The main challenge of fault diagnosis lies in finding good fault features. A deep learning network has the ability to automatically learn good characteristics from input data in an unsupervised fashion, and its unique layer-wise pretraining and fine-tuning using the backpropagation strategy can solve the difficulties of training deep multilayer networks. Stacked sparse autoencoders or other deep architectures have shown excellent performance in speech recognition, face recognition, text classification, image recognition, and other application domains. Thus far, however, there have been very few research studies on deep learning in fault diagnosis. In this paper, a new rolling bearing fault diagnosis method that is based on short-time Fourier transform and stacked sparse autoencoder is first proposed; this method analyzes sound signals. After spectrograms are obtained by short-time Fourier transform, stacked sparse autoencoder is employed to automatically extract the fault features, and softmax regression is adopted as the method for classifying the fault modes. The proposed method, when applied to sound signals that are obtained from a rolling bearing test rig, is compared with empirical mode decomposition, Teager energy operator, and stacked sparse autoencoder when using vibration signals to verify the performance and effectiveness of the proposed method.

Because they are key components of aircraft, improving the safety, reliability and economy of engines is crucial. To ensure flight safety and reduce the cost of maintenance during aircraft engine operation, a prognostics and health management system that focuses on fault diagnosis, health assessment, and life prediction is introduced to solve the problems. Predicting the remaining useful life (RUL) is the most important information for making decisions about aircraft engine operation and maintenance, and it relies largely on the selection of performance degradation features. The choice of such features is highly significant, but there are some weaknesses in the current algorithm for RUL prediction, notably, the inability to obtain tendencies from the data. Especially with aircraft engines, extracting useful degradation features from multisensor data with complex correlations is a key technical problem that has hindered the implementation of degradation assessment. To solve these problems, deep learning has been proposed in recent years to exploit multiple layers of nonlinear information processing for unsupervised self‐learning of features. This paper presents a deep learning approach to predict the RUL of an aircraft engine based on a stacked sparse autoencoder and logistic regression. The stacked sparse autoencoder is used to automatically extract performance degradation features from multiple sensors on the aircraft engine and to fuse multiple features through multilayer self‐learning. Logistic regression is used to predict the remaining useful life. However, the hyperparameters of the deep learning, which significantly impact the feature extraction and prediction performance, are determined based on expert experience in most cases. The grid search method is introduced in this paper to optimize the hyperparameters of the proposed aircraft engine RUL prediction model. An application of this method of predicting the RUL of an aircraft engine with a benchmark dataset is employed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

As we enter the era of big data, we have to face big data generated by industrial systems that are massive, diverse, high-speed, and variability. In order to effectively deal with big data possessing these characteristics, deep learning technology has been widely used. However, the existing methods require great human involvement that is heavily depend on domain expertise and may thus be non-representative and biased from task to similar task, so for a wide variety of prognostic and health management (PHM) tasks, how to apply the developed deep learning algorithms to similar tasks to reduce the amount of development and data collection costs has become an urgent problem. Based on the idea of transfer learning and the structures of deep learning PHM algorithms, this paper proposes two transfer strategies via transferring different elements of deep learning PHM algorithms, analyzes the possible transfer scenarios in practical application, and proposes transfer strategies applicable in each scenario. At the end of this paper, the deep learning algorithm of bearing fault diagnosis based on convolutional neural networks (CNN) is transferred based on the proposed method, which was carried out under different working conditions and for different objects, respectively. The experiments verify the value and effectiveness of the proposed method and give the best choice of transfer strategy.

The fault diagnosis of hydraulic pumps is currently important and significant to ensure the normal operation of the entire hydraulic system. Considering the nonlinear characteristics of hydraulic-pump vibration signals and the mode mixing problem of the original Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) method, first, we use the Complete Ensemble EMD (CEEMD) method to decompose the signals. Second, the time-frequency analysis methods, which include the Short-Time Fourier Transform (STFT) and time-frequency entropy calculation, are applied to realize the robust feature extraction. Third, the multiclass Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier is introduced to automatically classify the fault mode in this paper. An actual hydraulic-pump experiment demonstrates the procedure with a complete feature extraction and accurate mode classification.

Electromechanical actuators (EMAs) are more and more widely used as actuation devices in flight control system of aircrafts and helicopters. The reliability of EMAs is vital because it will cause serious accidents if the malfunction of EMAs occurs, so it is significant to detect and diagnose the fault of EMAs timely. However, EMAs often run under variable conditions in realistic environment, and the vibration signals of EMAs are nonlinear and nonstationary, which make it difficult to effectively achieve fault diagnosis. This paper proposed a fault diagnosis method of electromechanical actuators based on variational mode decomposition (VMD) multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MFDFA) and probabilistic neural network (PNN). First, the vibration signals were decomposed by VMD into a number of intrinsic mode functions (IMFs). Second, the multifractal features hidden in IMFs were extracted by using MFDFA, and the generalized Hurst exponents were selected as the feature vectors. Then, the principal component analysis (PCA) was introduced to realize dimension reduction of the extracted feature vectors. Finally, the probabilistic neural network (PNN) was utilized to classify the fault modes. The experimental results show that this method can effectively achieve the fault diagnosis of EMAs even under diffident working conditions. Simultaneously, the diagnosis performance of the proposed method in this paper has an advantage over that of EMD‐MFDFA method for feature extraction.

High-performance and reusable energy-absorbing materials hold significant promise for industrial applications. However, their relatively low specific energy absorption capacity has impeded their advancement. Balancing high performance with reusability has posed significant challenge in this field. This paper innovatively proposes hyperelastic-elastoplastic composite metamaterial that cleverly integrates liquid metal into an elastic hollow lattice structure through a molding process. This type of metamaterial demonstrates exceptional mechanical properties and substantial energy absorption capabilities when the liquid metal is in its solid state, primarily leveraging the plastic deformation to efficiently absorb energy. Upon heating, the solid–liquid phase transition is initiated, and the elastic shell facilitates a fully reversible deformation, thereby ensuring the reusability. This paper investigates the performance characteristics of hyperelastic-elastoplastic composite metamaterials fabricated with various liquid metals, including gallium (Ga) and Wood’s alloy. Additionally, the potential applications of this metamaterial are discussed, highlighting its extensive value across diverse industrial scenarios.