System and method of determining bearing health in a rotating machine

1. A method comprising:

measuring clearance distances with a sensor;

measuring a rotating speed of a rotating component of a machine with the sensor;

monitoring changes in the measured clearance distances between the sensor and the rotating component of a machine;

determining a trigger speed of the machine that is associated with the wear in the machine, the trigger speed determined based on the changes in the clearance distances;

identifying one or more of imbalance or wear in the machine based on the changes in the clearance distances; and

estimating a remaining useful life of the machine based on changes in the trigger speed.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising calculating a spectral energy of the machine based on the changes in the clearance distances, wherein the imbalance in the machine is identified based on the spectral energy.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating an imbalance signal representative of the changes in the clearance distances in a frequency domain, wherein the imbalance is identified based on the imbalance signal.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

examining frequency domain signals representative of the changes in the clearance distances between the sensor and the rotating component of the machine at different rotating speeds of the rotating component; and

determining the trigger speed of the machine based on at least one of an absence or a presence of a waveform of interest in sub-harmonic ranges of the frequency domain signals at one or more of the different rotating speeds.

5. A method comprising:

measuring clearance distances with a sensor;

measuring a rotating speed of a rotating component of a machine with the sensor;

monitoring changes in the measured clearance distances between the sensor and the rotating component of the machine;

determining a trigger speed of the machine that is associated with the wear in the machine, the trigger speed determined based on the changes in the clearance distances;

identifying one or more of imbalance or wear in the machine based on the changes in the clearance distances;

examining frequency domain signals representative of the changes in the clearance distances between the sensor and the rotating component of the machine at different rotating speeds of the rotating component; and

determining the trigger speed of the machine based on at least one of an absence or a presence of a waveform of interest in sub-harmonic ranges of the frequency domain signals at one or more of the different rotating speeds.

6. A system comprising:

an acquisition device configured to obtain clearance distances with a sensor that also measures a rotating speed of a rotating component of a machine; and

an analysis device configured to monitor changes in the obtained clearance distances between the sensor and the rotating component of the machine, wherein the analysis device is also configured to identify one or more of imbalance or wear in the machine based on the changes in the clearance distances, wherein the analysis device also is configured to determine a trigger speed associated with the wear in the machine based on the changes in the clearance distances, the trigger speed based on the changes in the clearance distances, wherein the analysis device is also configured to estimate a remaining useful life of the machine based on changes in the trigger speed.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the analysis device also is configured to calculate a spectral energy of the machine based on the changes in the clearance distance, wherein the analysis device is configured to identify the imbalance in the machine based on the spectral energy.

8. The system of claim 6 , wherein the analysis device is configured to generate an imbalance signal representative of the changes in the clearance distances in a frequency domain, and to identify the imbalance based on the imbalance signal.

9. The system of claim 6 , wherein the analysis device also is configured to examine frequency domain signals representative of the changes in the clearance distances between the sensor and the rotating component of the machine at different rotating speeds of the rotating component, wherein the analysis device is configured to determine the trigger speed of the machine based on at least one of an absence or a presence of a waveform of interest in sub-harmonic ranges of the frequency domain signals at one or more of the different rotating speeds.

10. A system comprising:

an acquisition device configured to obtain clearance distances with a sensor that also measures a rotating speed of a rotating component of a machine; and

an analysis device configured to monitor changes in the obtained clearance distances between the sensor and the rotating component of the machine, wherein the analysis device is also configured to identify one or more of imbalance or wear in the machine based on the changes in the clearance distances, wherein the analysis device also is configured to determine a trigger speed associated with the wear in the machine based on the changes in the clearance distances, the trigger speed based on the changes in the clearance distances, wherein the analysis device also is configured to examine frequency domain signals representative of the changes in the clearance distances between the sensor and the rotating component of the machine at different rotating speeds of the rotating component, wherein the analysis device is configured to determine the trigger speed of the machine based on at least one of an absence or a presence of a waveform of interest in sub-harmonic ranges of the frequency domain signals at one or more of the different rotating speeds.