Vibration analysis in gearboxes can detect common defects such as gear misalignment, broken gear teeth, backlash and wear. Ferrography or wear particle analysis is also especially useful for detecting gearbox defects at an early stage. The benefit of both vibration analysis and wear particle analysis is to detect defects in gearboxes early in order to be able to an maintenance activities and avoid catastrophic failure.
The primary forcing frequency in a gear is called the gearmesh frequency. It is calculated by multiplying the number of teeth on the gear times the shaft speed. One will also typically see shaft rate sidebands around the gearmesh frequency caused by amplitude modulation.
Click the link to buy my book “Audit it. Improve it! Getting the Most From Your Vibration Monitoring Program”
In the video below, Jason Tranter of the Mobius Institute explains the key points to monitoring gearboxes using vibration analysis.
Alan Friedman is a senior instructor at the Mobius Institute as well as the Founder / CEO of Zenco. He is available for on-site training, hands on training and vibration analysis program audits. You may use the form below to contact me.
