Incremental Contrast Hybrid Model for Online Remaining Useful Life Prediction With Uncertainty Quantification in Machines

Real-time and accurate prediction of remaining useful life (RUL) is important to safe operation and maintenance (O&M) planning of mechanical equipment. However, the uncertainty of online RUL prediction is difficult to predict with most current deep learning (DL)-based methods, making the prediction results difficult to convince. Furthermore, the offline-trained DL model is unable to adaptively update the network parameters online when acquiring new data, leading to a decrease in RUL prediction accuracy. To overcome these problems, an innovative approach based on the incremental contrast hybrid model is proposed for online RUL prediction with uncertainty quantification, which combines the contrastive learning transformer (CLformer) with the enhanced generalized Wiener process (EGWP) to describe trends in mechanical degradation. First, a CLformer is developed for online trend prediction, and an incremental contrastive learning strategy is designed for online adaptive updating of CLformer parameters to reduce prediction offset errors. Then, the degradation increments within the EGWP state-space equations are predicted online by the proposed CLformer network for online updating of EGWP parameters. Finally, online prediction of the machine RUL is provided by the CLformer, whereas the hybrid model provides the probability density function of RUL. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified using two publicly available datasets and the journal-bearing dataset of the nuclear-circulating water pump. The results demonstrate the ability of the proposed method to dynamically update model parameters when new data are acquired online while giving the RUL prediction values and uncertainties.