applied

sciences
Editorial
Fault Diagnosis of Rotating Machine
Grzegorz Królczyk 1 , Zhixiong Li 2, * and Jose Alfonso Antonino Daviu 3
1 Department of Manufacturing Engineering and Production Automation, Opole University of Technology,
45-758 Opole, Poland; [email protected]
2 School of Mechanical, Materials, Mechatronic and Biomedical Engineering, University of Wollongong,
Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
3 School of Industrial Engineering, Universitat de València, 46010 València, Spain; [email protected]
* Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +61-0405-840-751




Received: 24 February 2020; Accepted: 25 February 2020; Published: 13 March 2020


1. Introduction
Rotating machines have been used in a wide variety of industries, such as manufacturing
tools [1–7], electric motors [8–17], wind turbines [18–21], aero-engines [22,23], mining machines [24–27],
marine propulsions [28–31] and autonomous vehicles [32–36]. A tiny defect or a simple crack may result
in severe damages to rotating machines [37]. As a result, it is crucial to monitor the health condition of
rotating machines through active diagnostic and prognostic technologies [38]. In recent years, many
detection techniques have been developed. These technologies include vibration analysis [18], oil
analysis [30], thermography analysis [17], acoustic analysis [9], flux analysis [16], etc. This Special
Issue invites original research papers that report on the state of the art and recent advancements in the
fault diagnosis of rotating machines, so as to further promote practical applications of diagnostic and
prognostic technologies.

2. Content
There are 18 papers selected for this Special Issue, representing the latest progress and advances
in the diagnostics and prognostics of rotating machines. Regarding these 18 research papers, the
following four research directions are specifically addressed:
Bearing elements fault detection: This Special Issue includes eight excellent examples of
improving bearing fault detection. In the first paper, Duan et al. [39] improved the fault detection
rate of a general rolling bearing by combining the local mean decomposition (LMD) and the ratio
correction methods. Then, Cui et al. [40] discussed the diagnosis of multiple defects in a rolling bearing
via vibration analysis; Shi et al. [41] reported a frequency matching linear transform technique for
bearing fault detection under variable rotating speeds; moreover, Yin et al. [42] proposed a Huffman
coding technique to identify bearing defect severity. By what follows, artificially intelligent techniques,
including ensemble learning [43] and deep learning [44,45] were developed to detect bearing faults. In
the last paper, the authors presented the application of acoustic emission analysis for bearing fault
diagnosis [46].
Motor fault detection: Another four excellent papers have addressed motor fault detection. Goh
and Kim [47] investigated the short circuit problem in an induction motor. Ishikawa and Igarashi [48]
analyzed the demagnetization of a permanent magnet synchronous motor using finite element analysis.
Glowacz [48] applied the acoustics analysis and Lee et al. [49] adopted the deep learning for motor
failure detection.
Machine-level fault detection: This Special Issue includes five interesting papers for
machine-level modelling and condition monitoring. Song et al. [50] diagnosed a superconducting
rotating machine; Dineva et al. [51] applied fault pattern recognition for a rotating electrical Machine;

Appl. Sci. 2020, 10, 1961; doi:10.3390/app10061961 www.mdpi.com/journal/applsci

Ding et al. [52] developed a vibration-based method to monitor a mining machine; Lv et al. [53]
analyzed the multiple faults of the Apollo manned lunar landing system; and Xie et al. [54] modelled a
marine platform based on temperature measurements.
Rotor fault detection: The last paper contained in this Special Issue presents a crack detection
method for a rotor system [55].

3. Summary
Diagnostic and prognostic technologies for rotating machines are growing every month. The
described work in this Special Issue has made a good contribution to the fault diagnosis of rotating
machines. This collection of 18 papers is highly recommended and is believed to benefit readers in
various aspects.

Author Contributions: All the authors contributed equally to the conception of the idea, implementing and
analyzing the experimental results, and writing the manuscript. All authors have read and agreed to the published
version of the manuscript.
Funding: This research was funded by Australia Research Council under grant number DE190100931.
Acknowledgments: The Guest Editors would like to thank all authors, reviewers and the editorial board of
the MDPI Applied Science journal, and especially Xiaoyan Chen (Assistant Managing Editor) for their valuable
contributions to this Special Issue.
Conflicts of Interest: The author declares no conflict of interest.

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