Analysis of Spur Gear Faults using Frequency Domain Technique

In power transmission systems such as lathe machine, automobile gearbox, and watch etc, gears are used to transmit motion without slipping (Definite motion). Any variation arising due to falults/defects in gears results in loss of power. Gear defect or faults in power transmission system can be found out by processing of their vibration signals. This paper deals with the analysis of the spur gear defect. A two stage spur gearbox is used as an experimental set up and the vibration signals are recorded with the help of accelerometer from gearbox at healthy as well as faulty condition. Vibration signals are processed using MATLAB software and tooth breakage defect is considered as a gear fault. In this paper, recorded vibration signals, which are in time domain, are converted into frequency domain by using fast fourier transform (FFT). Compairision of these frequency spectrum at healthy and faulty condition of gearbox reflects the symptoms of tooth breakage defect on frequency spectrum.