The Bivariate Empirical Mode Decomposition and Its Contribution to Grinding Chatter Detection

Grinding chatter reduces the long-term reliability of grinding machines. Detecting the negative effects of chatter requires improved chatter detection techniques. The vibration signals collected from grinders are mainly nonstationary, nonlinear and multidimensional. Hence, bivariate empirical mode decomposition (BEMD) has been investigated as a multiple signal processing method. In this paper, a feature vector extraction method based on BEMD and Hilbert transform was applied to the problem of grinding chatter. The effectiveness of this method was tested and validated with a simulated chatter signal produced by a vibration signal generator. The extraction criterion of true intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) was also investigated, as well as a method for selecting the most ideal number of projection directions using the BEMD algorithm. Moreover, real-time variance and instantaneous energy were employed as chatter feature vectors for improving the prediction of chatter. Furthermore, the combination of BEMD and Hilbert transform was validated by experimental data collected from a computer numerical control (CNC) guideway grinder. The results reveal the good behavior of BEMD in terms of processing nonstationary and nonlinear signals, and indicating the synchronous characteristics of multiple signals. Extracted chatter feature vectors were demonstrated to be reliable predictors of early grinding chatter.