Method for detecting structure-borne noise events in a roller bearing

A method for detecting structure-borne sound events in a roller bearing, comprising:

• supplying a measurement signal (M) from a pressure-sensitive or strain-sensitive sensor which is arranged on the roller bearing to a frequency filter for filtering out undesirable signal components;
• a microcomputer calculating a first variance value from digital values of the frequency filter output signal;
• the microcomputer determining at least one second variance value from further digital values of the frequency filter output signal;
• the microcomputer calculating a weighted arithmetic mean of the first variance value and one of the at least one second variance value using a recursive calculation;
• and
• the microcomputer assessing any exceeding of the weighted arithmetic variance mean value above a preselected variance threshold value (VSW) as a structure-borne sound event which has been caused by mechanical damage to the roller bearing, and the frequency for exceeding the threshold can be associated with the point of origin of the damage in the bearing when a rotation speed and geometric conditions of the bearing are known;
• wherein the weight used in calculating the weighted arithmetic mean of the variance values is a constant with respect to a particular recursive calculation.