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JUNE 2ND, 2020

A Condition Monitoring Toolbox for

Gearboxes

Tim Sundstrom | Research & Development, SPM

Instrument

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A Condition Monitoring Toolbox for

Gearboxes

GEAR MESH – MECHANICAL EXPLANATION

When measuring on a gearbox with a vibration transducer, you

almost always see a clear gear mesh signature in the spectrum;

regardless if the gearbox is in mint condition or an older, worn

gearbox, you still see the gear mesh. The mechanical explanation

of this phenomenon can be found when studying the interaction

of the teeth involved.

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This process of distributing load between the different teeth is

never perfect. The “hand over” of the forces from the driving gear
to the driven gear will be affected by manufacturing tolerances of

the gears, the flexion of the teeth, and other causes. Assuming
the lower gear (the driving gear) is rotating with a constant

angular speed, the driven gear will experience a constantly

shifting angular speed, acceleration-deceleration-acceleration

etc., each time two teeth are meshing. This acceleration-

deceleration process creates forces which manifest themselves as
vibrations. These are the vibrations picked up with a vibration
transducer – it is the gear mesh frequency. During our field tests,

but also based on discussions with experienced vibration

analysts, we have concluded that velocity readings (mm/second
or inches/second) gives an equally good or even better view of
gear condition compared to the standard approach using
acceleration (g or meter per square second). Based on this

conclusion, we have used velocity readings in our settings and

examples in this technical report.

SLIDING – ROLLING – SLIDING

Study the interaction between two teeth again. When the

surfaces on two opposing teeth make the initial contact, there is

a sliding action. After a short time, the two surfaces will roll
relative to each other, and finally there is the sliding action again.

DYNAMIC BEHAVIOUR AND SURFACE CONDITION

Because of the gear interaction, the “hand over” of forces is
dependent on the dynamic behaviour of the teeth involved. A
potential crack or tooth surface damages will affect the
acceleration-deceleration-acceleration behaviour. This in turn will
affect the velocity readings; in a velocity spectrum you will see

this as a change in the pattern. Typically seen in a spectrum is the

appearance of sidebands caused by modulation. Note that the
overall velocity readings, at least in the early fault stages, are
dominated by the normal gear mesh between the other healthy

teeth, so a potential early problem will most probably not show

up in the overall trend.

If there are small surface irregularities, they will not affect the

velocity readings too much. The “hand over” of forces is not

affected, so neither is the acceleration-deceleration-acceleration
process. But due to the sliding-rolling-sliding action, these
surface imperfections will create (small) metal to metal collisions
in the contact points. These collisions will emit elastic waves, and

by applying modern enveloping techniques like HD ENV, the

surface condition of the teeth in a gear can be evaluated.

To conclude: damages (cracks, bigger holes etc.) affecting the

dynamic behaviour of the teeth will show up in velocity readings,

while smaller surface damages will show up in vibration envelope
readings (like HD ENV).

ORDER TRACKING

The result of good order tracking is sharp and crisp spectrums,

where each bin in the spectrum is clearly defined and represents
a clear signal source. One of the challenges of gearbox analysis is

the large amount of parts which may emit signals (multiple

bearings, gears, shafts), and the fault types (bearing faults, gear

faults, misalignment, unbalance, eccentric gears etc). By using

HD Order Tracking, the results are easier to interpret; each signal

source in the gearbox shows up with clear patterns in a spectrum

at a specific order, and the identification of possible faults is

made much easier.

TIME SYNCHRONOUS AVERAGING AND PSEUDO TACHOMETER

Time Synchronous Averaging (TSA) is an excellent method to

reduce noise and retain synchronous signals like gear mesh. For

more details, please read ‘A Condition Monitoring Toolbox for

Gearbox Analysis’.

A limitation found in many systems is the fact that Time

Synchronous Averaging requires a trigger pulse from the very

same shaft where the gears are mounted. By using the ‘Pseudo

Tachometer’ function, an artificial and VERY accurate trigger

pulse is used to trigger measurements. If, say, 200 averages is

used and the artificial signal is not accurate enough, the fault will

increase for every revolution and the result will be meaningless.

By using HD Technology also for the Pseudo Tach, accuracy is

ensured.

SLIDING – ROLLING – SLIDING

Study the interaction between two teeth again. When the

surfaces on two opposing teeth make the initial contact, there is

a sliding action. After a short time, the two surfaces will roll
relative to each other, and finally there is the easier.

CIRCULAR PLOT

The result of applying HD Order Tracking, Time Synchronous

Averaging and Pseudo Tach (for intermediate shafts) is a time

signal where all signals synchronous with the shaft will show up

as peaks, while non-synchronous signals will be averaged out (or

decreased). Examples of synchronous signals are gears,

unbalance, and the commutation frequency from hydraulic

motors, while examples of non- synchronous signals are those

from bearings and gears on other shafts.
By taking the time signal above and wrapping it around a circle,

where one revolution of the time signal equals 360 degrees, a

more intuitive view of the gear can be produced. The peaks in the

circular plot in Figure 6 below shows the dynamic behaviour of

each tooth in this gear. It does NOT represent the mechanical

shape or profile of the teeth.

SIGNAL PATH

Look at the conceptual drawing of a gearbox in Figure 8 below. It

drives an autogenous mill in a zinc mine in Sweden. Assume

there is a tooth fault on the input shaft gear (the one with thirty-
three teeth). If the fault is of dynamic nature (creating

acceleration-deceleration-acceleration, see previous discussions),

this will create vibrations that are easily transferred through the

shaft, through the bearings, and the vibrations will be easily

detected on the gearbox surface. Theoretically, this vibration

signal should be strongest in the tangential direction of the gear
mesh (at least in a spur gear mesh) but based on practical

measurements this is not always true. The dynamic behaviour of

the whole gearbox assembly plays an important role and the gear

mesh is easier to pick up in the “weakest directions”.

Now, let us assume we have a smaller surface damage on a tooth.

This surface damage does not affect the vibration readings

(acceleration-deceleration-acceleration process), but it will emit

elastic waves when this tooth meets another tooth from the

other gear. These waves contain high frequencies and can be

severely dampened through material interfaces.

Study Figure 9. Let us assume there is a small surface damage on

one tooth on the gear on the input shaft (indicated by a red dot).
The elastic waves (represented by the doted black line) need to

travel from the mesh point, to the shaft through the inner race of
the bearing, through the rolling elements to the outer race and

finally to the transducer. The bearing is (hopefully) well lubricated,

so the lubrication media itself can dampen the high frequency
contents significantly.
This leads to the following conclusion: in order to accurately
detect gear surface damages, we recommend using envelope

filters with rather low frequency settings. Filter 4 (5 – 40 kHz) and

SPM HD (32 kHz) can give very low amplitude signals due to the
dampening in the bearing. We have, however, seen cases where

SPM HD and Filter 4 readings show the surface condition very

clearly, but its most probably because the lubricant film is thin in
these cases and the high-frequency signal content can be

transferred with little damping. In all our cases, surface condition

is best seen using envelope Filter 3 (500 Hz – 10 kHz) because at
these lower frequencies, the signal can reach out to the
transducer most effectively.

RECOMMENDED MEASUREMENT SETUPS

Based on the field tests, measuring on both spur-gear and helical

gear gearboxes, we recommend the following standard settings
for gearbox monitoring (GMF = Gear Mesh Frequency).

One vibration measuring assignment using velocity

(mm/s or inch/second)
Order Tracking activated

Fmax > GMF x 5 (to cover higher order harmonics) o Lines

> 800 *)
Time Synchronous Averaging with 200 averages

(depending on potential time limitations) o Pseudo Tach

will automatically be engaged if TSA is selected and gear
ratio <> 1

One HD ENV Filter 3 measuring assignment

Order Tracking activated o Fmax > GMF x 5 o Lines > 800
*)
Time Synchronous averaging with 200 averages **)

*) Make sure the measuring time for one reading is longer than

two revolutions; choose four revolutions or more if possible. If the

measuring time is too short, the Order Tracking speed
interpolation will not sync properly.
**) Using symptom enhancement in combination with Time
Synchronous Averaging is not possible. We recommend Time
Synchronous Averaging for gear monitoring. With this technique,

it is possible to identify single teeth with damages. Using

symptom enhancement, which looks for repetitive patterns,
results can sometimes be hard to interpret. In Example 3 below, a

comparison is made between HD ENV Filter 3 TSA and HD ENV

Filter 3 with symptom enhancement activated.

SOME USEFUL ADVICE WHEN USING CIRCULAR PLOT

If you have a gear with say thirty-three teeth, select Options >

Circular Plot > Set number of sectors and input ’33’, and you will
have a radial grid representing the number of teeth in the gear.

Sometimes, depending on the direction in which the vibration

transducer is mounted, the circular plot can look strange; the

peaks from the gear mesh can be negative. If you select Options
> Circular Plot > Invert signal, the negative peaks will become
positive and vice versa. In those cases, this can display an easier to

understand circular plot.

Use the arrow keys on the keyboard to align the circular plot with
the grid. This looks cool and is very useful.

Drag the cursors in the time domain window and the circular plot
will be updated directly. This is useful when explaining the basic
principle for circular plot and it looks cool as well.

For an example A helical cut, healthy gear in a four-stage gearbox

in the pulp and paper industry. The tachometer is measuring the

input shaft speed. The Pseudo Tach is automatically engaged to

produce artificial pulses correlated to the output shaft. The speed
of the output shaft is 23.5 RPM.
Same gearbox and gear from the previous example, but this time
looking at the surface condition using HD ENV Filter 3 and
circular plots. The pattern is low in amplitude and evenly
distributed, leading to the conclusion that this gear is in good

surface condition.

Gear damage seen with both Velocity TSA and HD ENV Filter 3
TSA on a one-stage gearbox with a helical cut gear. A handheld

unit was used (Leonova Diamond). Several positions and

directions were used to compare the results.
An eccentric gear in a one-stage gearbox. This is the same type of
gearbox as in Example 3, but with another fault type. This fault
shows up in the velocity readings, not in HD ENV Filter 3.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Time Synchronous Averaging, Pseudo Tachometer and HD Order

Tracking in combination with velocity readings and HD ENV Filter

3 gives a unique view of gear condition. The velocity readings

provide a view of the dynamic behaviour of the teeth (cracks,

missing teeth, severe damages), while HD ENV Filter 3 gives a

view of the surface condition of the teeth (like wear).

Due to the signal path of the elastic waves in a gearbox, we

recommend HD ENV Filter 3 for surface condition. Higher

frequencies (like Filter 4 and SPM HD) can in many cases be

dampened out, while the Filter 3 frequency content can reach

the transducer.

We use velocity readings contrary to acceleration readings

because they give an equally good – or, in many cases, a better –

view of the dynamic behaviour of the teeth.

The classical way of analysing gear condition looking for

sidebands and pattern changes is still very valid, but the intuitive
way of showing gear condition is a strong feature.
Using the
Coloured Spectrum Overview tool for sideband
development can produce excellent results.

Tags: toolbox, condition monitoring, gearboxes,

Tim Sundstrom, SPM Instrument

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tim
Sundstrom
Research &
Development, SPM
Instrument
 For over twenty
years, Tim has been
specializing in
electronics
development and
has held managerial
positions in the field
since 1992. In 2001,
he joined SPM
Instrument as head
of Research and
Development, where
he has been deeply
involved in HD
Technology
development and
field evaluations.
Today Tim is head of
the Strategic Sales
and Applications
expert group at SPM
Instrument, focusing
on developing key
areas and
knowledge.

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