Experimental Investigation of Faulty Gearbox Using Motor Current Signature Analysis.

Abstract

Even though there are a number of condition monitoring and analysis techniques, researchers are in search of a simple and easy way to monitor vibration of a gearbox, which is an omnipresent and an important power transmission component in any machinery. Motor current signature analysis (MCSA) has been the most recent addition as a non-intrusive and easy to measure condition monitoring technique.
In gearboxes, load fluctuations on the gearbox and gear defects are two major sources of vibration. Further at times, measurement of vibration in the gearbox is not easy because of the inaccessibility in mounting the vibration transducers.The objective of this paper is to detect artificially introduced defects in gears of a multistage automotive transmission gearbox at different gear operations using MCSA as a condition monitoring technique. Steady as well as fluctuating load conditions on the gearbox are tested for both vibration and current signatures during different gear operations.