Dynamics and Fault Diagnosis of Railway Vehicle Gearboxes: A Review

Abstract

The railway vehicle gearbox is an important part of the railway vehicle traction transmission system which ensures the smooth running of railway vehicles. However, as the running speed of railway vehicles continues to increase, the railway vehicle gearbox is exposed to a more demanding operating environment. Under both internal and external excitations, the gearbox is prone to faults such as fatigue cracks, broken teeth, etc. It is crucial to detect these faults before they result in severe failures and accidents. Therefore, understanding the dynamics and fault diagnosis of railway vehicle gearbox is needed. At present, there is a lack of systematic review of railway vehicle gearbox dynamics and fault diagnosis. So, this paper systematically summarizes the research progress on railway vehicle gearbox dynamics and fault diagnosis. To this end, this paper first summarizes the latest research progress on the dynamics of railway vehicle gearboxes. The dynamics and vibration characteristics of the gearbox are summarized under internal and external excitations, as well as faulty conditions. Then, the state-of-the-art signal processing and artificial intelligence methods for fault diagnosis of railway vehicle gearboxes are reviewed. In the end, future research prospects are given. Conflict of Interest Statement The authors declare no conflicts of interest.