EARLY FAULT DETECTION AT GEAR UNITS BY ACOUSTIC EMISSION AND WAVELET ANALYSIS
Christian Scheer, Wilfried Reimche, Friedrich‐Wilhelm Bach · 2007
To secure the availability of machines and facilities, the reaction to beginning damage must be as fast as possible. Thus, early detection of damage initiation is crucial to the quick planning and execution of reconditioning measures. This helps to minimize downtime and increase availability. Modern high performance transmissions in fabrication and energy industries more and more have to satisfy high requirements concerning their nominal load, running properties and operational stability. Helical cut gears with small modules are usually used to meet these demands. To assure an undisturbed operation, to avoid unplanned downtimes and consequential damages of high performance transmissions a condition monitoring and fault diagnosis is useful. Vibration analysis is a good tool for detecting faults and unacceptable operating conditions of machines in an early stage, due to its large dynamic range when using spectral and correlation analysis. Detecting a defect in a machine by vibration analysis is however not possible before the degree of damage is already affecting its vibration characteristics. Using classical vibration analysis, especially the detection of cracks and their propagation in rotating shafts and gear wheels, is possible only with relatively short forecasting times before failure. Early detection of