A novel model-based Cauchy-Schwarz divergence condition indicator for gears monitoring during fluctuating speed conditions

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Gear monitoring and fault diagnosis are vital for preventing accidents and minimizing economic losses in transportation and industrial systems. Traditional methods use vibration sensors and a two-stage analysis approach: preprocessing data to remove noise and extract relevant components, and generating a condition indicator to detect behavioral anomalies in the gears over time.Time synchronous averaging is a notable tool for monitoring gears at constant speeds. Such a tool filters sensor signals and extracts rotation-related components by using statistical measurements as condition indicators. However, it has limitations in scenarios with time-varying sampling rates and fluctuating speeds, where statistical measures may not fully capture changes in system parameters.This article proposes a novel methodology for monitoring gears in multivariate rotordynamical systems under fluctuating speed conditions. The method integrates time synchronous averaging, system identification algorithms, and statistical tools. It generates a time-synchronous average signal considering speed fluctuations, computes a state–space model of gear behavior in healthy states, extracts residual data from a data-driven model, and generates a condition indicator based on the Cauchy–Schwarz divergence.The proposed methodology was evaluated using experimental data from three rotor dynamical setups under different operational conditions. Validation showed its effectiveness, especially under high-load conditions with significant speed fluctuations.