 7 6 7 6 k 7 6 7
y¼6 7 6
6 .. 7; C k ¼ 6 ..
7; Ak ¼ 6 7; and d ¼ 6
6 .. 7:
7 ð9Þ
4 . 5 4 . ... ..
.
..
.
7
5
6 .. 7
4 . 5 4 . 5
yðNÞ 0 0    Hk ðNÞ Ak ðNÞ dðNÞ
For any target harmonic component xk ðnÞ in a rotating machinery vibration signal, its instantaneous frequency profile
xk ðnÞ can be estimated through data fitting to the corresponding time–frequency ridge in conventional time–frequency
analysis result, such as short time Fourier transform [25].
Given the estimated instantaneous frequency xk ðnÞ of each target component xk ðtÞ, the associated carrier signal Hk ðtÞ and
matrix Ck can be derived according to Eqs. (2) and (9).
Introducing a weighting factor r and combining Eqs. (6) and (8), yields
Y  PA ¼ E; ð10Þ
where
2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3
0 rM 0  0 A1 r e1
607 6 0  7 6A 7 6 re 7
6 7 6 rM 0 7 6 27 6 27
Y ¼6 7 6
6 .. 7; P ¼ 6 .. .. .. .. 7; A ¼ 6 . 7 and E ¼ 6 . 7:
7 6 . 7 6 . 7 ð11Þ
4.5 4 . . . . 5 4 . 5 4 . 5
y C1 C2    Ck Ak d
In this paper, following the recommendations in [23], a greater weighting factor of 104 is used to obtain a narrower band-
width, in order for accurate separation of multiple order components.
The amplitude envelope Ak ðtÞ can be derived by minimizing the quadratic sum of the non-homogeneous term e in Eqs.
(3)–(6) and the noise or error term d in Eqs. (7)–(9) by means of least square method

@ðEH EÞ
¼ 0: ð12Þ
@A
where the superscript H denotes conjugate transpose.
According to Eq. (12), the amplitude envelope matrix A of target components can be calculated from

PH PA ¼ PH Y; ð13Þ
Once the amplitude envelope Ak ðtÞ and corresponding carrier signal Hk ðtÞ are known, the target component can be recov-
ered as
xk ðtÞ ¼ Ak ðtÞHk ðtÞ; ð14Þ
 Z. Feng et al. / Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 128 (2019) 93–109 97

or in a matrix form
X ¼ AC ð15Þ

2.2. Time-frequency representation

Quality time-frequency representation and further frequency demodulation relies on accurate estimation of instanta-
neous frequency, so as to reveal the instantaneous frequency ripple around the carrier frequency. However, time-
frequency ridge detection and data fitting roughly estimates the carrier frequency only, but loses instantaneous frequency
rippling details. Therefore, we resort to more accurate estimation based on Hilbert transform, since it cannot reveal the trend
of carrier frequency only, but also the rippling details of instantaneous frequency.
Once a harmonic component xk ðtÞ is separated, its analytic signal can be constructed
^ k ðtÞexp½j/ ðtÞ;
zk ðtÞ ¼ xk ðtÞ þ jHT½xk ðtÞ ¼ A ð16Þ
k

where HTðÞ denotes Hilbert transform, the amplitude envelope

1
^ k ðtÞ ¼ fx2 ðtÞ þ HT2 ½xk ðtÞg2 ;
A ð17Þ
k

and /k ðtÞ is the instantaneous phase.

In practice, the AM part contaminates the carrier signal, if their spectra overlap in frequency domain. To avoid AM and FM
spectral overlap, thus meeting the Nuttall and Bedrosian theorem [26,27] and improving instantaneous frequency estima-
tion, the analytic signal of each separated mono-component is envelope normalized.
zk ðtÞ
^zk ðtÞ ¼ : ð18Þ
^ k ðtÞ
A
The instantaneous phase is calculated as
 
Im½^zk ðtÞ
/k ðtÞ ¼ arctan : ð19Þ
Re½^zk ðtÞ
Then the instantaneous frequency is estimated as the local derivative of the instantaneous phase
d/k ðtÞ
xk ðtÞ ¼ : ð20Þ
dt
Given the amplitude envelope A^ k ðtÞ and instantaneous frequency xk ðtÞ of each harmonic component xk ðtÞ, the time-
frequency representation of component xk ðtÞ can be constructed as
^ k ðtÞd½x  xk ðtÞ:
TFRk ðt; xÞ ¼ A ð21Þ
Correspondingly, the time-frequency representation of raw signal xðtÞ can be derived by superposing all harmonic com-
ponents’ time-frequency representation
X
TFRðt; xÞ ¼ ^ k ðtÞd½x  xk ðtÞ:
A ð22Þ
k

where dðÞ is Dirac delta function.

This time-frequency representation inherits a fine time-frequency resolution from Hilbert transform where the signal
energy is allocated to the instantaneous frequency of each constituent mono-component, and is free from both outer and
inner interferences, because it is a superposition of all constituent mono-components’ time-frequency representation but
does not involve any quadratic terms. These merits make it have good time-frequency readability, and enable effective iden-
tification of time-frequency structure of nonstationary signals.

3. Time-varying sideband and demodulation analysis

The proposed time-frequency analysis offers an effective approach to resolve the frequency contents and their time vari-
ability of planetary gearbox vibration signals under variable speeds. Gear fault can be detected through time-frequency anal-
ysis of time-varying sidebands. However, due to the multiple modulation nature and their time variation, these time-varying
sidebands are highly intricate. Their frequencies do not correspond to gear fault frequency directly, neither does their spac-
ing, but may link to irrelevant gear and/or planet carrier rotating frequencies. Moreover, they change over time along with
variable speed. These factors impose difficulty on fault feature extraction.
Time-varying amplitude and frequency demodulation analysis provide a solution to address the intricate time-varying
sidebands issue. Gear faults lead to modulation effect on both the amplitude envelope and instantaneous frequency of gear
meshing vibrations at gear fault frequency. The AM and FM part alone contain gear fault information, because their modu-
98 Z. Feng et al. / Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 128 (2019) 93–109

lating frequencies relate to gear fault frequency. Therefore, gear fault signature can be extracted by demodulation analysis of
amplitude envelope and instantaneous frequency. More importantly, amplitude or frequency demodulation analysis does
not involve convolution with the carrier signal spectrum, thus being free from intricate sidebands. However, under variable
speeds, gear fault frequency follows proportionally the time-varying speed and change over time, and so do the AM and FM
modulating frequencies. To effectively pinpoint time-varying modulating frequency, the proposed time-frequency analysis
method is extended to analyze the amplitude envelope and instantaneous frequency of fault sensitive component, generat-
ing time-varying amplitude and frequency demodulated spectra.
The proposed time-varying sideband and demodulation analysis consists of the following steps (see also Fig. 1):

(1) Time-varying sideband analysis.

(1.1) Analyze the signal via a conventional time–frequency analysis method such as short time Fourier transform, to identify
the prominent signal components.

(1.2) For the signal components of interest, approximate their time–frequency ridges using data fitting method [25], and
hence estimate their instantaneous frequency profiles as carrier frequencies. Specifically, for the signal components
associated with gear characteristic frequencies, estimate their instantaneous frequency profiles according to their pro-
portionality to the given gearbox rotating speed.

(1.3) Given the estimated carrier frequencies, separate the signal components of interest into mono-components via Vold-
Kalman filter, thus meeting the mono-component requirement by instantaneous frequency estimation based on Hil-
bert transform.

(1.4) Calculate the amplitude envelope of obtained mono-components using Hilbert transform based analytic signal
approach.

Fig. 1. Analysis flowchart.

 Z. Feng et al. / Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 128 (2019) 93–109 99

(1.5) Envelope normalize each mono-component according to equation (18), to avoid spectral overlap between AM term
and carrier signal.

(1.6) Calculate the instantaneous frequency of envelope normalized mono-components using Hilbert transform based ana-
lytic signal approach, according to Eqs. (19) and (20).

(1.7) Construct the time–frequency representation, by superposing the time–frequency representation of all separated
mono-components and according to Eqs. (21) and (22).

(1.8) Identify time-varying frequency components in joint time-frequency domain.

(2) Time-varying amplitude demodulated spectrum analysis.

(2.1) Calculate the amplitude envelope of raw signal using Hilbert transform based analytic signal approach.

(2.2) Treat the amplitude envelope as a signal and apply the proposed time-frequency analysis method to it, obtaining time-
varying amplitude demodulated spectrum.

(2.3) Identify the time-varying AM modulating frequency in joint time-frequency domain.

(3) Time-varying frequency demodulated spectrum analysis.

(3.1) Select a component with a carrier frequency equal to the meshing frequency as a sensitive component.

(3.2) Treat the instantaneous frequency of sensitive component as a signal, and apply the proposed time-frequency analysis
method to it, obtaining time-varying frequency demodulated spectrum.

(3.3) Identify the time-varying FM modulating frequency in joint time-frequency domain.

4. Numerical simulation evaluation

According to the planetary gearbox vibration signal model in [15,16], a signal is generated to simulate the time-varying
modulation phenomenon of planetary gearbox vibrations induced by a sun gear fault based on Eq. (23). Without loss of gen-
erality, we focus only on the fundamental carrier frequency and modulating frequency, i.e. the meshing frequency f m ðtÞ, the
sun gear rotating frequency f sr ðtÞ, and the sun gear fault frequency f s ðtÞ. To simulate a speed-up process, these frequencies
are set as listed in Table 1. A white Gaussian noise nðtÞ is added at a signal-to-noise ratio of 2 dB, to imitate background noise
interferences, andA = 0.9 andB = 0.2.
Z Z Z Z
xðtÞ ¼ f1  cos½2p f sr ðtÞdtgf1 þ Acos½2p f s ðtÞdtgcosf2p f m ðtÞdt þ Bsin½2p f s ðtÞdtg þ nðtÞ: ð23Þ
|fflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflffl{zfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflffl} |fflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflffl{zfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflffl} |fflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflffl{zfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflffl}
AM by sun rotation AM by sun fault FM by sun fault

A synthetic signal is generated and sampled at 2048 Hz for 1 s. Fig. 2 shows the analysis result.
Nine components are roughly identified through short time Fourier transform, see Fig. 2(b). They correspond to f m ðtÞ,
f m ðtÞ  f sr ðtÞ, f m ðtÞ  f s ðtÞ, and f m ðtÞ  f s ðtÞ  f sr ðtÞ, and their instantaneous frequency profiles are thereby estimated through
data fitting to time-frequency ridges. However, due to the limited time-frequency resolution, their time variability details are
not discernible, in particular in the early portion [0, 0.5] s.
For each harmonic component, its carrier frequency is taken as the estimated instantaneous frequency profile. Following
the analysis procedure in Section 3, the synthetic signal is decomposed into nine mono-component harmonics via Vold-
Kalman filter. Furthermore, their amplitude envelope and instantaneous frequency are estimated using Hilbert transform
based analytic signal approach, and the time-frequency representation of each component is constructed. Finally, the
time-frequency representation of raw signal is obtained as a superposition of all the nine harmonic components’ time-
frequency representation. Fig. 2(c) shows the result. It has a fine time–frequency resolution, and is free from both inner
and outer interferences, thus unveiling the time-frequency structure clearly. The time-varying trends of all the nine fre-
quency components are exhibited, even though they are close to each other in the early portion [0, 0.5] s.

Table 1
Frequency parameters of simulated signal.

fsr fs fm
2 2
12.9 t + 20 t + 12 43 t + 66.7 t + 40 215 t2 + 333.3 t + 200
100 Z. Feng et al. / Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 128 (2019) 93–109

6 500
4
400

Frequency[Hz]
Amplitude

0 300

-2 200

-4
100
-6 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 T ime[s]
Time [s]
(d) Wigner-Ville distribution
(a) Waveform
500 500

400 400

Frequency[Hz]
Frequency[Hz]

300
300

200
200

100
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
100
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 T ime[s]
T ime[s] (e) Time-frequency distribution via
(b) Short time Fourier transform Hilbert-Huang Transform
500 200

400 150
Frequency[Hz]
Frequency[Hz]

100
300

50
200
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
100 T ime[s]
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
T ime[s] (f ) Time-varying amplitude demodulated spectrum
(c) Time-frequency distribution via short time Fourier transform
via Vold-Kalman filter

200

150
Frequency[Hz]

100

50

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
T ime[s]
(g) Time-varying amplitude demodulated
spectrum via Vold-Kalman filter
Fig. 2. Simulated signal analysis at SNR = 2 dB.
 Z. Feng et al. / Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 128 (2019) 93–109 101

200 200

150 150
Frequency[Hz]

Frequency[Hz]
fs
100
100

50
50

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 0
T ime[s] 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
T ime[s]
(h) Time-varying amplitude demodulated
(k) Time-varying frequency demodulated
spectrum via Wigner-Ville distribution
spectrum via short time Fourier transform
200 200

150 150
Frequency[Hz]

Frequency[Hz]
fs

100 100

50 50

0 0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
T ime[s] T ime[s]
(l) Time-varying frequency demodulated
(i) Time-varying amplitude demodulated
spectrum via Hilbert-Huang Transform spectrum via Vold-Kalman filter
200
400

350 150
Frequency[Hz]
Frequency[Hz]

300 100

250
T rue 50
200 Ridge fitting
Hilbert transform
0
150 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
T ime[s]
T ime[s]
(m) Time-varying frequency demodulated
(j) Instantaneous frequency estimation spectrum via Wigner-Ville distribution
200

150
Frequency[Hz]

100

50

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
T ime[s]
(n) Time-varying frequency demodulated
spectrum via Hilbert-Huang Transform
Fig. 2 (continued)
102 Z. Feng et al. / Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 128 (2019) 93–109

To avoid intricate sideband analysis, time-varying amplitude demodulated spectrum is generated by applying the pro-
posed time-frequency analysis method to the amplitude envelope of raw signal. Fig. 2(g) shows the result. It clearly exhibits
the time-varying AM modulating frequencies. These include the sun gear fault frequency f s ðtÞ, the sun gear rotating fre-
quency f sr ðtÞ, and their sum and difference combinations f s ðtÞ  f sr ðtÞ.

Table 2
Root mean square errors of instantaneous frequency estimation.

SNR No noise 20 dB 15 dB 10 dB 5 dB 2 dB 0 dB
Hilbert transform 2.86 3.38 4.18 5.77 7.29 8.43 8.80
Ridge fitting 8.41 8.41 8.41 8.41 8.41 8.41 8.41

Fig. 3. Simulated signal analysis at SNR = 0 dB.

 Z. Feng et al. / Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 128 (2019) 93–109 103

To extract gear fault signature more directly, time-varying frequency demodulated spectrum is generated by analyzing
the instantaneous frequency of a separated component through the proposed time-frequency analysis method. Hilbert trans-
form based method is exploited for accurate estimation of instantaneous frequency details. Time-frequency ridge fitting
roughly discovers the varying trend of carrier frequency only, but loses the rippling details of instantaneous frequency.
By contrast, Hilbert transform based method reveals both the trend of carrier frequency and the local ripple details of instan-
taneous frequency, see Fig. 2(j). This guarantees effective frequency demodulation analysis. In terms of root mean square
estimation error, Hilbert transform exhibits almost the same performance as time-frequency ridge fitting under higher noise
levels (such as SNR = 2 dB or 0 dB), and works even better under lower noise levels, as summarized in Table 2. Fig. 2(l) shows
the time-varying frequency demodulated spectrum. Only one time-varying frequency component appears, and it corre-
sponds to the sun gear fault frequency f s ðtÞ.
Comparisons with typical time-frequency analysis methods, i.e. Wigner-Ville distribution and Hilbert-Huang transform,
are conducted to demonstrate the proposed method in avoiding both outer and inner interferences, and overcoming mode
mixing as well. For both the raw signal and its envelope, Wigner-Ville distribution suffers from severe cross-term outer inter-
ferences and auto-term inner interferences due to multi-component nature and nonlinear time-variation of instantaneous
frequency, see Fig. 2(d) and (h). Hilbert-Huang transform fails to pinpoint the true time-frequency structure because of mode
mixing problem due to spectral overlap between multi-components, see Fig. 2(e) and (i). For the instantaneous frequency of
sensitive mono-component, Wigner-Ville distribution still suffers from auto-term inner interference because of nonlinearly

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Fig. 4. Wind turbine drivetrain test rig: (1) motor, (2) tachometer, (3) fixed-shaft gearbox, (4) planetary gearbox stage 1, (5) planetary gearbox stage 2, (6)
accelerometers, (7) brake.

Table 3
Number of gear teeth in fixed-shaft gearbox.

Gear Stage 1 Stage 2

Input 32 –
Intermediate 80 40
Output – 72

Table 4
Number of gear teeth in planetary gearbox.

Gear Stage 1 Stage 2

Ring 100 100
Planet 40 (4) 36 (4)
Sun 20 28

Note: The number of planet gears in the

parenthesis.
104 Z. Feng et al. / Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 128 (2019) 93–109

Fig. 5. Sun gear fault.

time-varying frequency, see Fig. 2(m). Hilbert-Huang transform exhibits almost the same result as the proposed method
thanks to the prior mono-component separation by Vold-Kalman filter, see Fig. 2(n). By contrast, the proposed time-
frequency analysis method, either applied to raw signal, its amplitude envelope or instantaneous frequency, outperforms
the short time Fourier transform, Wigner-Ville distribution and Hilbert-Huang transform counterparts in terms of time-
frequency readability, see Fig. 2(c) vs (b), (d) and (e); Fig. 2(g) vs (f), (h) and (i); Fig. 2(l) vs (k), (m) and (n).
To further demonstrate the robustness of proposed time-frequency analysis and demodulation analysis methods under
strong noise, we increase the noise level in the synthetic signal model, equation (23), to a signal-to-noise ratio of 0 dB.
Fig. 3 shows the results. The intricate sidebands, time-varying amplitude and frequency modulating frequencies are all pin-
pointed through the proposed time-frequency analysis, time-varying amplitude and frequency demodulation analysis meth-
ods respectively too.
In summary, the proposed time-frequency analysis method facilitates resolving the time-frequency structure of nonsta-
tionary signals. The proposed time-varying amplitude and frequency demodulation analysis avoids intricate time-varying
sidebands inherent with planetary gearbox vibration signals, and extracts time-varying gear fault symptoms more straight.

5. Experimental validation

5.1. Experimental setting

The experiments are conducted at University of Ottawa lab. Fig. 4 shows a wind turbine drivetrain test rig. A two-stage
planetary gearbox is driven by an electric motor through a two-stage fixed shaft gearbox, and is applied a 16.3 Nm load by a
magnetic powder brake. For each planetary gearbox stage, the input shaft connects to the sun gear, and the output shaft con-
nects to the planet carrier. Tables 3 and 4 list gear configuration of the fixed shaft gearbox and the planetary gearbox respec-
tively. Three groups of tests are carried out: baseline case when all gears are healthy, sun gear wear case when stage 1 sun
gear has wear on every tooth, and sun gear chipping case when stage 2 sun gear has a chipped tooth. Fig. 5(a) and (b) show
the sun gear fault of stages 1 and 2 respectively.
Accelerometers are mounted on the top of planetary gearbox casing, and vibration signals are collected at a sampling fre-
quency of 20,000 Hz. During speed-down processes, the electric motor speed reduces continuously from 60 Hz to approxi-
mately 40 Hz, and the corresponding blade speed changes from 0.486 Hz to 0.324 Hz, within the typical rated speed range of
real world wind turbine blades. In the meantime, the electric motor speed is recorded at a sampling frequency of 20 Hz.

Table 5
Planetary gearbox characteristic frequencies.

Frequency Stage 1 Stage 2

Meshing fm(t) (100/27) fd(t) (175/216) fd(t)
Sun rotation fsr(t) (2/9) fd(t) (1/27) fd(t)
Planet carrier rotation fc(t) (1/27) fd(t) (7/864) fd(t)
Sun fault fs(t) (20/27) fd(t) (175/1512) fd(t)
Planet fault fp(t) (5/54) fd(t) (175/7776) fd(t)
Ring fault fr(t) (4/27) fd(t) (7/216) fd(t)
 Z. Feng et al. / Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 128 (2019) 93–109 105

0.04

0.02
Amplitude [m/s2]

-0.02

-0.04
0 1 2 3 4
T ime [s]
(a) Waveform

Fig. 6. Baseline signal analysis.

106 Z. Feng et al. / Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 128 (2019) 93–109

Fig. 7. Stage 1 sun gear wear signal analysis.

Z. Feng et al. / Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 128 (2019) 93–109 107

Fig. 8. Stage 2 sun gear chipping signal analysis.

108 Z. Feng et al. / Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 128 (2019) 93–109

Given the electric motor speed fd(t) at any time t and the gearbox configuration, the characteristic frequencies of plane-
tary gearboxes can be calculated [4,5] as listed in Table 5. These frequencies will be traced to diagnose gear faults.

5.2. Baseline case

Fig. 6 displays the baseline signal analysis result. In the short time Fourier transform, Fig. 6 (c1) and (c2), prominent com-
ponents correspond to the electric motor frequency and its twice f d ðtÞ and 2f d ðtÞ, the sun gear rotating frequency of plan-
etary gearbox stage 1 f sr1 ðtÞ, as well as combinations of the meshing frequency f m1 ðtÞ, the sun gear fault frequency f s1 ðtÞ and
rotating frequency f sr1 ðtÞ of planetary gearbox stage 1, for example f m1 ðtÞ  f s1 ðtÞ and f m1 ðtÞ þ 2f s1 ðtÞ  f sr1 ðtÞ. In Fig. 6 (c1),
only the dominant components, f m1 ðtÞ  f s1 ðtÞ and f m1 ðtÞ þ 2f s1 ðtÞ  f sr1 ðtÞ, exhibit strong magnitude continuously during
the whole speed-down process. Other components present prominent magnitude in early portion of the speed-down process
only, but their latent trends can still be predicted based on their proportionality to the electric motor frequency.
Given the time-frequency ridges of these components and their estimated carrier frequencies, these components are sep-
arated via Vold-Kalman filter. Fig. 6(d) presents the time–frequency representation of raw signal obtained via the proposed
method. Thanks to the good time–frequency readability, the prominent components and their variability are clearly uncov-
ered. Five prominent components appear in the frequency range [0, 500] Hz. They link to the electric motor frequency f d ðtÞ
and its twice 2f d ðtÞ, and the gear characteristic frequencies of planetary gearbox stage 1, such as the sun gear rotating fre-
quency f sr1 ðtÞ, the meshing frequency minus the sun gear fault frequency f m1 ðtÞ  f s1 ðtÞ, the meshing frequency plus twice
the sun gear fault frequency minus the sun gear rotating frequency f m1 ðtÞ þ 2f s1 ðtÞ  f sr1 ðtÞ. Due to inevitable manufacturing
and/or assembly errors, the existence of sidebands relevant to the sun gear fault frequency is reasonable.
Applying the proposed time-frequency analysis method to the amplitude envelope of raw signal and the instantaneous
frequency of sensitive component, yield the time-varying amplitude and frequency demodulated spectra, as displayed in
Fig. 6(f) and (h) respectively. They reveal the time-varying AM and FM modulating frequency clearly. The electric motor fre-
quency and its harmonics up to the fifth order ð1  5Þf d ðtÞ dominate the AM and FM parts. None of these frequencies relate
to any gear fault signature. This indicates nonexistence of gear faults in the planetary gearbox.

5.3. Sun gear wear case

Fig. 7 presents the stage 1 sun gear wear signal analysis result. Following the analysis procedure, the time-frequency dis-
tribution of raw signal, time-varying amplitude and frequency demodulated spectra via Vold-Kalman filter are generated, as
shown in Fig. 7(d), (f) and (h) respectively. In Fig. 7(d), more sideband emerge, and they all relate to the stage 1 sun gear
characteristic frequency, such as the meshing frequency f m1 ðtÞ, the meshing frequency minus and/or plus the sun gear fault
frequency harmonics (for instance f m1 ðtÞ  f s1 ðtÞ and f m1 ðtÞ þ 3f s1 ðtÞ), and the meshing frequency minus or plus a sum or dif-
ference of the sun gear fault frequency and rotating frequency harmonics (for example f m1 ðtÞ  2f s1 ðtÞ  f sr1 ðtÞ and
f m1 ðtÞ þ 2f s1 ðtÞ  f sr1 ðtÞ).
In Fig. 7(f) and (h), more frequency components are present, in addition to the electric motor frequency f d ðtÞ. They link to
the stage 1 sun gear fault frequency harmonics kf s1 ðtÞ, its rotating frequency harmonics lf sr1 ðtÞ, and their sum or difference
combinations kf s1 ðtÞ  lf sr1 ðtÞ. Most of these components relate to the stage 1 sun gear, implying fault existence on stage 1
sun gear.

5.4. Stage 2 sun gear chipping case

Fig. 8 presents the stage 2 sun gear chipping signal analysis result. Following the analysis procedure in Section 3, the
time-frequency distribution of raw signal, amplitude envelope and instantaneous frequency of sensitive component are
obtained, as displayed by Fig. 8(d), (f) and (h) respectively. In Fig. 8(d), except the electric motor frequency f d ðtÞ, the
time-varying sidebands (i.e. f m2 ðtÞ  2f sr2 ðtÞ  3f s2 ðtÞ and f m2 ðtÞ þ 2f s2 ðtÞ) have a common term equal to the stage 2 sun gear
fault frequency f s2 ðtÞ. Fig. 8(f) and (h) show a similar time-frequency structure. The prominent time-varying frequencies
amount the stage 2 sun gear rotating frequency f sr2 ðtÞ, and five times the stage 2 sun gear fault frequency plus the rotating
frequency 5f s2 ðtÞ þ f sr2 ðtÞ. They all relate to the stage 2 sun gear, indicating fault occurrence on stage 2 sun gear.
For the two sun gear fault cases, more frequency components appear in both the time–frequency representations of raw
signals and the time-varying amplitude demodulated spectrum, and most of them link to the gear fault frequency. In the
time-varying frequency demodulated spectrum, the discovered frequency components do not correspond to the gear fault
frequency and its harmonics only, but also link to the gear rotating frequency. This is most likely because of the FM effect
due to gear imperfections at the gear rotating frequency. Anyway, gear fault can be diagnosed by combining the findings
from time-varying sidebands, AM and FM modulating frequency analyses.

6. Conclusions

Vold-Kalman filter is capable of separating harmonic components of rotating machinery vibration signals, thus providing
an effective approach to estimate instantaneous frequency and thereby construct quality time-frequency representations
 Z. Feng et al. / Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 128 (2019) 93–109 109

based on Hilbert transform. Such time-frequency analysis method offers a solution to resolve intricate time-varying side-
bands of planetary gearbox vibration signals under time variant speeds. Time-varying amplitude and frequency demodu-
lated spectra, derived by applying the proposed method to the amplitude envelope of raw signal and the instantaneous
frequency of sensitive component, can avoid intricate sideband analysis, and discern the AM and FM modulating frequency
effectively. Gear faults are manifested by the sidebands, AM and FM modulating frequency, and therefore can be diagnosed
through the proposed time-frequency analysis, time-varying amplitude and frequency demodulation analysis.
The proposed time-frequency analysis method is based on Vold-Kalman filter, which is effective in extracting the integer
and fractional harmonics of a frequency component, and even crossing frequency components. Therefore, it is effective in
analyzing signals whose major components are proportional to each other in terms of instantaneous frequency. However,
its capability to extract impulsive components has not been validated. This is the main limitation. Nevertheless, the major
frequency components of most rotating machinery (such as gearboxes, rolling bearings and rotors) vibration signals are pro-
portional to the rotating frequency. As such, the proposed method can be also used to analyze the vibration signal of fixed-
shaft gearboxes, rolling bearings and rotors.

Acknowledgement

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51875034, 51475038).

References

[1] S. Kandukuri, A. Klausen, H. Karimi, A review of diagnostics and prognostics of low-speed machinery towards wind turbine farm-level health
management, Renewable Sustainable Energy Rev. 53 (2016) 697–708.
[2] P.D. Samuel, D.J. Pines, A review of vibration-based techniques for helicopter transmission diagnostics, J. Sound Vib. 282 (1–2) (2005) 475–508.
[3] Y. Lei, J. Lin, M.J. Zuo, Z. He, Condition monitoring and fault diagnosis of planetary gearboxes: a review, Measurement 48 (2014) 292–305.
[4] Z. Feng, M. Zuo, Vibration signal models for fault diagnosis of planetary gearboxes, J. Sound Vib. 331 (22) (2012) 4919–4939.
[5] Z. Feng, M. Liang, Y. Zhang, S. Hou, Fault diagnosis for wind turbine planetary gearboxes via demodulation analysis based on ensemble empirical mode
decomposition and energy separation, Renewable Energy 47 (2012) 112–126.
[6] P.D. McFadden, J.D. Smith, An explanation for the asymmetry of the modulation sidebands about the tooth meshing frequency in epicyclic gear
vibration, Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng. 199 (C1) (1985) 65–70.
[7] J. McNames, Fourier series analysis of epicyclic gearbox vibration, J. Vib. Acoust.-Trans. ASME 24 (2002) 150–152.
[8] M. Mosher, Understanding vibration spectra of planetary gear systems for fault detection, Proc. ASME Des. Eng. Tech. Conf. (2003) 1–8.
[9] M. Inalpolat, A. Kahraman, A theoretical and experimental investigation of modulation sidebands of planetary gear sets, J. Sound Vib. 323 (2009) 677–
696.
[10] M. Inalpolat, A. Kahraman, A dynamic model to predict modulation sidebands of a planetary gear set having manufacturing errors, J. Sound Vib. 329
(2010) 371–393.
[11] W.D. Mark, J.A. Hines, Stationary transducer response to planetary-gear vibration excitation with non-uniform planet loading, Mech. Syst. Sig. Process.
23 (2009) 1366–1381.
[12] W. D. Mark, Stationary transducer response to planetary-gear vibration excitation II: Effects of torque modulations, 2009, Vol. 23: 2253-2259.
[13] A. Singh, A. Parey, Gearbox fault diagnosis under non-stationary conditions with independent angular re-sampling technique applied to vibration and
sound emission signals, Appl. Acoust. 144 (2019) 11–22.
[14] L. Wang, Y. Shao, P. Sun, C. Gu, B. Zhou, Local fault diagnosis of non-stationary gearbox based on order envelope analysis, Int. J. COMADEM 20 (4) (2017)
1–9.
[15] Z. Feng, M. Liang, Fault diagnosis of wind turbine planetary gearbox under nonstationary conditions via adaptive optimal kernel time–frequency
analysis, Renewable Energy 66 (3) (2014) 468–477.
[16] Z. Feng, X. Chen, M. Liang, Iterative generalized synchrosqueezing transform for fault diagnosis of wind turbine planetary gearbox under nonstationary
conditions, Mech. Syst. Sig. Process. 52–53 (2015) 360–375.
[17] Z. Feng, M. Liang, F. Chu, Recent advances in time–frequency analysis methods for machinery fault diagnosis: A review with application examples,
Mech. Syst. Sig. Process. 38 (1) (2013) 165–205.
[18] F. Hlawatsch, G. Boudreaux-Bartels, Linear and quadratic time-frequency signal representations, IEEE Signal Process Mag. 9 (2) (1992) 21–67.
[19] L. Cohen, Time-frequency distributions-a review, Proc. IEEE 77 (7) (1989) 941–981.
[20] N.E. Huang, Z. Shen, S.R. Long, et al, The empirical mode decomposition and the Hilbert spectrum for nonlinear and nonstationary time series analysis,
Proc. Royal Society London Series A 454 (1998) 903–995.
[21] H. Vold, H. Herlufsen, M. Mains, D. Corwin-Renner, Multi axle order tracking with the Vold-Kalman tracking filter, Sound Vibration 31 (5) (1997) 30–
34.
[22] H. Herlufsen, H. Konstantin-Hansen, H. Vold, Characteristics of the Vold-Kalman Order Tracking Filter, Sound Vibration 33 (4) (1999) 34–44.
[23] M.-Ch. Pan, Y.-F. Lin, Further exploration of Vold–Kalman-filtering order tracking with shaft-speed information—I: theoretical part, numerical
implementation and parameter investigations, Mech. Syst. Sig. Process. 20 (2006) 1134–1154.
[24] M.-Ch. Pan, Y.-F. Lin, Further exploration of Vold–Kalman-filtering order tracking with shaft-speed information—II: engineering applications, Mech.
Syst. Sig. Process. 20 (2006) 1410–1428.
[25] D. Iatsenko, P.V.E. McClintock, A. Stefanovska, Extraction of instantaneous frequencies from ridges in time–frequency representations of signals, Signal
Process. 125 (2016) 290–303.
[26] A.H. Nuttall, E. Bedrosian, On the quadrature approximation on the Hilbert transform of modulated signals, Proc. IEEE 54 (1966) 1458–1459.
[27] N.E. Huang, Z. Wu, S.R. Long, et al, On instantaneous frequency, Adv. Adapt. Data Anal. 1 (2) (2009) 177–229.