Abstract

This paper presents a model-based technique for the detection and diagnosis of gear faults. Based on the signal averaging technique, the proposed technique first establishes an autoregressive (AR) model on the vibration signal of the gear of interest in its healthy-state. The model is then used as a linear prediction error filter to process the future-state signal from the same gear. The health condition of the gear is diagnosed by characterizing the error signal between the filtered and unfiltered signals. The technique is validated using both numerical simulation and experimental data. The results show that the AR model technique is an effective tool in the detection and diagnosis of gear faults and it may lead to an effective solution for in-flight diagnosis of helicopter transmissions.

1.
Rofe, S., 1997, “Signal Processing Methods for Gearbox Fault Detection,” Defence Science and Technology Organisation Technical Report, DSTO-TR-0476, Australia.
2.
Randall
,
R. B.
,
1982
, “
A New Method of Modeling Gear Faults
,”
ASME J. Mech. Des.
104
, pp.
259
267
.
3.
Forrester, B. D., 1996, “Advanced Vibration Analysis Techniques for Fault Detection and Diagnosis in Geared Transmission Systems,” Ph.D. Thesis, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia.
4.
McFadden
,
P. D.
, and
Smith
,
J. D.
,
1985
, “
An Explanation for the Asymmetry of the Modulation Sidebands about the Tooth Meshing Frequency in Epicyclic Gear Vibration
,”
Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng., Part C: Mech. Eng. Sci.
,
199
, No.
C1
, pp.
65
70
.
5.
McFadden
,
P. D.
,
1986
, “
Detecting Fatigue Cracks in Gears by Amplitude and Phase Demodulation of the Meshing Vibration
,”
ASME J. Vib., Acoust., Stress, Reliab. Des.
108
, pp.
165
170
.
6.
Wang
,
W.
,
2001
, “
Early Detection of Gear Tooth Crack Using Resonance Demodulation Technique
,”
Mech. Syst. Signal Process.
,
15
(
5
), pp.
887
903
.
7.
Chen
,
Y.
,
1992
, “
Machine Condition Monitoring by Inverse Filtering and Statistical Analysis
,”
Mech. Syst. Signal Process.
,
6
(
2
), pp.
177
189
.
8.
Kay, S. M., 1988, Modern Spectral Estimation: Theory and Application, Prentice Hall, pp. 106–118, 161–178, 228–237.
9.
Kay
,
M. S.
, and
Marple
,
S. L.
,
1981
, “
Spectrum Analysis—A Modern Perspective
,”
Proc. IEEE
,
69
(
11
), pp.
1380
1419
.
10.
Braun
,
S.
,
1975
, “
The Extraction of Periodic Waveforms by Time Domain Averaging
,”
Acustica
,
32
, pp.
69
77
.
You do not currently have access to this content.