Determining the start to degradation time of bearings using the improved diversity entropy

Abstract Rolling element bearing is an essential part of rotating components. If the rolling element bearing is broken, it may cause damage to the system and even pose a threat to life health, and property safety. Therefore, the rolling element bearing’s health condition needs to be monitored and forecasted, thereby reducing unplanned downtime and improving bearing productivity. It is also important to determine the start to degradation time (SDT) when monitoring and predicting the condition of rolling bearings. Determining the SDT can help monitor the degradation process of the bearing so that it can be repaired or replaced in time. To facilitate the determination of the SDT of the bearing, a new method is proposed to adaptively determine the SDT of rolling element bearings by using the improved diversity entropy. In this way, early warning signs can be provided on time by determining the SDT. The run to failure experimental results show that the proposed improved diversity entropy method based determination of rolling bearing’s SDT has broad application prospects.