Acoustics Based Monitoring and Diagnostics for the Progressive Deterioration of Helical Gearboxes

Gearbox condition monitoring (CM) plays a significant role in ensuring the operational reliability and efficiency of a wide range of critical industrial systems such as wind turbines and helicopters. Accurate and timely diagnosis of gear faults will improve the maintenance of gearboxes operating under sub-optimal conditions, avoid excessive energy consumption and prevent avoidable damages to systems. This study focuses on developing CM for a multi-stage helical gearbox using airborne sound. Based on signal phase alignments, Modulation Signal Bispectrum (MSB) analysis allows random noise and interrupting events in sound signals to be suppressed greatly and obtains nonlinear modulation features in association with gear dynamics. MSB coherence is evaluated for selecting the reliable bi-spectral peaks for indication of gear deterioration. A run-to-failure test of two industrial gearboxes was tested under various loading conditions. Two omnidirectional microphones were fixed near the gearboxes to sense acoustic information during operation. It has been shown that compared against vibration based CM, acoustics can perceive the responses of vibration in a larger areas and contains more comprehensive and stable information related to gear dynamics variation due to wear. Also, the MSB magnitude peaks at the first three harmonic components of gear mesh and rotation components are demonstrated to be sufficient in characterizing the gradual deterioration of gear transmission. Consequently, the combining of MSB peaks with baseline normalization yields more accurate monitoring trends and diagnostics, allowing the gradual deterioration process and gear wear location to be represented more consistently.

An Improved Dynamic Transmission Error Model Applied on Coupling Analysis of Gear Dynamics and Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication

In order to study the coupling effect of cylindrical gear dynamics and elastohydrodynamic lubrication(EHL), based on dynamic theory, a dynamic model of a six-degree-of-freedom(six-DOF) coupled system is established. Based on the numerical solution of EHL, an improved transmission error model was established, and the oil film stiffness, oil film damping and center oil film thickness obtained by the numerical solution were used in the gear dynamics analysis. The dynamics and EHL characteristics of the gear system are analyzed and compared with the general model. The results show that by using the improved transmission error model, the comprehensive stiffness and comprehensive damping of the gear increase and fluctuate slightly, and the amplitude of the tooth surface meshing force and dynamic response decreases. Under the action of tooth surface meshing force, the oil film pressure and thickness show oscillation characteristics.

Effect of roller bearing elasticity on spiral bevel gear dynamics

The dynamics of spiral bevel gears have gained increasing importance due to concerns relating to noise and durability. This is because the mesh force acting on the gear teeth is amplified under dynamic conditions, potentially reducing the fatigue life of the gears. Furthermore, a sizable dynamic force can be transmitted to the housing, inducing structure-born gear whine. The elasticity of the bearings can influence the dynamics of spiral bevel gears. In this article, the finite element formulation of a spiral bevel geared rotor dynamic system is applied to investigate the influence of bearing elasticity on the dynamics of spiral bevel gears. The designs and configurations of rear axles are modeled and analyzed for real-world applications, to gain an enhanced practical understanding of the effect of bearing stiffness on spiral bevel gear dynamics.

Sources of Excitation and Models for Cylindrical Gear Dynamics: A Review

In this paper, a review of the evolution of the study of cylindrical gear dynamics is presented. After a brief historical introduction to the field, the first attempts to describe the complex interactions in those systems are analyzed introducing the dynamic factor and the first methodologies used to compute it. Next, the sources of excitation in geared systems are analyzed in detail and the models of the various contributions are discussed. Then, the paper focuses on the use of those sources in several dynamic models which are wildly different in terms of scope, applicability, complexity and methodology employed, ranging from simple analytical models, to lumped masses models up to multibody and finite element models. Finally, an outlook to the future evolution of the field is given and conclusions are drawn.

Mathematical Modeling and Dynamic Analysis of Planetary Gears System with Time-Varying Parameters

Planetary gears are widely used in automobiles, helicopters, heavy machinery, etc., due to the high speed reductions in compact spaces; however, the gear fault and early damage induced by the vibration of planetary gears remains a key concern. The time-varying parameters have a vital influence on dynamic performance and reliability of the gearbox. An analytical model is proposed to investigate the effect of gear tooth crack on the gear mesh stiffness, and then the dynamical model of the planetary gears with time-varying parameters is established. The natural characteristics of the transmission system are calculated, and the dynamic responses of transmission components, as well as dynamic meshing force of each pair of gear are investigated based on varying internal excitations induced by time-varying parameters and tooth root crack. The effects of gear tooth root crack size on the planetary gear dynamics are simulated, and the mapping rules between damage degree and gear dynamics are revealed. In order to verify the theoretical model and simulation results, the planetary gear test rig was built by assembling faulty and healthy gear separately. The failure mechanism and dynamic characteristics of the planetary gears with tooth root crack are clarified by comparing the analytical results and experimental data.

Influence of surface topography on the friction and dynamic characteristics of spur gears

As an important excitation source of gear dynamic problems, the time-varying friction of tooth surface is closely related to its topography. Considering the friction characteristics of tooth surface is of great significance to improve the calculation accuracy of gear dynamic characteristics. In order to solve the problem that the variation of tooth friction coefficient was simplified too much in the previous gear dynamics research, the time-varying tooth friction coefficient is obtained by fitting the results of twin-disc test in this research. To investigate the influence of tooth surface topography on the friction and dynamic characteristics of spur gears, the relationship between surface topography and friction coefficient under line contact condition is studied using twin-disc tester and analyzed by 3D topography parameters in ISO 25178. The time-varying friction coefficients of spur gears with different tooth surface topographies during meshing are fitted with the experimental results. The influence of time-varying friction coefficient caused by the tooth surface topography on the dynamic characteristics of spur gears under different operating conditions is examined by substituting the fitting curves of time-varying friction coefficient into the multi-degree-of-freedom dynamic model of spur gears. The results show that this influence is mainly embodied in the off-line-of-action direction, which is the direction of friction force acting on the tooth surface. The dynamic characteristics of gears with different surface topography are obviously different under various working conditions. The method presents in this paper simplifies the application of tooth contact analysis in the study of time-varying tooth friction characteristics, which will provide a new way for the gear dynamics research considering the tooth surface topography.