Bearing & Gearbox Fault Diagnosis
Course Overview
This specialized course covers vibration-based detection and diagnosis of rolling-element bearing and gearbox faults. Participants learn how defect frequencies are generated, how fault signatures develop, and how operating speed, load, lubrication, installation, and signal quality affect diagnostic results.
The course provides a practical framework for selecting suitable analytical techniques, including conventional spectrum analysis, time waveform analysis, enveloping, demodulation, and trending. Industrial examples are used to distinguish genuine defects from misleading spectral patterns.
Key Learning Objectives
Participants will learn how to:
- Identify bearing and gearbox fault frequencies
- Recognize early- and advanced-stage bearing damage
- Apply envelope analysis and demodulation correctly
- Interpret gear-mesh frequencies and sidebands
- Distinguish lubrication, installation, and mechanical defects
- Evaluate fault progression and maintenance priority
Course Content
- Rolling-element bearing construction and operation
- Bearing defect-frequency calculations
- BPFO, BPFI, BSF, and FTF interpretation
- Bearing fault-development stages
- Impacting, modulation, and resonance effects
- Envelope and high-frequency analysis
- Time waveform indicators of bearing damage
- Lubrication, contamination, and installation problems
- Electrical damage and fluting patterns
- Gear types and gearbox kinematics
- Gear-mesh frequency and harmonics
- Gear-related sideband interpretation
- Tooth wear, eccentricity, backlash, and broken-tooth faults
- Shaft, bearing, and gear interactions
- Planetary gearbox diagnostic principles
- Effects of changing speed and load
- Severity assessment and condition trending
- Bearing and gearbox case studies
Who Should Attend?
Vibration analysts, gearbox specialists, maintenance engineers, reliability engineers, condition monitoring technicians, and personnel responsible for bearing and gearbox inspection.