Applications of Improved Linear Chirplet Time Frequency Representation to Machine Bearing Fault Analysis

•It is verified that the mechanical bearing fault vibration signals are a non-stationary and non-Gaussian stable distribution, and non-Gaussian stable distribution.•Improved time frequency representation methods are proposed to overcome the influence of the impulse noise for the bearing fault diagnosis.•The proposed methods have performance advantages and higher time frequency resolution, and work in low.•The performance of the proposed methods is better than the existing methods, and which are feasible, effective and robust for fault diagnosis.