Embedded FBG sensor system for cylindrical roller bearing condition monitoring

Rolling bearings are widely used in products and machinery with rotational motion due to their low rolling friction. Recently, integrating advanced sensor units in the bearings is in a rising demand due to the market requirements. In addition, the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT) has encouraged the real-time monitoring of connected equipment and machinery. However, there are still limitations for the current smart bearings, such as, lacking sensitivity considering the fault prediction, complicated structure, and so on. In order to meet the market demands, our project is going to develop a smart bearing by embedding the FBG optical fiber into the outer ring of the bearing, which can sensitively detect the strain data, thus realize high sensitivity for real-time fault diagnosis. Meanwhile, the structure of the embedded FBG bearing is simple and feasible for manufacturing. FBG optical fiber can collect information including temperature, rotation speed, strain/force, and so on of the bearings simultaneously. Currently, our smart bearing project is under lab test and simulation stage. The results meet our expectation so far. We plan to fulfill the embedded FBG optical fiber smart bearing design as a single unit and check the manufacturing feasibility for the next stage.

Faculty Supervisor:

Xihui Liang

Student:

Partner:

North Forge

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Education; Management of companies and enterprises; Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Manitoba

Program: