Local meshing plane analysis as a source of information about the gear quality

In the paper the application of the local meshing plane concept is discussed and applied for detecting of tooth degradation due to fatigue, and for overall gear quality assessment. Knowing the kinematic properties of the machine (i.e. gear tooth numbers) it is possible to modify the diagnostic signal in such a manner that its fragments will be linked to different rotating parts. This allows for presentation of either raw or processed gearbox signal in a form of three dimensional map on the plane “pinion teeth×gear teeth”, called local meshing plane. The meshing plane in Cartesian coordinates z1×z2 allows for precise location and assessment of gear faults in terms of meshing quality of consecutive tooth pairs. Although the method was applied to simulated signals generated by the gearbox model, similar results were obtained for the measurement signals recorded during the back-to-back test stand experiment.The described method could be used for assessing the manufacturing quality of gears, the assembly quality as well as for the gear failure evaluation during normal exploitation.

► Gearbox signal transposition into 3D maps in Z1×Z2 Cartesian coordinates is shown. ► Method applied for gear quality assessment and tooth fatigue crack detection. ► Gearbox model used for method validation is described. ► Method was tested on the simulated, gearbox model signals.