Vibration Separation Methodology Compensated by Time-Varying Transfer Function for Fault Diagnosis of Non-Hunting Tooth Planetary Gearbox

Due to planetary movement of planet gears, the vibration signal perceived by a stationary sensor is modulated and difficult to diagnose. This paper proposed a vibration separation methodology compensated by a time-varying transfer function (TVTF-VS), which is a further development of the vibration separation (VS) method in the diagnosis of non-hunting tooth planetary gearboxes. On the basis of VS, multi-teeth VS is proposed to extract and synthesize the meshing signal of a planet gear using a single transducer. Considering the movement regularity of a planetary gearbox, the time-varying transfer function (TVTF) is represented by a generalized expression. The TVTF is constructed using a segment of healthy signal and an evaluation indicator is established to optimize the parameters of the TVTF. The constructed TVTF is applied to overcome the amplitude modulation effect and highlight fault characteristics. After that, experiments with baseline, pitting, and compound localized faults planet gears were conducted on a non-hunting tooth planetary gearbox test rig, respectively. The results demonstrate that incipient failure on a planet gear can be detected effectively, and relative location of the local faults can be determined accurately.

Fault Detection of Planetary Gears Based on Signal Space Constellations

A new method to process the vibration signal acquired by an accelerometer placed in a planetary gearbox housing is proposed, which is useful to detect potential faults. The method is based on the phenomenological model and consists of the projection of the healthy vibration signals onto an orthonormal basis. Low pass components representation and Gram–Schmidt’s method are conveniently used to obtain such a basis. Thus, the measured signals can be represented by a set of scalars that provide information on the gear state. If these scalars are within a predefined range, then the gear can be diagnosed as correct; in the opposite case, it will require further evaluation. The method is validated using measured vibration signals obtained from a laboratory test bench.

Fault diagnosis of a planetary gearbox based on a local bi-spectrum and a convolutional neural network

The vibration signals of a planetary gearbox have the characteristics of strong background noise and instability and are non-Gaussian. Bi-spectrums can suppress Gaussian colored noise and are suitable for vibration signal processing of planetary gearboxes. In the traditional fault diagnosis methods based on bi-spectrums, the fault characteristic frequency amplitudes of bi-spectrum or bi-spectrum slices, or the further quantitative calculations of fault characteristic values, are generally used as the basis of fault diagnosis processes. It has been found that bi-spectrum images can directly characterize the faults of the planetary gearboxes. Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have been used in mechanical fault diagnoses in recent years. One-dimensional original signals are converted into two-dimensional images as CNN input, which is an effective method for mechanical fault diagnoses. At the present time, there has not been any relevant research conducted using bi-spectral images as CNN input. In this study, a fault diagnosis method based on local bi-spectrum and CNN was proposed. A bi-spectral analysis of the vibration signals of the planetary gearbox was first carried out in order to reveal the fault information while retaining the non-Gaussian information. Then, according to the bi-spectrum symmetry, local images containing the entire domain information were taken as the input of the CNN, which reduced the redundancy of the fault information. Then, in order to improve the diagnostic accuracy of the CNN, the key parameters of CNN architecture were optimized. Finally, a CNN diagnosis model was built to realize the classification diagnoses of different fault positions and different fault degrees of planetary gearboxes. This study’s comparison of the diagnosis results of the full bi-spectrum+CNN, local bi-spectrum+SVM, original vibration signal+CNN, and local bi-spectrum+BP neural networks showed that the method proposed in this study had achieved both accuracy and rapidity in the fault diagnoses of planetary gearboxes.

Establishment and analysis of nonlinear frequency response model of planetary gear transmission system

Based on the lumped parameter theory, a nonlinear bending torsion coupling dynamic model of planetary gear transmission system was established by considering the backlash, support clearance, time-varying meshing stiffness, meshing damping, transmission error and external periodic excitation. The model was solved by the Runge–Kutta method, the dynamic response was analyzed by a time domain diagram and phase diagram, and the nonlinear vibration characteristics were studied by the response curve of the speed vibration displacement. The vibration test of the planetary gearbox was carried out to verify the correctness of frequency domain response characteristics. The results show that the vibration response in the planetary gear system changes from a multiple periodic response to a single periodic response with the increase in input speed. Under the action of the backlash, time-varying meshing stiffness and meshing damping, the speed vibration displacement response curves of internal and external meshing pairs appear to form a nonlinear jump phenomenon and have a unilateral impact area, and the system presents nonlinear characteristics. The nonlinear vibration of the system can be effectively suppressed by decreasing the mesh stiffness or increasing the mesh resistance, while the vibration response displacement of the system increases by increasing the external exciting force, and the nonlinear characteristics of the system remain basically unchanged. The backlash is the main factor affecting the nonlinear frequency response of the system, but it can restrain the resonance of the system in a certain range. The spectrum characteristics of the vibration displacement signal of the planetary gearbox at different speeds are similar to the simulation results, which proves the validity of the simulation analysis model and the simulation results. It can provide a theoretical basis for the system vibration and noise reduction and a dynamic structural stability design optimization.

Development of a Novel Underground Mine Reconnaissance Robot

<p>Despite advancements in safety technology, underground mining disasters kill hundreds of people each year. Typically after a disaster, a manned response team will enter the hazardous mine to ascertain its condition and rescue any survivors. A robotic entry platform could significantly reduce the risk to the response teams and the time taken to recover any survivors. However, existing mine search and rescue robots have had limited success in past disasters. Two primary aspects caused the failure of the existing platforms; poor rough terrain ability and lack of ingress protection for the harsh mine environment. HADES, a novel underground mine reconnaissance robot is developed to address these issues. A lightweight yet robust chassis is manufactured from fibreglass. To allow HADES to operate in the potentially explosive atmosphere, the chassis is protected with a positive pressure gas system, designed to meet the ANZ60079.29 standard. This chassis is sealed against the mine environment with a series of O-rings and lip seals. Whegs are used as the primary locomotion method and are driven with a planetary gearbox and a brushless DC motor. To further improve a rough terrain capability of the locomotion system the rear arm of the chassis is mounted on an actuated pivot, increasing the rough terrain capability of HADES. To ensure the operator can successfully assess and navigate the mine, HADES carries a comprehensive set of environmental and navigation sensors. The internal electronics and locomotion systems are powered with six Li-Po batteries that achieve an operating time of six hours and an expected range of 25 km. HADES is 780x800x400 mm and is mostly sealed to the IP68 standard. The locomotion system is robust and can traverse the majority of the terrain expected in an underground mine. Loss of traction is the only problem encountered with the Wheg design. However, this can be easily fixed by changing the tip shape of the Wheg.</p>