Abstract
This study investigates an evaluation method to analyze the rolling behavior in ball bearings by an ultrasonic technique. The analysis uses the time interval T_I, which is defined as the duration between the two adjacent minimum peaks of the reflection intensity of ultrasonic wave pulse echoes, as an evaluation basis. Since T_I corresponds with the duration between one passing and the next passing of individual balls through the highest loading area in the bearing, its value can present the actual rolling behavior of the balls. Using a reasonable manner to extract each value of T_I, this study demonstrated that the time trend of the variance of T_I was in good connection with that of the autocorrelation coefficient values, rather than the Fourier analysis results, obtained from the measured data of the ultrasonic reflection intensity.
