Transmission gear life monitor system

• US 20020095985A1
• Filed: 12/13/2000
• Published: 07/25/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Eaton Intelligent Power Limited (Eaton Corporation PLC.)
• Original Assignee: Eaton Corp. (Wisconsin) (Eaton Corporation PLC.)
• Inventors: Gooch, Douglas C., Genise, Thomas A., Snow, Kevin D.
• Granted Patent: US 6,526,816 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 73/162
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 13/021 Gearings

Abstract

An integral gear life monitor system and method for determining gear use and damage is disclosed. The system includes a first and second sensors for measuring the rotational speed and torque of a driveline component, such as an input shaft of a vehicle transmission, for a particular gear ratio at one or more time intervals over a period of time. Each time interval may be in the range of 40 ms to 100 ms. The period of time may be hours, days, month, or even years. A processor performs a statistical summation technique to transform the signals from the first and second sensors into an equivalent amount time for the particular gear ratio during that period of time. A driveline vibration analyzer can perform an online determination of the torsional vibrations for the particular gear ratio to determine whether vibration is a root cause of why a gear ratio is worn or damaged. The transformed signals can be stored in a non-volatile memory of the processor for later retrieval as a diagnostic tool to statistically measure the amount of life used by each gear ratio, to determine if a gear ratio is worn or damaged, to determine the root cause of why a gear ratio is worn or damaged, and to take proactive and/or reactive measures to extend the life of the transmission.

Claims

1_9. ] A transmission integral gear life monitor system, comprising:

a first sensor for measuring a rotational speed of a rotating component in a vehicle driveline for a particular gear ratio and generating a first signal;

a second sensor for measuring a torque of the rotating component in the vehicle driveline for the particular gear ratio and generating a second signal; and

a processor electrically coupled to the first and second sensors for transforming the first and second signals into an equivalent amount of time for the particular gear ratio over a period of time;

2_9. ] The gear life monitor system according to claim 1, wherein the rotating component is a transmission input shaft.

3_9. ] The gear life monitor system according to claim 1, wherein the processing is performed using a statistical summation technique.

4_9. ] The gear life monitor system according to claim 1, wherein the equivalent amount of time is stored for a range of rotational speeds of the rotating component.

5_9. ] The gear life monitor system according to claim 1, wherein the equivalent amount of time is stored for a range of torque of the rotating component.

6_9. ] The gear life monitor system according to claim 1, wherein the first and second sensor measure rotational speed and torque at an interval of time in a range of 40 ms and 100 ms.

7_9. ] The gear life monitor system according to claim 1, further including a driveline vibration analyzer for analyzing torsional vibrations online for the particular gear ratio to determine whether vibration is a root cause of a worn or damaged gear.

8_9. ] A gear life monitor system for a transmission of a vehicle driveline, comprising:

a first sensor for measuring a rotational speed of a rotating component during one or more interval of times for a particular gear ratio and generating a first signal for each interval of time;

a second sensor for measuring a torque of the rotating component during the one or more intervals of time for the particular gear ratio and generating a second signal for each interval of time; and

a processor electrically coupled to the first and second sensors for performing a statistical summing technique of the first and second signals for each interval of time to determine an equivalent amount of time for the particular gear ratio.

9_9. ] The gear life monitor system according to claim 8, wherein the rotating component is a transmission input shaft.

10_9. ] The gear life monitor system according to claim 8, wherein the equivalent amount of time is stored for a range of rotational speeds of the rotating component.

11_9. ] The gear life monitor system according to claim 8, wherein the equivalent amount of hours is stored for a range of torque of the rotating component.

12_9. ] The gear life monitor system according to claim 8, wherein each interval of time is in a range of 40 ms and 100 ms.

13_9. ] The gear life monitor system according to claim 8, further including a driveline vibration analyzer for analyzing torsional vibrations online for the particular gear ratio to determine whether vibration is a root cause of a worn or damaged gear.

14_9. ] A method of determining a gear life in a transmission, comprising the steps of:

sensing a rotational speed of a rotating component in a vehicle driveline during one or more intervals of time for a particular gear ratio and generating a first signal at each time interval;

determining a torque of the rotating component in the vehicle driveline during the one or more intervals of time for the particular gear ratio and generating a second signal at each time interval; and

transforming the first and second signals into an equivalent amount of time for the particular gear ratio.

15_9. ] The method of claim 14, further including the step of analyzing torsional vibrations online for the particular gear ratio to determine whether vibration is a root cause of a worn or damaged gear.

16_9. ] The method of claim 14, further including the step of storing the transformed first and second signals in a non-volatile memory of a processor.

17_9. ] The method of claim 14, wherein each interval of time is in a range of 40 ms and 100 ms.