Probabilistic Estimation of Parameters for Lubrication Application with Neural Networks

This paper investigates the use of neural networks to predict characteristic parameters of
the grease application process pressure curve. A combination of two feed-forward neural networks
was used to estimate both the value and the standard deviation of selected features. Several neuron
configurations were tested and evaluated in their capability to make a probabilistic estimation of
the lubricant’s parameters. The value network was trained with a dataset containing the full set of
features and with a dataset containing its average values. As expected, the full network was able
to predict noisy features well, while the average network made smoother predictions. This is also
represented by the networks’ R2 values which are 0.781 for the full network and 0.737 for the mean
network. Several further neuron configurations were tested to find the smallest possible configuration.
The analysis showed that three or more neurons deliver the best fit over all features, while one or
two neurons are not sufficient for prediction. The results showed that the grease application process
pressure curve via pressure valves can be estimated by using neural networks.