The Fault Diagnosis of Rolling Bearings Is Conducted by Employing a Dual-Branch Convolutional Capsule Neural Network

Currently, many fault diagnosis methods for rolling bearings based on deep learning are facing two main challenges. Firstly, the deep learning model exhibits poor diagnostic performance and limited generalization ability in the presence of noise signals and varying loads. Secondly, there is incomplete utilization of fault information and inadequate extraction of fault features, leading to the low diagnostic accuracy of the model. To address these problems, this paper proposes an improved dual-branch convolutional capsule neural network for rolling bearing fault diagnosis. This method converts the collected bearing vibration signals into grayscale images to construct a grayscale image dataset. By fully considering the types of bearing faults and damage diameters, the data are labeled using a dual-label format. A multi-scale convolution module is introduced to extract features from the data and maximize feature information extraction. Additionally, a coordinate attention mechanism is incorporated into this module to better extract useful channel features and enhance feature extraction capability. Based on adaptive fusion between fault type (damage diameter) features and labels, a dual-branch convolutional capsule neural network model for rolling bearing fault diagnosis is established. The model was experimentally validated using both Case Western Reserve University’s bearing dataset and self-made datasets. The experimental results demonstrate that the fault type branch of the model achieves an accuracy rate of 99.88%, while the damage diameter branch attains an accuracy rate of 99.72%. Both branches exhibit excellent classification performance and display robustness against noise interference and variable working conditions. In comparison with other algorithm models cited in the reference literature, the diagnostic capability of the model proposed in this study surpasses them. Furthermore, the generalization ability of the model is validated using a self-constructed laboratory dataset, yielding an average accuracy rate of 94.25% for both branches.