Machine Learning and Deep Learning Algorithms for Bearing Fault Diagnostics - A Comprehensive Review

In this survey paper, we systematically summarize the current literature on studies that apply machine learning (ML) and data mining techniques to bearing fault diagnostics. Conventional ML methods, including artificial neural network (ANN), principal component analysis (PCA), support vector machines (SVM), etc., have been successfully applied to detecting and categorizing bearing faults since the last decade, while the application of deep learning (DL) methods has sparked great interest in both the industry and academia in the last five years. In this paper, we will first review the conventional ML methods, before taking a deep dive into the latest developments in DL algorithms for bearing fault applications. Specifically, the superiority of the DL based methods over the conventional ML methods are analyzed in terms of metrics directly related to fault feature extraction and classifier performances; the new functionalities offered by DL techniques that cannot be accomplished before are also summarized. In addition, to obtain a more intuitive insight, a comparative study is performed on the classifier performance and accuracy for a number of papers utilizing the open source Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) bearing data set. Finally, based on the nature of the time-series 1-D data obtained from sensors monitoring the bearing conditions, recommendations and suggestions are provided to applying DL algorithms on bearing fault diagnostics based on specific applications, as well as future research directions to further improve its performance.