System and method for gearbox health monitoring

• US 7,945,397 B2
• Filed: 04/02/2009
• Issued: 05/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Kar, Chinmaya
• Primary Examiner(s): Dunn; Drew A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Cherry; Stephen J
• Application Number:
  US12/417,475
• Publication Number:
  US 20100256932A1
• Time in Patent Office: 775 Days
• Field of Search: 702/34, 702/35
• US Class Current: 702/34
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 13/021 Gearings

Abstract

A system includes a plurality of sensors configured to measure one or more characteristics of a gearbox. The system also includes a gearbox condition indicator device, which includes a plurality of sensor interfaces configured to receive input signals associated with at least one stage of the gearbox from the sensors. The gearbox condition indicator device also includes a processor configured to identify a fault in the gearbox using the input signals and an output interface configured to provide an indicator identifying the fault. The processor is configured to identify the fault by determining a family of frequencies related to at least one failure mode of the gearbox, decomposing the input signals using the family of frequencies, reconstructing a gear signal using the deconstructed input signals, and comparing the reconstructed gear signal to a baseline signal. The family of frequencies includes a gear mesh frequency and its harmonics.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

an input interface configured to receive an input signal associated with at least one stage of a gearbox;

a processor configured to identify a fault in the gearbox using the input signal; and

an output interface configured to provide an indicator identifying the fault;

wherein the processor is configured to identify the fault by;

determining a family of frequencies related to at least one failure mode of the gearbox, the family of frequencies including a gear mesh frequency and its harmonics comprising a first signal representing a harmonic from a first element in the gearbox and a second signal representing a sideband related to a second element within the gearbox;

decomposing the input signal using the family of frequencies;

reconstructing a gear signal using the decomposed input signal; and

comparing the reconstructed gear signal to a baseline signal.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the reconstructed gear signal comprises at least one of:

a signal associated with the gear mesh frequency and its harmonics;

a signal associated with pinion sidebands;

a signal associated with gear sidebands;

a signal associated with hunting tooth frequencies; and

a signal associated with background noise.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to decompose the input signal by decomposing the input signal through a plurality of band-pass filters.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the processor is configured to reconstruct the gear signal by:

determining maximum and minimum frequencies and amplitudes in outputs of the band-pass filters;

uniting the maximum frequencies and amplitudes to produce a first union;

uniting the minimum frequencies and amplitudes to produce a second union; and

reconstructing multiple gear signals using the first and second unions.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor further is configured to identify the fault by:

normalizing the reconstructed signal with the baseline signal; and

applying a feature fusion technique to obtain a value for use by the indicator.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to store a portion of the input signal corresponding to normal operation of the gearbox as the baseline signal.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the indicator identifying the fault comprises at least one of:

a gear system indicator, a gear wear indicator, a gear crack indicator, and a pinion crack indicator.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the input signal comprises at least one of;

vibration information and speed information associated with the gearbox;

the input interface comprises multiple input interfaces; and

the processor comprises an artificial intelligence.

9. A system comprising:

a plurality of sensors configured to measure one or more characteristics of a gearbox; and

a gearbox condition indicator device comprising;

a plurality of sensor interfaces configured to receive input signals associated with at least one stage of the gearbox from the sensors;

a processor configured to identify a fault in the gearbox using the input signals; and

an output interface configured to provide an indicator identifying the fault;

wherein the processor is configured to identify the fault by;

determining a family of frequencies related to at least one failure mode of the gearbox, the family of frequencies including a gear mesh frequency and its harmonics comprising a first signal representing a harmonic from a first element in the gearbox and a second signal representing a sideband related to a second element within the gearbox;

decomposing the input signals using the family of frequencies;

reconstructing a gear signal using the decomposed input signals; and

comparing the reconstructed gear signal to a baseline signal.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the reconstructed gear signal comprises at least one of:

a signal associated with the gear mesh frequency and its harmonics;

a signal associated with pinion sidebands;

a signal associated with gear sidebands;

a signal associated with hunting tooth frequencies; and

a signal associated with background noise.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured to decompose the input signals by decomposing the input signals through a plurality of band-pass filters.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured to reconstruct the gear signal by:

determining maximum and minimum frequencies and amplitudes in outputs of the band-pass filters;

uniting the maximum frequencies and amplitudes to produce a first union;

uniting the minimum frequencies and amplitudes to produce a second union; and

reconstructing multiple gear signals using the first and second unions.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured to store a portion of the input signals corresponding to normal operation of the gearbox as the baseline signal.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the indicator identifying the fault comprises at least one of:

a gear system indicator, a gear wear indicator, a gear crack indicator, and a pinion crack indicator.

15. A method comprising:

receiving an input signal comprising at least one of vibration and speed information corresponding to at least one stage of a gearbox;

determining a family of frequencies corresponding to at least one failure mode of the gearbox, the family of frequencies including a gear mesh frequency and its harmonics, comprising a first signal representing a harmonic from a first element in the gearbox and a second signal representing a sideband related to a second element within the gearbox;

decomposing the input signal using the family of frequencies;

reconstructing a gear signal using the decomposed input signal;

comparing the reconstructed gear signal to a baseline signal; and

outputting an indicator identifying a fault when the reconstructed gear signal differs from the baseline signal by a threshold amount.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the reconstructed gear signal comprises at least one of:

a signal associated with the gear mesh frequency and its harmonics;

a signal associated with pinion sidebands;

a signal associated with gear sidebands;

a signal associated with hunting tooth frequencies; and

a signal associated with background noise.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein decomposing the input signal comprises decomposing the input signal through a plurality of band-pass filters;

and

wherein reconstructing the gear signal comprises;

determining maximum and minimum frequencies and amplitudes in outputs of the band-pass filters;

uniting the maximum frequencies and amplitudes to produce a first union;

uniting the minimum frequencies and amplitudes to produce a second union; and

reconstructing multiple gear signals using the first and second unions.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

normalizing the reconstructed signal with the baseline signal; and

applying a feature fusion technique to obtain a value for use by the indicator.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

storing a portion of the vibration and speed information corresponding to normal operation of the gearbox as the baseline signal.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the threshold amount comprises a first amount associated with a warning and a second amount associated with an alarm.