A New Automated Classification Framework for Gear Fault Diagnosis Using Fourier–Bessel Domain-Based Empirical Wavelet Transform

Gears are the most important parts of a rotary system, and they are used for mechanical power transmission. The health monitoring of such a system is needed to observe its effective and reliable working. An approach that is based on vibration is typically utilized while carrying out fault diagnostics on a gearbox. Using the Fourier–Bessel series expansion (FBSE) as the basis for an empirical wavelet transform (EWT), a novel automated technique has been proposed in this paper, with a combination of these two approaches, i.e., FBSE-EWT. To improve the frequency resolution, the current empirical wavelet transform will be reformed utilizing the FBSE technique. The proposed novel method includes the decomposition of different levels of gear crack vibration signals into narrow-band components (NBCs) or sub-bands. The Kruskal–Wallis test is utilized to choose the features that are statistically significant in order to separate them from the sub-bands. Three classifiers are used for fault classification, i.e., random forest, J48 decision tree classifiers, and multilayer perceptron function classifier. A comparative study has been performed between the existing EWT and the proposed novel methodology. It has been observed that the FBSE-EWT with a random forest classifier shows a better gear fault detection performance compared to the existing EWT.