Tooth Fracture Detection in Spiral Bevel Gears System by Harmonic Response Based on Finite Element Method

Yuan Chen,Guanghu Jin,Yeping Xiong,Rupeng Zhu

doi:10.1155/2017/3169172

Abstract

Spiral bevel gears occupy several advantages such as high contact ratio, strong carrying capacity, and smooth operation, which become one of the most widely used components in high-speed stage of the aeronautical transmission system. Its dynamic characteristics are addressed by many scholars. However, spiral bevel gears, especially tooth fracture occurrence and monitoring, are not to be investigated, according to the limited published issues. Therefore, this paper establishes a three-dimensional model and finite element model of the Gleason spiral bevel gear pair. The model considers the effect of tooth root fracture on the system due to fatigue. Finite element method is used to compute the mesh generation, set the boundary condition, and carry out the dynamic load. The harmonic response spectra of the base under tooth fracture are calculated and the influence of main parameters on monitoring failure is investigated as well. The results show that the change of torque affects insignificantly the determination of whether or not the system has tooth fracture. The intermediate frequency interval (200 Hz–1000 Hz) is the best interval to judge tooth fracture occurrence. The best fault test region is located in the working area where the system is going through meshing. The simulation calculation provides a theoretical reference for spiral bevel gear system test and fault diagnosis.

Highlights

Spiral bevel gears are one of the most important components of the aeronautical transmission system
Most studies were related to spiral bevel gear modeling and tooth contact analysis (TCA); Tsai and Chin [1] developed mathematical modeling of the tooth surface geometry for bevel gear pairs based on the basic gearing kinematics and involute geometry along with the tangent planes geometry
Litvin et al [2,3,4,5,6] proposed an integrated computerized approach for spiral bevel gear drives and simulated mesh and contact stress analysis; they reduced the magnitude of transmission errors for reduction of noise and vibration and found severe contact stresses areas to increase the endurance of the gear drives; the proposed results were proved by the manufacturing and test of prototypes

Summary

Introduction

Spiral bevel gears are one of the most important components of the aeronautical transmission system. The failure of the spiral bevel gear transmission system often leads to serious accidents; accurate detection, the positioning of the fault, and eliminating hidden danger have very important significance in improving the operating efficiency of the gear system. Litvin et al [2,3,4,5,6] proposed an integrated computerized approach for spiral bevel gear drives and simulated mesh and contact stress analysis; they reduced the magnitude of transmission errors for reduction of noise and vibration and found severe contact stresses areas to increase the endurance of the gear drives; the proposed results were proved by the manufacturing and test of prototypes. Simon [9] presented computer aided tooth contact analysis in mismatched spiral bevel gears and discussed the influence of relative position errors of meshing pinion on tooth contact. Some tooth fracture features and main parameters’ influences are analyzed to assist the fault recognition

System Modeling

Fault Diagnosis Analysis

Conclusion