IIT GANDHINAGAR ME 312 6-4-2012

Gears and Gear Train in a Gear Box

Abhijith Rajiv 9003007

Aim:
To experiment with the kinematics and dynamics of gears and gear trains using a gear box dynamics simulator which can also be used to study fault diagnosis of gear systems

Apparatus:
Gear Box Simulator: It consists of 2 input, 2 intermediate and 2 output gears mounted on parallel shafts (as shown in the figure below) which are meshed with gears on other shafts. It also consists of a magnetic brake which can be used to load the shafts, a motor to rotate the input shaft and a controller for the motor

Page | 1

VIBXPERT module to measure vibrations. The VIBXPERT module which can be attached to the gearbox for measurement and display of the vibrations. The module converts the signals to frequency domain and directly shows the plot of vibration amplitude vs frequency.

Theory
For two gears with number of teeth N1 and N2 rotating at rpms 1 and 2 respectively,

Gear drives are designed to maintain a constant velocity ratio between the gears. This condition, called conjugacy, requires that the normal to the common tangent at the contact point between two gears passes through the pitch point which lies on the center to center line of the two gears. Any variation in conjugacy may cause high vibrations. Poor machining, contact wear, improper gear backlash, or any problem that would cause gear tooth profiles to deviate from their proper involute geometry can cause this vibration. Even if the gears are good and teeth are all intact, eccentricity and misalignment of the shafts can cause these vibrations. As the causes of these vibrations are various, the frequency of vibrations due to each cause is different. Thus the observed vibration would actually be a super position of all the individual vibrations. If the vibrations are measured and analysed in the frequency domain, more insight can be gained into the different causes for the vibration. Thus the vibration amplitude measured in the time domain is converted to frequency domain through Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). Unlike bearings, for which a bearing frequency will not appear unless a bearing problem exists, gear mesh frequencies will always be present even if the gear train is in good condition. Gear drives with parallel shafts upon which are mounted one (1) gear only will always have only one frequency. Double or multiple gear reduction units which have more than one gear per shaft may have several different gear mesh frequencies. When a faulty gear is present in the gearbox, the vibrations amplitudes would be higher and also the GMF peak involving the faulty gear would have two sidebands of significant amplitude, spaced at frequencies equal to frequency of turning of the faulty gear. Tooth wear may excite a natural or resonant frequency of the gear due to the contact shock created when the tooth contacts a tooth on the opposite gear. The resonant frequency will have sidebands spaced at shaft speed.

Backlash and gear wear are similar in that both conditions can excite the gears resonant or natural frequency, however gear wear will appear as a dominant 1x gear mesh frequency, while backlash will appear as a dominant 2x gear mesh frequency, possibly with multiple sidebands. Page | 2

Misaligned gears may show up on the spectrum at 1, 2 or 3x gear mesh frequency with sidebands where the 2 X and 3 X peaks will be higher than the 1 X peak. Broken teeth will excite the gear natural frequency that will cause a pulse at each contact and will appear at 1 X shaft speed. If a broken tooth (or teeth) is suspected, view the wave form. The high amplitude impacting of the broken tooth will appear at time intervals equal to the shaft turning frequency.

Procedure
For the chosen set of spur gears of number of teeth 32, 80, 48 and 80, run the experiment for a range of rpms and measure the vibrations of the gear train using a vibration analyzer Repeat the above for the same set of gears but with the gear 1 replaced by another gear of with the same number of teeth but with a chipped tooth. From the experimental observations find out the faulty gear.

Observations and Analysis

Case 1: Motor frequency = 1200 RPM = 20 Hz Gear Meshing frequency 1 = N11 = 321200 = 38400 RPM (640 Hz) = N22 2 = 480 RPM = 8 Hz Gear Meshing frequency 2 = N33 = N32 = 23040 RPM (384 Hz)

Page | 3

Here the first peak (at 20 Hz) is due to the vibrations of the motor turning at 20 Hz. The second peak is at 384 Hz i.e, Gear Meshing Frequency (GMF) of the second gear mesh, meshing gears with 48 and 64 teeth. The next peak is at 635 Hz i.e, close to Gear Meshing Frequency (GMF) of the second gear mesh (640 Hz), meshing gears with 48 and 64 teeth. Two side bands are visible about this peak at an equal spacing of 8 Hz indicating slight problems with gear 2. But as the rms value of vibrations is low, its not very significant. Motor Speed 1200 RPM, One damaged gear

Page | 4

The graph above is obtained after introducing the damaged gear. The peaks about 20, 384 and 635 Hz are still visible. But rms values have increased by a factor of 10 indicating significant vibrations in the system and that there is a possibility of damaged gear. The only sideband that is clearly visible is about the peak at 635 Hz and are equally spaced at 20 Hz (1200 RPM) behind and ahead of that peak. Thus this increase in vibrations is due to the damages in gear 1 (N1 = 32, 1200 RPM). Case 2: Motor frequency = 2400 RPM = 40 Hz Gear Meshing frequency 1 = N11 = 322400 = 76800 RPM (1280 Hz) = N22 = 802 2 = 960 RPM = 16 Hz Gear Meshing frequency 2 = N33 = N32 = 46080 RPM (768 Hz)

Motor Speed 2400 RPM, All good gears

Page | 5

Motor speed 2400 RPM, One damaged gear A similar result is observed, with peaks around 40, 768 and 1280 Hz. Again the experimental results points to accurately to the faulty gear, i.e. gear 1 with 32 number of teeth, as the sidebands are spaced at 40 Hz (speed of gear 1), when vibration rms values are significant. Case 2: Motor frequency = 3600 RPM = 60 Hz Gear Meshing frequency 1 = N11 = 323600 = 115200 RPM (1920 Hz) = N22 = 802 2 = 1440 RPM = 24 Hz Gear Meshing frequency 2 = N33 = N32 = 69120 RPM (1152 Hz)

Page | 6

Motor Speed 3600 RPM, All good gears

Motor Speed 3600 RPM, One damaged gear In this case also observations are similar, but a high rms value of vibration is seen at the GMF of the gear mesh involving gears 3 and 4, without any clearly visible sidebands. Due to the absence of sidebands this shouldnt be caused by the problem with a gear and might have been due to its alignment being disturbed while fixing and removing the faulty gear 1. Apart from this, there is a Page | 7

spike in rms value at GMF involving gear 1 and sidebands are also observed which are spaced 60 Hz away from the GMF peak, thus showing that the fault is with the gear 1 having speed of 60 Hz, thus matching the expected result. In all the above cases the gearbox was loaded at a constant load using the magnetic brake. Also the vibrations measured are the ones in the radial direction. The vibrations in the axial direction were found to be low when compared to radial vibrations. Some of the sources of error in the experiment include: The accuracy of the frequency values are limited by the spectral resolution of the measuring device. Thus more accurate values of measurement can be obtained by using measurement devices with a better resolution. The most accurate measurements of vibrations would be the direct measurement of vibration of the input and output shafts or the gears themselves. But in the experiment vibration measurements were taken using a VIBXPERT module by attaching it externally to the gearbox, at points close the shafts. This error can be reduced by measuring the vibrations using accelerometers attached directly on the output and input shafts.

Results
Vibration analysis was found to be an excellent method for gearbox diagnosis. It could provide a fairly accurate prediction of the faulty gear in the gearbox without even opening it. Thus even though this method is computationally heavy as it involved Fast Fourier Transform of the measured signal and also requires high quality measurement devices, it is efficient enough to analyse the working of a gearbox and find faults in it. This method can also be used to reduce vibrations in the system.

Page | 8