GRU-AE-wiener: A generative adversarial network assisted hybrid gated recurrent unit with Wiener model for bearing remaining useful life estimation

Bearings play a pivotal role in various mechanical systems, and their health directly impacts the reliability and safety of these systems. Consequently, extensive research has been dedicated to the estimation of Bearing Remaining Useful Life (RUL) through the lens of information fusion theory. The absence of comprehensive life-cycle degradation data for bearings, a common challenge within the information fusion domain, can hinder the accuracy and reliability of RUL prediction models. A novel hybrid data and model approach named GRU-AE-Wiener has been developed to address this limitation. This approach combines the power of Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) and Wiener process models within the information fusion framework. Firstly, a Loop Generative Adversarial Network (Loop-GAN) is introduced to synthesize pseudo data to enhance the quality of synthetic data. Next, a bidirectional GRU model is structurally integrated with the Wiener process. In this design, the GRU model is configured in an Auto-Encoder-like structure, with the Wiener process serving as the hidden layer within this Auto-Encoder. Importantly, both the GRU and Wiener processes are jointly optimized with the assistance of Loop-GAN, emphasizing the collaborative nature of information fusion in this approach. The effectiveness of the proposed GRU-AE-Wiener is validated using the PHM 2012 dataset and XJTU-SY dataset. Experimental results underscore its superior RUL predictive performance compared to other deep learning models, highlighting the practical application of information fusion principles in bearing health assessment.