Rotor Fault Diagnosis Method Using CNN-Based Transfer Learning with 2D Sound Spectrogram Analysis

This study discusses a failure detection algorithm that uses frequency analysis and artificial intelligence to determine whether a rotor used in an industrial setting has failed. A rotor is a standard component widely used in industrial sites, and continuous friction and corrosion frequently result in motor and bearing failures. As workers inspecting failure directly are at risk of serious accidents, an automated environment that can operate unmanned and a system for accurate failure determination are required. This study proposes an algorithm to detect faults by introducing convolutional neural networks (CNNs) after converting the fault sound from the rotor into a spectrogram through STFT analysis and visually processing it. A binary classifier for distinguishing between normal and failure states was added to the output part of the neural network structure used, which was based on the transfer learning methodology. We mounted the proposed structure on a designed embedded system to conduct performance discrimination experiments and analyze various outcome indicators using real-world fault data from various situations. The analysis revealed that failure could be detected in response to various normal and fault sounds of the field system and that both training and validation accuracy were greater than 99%. We further intend to investigate artificial intelligence algorithms that train and learn by classifying fault types into early, middle, and late stages to identify more specific faults.