Locating Faulty Planet Gears Using External Vibration Measurements

In this study, a mesh phasing-based approach is developed to locate the positions of faulty planet gears using external vibration measurements. Previous studies have illustrated how this can be achieved using internal vibration measurements recorded from a sensor placed on the planet carrier. It was shown in these studies that the timing of identifiable fault symptoms in the vibration signal relative to the phase of the gear-mesh component depends on which of the planet gears carries a fault. A signal processing technique is then developed to locate the position of a spalled gear using internal vibration measurements. However, internally mounted sensors are not commonly used in planetary gearboxes and it is much more convenient to mount sensors externally, for example on the gearbox casing. Therefore, this study extends the concept of using mesh phasing relationships to locate faulty planet gears, this time using external vibration measurements. The updated procedure is validated using experimental data collected from a test-rig running under a range of operating conditions. The results show that the updated procedure is able to identify the locations of faulty planet gears so long as an absolute phase reference (for example from a tachometer) of the planet carrier is available.

An Analytical and Numerical Investigation of Modulation Sidebands of a Planetary Gear Under Fluctuated External Torque

Certain operating conditions such as fluctuation of the external torque to planetary gear sets can cause additional sidebands. In this paper, a mathematical model is proposed to investigate the modulation mechanisms due to a fluctuated external torque (FET), and the combined influence of such an external torque and manufacturing errors (ME) on modulation sidebands. Gear mesh interface excitations, namely gear static transmission error excitations and time-varying gear mesh stiffness, are defined in Fourier series forms. Amplitude and frequency modulations are demonstrated separately. The predicted dynamic gear mesh force spectra and radial acceleration spectra at a fixed position on ring gear are both shown to exhibit well-defined modulation sidebands. Comparing with sidebands caused by ME, more complex sidebands appear when taking both FET and ME into account. An obvious intermodulation is found around the fundamental gear mesh frequency between the FET and ME in the form of frequency modulations, however, no intermodulation in the form of amplitude modulations. Additionally, the results indicate that some of the sidebands are cancelled out in radial acceleration spectra mainly due to the effect of planet mesh phasing, especially when only amplitude modulations are present.