ON-BOARD REAL-TIME RAILROAD BEARING DEFECT DETECTION AND MONITORING

William H. Sneed
Transportation Technology Center, Inc.
Pueblo, Colorado 81001
(719) 584-0746 F ~ (71
x 9) 584-0770
Richard L. Smith
North-South-East-West / 4 Nottingham Way North
Clifton Park, NY 12065
NSEW Q NYCAP.RR.COM
(518) 877-6085

ABSTRACT
For several years, the Association of American Railroads
(AAR) has been developing new techniques to detect defective
roller bearings as part of their new generation wayside acoustic
detector program. This paper reviews thermal and vibration data
collected f?om on-board a test train used to simulate railroad
revenue service conditions during the test program. The train tests
were carried out by Transportation Technology Center now known
as Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI), a subsidiary of
the AAR, at the Transportation Technology Center (TTC), Pueblo,
Colorado in November 1996.

each year in spite of important changes to industry-wide bearing

reconditioning standards and an extensive network of hot bearing
detectors. Costly bearing related derailments have remained
relatively constant for the past ten years.
Mared wayside bearing detectors have been used for four
decades to notify train crews of freight car bearings that are at an
incipient burn-off temperature. In the latter stages of an incipient
thermal failure, bearings generate intense heat as they continue to
degenerate. When this happens, overheated bearings may be
caught if they happen to pass a wayside hot bearing detector
(HBD) site. If a detector is not in close proximity to the overheated
bearing, it will burn-off and cause a derailment. Early detection of
intemal bearing defects with on-board sensors could avoid some of
these derailments: thereby permitting efficient preventative
maintenance instead of creating costly stoppages on heavily
traveled rail rights of way.

Of all the bearing defect types to be detected, one of the most

challenging is that of a bearing with a loose inner raceway
commonly referred to as a spun cone. Normal roller bearings have
press fit inner raceways that keep them from rotating or sliding
about the axle. However, the spun cone bearing has lost its tight
press fit and can slowly rotate about the axle journal axis. The spun
cone bearing defect is suspected to be the cause of many of todays
confirmed hot bearing setouts. This paper compares both thermal
and vibration data from bearings with no intemal defects to those
with spun cones, broken rollers, and water etched surfaces.

The AAR has recently completed research on the

characterization of a variety of bearing defect types and schemes for
detecting their presence, and severity. With the conclusion of the
development effort, the AAR published documentation2 on the
vibration characteristics of several major bearing defect types. The
recently published data were collected under both laboratory and
simulated revenue service conditions and show promise for use in
the design of new active wayside acoustic monitoring systems.

INTRODUCTION
The AAR has recently supported research programs to develop
techniques for improved wayside bearing defect detection. A
primary goal of the research is to reduce derailments caused by
defective bearings and to minimize train stoppages caused by real
or false wayside detector hits. About 50 bearing burn-offs occur

During 1997 electronic assisted braking systems were proven

reliable and show promise of industry-wide installation in the near
future. With this technology comes the potential of deploying smart

149

The test train included a variety of equipment and

configuration setup. Two bearing sizes, Class 8 (6xll) and
Class P (6-1/T7x12)were deployed in the test cars. The train
consist was made up of both empty and loaded cars. Empty cars
had approximately 8,000 pounds per beanng of applied load;
33000 pounds per
whereas, loaded cars
bearing. The test train
mph.

on-board sensors for full real-time bearing failure protection. If

these devices can be installed and maintained for acceptable
investment levels, thelr advantage may outweigh even the new
wayside systems being proposed. If real-time on-board ralcar
diagnoshcs is the future, the work presented here will ultimately be
more than of passing interest to system designers.

0N-B0ARD M0NIT0RING TESTS

Fi,wes 1 and 2 consist of eight seconds of vibration data
collected from sensors mounted on adapters located directly over
four test beanngs. The defective spun cone signature in the lower
half of the plot has a distinct modulated character that is not present
in the vibratlon signature of the upper good bearing trace.
Figure 2 shows vibration signatures from two other bearing defects.

TEST BEARING DEFECTS AND DIMENSIONS

The test train was assembled using 18 test bearings
previously evaluated under laboratory conditions. The
condition of the test bearings ranged from like-new to fully
degraded. The range of defects included those commonly found
and removed from rail service. The itemized list of defects and
dimensions associated with each test bearing i s provided in
Table 1.

Time Based Acceleration Signal

Table I Test Bearings by Number and Defect

Bearinf Descri~tion11-7 Size F / 8-16 Size E)

$&k
1
2
3
4

Good Bearing

5
6
7
8

I
I

Spun Cone

9
10
11

Figure 1. Vibrations from Bearing Mounted

Accelerometers

12
13
14
15
16
17
18

TimeI Based Acceleration Signal

Water Etched

I
I

Bearing Class

Figure 2. Vibrations from Bearing Mounted

Accelerometers

150

Units
-

Size

6;

Typical Car Load

Number of Rollers (N)
Roller Diameter
Roller Pitch Diameter
Cone Bore (Diameter
Cup Outside Diamet
Bearing Width
!hIncluded Cup Angl
Typical Wheel Diameter

70

tons

24

each

11

inches

0.84235

7.99057

7 09460

inches

BEARING DATA ANALYSIS AND TEST RESULTS

All bearing vibration data was processed using a technique
referred to as envelope detection in which lower frequency
defective bearing component rotational information is extracted
from the higher frequency carrier vibrations2. Envelope
processing has a distinct capability of revealing the presence of
very small modulating signals even when large amounts of
noise are present. Envelope processing is an effective bearing
diagnostic tool.
Field testing involved 49 train runs past the wayside
monitoring station. On-board bearing vibrations were recorded
during each run through the wayside station. Four of the test
bearings contained spun cone defects. Figure 3 is a comparison
of the average spectra (after enveloping) from runs 27 through
49. The trend is obvious, bearings with spun cone defects
vibrate at higher levels than good bearings in the range of
frequencies from 0-187 Hz. This is consistent with results
obtained from the laboratory spun cone test^^-^

c
0

.-c.
2

.-a

-3.15

m
0

-4.50
I

1.35

1.50

1.65

1.80

Log Speed in MPH

Figure 4. Comparison of Vibration Levels from Two

Bearings
Figure 5 presents a summary of temperatures observed for
several runs and bearings. Thermocouples were attached
directly to the outer casing of each test bearing. The trend of
temperature with increased running speed is positive. As
expected, higher train speeds provided hotter outer race
operating temperatures. Here the trend line was computed and
for the operating speeds reviewed, the bearing outer race
temperature increased by 1.5F for every mile-per-hour
increase in running speed. The various runs, car loads, bearing
sizes, and variety of defective bearings provide some data
scatter. The trend is clear, however, and the 1.5Frise per mph
might be considered as a simple expected rule of thumb.

Spectral Averages of 18 Test Runs

zI

Spun Cone
-3.00

Frequency (O- 187 Hz)

Bearing Temperature Vs Speed

Figure 3. Comparison of Spun Cone and Good
Bearing Spectra Vibration vs. Speed

The test train schedule called for speeds from 25 to over 70

mph during the investigation. Figure 4 is a trace showing the
dependence of vibration on speed, as well as, on the presence
of the spun cone defect. The plot is derived from 49 separate
test runs6.. A best fit to the data from the two bearings is drawn
as a straight line through the points. There is a decade (1O:l)
separation between the vibration levels generated by the two
bearings. The increasing trend of vibration with speed is
common to all three bearing defect types examined on-board;
i.e., spun cones, damaged roller, and water etched.

+
30

45

60

75

Train Speed MPH

The various tests produced a range of bearing operating

temperatures. In most cases a test run lasted from 10 minutes to
over an hour as the train continuously circled the 13-mile test
track. Morning ambient temperatures were as low as 20F. On
other days the starting temperature was above 50F.

Figure 5. Bearing Temperature Rise with Operating

Speed

151

Bearing vibration spectral amplitudes tended to be

proportional to the running speed of the b
d distinct vibration
Loaded and unload
output levels in the be
?e& generated in
containing the broken
roller appeared to be directly related to the monitored
temperatures during testing; whereas, the other bearing
defect types did not yield such a dependence.
Bearing temperatures run approximately 1.5Fabove
ambient for every 1-mile per hour increase in runn
speed.

FUTURE ON-BOARD SENSORS AND MONITORING

Future on-board failure prevention systems will need to
take into consideration findings related to vibration and
temperature.* Real-time identification signals that fall outside
some of the ranges discussed could enhance equipment
reliability with immediate Condition Alerts to the operators.
This could be accomplished through the latest electronic
networks now being installed in the rail freight industry.
On-board sensing and protection enunciating systems have
several advantages over wayside configurations. On-board
sensors:

Can monitor continuously rather than intermittently.

Evaluate much longer defect related signatures.
Can evaluate structure-born sources of data.
Provide notification of danger immediately when the
primary signal indicates that a condition Red exists.
Integrate multiple transient danger signals for eventual
fault announcement.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

The rate at which beanng related derailments occur has
remained relatively constant over
ast ten years, in spite of
important changes to the indus
e bearing reconditioning
standards and an extensive network of hot beanng detectors. At
the type and severity of
present, there is no
defective railroad be

On the other hand, on-board devices would have to be rugged

enough to continuously operate in the high vibraaon impact
environment commonly found in the rail industry. Since each
railcar (or even bearing) would require its own detector any
developed sensor would have to be very inexpensive to deploy
and require little or no maintenance.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

On-Board Bearing Test Results Include the Following:

Like-new or reconditioned bearings have low amplitude
vibration characteristics that are distinct and clearly
different from all the defective bearings tested.

maintained the sensors

Williams was responsib

Bearings with Spun Cone defects have identifiable

vibration characteristics that are distinct from the other
bearings reviewed (whether they contained defects or not).
Bearings with spun cone defects:

+
+
+
a

REFERENCES

Produce higher vibration levels in the low frequency ranges

( ~ 2 0 Hz)
0 than all the other bearings reviewed.
Contain enveloped signature spectral peaks at less than half
the running speed of the bearing. These low frequency peaks
appear at frequencies that are proportional to, but well

Reconditioned, Broken

below the bearing running speed

DetecQon Twhni
Technology Dzgest

Exhibit raw signal spectral sideband peaks on either side of

the running speed frequency of the bearing

Spectra derived from demodulated envelope processed

signatures provide distinct peaks that are typically lower in
frequency and independent of the contents of the raw
signature spectra.

Spun Cone Roller

November 16-21,
Congress & Expositi

152

4. Anderson, G.B and Smith, R.L., Acoustic Identification of

a Spun Cone Roller Bearing, Technology Digest TD 97-028,
Association of American Railroads, July 1997.
5 . Wang, J. M., Anderson, G. B., Smith, R. L., Bum-off
Simulation Analysis of a Railroad Roller Bearing, Technology
Digest TD 96-005, Association of American Railroads February
1996.

6. AAR Wayside Test Dataset CDs, numbers 4 and 5.

Acoustic data collected and digitized at the Transportation
Technology Center, Pueblo, Colorado, November 1996. Two CD
data archive set published April 1997
7. Smith, R. L., A Review of the Defective Roller Bearing
Vibration CD Data Sets Collected by the Association of American
Railroads, Vibration Institute Paper Presented at the Annual
Meeting in New Orleans, LA, June 1997.

8. Sneed, W. H., Anderson, G. B., Smith, R. L., Freight Car

Roller Faults Identified with a Laser Vibrometer at the Conrail
Wheel Shop, Technology Digest TD 96-019, Association of
American Railroads, September 1996, R&T Dept.

153