Gearbox Damage Diagnosis usingWavelet Transform Technique

Abstract

Vibration-based schemes are founded on the assumption that vibration signals from gearboxes measured using accelerometers reflect their condition accurately. A large number of vibration based techniques are used to make this reflection. They include various spectral analyses such as traditional Fourier transform, short-time Fourier transform, amplitude phase modulation and time synchronous averaging and non-parametric special estimation. Recently, Wavelet Transform (WT) has been proven to be more suitable for analysis of vibration signals, since most of the time-vibration signals have instantaneous impulse trains and exhibit a transient (non-stationary) nature. This paper uses an adaptive wavelet filter, based on the Morlet wavelet, applied on the torsional vibration data measured from a single-stage gearbox with artificially induced cracks in the gear. This is done to extract some parameters and check their diagnostic behavior in an effort to search for those with the most potential and appropriateness for future health monitoring schemes. The results demonstrate that the adaptive wavelet filter is found to be very effective in detection of symptoms from vibration signals of a gearbox with early tooth cracks. Moreover the influence of crack depth, speed, and load on the wavelet entropy are interduced. Multi-hour tests were conducted and recordings were acquired using torsional vibration monitoring. The transitions in the wavelet entropy values with the recording time were highlighted suggesting critical changes in the operation of the gearbox.