A comparative experimental research on the diagnosis of tooth root cracks in asymmetric spur gear pairs with a one-dimensional convolutional neural network

Abstract

Gearboxes transfer rotational motion and handle precision functionalities in many fields, including aviation, wind turbines, and industrial services. Their health management is essential to minimize workforce risks, increase the level of safety, and avoid machine breakdowns. From this standpoint, the present experimental research work developed a convolutional neural network-based method for diagnosing different levels of tooth root cracks (25 %-50 %-75 %-100 %) for symmetric (20°/20°) and asymmetric (20°/30°) profiled gear pairs. A series of vibration experiments were performed on a one-stage spur gearbox to achieve this by using a tri-axial accelerometer under variable working loads. The main purpose of this experimental research study is to explore the influence of the tooth profile on spur gears’ vibration responses and whether utilizing an asymmetric tooth profile would positively impact a deep learning algorithm's classification accuracy to add to the enhancements it provides in terms of fatigue life, mesh stiffness, and impact strength. Experimental results revealed that the overall classification accuracy could be increased by 7.712 % by feeding the proposed deep learning model with vibration data measured using test samples with asymmetric teeth.