MSC Thesis - Fault Detection Within Industrial Gearbox Using Vibration

C O V E N T R Y
U N I V E R S I T Y
Faculty of Engineering and Computing

Department of Mechanical, Automotive and Manufacturing
Engineering
MSc Mechanical Engineering

M07MAE Individual Project
Fault Detection within Industrial Gearbox Using Vibration

Analysis
Author: Ehab Bashir El-Ajtel

SID: 6117915
Supervisor: Dr. Faris Elasha
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Science

in Mechanical Engineering
Academic Year: 2015/16
i
Abstract
Vibration monitoring of industrial gearboxes is one of effective techniques for

determining the conditions of in-service systems and components and predicting
when maintenance should be performed. However, vibration amplitudes at the early
stages of damage initiations in gearbox components, especially bearings, are very low
and are sometimes masked by signals from other sources within the gearbox. In order
to recover fault characteristic frequencies embedded within vibration signals,
different techniques of vibration analysis have been developed. Nevertheless, most
these techniques are proved to detect certain types of components faults, commonly
faults in bearings. Hence, a condition monitoring system for detecting all gearbox
components faults is needed.
In this report, a set of vibration analysis techniques was employed for fault detection
within industrial gearbox. Experimental vibration data collected from an industrial
gearbox at different operating conditions; one case of good conditions and three cases
of different types of fault are processed and analysed to detect the fault symptoms
and diagnose the conditions of the gearbox. The faults of the gearbox varies from
defective gears, unbalanced shaft to faulty bearings. Nonetheless, the analysis of the
experimental data is performed with six processing steps using MATLAB Codes. The
vibration signals are first pre-processed using Wavelet Transform so that their
deterministic parts and non-deterministic parts are separated. Next, band-pass filters
are applied to the resonance frequency range of each de-noised signal. Then, kurtosis
and global maximum as condition indicators are applied to locate informative
frequency bands for envelope analysis, which is performed using Hilbert Transform.
The frequency spectrums of the de-noised signals and the enveloped signals are
obtained using Fast Fourier Transform.
Based on the results of the analysis, global maximum has proved to be a reliable
condition indicator for excited frequency bands of both deterministic signals and non-
deterministic signals. On the other hand, kurtosis has proved to be only a reliable
condition indicator for non-deterministic signals.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I would like to express my gratitude to all those who contributed to this master
thesis. Special thanks is directed to Dr. Faris Elasha for his continuous support and
professional guidance. His comments and feedback were always constructive, and
helped me understand many new subjects in the field of vibration analysis.
I would like to thank my parents and my family for their huge support and
encouragement.
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.0 Introduction……………………………………….……………………………………..……….…..………1
1.1. Background and Motivations…….…………………………..………………………..……….……1
1.2. Project Aim and Objectives……………………..……………………………………………….……2
Chapter 2 (Literature Review)

2.1. Introduction …………………………………………..…………………………………………..…………3
2.2. Maintenance Strategies………………………………..…………….…………….…………..………4
2.2.1. Reactive Maintenance………………………..…………………………….…………………………4
2.2.2. Preventive Maintenance…………………………………..………………………..….……………4
2.2.3. Predictive Maintenance…..……………………………………………………..………..…………4
2.3. Gears Types and Operation……………………………..…………………………..…………………6
2.4. Failure Modes of Gears………………………………...……………………………..…………………8
2.5. Rolling Element Bearing……………………..…………………………………………..…….………15
2.6. Failure Modes of Rolling Element Bearing ...………………..……………….………………12
2.7. Condition Monitoring Techniques………………………..……………………..……………..…14
2.7.1. Temperature Monitoring………………………………..……………………..……………..……15
2.7.2. Oil Condition Monitoring…………………………..………………………….……………………16
2.7.3. Acoustic Emission Monitoring………………………………………..………..…………………18
2.7.4. Vibration Monitoring…..………………………..…………………………..……….………………20
2.8. Signal Processing Techniques………………………………………………....…….………………21
2.8.1. Time Domain Analysis………………………..……………………………..…………….…………21
2.8.2. Frequency Domain Analysis…………………………………………..……………………………23
2.8.3. Time-Frequency Domain Analysis……………………..…………………..…………..………24
2.8.4. Blind Source Separation (BSS)…………………………………….……..……….………………24
Chapter 3: Methodology
3.1. Experimental Setup...………………………………………………………………...…………………26
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3.2. Signals Processing...……………………………………………………………..……….…………………27
3.3. Wavelet Transform for De-noising Signals...……………………………..……..………………28
3.4. Band Filters and Fast Fourier Transform..……………………………………………..…………30
3.5. Condition Indicators for Frequency Band Selections………………………………..………33
3.6. Hilbert Transform for Envelope Analysis..……………….……………………………….………38
3.7. Summary..…………………………………………………….…………………………………………………41
Chapter 4: Results and Analyses

4.1. De-noising Vibration Signals..……………………………………………………………..……………42
4.2. Frequency Band Selections..………………………………………………………………….…………44
4.3. Vibration Analysis and Envelope Analysis..………………………………………….……………49
4.3.1. Deterministic Signals..………………………………………………………………………..…………49
4.3.2. Deterministic Signals..……………………………………………………………………..……………64
4.4. Summary..……………………………………………………………………………………..……..…………77
Chapter 5: Discussion
5. Discussion..……………………………………………………………………………………………..…………78
Chapter 6: Conclusion and Future Work

6.1. Conclusion..…………………………………………………………………………………….………………82
6.2. Future Work..……………………………………………………………………………………….…………83
References..…………………………………………………………………………………………………………84
Appendices..………………………………………………………………….………………………….…………90
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List of Figures
Figure 1 Spur gears …….……………..…………………………………..…………………….……………….…6

Figure 2 Helical Gears …….……………..……………………………………………………..……………….…7
Figure 3 (a) straight bevel gears, (b) spiral bevel gears ……..…………………………..…………7
Figure 4 Worm gear pair …….……………..…………………………………………………………….………8
Figure 5 Fatigue crack at the tooth-root fillet of a gear …….………………………………..……9
Figure 6 Pitting damage in the contact surface of a tooth …..………………………….………10
Figure 7 Adhesive wear …….……………..………………………………………………….…………………11
Figure 8 Schematic representations of ball bearing and roller bearing with cut
through views …….……………..……………………………………………………...……………..……………12
Figure 9 True brinelling damage in the inner raceway of a bearing …………........………13
Figure 10 Infrared-temperature monitoring of a gearing box …….………..………….…..…16
Figure 11 Schematic of x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy …….……………….……..…………17
Figure 12 Schematic of acoustic emissions …….……………..…………………..……………..……19
Figure 13 (a) and (b) AE sensor application as fault detector within a gearbox …….…19
Figure 14 Illustration of RMS, peak level and crest factor ……………...………………………22
Figure 15 Signal analysis in the frequency domain ……………..…………………..………..……23
Figure 16 Framework of Blind Source Separation …….…….………………………………………25
Figure 17 Schematic of the vibration-monitored industrial Gearbox…….…………………26
Figure 18 Signal processing approach…….…………………………………………….…………………28
Figure 19 Wavelet Transform decomposition (ldeo.columbia.edu, 2009) ……...………30
Figure 20 Concept of Filtering…….…………………………………………………………….……….……31
Figure 21 Concepts of the four basic types of frequencies filtering…….……………..……31
Figure 22 Kurtosis, global maximum, CF and RMS of raw and de-noised signals……..34
Figure 23 Comparison of global maximum and local maxima of good conditions signal
(a) and a defective signal (b) …….………………………………………..…………………………..……..36
Figure 24 Shapes and Kurtoses values of two signals………………………………….…..………37
Figure 25 Kurtogram of defect vibration signal…….…………………………………………………38
Figure 26 Envelope Extraction…………………………………………….…………………………..………39
Figure 27 Envelope Detection Process…….………………………………………………………………39
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Figure 28 Primary monitored waveforms of the four studied cases…….…………….……42
Figure 29 Deterministic signal and non-deterministic signal of good conditions…..…44
Figure 30 Color map for global maxima of 4 deterministic signals…….……………….……45
Figure 31 Colour map for kurtoses of 4 deterministic signals…….……………………………46
Figure 32 Color map for global maxima of 4 non-deterministic Signals…………..………47
Figure 33 Colour map for kurtosis values of 4 non-deterministic Signals…………………48
Figure 34 Frequency Spectrum of deterministic signal of good conditions……..………49
Figure 35 Magnified portion of frequency spectrum in Fig. 35………………….…….………50
Figure 36 Spectrum of enveloped deterministic signal (20-21 KHz) of good
condition…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………51
Figure 37 Frequency Spectrum of deterministic signal of Case 2…………………….………52
Figure 38 Spectrum of enveloped deterministic signal (21-22 KHz) of Case 2……….…53
Figure 39 Spectrum of enveloped deterministic signal (16-17 KHz) of Case 2………….54
Figure 40 Spectrum of enveloped deterministic signal (0.5-1.5 KHz) of Case 2………..55
Figure 43 Spectrum of enveloped deterministic signal (20-21 KHz) of Case 3………….58
Figure 46 Magnified portion of frequency spectrum in Fig. 45…….…………………….……60
Figure 49 Spectrum of non-deterministic signal of good conditions…….…………….……64
Figure 50 Spectrum of enveloped non-deterministic signal (8.5-9.5 KHz) of good
conditions……………………………………………………………………………………………………….………65
Figure 51 Spectrum of enveloped non-deterministic signal (26-27 KHz) of good
conditions……………………………………………………………………………………………………….………66
conditions……………………………………………………………………………………………………….………67
Figure 53 Spectrum of non-deterministic signal of Case 2……………………………….………68
Figure 54 Spectrum of enveloped non-deterministic signal (23-24 KHz) of Case 2..…69
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Figure 56 Spectrum of non-deterministic signal of Case 3……………………........….………71
Figure 58 Spectrum of enveloped non-deterministic signal (8.5 - 9.5 KHz) Case 3…..73
Figure 59 Spectrum of non-deterministic signal of Case 4……………………………….………74
Figure 61 Spectrum of enveloped non-deterministic signal (8.5-9.5 KHz) of Case 4…76
Figure 62 Non-deterministic signal and deterministic signal of Case 2…………….………91
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List of Symbols, Abbreviations and Nomenclature
Symbol Definition
FFT Fast Fourier Transform

DWT Discrete Wavelet Transform
CM Condition monitoring
CF Crest factor
RMS Root mean square
SK Spectral kurtosis
BSF Ball spin frequency
BPFI Ball pass frequency of inner race
BBFO Ball pass frequency of outer race
FTF Fundamental train frequency
IS Input shaft frequency
IDS Idler shaft frequency
OS Output shaft frequency
GMF Gear mesh frequency
BSS Blind Source Separation
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1.0. Introduction
The importance of machinery’s reliabilities for operating normally as expected in the

industry depends on their applications, capacities and costs. An unpredicted failure of
a gearbox in a steel plant or in oil industry can cause huge production loss in addition
to losses of maintenance, which can soar if the failure causes secondary damages.
Moreover, unpredicted failures of machines can be dangerous to operators and
bystanders if the failure results in an explosion, flying parts, or if it results in an
operation failure of a critical application such as an airplane or a helicopter. Hence,
with the advances in technology, demands for increasing efficiency and reliability of
machines are increased. The reliability of critical machines such as industrial
gearboxes is usually maintained using both periodic maintenance and condition
monitoring (CM) based maintenance. The latter is the newer type of maintenance,
and it has been intensively studied with different techniques to develop a final system
that can predict faults when they initiate. Vibration, oil debris, temperature and
acoustic emissions monitoring are different CM techniques that are applied for
machinery such as gearboxes, turbines and mills.
1.1. Background and Motivations
Oil debris analysis and temperature monitoring of gearbox are relatively mature
technologies, but they have limitations inherited in their nature for detecting some
faults and their causes within gearboxes (Al-Arabi, 2012). In contrast, acoustic
emissions monitoring is a promising technique for detecting a variety of faults and
their causes within gearboxes, but this technique is till immature and because of this
it is still not widely used in the industry (Bechhoefer et al., 2013). On the other hand,
vibration monitoring is a mature technology and it is able to detect most faults and
their causes. This is why it is the most common used technique for gearbox condition
monitoring (Jauregui, 2014). However, in the case of gearboxes, vibration amplitudes
at the early stage of damage initiation in bearings are very low and are concealed by
other signals from other sources within the gearbox, which render them difficult to
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detect before being developed enough (Al-Arabi, 2012). Accordingly, a more effective
method of signal processing is needed to separate signals generated by bearings from
those generated by gears, shafts and the other components of gearbox. This is to
analyse the separated signals independently and identify faults in each of them at
early stages, and enable for powerful gearbox condition monitoring and health
diagnosis.
1.2. Project Aims and Objectives
The aim of this project is to devise a system that can accurately diagnose a gearbox
conditions and detect incipient faults.
The objectives are:
* To conduct literature review to evaluate the existing diagnostic techniques.
* To increase understanding of vibration technology and its ability to monitor

defects within gearboxes.
* Design and develop a system for separating bearing signals from signals generated
by other elements within gearboxes.
* Design and develop a condition monitoring system to detect and diagnose gearbox
faults using vibration signal processing.
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Chapter 2: Literature Review
2.1. Introduction
Gearboxes are mechanical power transmission systems that are widely used in the
industry to transmit motion between shafts based on gear ratios. The transmitted
motion can be characterised by increased toque and reduced speed or vice versa. The
gearbox’s gear ratio determines the speed and torque of its output motion. Gearboxes
are usually made of steel alloys and their common types are spur, helical, bevel, worm
and planetary gearboxes. However, the design of gearboxes influences their
production costs and determines their characteristics and applications; spur
gearboxes for normal speed control, worm gearboxes for rolling mills and elevators,
helical gearboxes for blowers and cutters, bevel gearboxes for print press and
differential drives and planetary gearboxes for cranes and machine tools
(Anaheimautomation.com, 2015). The various applications of gearbox leads one to
recognise its importance and that gearboxes should always be maintained in good
conditions so that unpredicted failures in their operations can be reduced. This can
help prevent or reduce the likelihood of catastrophic failure in plants that depend in
their operations on using gearboxes such as some steel plants or oil industry, and
avoid huge costs that can be incurred as a result of both reactive maintenance and
production losses.
Industrial plants are maintained in good conditions by operators and technicians
performing different types of maintenance on the plants. This is to protect the plant
from the effect of a damage within one of its components and to avoid unpredicted
failure of certain component such as a gear within an industrial gearbox, a system such
as a gearbox or the whole plant such as a power generation plant. Nevertheless,
industrial plants typically have three types of maintenance; reactive maintenance,
preventive maintenance and predictive maintenance (Mohanty, 2015).
3
2.2. Maintenance Strategies
2.2.1. Reactive Maintenance
This type of maintenance is also known as operating to failure maintenance, and it is

performed when there is a failure in a system that causes it not to continue performing
its desired function. Nonetheless, reactive maintenance is discredited for expensive
mechanical systems such as industrial gearboxes as in such systems, reactive
maintenance is likely to be associated with high machine downtime and huge financial
losses due to high maintenance costs and production losses. Yet, reactive
maintenance is known to be suitable for relatively cheap systems (Mohanty, 2015)
and when a system downtime is not vital (Al-Arbi, 2012).
2.2.2. Preventive Maintenance
This is a fixed time based maintenance and it is performed on a regular basis to

maintain a machine in a perfect running condition at all times (Mohanty, 2015). The
aim of this maintenance is to prevent catastrophic failures from occurring (Al-Arbi,
2012). An example of preventive maintenance is replacing the lubrication oil of a
machine after certain period of use (Mohanty, 2015).
2.2.3. Predictive Maintenance
Predictive maintenance is a maintenance based on the monitored conditions of

machinery, and it has become cost effective with the advances in computer
technology in 1990s (Al-Arbi, 2012). This type of maintenance is based on measuring
the health parameters of a system, such as vibrations, acoustic emissions, lubrication
oil condition, temperature and motor current. However, instrumentations such as
sensors, a data acquisition system and a computer-based signal analysis system are
required to apply condition based predictive maintenance. Although there is an
additional cost of predictive maintenance system when purchasing and installing a
new machine such as an industrial gearbox, the continuous monitoring of the health
4
parameters of the machine allows the operators to know its conditions at all times
(Mohanty, 2015). This enables the identification of incipient problems in the machine
so that corrective actions can be taken early (Al-Arbi, 2012). Also, predictive
maintenance strategies allow the reduction of the frequency of the preventive
maintenance and minimise spare parts stocks. In a nutshell, predicative maintenance
reduces each of maintenance cost, machine downtime and in service failure, and it
increases machine lifetime and productivity. Moreover, a predictive maintenance
system provides a safer working area for operators (Mohanty, 2015).
Condition monitoring of a gearbox can be achieved utilizing signatures produced from
the gearbox. These signals can be in the form of changes in temperature, vibration,
noise and lubricant conditions. When a fault in a component of a gearbox is identified
at an early stage, it can be remedied so that it will have no or minor effect on the other
components of the gearbox. This will prolong the operational life of the gearbox and
prevent an unpredicted failure of both the gearbox and the plant (Mohanty, 2015).
5
2.3. Gears Types and Operation
Gears are the most important elements of gearboxes (Al-Arbi, 2012). According to Ma
and Li (1995, cited in Alarabi 2012, p. 32) two thirds of gearboxes failures are caused
or originated from defective gears. Nevertheless, gear types can be as many as 12.
Examples of these types are: spur, helical, rack, internal, milter, straight bevel, spiral
bevel, screw, worm and worm wheel gears (Khkgears.co.jp, 2006). However, the most
common used gears can be categorised into 4 types: spur, helical, bevel and worm
gears (Budynas and Nisbett, 2015).
Spur gears, Fig. 1, are the commonest type used in the industry. The teeth of a spur
gear are parallel to the shaft’s axis. They are used to transmit motion between parallel
shafts (Khkgears.co.jp, 2006).
Figure 1 Spur gears (Mazurkiewicz, 2001)
Helical gears, Fig. 2, are different from spur gears in that their teeth are not parallel to
the shaft. The angle between the teeth and the shaft results in longer teeth when
compared to spur gears of the same width, which allows the meshing load to be
distributed over wider areas. The shape of helical gears causes them to have higher
production cost than spur gears. Nonetheless, the curved teeth of helical gears enable
gradual meshing and so less vibration and noise are produced in contrast to spur
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gears. Moreover, their wear rates are less than their equivalent spur gears due to the
bigger surface areas of their teeth (Al-Arbi, 2012).
Figure 2 Helical Gears (Bizdir.co.in, 2015)
Helical gears can be used for transmitting motion between shafts that can be parallel
or non-parallel (Budynas and Nisbett, 2015).
Bevel gears can be categorised into straight bevel gears and spiral bevel gears. The
former as shown in Fig. 3 (a) are the simplest as they have straight teeth
(Khkgears.co.jp, 2006). Straight bevel gears are used in cement plants, steel plants,
textile machines and chemical industry (Agroengineers.com, 2013). They are
preferred for transmitting motion between intersecting shafts with peripheral speeds
that do not exceed 5 meters per second. However, above this speed, spiral bevel
gears, Fig. 3 (b), are preferred as the spiral shape of their teeth enable gradual
engagement during meshing, which results in less vibration and less noise in contrast
to straight bevel gears (Amesweb.info, 2015). Spiral bevel gears are usually used for
right-angle transmission of motion with high speeds and high torques
(Agroengineers.com, 2013).
Figure 3 (a) straight bevel gears, (b) spiral bevel gears (Qtcgears.com, 2015)
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Worm gears, Fig. 4, are applied with worms as a pair of both elements (Khkgears.co.jp,
2006). The worm is a gear of shaft shape with screw-like teeth. It drives the worm gear
which is a wheel-like and has different shaped teeth from the drive worm that can be
helical. The operation of worm gears is smooth in terms of vibration and noise. They
are usually used for transmitting motion between shafts with right-angle (Bizdir.co.in,
2015) and when a large reduction ratio is required, typically from 5:1 to 300:1. A
unique feature of worm gears is that their operation is irreversible as the worm gear
cannot drive the worm shaft due to the shallow angle of the teeth of the later. This
locking feature has led to the use of worm gears in conveyor systems to allow an
instant stop of the system when needed such as an emergency stop. (Gonzalez, 2015)
Other examples of using worm gears are in elevators, extruders, crushers and small
ball mills (Bizdir.co.in, 2015).
Figure 4 Worm gear pair (Bizdir.co.in, 2015)
2.4. Failure Modes of Gears

Gears fail by different failure mechanisms, but high stresses contribute to all types of
failures. Yet if a damaged gear was not detected early, the damage can cause a
secondary damage and then the diagnosis of the cause of the defects can be a difficult
task (Kren, 2007). Nevertheless, bending fatigue failure, scuffing and pitting are the
most important faults in gears as they grow rapidly once started and they can have
considerable effects on power transmission (Al-Arbi, 2012).
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Bending Fatigue Failure: is characterised by crack initiation at the tooth-root fillet due
to stress concentration at this region, followed by a propagation of the crack until the
breakage of the tooth. The cause of this failure is the cyclic bending stresses that the
tooth suffers when meshing, especially that associated with the sudden loading at
each meshing (Al-Arbi, 2012) and (Kren, 2007).
Figure 5 Fatigue crack at the tooth-root fillet of a gear (Errichello and Muller, 2001)
Pitting: is a surface damage associated with contact fatigue that results from repeated
stress contact on the surface of a meshing tooth. It can be characterised by surface
cracks or the separation of small parts from a tooth surface (Kren, 2007) and
(Errichello and Muller, 2001). Pitting occurs when the contact stress on the tooth
surface exceeds its fatigue design limit (Al-Arbi, 2012).
Pitting damaged area on a tooth’s surface can trigger vibration and noise. (Kren, 2007).
Moreover, when material separates from the tooth’s surface and result in small pits,
the remained intact surface will suffer increased contact stresses due to the reduced
contacting area. This will accelerate the pitting rate. Hence, when pitting starts at a
tooth’s surface, its rate will accelerate with time (Al-Arbi, 2012).
9
Figure 6 Pitting damage in the contact surface of a tooth (Errichello and Muller,
2001)
Abrasive Wear: is associated with the presence of abrasive particles in the lubricant
such as metal wear debris, sand and rust (Errichello and Muller, 2001)
Adhesive Wear: is the transfer of metal parts from one tooth to another tooth when
meshing by welding action. Adhesion is characterised by mild or moderate wear, and
the same phenomenon with a drastic wear rate is called scuffing (Errichello and
Muller, 2001). According to (Al-Arbi, 2012, p. 41), an inadequate lubricant or an
insufficient thickness of lubrication layer can result in direct metal to metal contact of
mating teeth with high temperature causing scuffing by welding action. Moreover, the
author claims that other factors such as overloading and misalignment can contribute
to this failure mechanism.
In both abrasion and adhesion, the wear rate will accelerate when the hardened
surfaces of the teeth are removed. This can severely debilitate the roots of the teeth
and lead to the fracture of a tooth (Kren, 2007).
10
Figure 7 Adhesive wear (Errichello and Muller, 2001)
2.5. Rolling Element Bearing

Bearings are mechanical components in machines used to enable rotational or linear
movements between two parts with minimum friction. Their most common used
types are rolling element bearings, flexure bearings, magnetic bearings, jewel
bearings, fluid bearings and plain bearings (Gerard, 2014). Rolling element bearings
are used in industrial gearboxes for different types of loads and they are made of steel
alloys (Nskamericas.com, 2009). Nonetheless, rolling element bearings are classified
depending on the shape of their rolling elements into two types: ball bearings or roller
bearings as shown in Figure 8 (Gerard, 2014).
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Figure 8 Schematic representations of ball bearing and roller bearing with cut
through views (Upadhyay, Kumaraswamidhas and Azam, 2013)
Ball bearings are excellent in handling angular misalignment and they are capable of
taking both axial load and high radial load. Yet, due to the small surface contact areas
of their balls they are subject to high stress and undergoing plastic deformations.
Hence, they are usually used for loads with relatively low speeds (Gerard, 2014) and
(Nskamericas.com, 2009). On the other hand, roller bearings have cylindrical elements
that provide greater contact areas when rolling so that pressure is spread over a wider
area than in the case of ball bearings. Thus, roller bearings are used instead of ball
bearing for handling higher radial speeds with higher accuracy, but unlike ball bearings
they are not capable of taking axial loads (Nskamericas.com, 2009).
2.6. Failure Modes of Rolling Element Bearing

Rolling element bearings have limited fatigue life. After this, their vibrations increase
due to cracks initiates under the surfaces of the rolling elements caused by the rolling
stresses. These cracks lead to the separation of thin pieces from the surfaces of the
rolling elements (Nskamericas.com, 2009) and (Wilcoxon.com, 2014). However, this is
one of the most failure mechanisms in bearings and it results in contamination of the
lubrication oil. Also, other substances in the lubrication oil such as sand particles can
deteriorate the rolling elements rapidly and result in premature failure. Nevertheless,
12
insufficient, inadequate or contaminated lubricants cause 40 % of damages in rolling
bearings. These damages can be characterised by wears of the rolling elements and
overheated bearings, and they are commonly accompanied by noise
(Nskamericas.com, 2009). Furthermore, wear of the rolling balls can also be caused by
misalignment and the wear in this case will be noticeable on the raceway as wear
paths that are not parallel to the edges of the raceways. In addition, premature fatigue
failure can occur to a bearing due to sudden preloading with a load above the capacity
limit of the bearing. Overheating of a bearing to temperatures above 400 °F can anneal
the rolling elements and the ring, reduce their hardness and cause failure.
True brinelling is another type of damage in bearings. It is in the form of plastic
deformations in the ring of the bearing represented by indentations in the raceway,
which cause vibrations. Static overload can cause true brinelling, however, it can also
be caused by severe impact. False brinelling is another form of damage caused by
external vibration exciting the bearing. It is characterised by elliptical wear marks on
the raceway (Wilcoxon.com, 2014).
.
Figure 9 True brinelling damage in the inner raceway of a bearing (Wilcoxon.com,
2014)
Defects in bearings are associated with increases in vibrations. Depending on the

location of the damage; whether it is in the rolling elements, cage, outer race, or the
inner race there will be a deviation of the frequency associated with that part from its
13
ideal. Nonetheless, each of the four elements of the rolling element bearing; rolling
elements, cage, inner race and outer race has its characteristic defect frequency. They
are, Ball Spin Frequency (BSF), Fundamental Train Frequency (FTF), Ball Pass
Frequency of the Inner Race (BPFI) and Ball Pass Frequency of the Outer Race (BPFO)
respectively. These frequencies are calculated in Hz as follows (Felten, 2003):
𝑃 𝐷 2
𝐵𝑆𝐹 = 2𝐷 ∗ 𝑉 ∗ (1 − (𝑃 ∗ 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝛼) )………………………………….(1)
𝐷
𝐹𝑇𝐹 = 0.5𝑉 ∗ (1 − (𝑃 ∗ 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝛼))………………………….….………(2)
𝐷
𝐵𝑃𝐹𝐼 = 0.5𝑁𝑉 ∗ (1 + (𝑃 ∗ 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝛼))………………………..………(3)
𝐷
𝐵𝑃𝐹𝑂 = 0.5𝑁𝑉 ∗ (1 − (𝑃 ∗ 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝛼))……………………….………(4)
Where,
V is the speed of the shaft in cycles per second,
N is no. of rolling elements,
D is the diameter of the balls,
P is the pitch diameter (the straight distance from the centre of a rolling element to
the centre of its opposite roiling element), and
𝛼 is the contact angle of the rolling elements.
2.7. Condition Monitoring Techniques

Condition monitoring is a strategy for evaluating machines continuously in order to
identify incipient problems and take corrective actions at early stages before the
problems cause secondary damages or catastrophic failures (Al-Arbi, 2012). It is based
on measuring the health parameters of a system such as vibrations, acoustic
emissions, lubrication oil’s condition, temperature and motor current. The importance
of condition monitoring strategy is that it can reduce each of maintenance cost,
machine downtime and in service failure. Besides, it increases a machine’s both
lifetime and productivity. Moreover, continuous monitoring of the conditions of
machines leads to safer working areas for operators. Nevertheless, condition
monitoring of machines requires the use of instrumentation such as sensors to
measure the health parameters of the machines, data acquisition system to collect
14
and store the data of the measured parameters and computer-based signal analysis
systems (Mohanty, 2015).
2.7.1. Temperature Monitoring

In industrial gearboxes, heat is generated by the friction between the meshing teeth
and also by the hydrodynamic friction between lubrication oil and rotating
components such as gears and bearings. Nevertheless, in normal operating conditions
the temperature within the gearbox increases at the beginning of the operation until
it reaches a stable temperature when the heat generation rate and the heat
dissipation rate to the surrounding are equal. However, insufficient thickness of the
lubrication oil can result in increased temperatures on the surface of the gear teeth,
which can cause failures such as scoring or pitting. Moreover, the heat generation rate
within industrial gearbox increases when there is a present fault or damage (Hamel,
2013). In addition, lubrication oil has a maximum operating temperature above which
it degrades, causing increased wear of gears and bearings of gearboxes. According to
(Konruff, 2011), the limit temperature of synthetic lubrication oil of gearbox is around
107 °C, and the oil’s temperature should not approach this level. Hence, cooling means
such as heat exchangers or driven fans are used for cooling some gearboxes.
Temperature monitoring is based on measuring the temperatures of the elements of
gearboxes such as the surface of a gear’s tooth, lubrication oil or spots on the gearbox.
Such temperature monitoring can be performed using either thermocouples, RTD, or
infrared heat gun. The temperature parameter is used as a condition indicator of the
system by comparing the measured values with recorded temperatures (Konruff,
2011) and (Hamel, 2013)
15
Figure 10 Infrared-temperature monitoring of a gearing box (Konruff, 2011)
Temperature monitoring has been proven to be useful for detecting wear occurring in
journal bearing (Jayaswal, Wadhwani and Mulchandani, 2008). Further, J and
Quin˜o´nez (2004, cited in Hamel 2013, p. 53) concluded from their experiment on a
spur gear that the maximum temperature within a gear is on the dedendum as they
accurately measured the temperatures of the gear during its operation using
thermocouples. However, temperature monitoring technique still has limitations as it
cannot be employed to identify some causes of gear defects such as misalignment or
mechanical looseness (Work 1991, cited in Al-Arbi 2012, p. 33). Moreover,
temperature monitoring technique might not always help localise causes of defects
(Konruff, 2011).
2.7.2. Oil Condition Monitoring

Debris from machines are removed materials from contacting surfaces of moving
parts. The wear associated with the contacting surfaces can be categorised to either
normal wear or damage wear. However, both normal wear and damage wear
generate debris, but the latter is more sever and produces more debris. Factors that
can increase the wear rate of a gear are: inadequate lubricant, overloading and
impermissible operating temperatures of the meshing teeth. (Hamel, 2013).
Nonetheless, the oil that flows within a machinery and lubricates its components
carries information about the conditions of these components (Jayaswal, Wadhwani
16
and Mulchandani, 2008). Hence, oil analysis is a condition monitoring technique that
is widely applied in many applications to identify problems at early stages before
developing into severe failures such as damaged rolling elements bearing, damaged
journal bearing and damaged or worn gears (Al-Arbi, 2012). Besides, wear debris
monitoring has a unique feature that it can be conducted when both a machine is on-
load or off-load (Jayaswal, Wadhwani and Mulchandani, 2008).
There are three methods of oil debris analysis: spectroscopy, particle count and
ferrography. Spectroscopy is performed to identify wear metal debris of size smaller
than 2 microns in a sample (Mohanty, 2015). The principle of spectroscopy analysis is
based on the fact that each type of wear debris is different in its structure from other
types and when exited by an external energy they emit certain patterns of light and
so they can be identified and also their chemical composition can be known.
Moreover, the intensity of the light emitted from the excited wear debris in the
analysed sample leads to determining their concentration in the sample as parts per
million (Synlube.com, 2013). By knowing the chemical composition of each
component that is subject to wear in a machine, the spectroscopy analysis can be
helpful when performed periodically for detecting the type of components
undergoing wear. Further, spectroscopy monitoring technique can be classified into
different types depending on the type of exiting energy used such as x-ray
fluorescence spectroscopy, atomic emission spectroscopy and atomic absorption
spectroscopy (Mohanty, 2015).
Figure 11 Schematic of x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (Wolska and Vrebos, 2004)
17
The limitations of oil condition monitoring technique are that it cannot be performed
continuously when the machine operating as the case of vibration or acoustic
monitoring. Besides, oil condition analysis cannot be performed in situ because the
collected oil samples have to be analysed by experts in dedicated laboratories
(Mohanty, 2015). Moreover, in oil condition monitoring, the damage have to be
developed enough to produce identifiable wear particles and also it cannot detect
problems that do not generate debris such as cracking. In addition, oil condition
monitoring cannot localize exactly the place of fault if there are more than a candidate
made of the same material that can generate the debris (Tan et al 2007, cited in Hamel
2013, p. 54).
2.7.3. Acoustic Emission Monitoring
Acoustic emissions are sound waves emitted from material that experiences
irreversible changes such as fracture or deformation processes (Jayaswal, Wadhwani
and Mulchandani, 2008). Nevertheless, acoustic emission monitoring is an
instrumented technique that started before 60 years ago, and it has been successfully
employed in condition monitoring in aerospace and chemical industry (Holroyd,
2005).
Acoustic waveforms can be generated by a machine such as a gearbox from friction,
gears, rolling bearings, fatigue cracks, leaks, asperities contact, turbulence, cavitation
and material loss. (Raad et al, 2004) and (Loutas et al., 2011).
Different types of faults in industrial gearbox produce acoustic patterns that can be
detected in early stages such as minute cracking, mechanical rubbing, noise, cracking,
gear, mechanical looseness, minute gear damage and noise (Saxena, Chowdhury and
Devendiran, 2013).
18
Figure 12 Schematic of acoustic emissions (NDT 2013, cited in Hamel 2013, p.62)
Acoustic emission can be monitored from a gear as shown in Figure 13 where one
surface of steel cylinder is in direct contact with the monitored gear with the help of
a pushing spring, whilst the AE sensor is placed on the opposite face of the cylinder to
monitor the sound waveforms emitted from the gear. (Loutas et al., 2011)
Figure 13 (a) and (b) AE sensor application as fault detector within a gearbox (Loutas
et al., 2011)
19
However, acoustic emission technique has limitations when applied to monitor the
condition of rotary machinery such as gearboxes. This is due to the fact that the AE
sensor needs to be as close as possible to the monitored moving or rotating part to
measure its acoustic emissions, of usually low amplitudes and high frequencies,
directly when they are emitted before undergoing reflection or attenuation (Miller
and McIntire 1987 and Holroyd and Randall 1993, cited in Hamel 2013, p.65 and 66).
Nevertheless, this is not always possible in industrial applications and because of the
presence of relatively long distances between the AE sensors and the monitored parts,
the acoustic waveforms will undergo reflection and significant attenuation before
arriving at the AE sensors (Mba and Rao, 2006).
2.7.4. Vibration Monitoring

Meshing of gears is associated with changes in magnitudes of the forces acting on the
teeth, which cause vibrations (Endo Hiroaki and Sawalhi Nader, 2012). In the absence
of defects, vibrations within a gearbox are considered regular, but a deviation from
the ideal condition will lead to variations in the forces and movements associated with
the meshing teeth. This results in vibrations (Al-Arbi, 2012).
Analysis of vibration signals is the most common technique applied in the industry.
(Jauregui, 2014). According to Al-Arabi (2012, p. 34) vibration signals from gearboxes
contain three components: periodic components, transient components and broad
band background noise. An example of the periodic component is the frequency
associated with meshing teeth. Repeated impacts result from a broken tooth is
associated with transient frequency. Moreover, the author states that vibration
amplitudes at the early stage of a damage initiation are very low and are concealed by
other signals from other sources within the gearbox, which render them difficult to
perceive before being developed enough.
In addition, vibration analysis is based on signal processing and it is considered a very
effective technique as it can detect a variety of faults and their causes such as
unbalanced parts, damages in both bearings and gears, misalignment, bent,
20
mechanical rubbing, cracking and mechanical looseness (Hamel, 2013) and (Saxena,
Chowdhury and Devendiran, 2013).
2.8. Signal Processing Techniques

Vibrations of gearboxes are usually measured using vibration sensors. Displacement
sensors, velocity sensors, accelerometers and piezoelectric accelerometers are
commonly used in this filed (Jauregui, 2014). Nonetheless, for health monitoring of
gearboxes, it is impractical to place vibration sensors on or very close to the sources
of vibrations, and sensors are usually distant from the operating components that
produces the vibrations. For instance, the accelerometer might be installed on the
housing of a gearbox. Because of this, vibrations from different sources within the
gearbox will be measured simultaneously by the sensor and the interfered vibration
signals cannot be directly correlated to their sources. Hence, raw vibration signals are
processed using different techniques (Al-Arbi, 2012).
2.8.1. Time Domain Analysis
Time domain analysis is used to compare changes in vibration signals over time and
different statistical parameters are used in this analysis such as root mean square
(RMS) , peak value, kurtosis and crest factor (CF).
a- Kurtosis
Kurtosis is a tool used to compare the peakedness of probability distribution of signals.
It is calculated using the following formula.
∑𝑛 4
𝑖=1(x−μ) ∗Y
Kurtosis = ………………………..…………….(5)
σ4
Where,
μ is the mean of the signal, and
σ is the standard deviation.
21
A signal with normal distribution will have a kurtosis value of 3.0. A higher kurtosis
value indicates a sharper peak and shorter tails and a smaller kurtosis values indicates
a flatter peak and longer tails. However, normal vibration signals have a kurtosis of
nearly 3, but when a damage initiates and develops, kurtosis increases due to the
change of signal distribution (Suh 2001, cited in Al-Arabi 2012, p. 57).
b- Root Mean Square (RMS)

A damage within a gearbox will result in higher vibrations which means signals of
higher energies and the root mean square is a parameter of a signal that indicates the
level of its energy (Almeida 2002, cited in Al-Arabi 2012, p. 55). It is calculated as
follows:
1
RMS = √ ∑𝑁
𝑛=1(𝑥 (𝑛) − 𝑥̅ ) ………………….…………………(6)
2
𝑁
In this formula, N represents the number of samples, 𝑥̅ is the mean and 𝑥(𝑛) is the
amplitude of the signal.
c- Crest Factor
Crest factor is the ratio of a signal’s peaks to its root mean square value, and it is used
as a measure of changes in the vibration signal’s shape that results from a damage
within a gearbox (Al-Arbi, 2012).
Figure 14 Illustration of RMS, peak level and crest factor (Ozturk 2006, cited in Al-
Arab 2012, p. 56)
22
2.8.2. Frequency Domain Analysis
Because rotating elements of gearboxes: gears, bearings and shafts, have different
characteristic rotational frequencies, it is useful to analyse vibration signals in the
frequency domain and diagnose the conditions of gearbox components based on
changes in their frequencies. For instance, a damage in a bearing will result in
increased frequencies associated with its movement (Tandon and Choudhury 1999,
cited Eftekharnejad 2010, p. 22). Frequency domain analysis is performed by
transforming the vibration signals from the time domain to the equivalent frequency
domain by decomposing the signal into its frequency components and obtaining
information about the vibration level of a particular component (Al-Arbi, 2012).
Figure 15 Signal analysis in the frequency domain (Al-Arbi, 2012)
According to (Landman and Lim, 2008), signals are transformed from their time
domain into their frequency domain using Fourier Transform, which is defined as
follows:
+∞
x(f) = ∫−∞ x(t)e−2πjft dt …………………….……………………….(7)
Where,
t is time, and
x(f) is the signal in the frequency domain.
23
2.8.3. Time-Frequency Domain Analysis
When a signal is transformed from its time domain to its frequency domain, detailed
information about the time domain cannot be observed. Moreover, vibration signals
associated with non-stationary loads are non-stationary. Such signals may contain
information that if extracted can be good indicators of the gearbox’s condition.
However, neither time domain analysis nor frequency domain analysis are capable of
identifying features of non-stationary signals, and these techniques can be only
effective for stationary load analysis. Hence, time-frequency domain analysis is used
for analysing vibration signals associated with non-stationary loads. Time-frequency
domain analysis can be performed using Short Time Fourier Transform (STFT)
(Eftekharnejad, 2010). STFT deals with both time domain and frequency domain. The
data signal is chopped into discrete Fourier Transforms and the window functions’ size
is modified and presented in the time-domain plane (Jauregui, 2014).
Wavelet Transform is another technique used to analysis nonlinear vibrations by
decomposing vibration signals into their frequency components and distinguishing
between signal components of constant frequencies and those varying with time. The
Wavelet Transform of signal data is defined as follows (Jauregui, 2014).
1 +∞ 𝑡−𝜏
𝑋(𝑠, 𝜏) ≡ 〈𝑥\Ψ(𝑠, 𝜏)〉 = ∫ 𝑥(𝑡) Ψ ∗ (
𝑠 −∞ 𝑠
) 𝑑𝑡……………..…….(8)
√
In the above equation, the scaling parameter (s) is larger than zero.
2.8.4. Blind Source Separation (BSS)
In industrial gearboxes vibration measurements, the vibration signals can be disturbed

by vibrations from other sources within the gearbox. For example, vibration signals
received from a vibration sensor are the combination of all vibrations from the
components near the sensor. This results in difficulties in detecting vibrations
produced by certain components such as gears. However, BSS is a technique used to
process signals that are usually received from a set of sensors and it separates the
signals into their original components, which improves condition monitoring of
24
machinery (Tse, Zhang and Wang, 2006). BSS is based on the assumption that sources
of signals are independent from each other (Zhou and Chelidze, 2007).
Figure 16 Framework of Blind Source Separation (Zhou and Chelidze, 2007)
25
Chapter 3: Methodology
3.1. Experimental Setup
Vibration signals were recorded from a gearbox using an accelerometer. The test rig
setup and the position of the accelerometer are shown schematically in Fig. 17,
where,
32T is a spur input pinion of 32 teeth,
96T is a first idler spur gear of 96 teeth,
48T is a second idler (output) spur gear of 48 teeth, and
80T is an output spur pinion of 80 teeth.
Figure 17 Schematic of the vibration-monitored industrial Gearbox
The overall reduction ratio of the gearbox is 5:1. Nonetheless, all the six bearing are
ball bearings of the same type and the same geometry, which are the followings.
Name of product: MB Manufacturing ER-10K
Number of Balls: 8
Ball Diameter: 0.3125"
Pitch Diameter: 1.319"
Contact Angle: 0
26
However, vibrations were monitored at four different conditions of the gearbox using
an Endevco 10mv/g Accelerometer, +/- 1% error, Resonance > 45KHz, for a duration
of 4 seconds for each measurement, with a sampling rate of 66,666.67 Hz.
The four monitored conditions are as follows:
Case 1: all elements of the gearbox are in good conditions,
Case 2: the second idler gear 48T is eccentric, the output pinion 80T is broken and the
bearing at the input side of the input shaft has a fault in one of its rolling elements.
Case 3: the bearing at the input side of the input shaft has a fault in its inner race, and
the keyway at the output shaft is sheared,
Case 4: the input shaft is unbalanced, the bearing at the input side of the idler shaft has
a fault in one of its rolling elements, and the bearing at the input side of the output shaft
has a fault in its outer race.
Moreover, the rotational speeds in the in the four monitored cases are constant. The
input shaft frequency is 50 Hz, the idler shaft frequency is 16.67 Hz and the output
shaft frequency is 10 Hz.
3.2. Signals Processing
Each of the 4 raw vibration signals was processed, using MATLAB Codes, by first
seprating the signal into a determinsitic signal and a non-determinsitic signal using
Wavelet Transform. As will be illustrated later, the stationary defect frequencies, such
as those associated with faulty gears or faulty shafts are expected to be found in the
deterministic signals, whilst the non-stationary characteristic frequencies, such as
those associated with damaged bearings are expected to be found in the non-
deterministic signals. However, Fast Fourier Transform, through a MATLAB Code, was
applied to each of the deterministic signals and non-deterministic signals to obtain
their frequency spectrums. Also, the separated signals were filtered using a bank of
band pass filters for each 1000 Hz band starting from 15000 Hz and up until the end
of the frequency range. Following this, global maxima as first condition indicator and
kurtosis as a second condition indicator were found for each filtered signal. Then, the
frequency band of the largest kurtosis of each signal was further processed by
enveloping it using a MATLAB code of Hilbert Transform. Also, the frequency band of
27
the highest global maximum was enveloped using the same code and the results of
the both envelope analyses of each signal are compared to conclude about the best
condition indicator. The signal processing approach is depicted in the figure below.
Figure 18 Signal processing approach
3.3. Wavelet Transform for De-noising Signals
Real characteristic frequencies of damaged bearings may differ from those calculated
by 1 to 2 %. That is, the symptoms of all bearing faults are associated with the
movement of the rolling elements, but the calculation of the bearing defect
frequencies do not consider the some degree of slip of the rotating rolling elements.
However, this slip is what makes it possible to separate the vibration signals derived
from bearings from those derived from shafts and gears of gearboxes. The latter are
known as the deterministic components of the vibration signal, whilst the frequency
components from bearings are known as the non-deterministic components (Kumar
et al., 2016).
Moreover, the deterministic part of a signal recorded from a gear train will often relate
to the operation of the shafts and the gears. In other words, gear mesh frequencies,
shafts running speeds and misalignments or eccentricities of these components will
usually have their signatures present in the deterministic part of the signal (Kumar et
al., 2016). On the other hand, noise and frequency components associated with the
operation and the conditions of bearings such as faults in their sub-components are
usually found in the non-deterministic part of the vibration signal (Barszcz, 2009).
28
In order to effectively retrieve the characteristic defect frequencies from vibration
signals, these signals need first to be decomposed into their deterministic parts and
non-deterministic parts before applying envelope analysis to the separated signals
(Garde and Swami, 2014). However, one of the most powerful and popular tools for
de-nosing vibration signals is Wavelet Transform. Thanks to its ability of giving high
resolution time and frequency information of the original signal (Garde and Swami,
2014) and (Abouel-seoud and Elmorsy, 2012). Furthermore, when de-noising signals
using Wavelet Transform, no prior knowledge of the noise or the signal characteristics
are needed (Bertot, Beaujean and Vendittis, 2014).
The Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) is defined as follows (WANG and CHEN, 2009):
1 𝑡−2𝑗 𝑘
𝐷𝑊𝑇(𝑗, 𝑘) = ∑𝑗 ∑𝑘 𝑥(𝑘)𝜓 ( ) ………………………….(9)
√2 𝑗 2𝑗
Where,
j and k are natural numbers,
t is time, and
Ψ(𝑡) is the mother or the basic wavelet.
De-noising vibration signals using Wavelet Transform is performed by thresholding the
wavelet coefficients (Abouel-seoud and Elmorsy, 2012). Fig. 19 shows an example of
results obtained by applying Wavelet Transform to decompose a signal into its
components with 5 levels of decomposition.
29
Figure 19 Wavelet Transform decomposition (ldeo.columbia.edu, 2009)
3.4. Band Filters and Fast Fourier Transform
Vibration data received form a sensor are often processed and frequency analysis is
applied to them to find the individual frequency components of which the signal is
formed. Moreover, frequency ranges of interest get separated from primary signals
by applying filters (Bksv.co.uk, 1994). However, filtering of vibration signals is
performed for several purposes, including the remove of unwanted part of the signal
such as random noise, or to recover important parts of the signal such as frequency
components laying within certain frequency ranges (123.physics.ucdavis.edu, 2014).
Another example of why filters might be needed is to clarify resonance in a signal by
attenuating the energy at frequencies away from the considered energy (Irvine, 2000).
30
Figure 20 Concept of Filtering
According to (Music.columbia.edu, 2003), the four basic types of frequency selective

filter are low-pass, high-pass, band-reject and band-pass filters. The concepts of these
four filters are shown in Fig. 21.
Figure 21 Concepts of the four basic types of frequencies filtering

(Music.columbia.edu, 2003)
The low-pass filter is used to pass low frequency signals and eliminate frequencies
higher than the filter’s cutoff frequency, whilst the high-pass filter is used to pass high
frequency signals and eliminate frequencies below the filter’s cutoff frequency.
Nonetheless, a band-pass filter only passes the part of the signal that is laying within
31
a relatively narrow frequency band and attenuates the components of the signal
outside the selected band. On the other hand, band-reject filter is the opposite of
band-pass filter. It rejects a signal falling within a certain frequency range and passes
the frequencies that are outside this range (Ti.com, 2011).
In addition, digital filters are commonly used to process vibration data (Brandt, 2011).
The two primary types of these filters are finite impulse response filters (FIR filters)
and infinite impulse response filters (IIR filters). The difference between these two
filters is in their impulse responses, which are output sequences produced by the
filters when unit impulses are applied at their inputs. The impulse response of a FIR
filter is of finite duration, whilst the impulse response of an IIR filter, theoretically,
continues forever as the filter uses feedback. Hence, IIR filters are also called recursive
filters and FIR filters are called non-recursive filters (123.physics.ucdavis.edu, 2014).
Recursive (IIR) filter is defined by the following expression (123.physics.ucdavis.edu,
2014).
𝑌𝑛 = 𝑋𝑛 + 𝑌𝑛−1 ……………………………..(10)
An example of a second-order non-recursive (FIR) filter is represented by following

mathematical expression (123.physics.ucdavis.edu, 2014).
𝑌𝑛
= 𝑎0 + 𝑎1 𝑍 −1 ……………………………..(11)
𝑋𝑛
Where,
𝑌𝑛 is the current output,
𝑋𝑛 is the current input,
𝑌𝑛−1 is the previous output,
𝑎0 and 𝑎1 are coefficients of the input signal, and
𝑍 −1 is the delay operator.
However, IIR filters are known to be unstable and also have non-linear phase response
(phase distortion), which renders them unsuitable for applications that require no
phase shift during data processing. On the other hand, FIR filters are known for their
stability property and they do not distort the phases of the filtered signals. Further,
the authors Economou, Mavroidis and Antoniadis (2002) conducted a study on
32
comparing the effectiveness of IIR filters and FIR filters for processing vibration data.
Based on their observations, they state that the conventional FIR filters are the best.
In order to obtain the frequency spectrum of a raw signal or a filtered signal and reveal
the individual frequency components of which the signal is formed, frequency analysis
must be applied to the signal (Bksv.co.uk, 1994). This is often achieved using Fast
Fourier Transform (FFT) to segment the signal into frequency components and gives
information about the vibration level of a particular component (Al-Arbi, 2012).
Moreover, FFT is usually applied after enveloping signals to get the envelope spectrum
in the frequency domain (Tyagi, 2003). The Fast Fourier Transform is an improved
version of the Fourier Transform. That is, it enables high computation speed (Lds-
group.com, 2003).
The Fast Fourier Transformation of a signal is computed for an array of N-complex
numbers using the following equation (Coppola and Durwood, 2011).
FFT(x) = ∑N−1
n=0 xn e
−2πjk/N
…………………………………..(12)
Where,
0≤𝐾 ≤𝑁−1
3.5. Condition Indicators for Frequency Band Selections
Fault feature detections in vibration signals can be performed using different

condition indicators such as RMS, crest factor, peaks and kurtosis (WANG and CHEN,
2009). Fig. 22 depicts the results of four statistical parameters were used to quantify
information about the shapes and energies of the given raw vibration signals and their
deterministic parts and non-deterministic parts.
33
Figure 22 Kurtosis, global maximum, crest factor and RMS of raw and de-noised
signals
The signal of Case 1 is of typical operating conditions, but the signals of other three
cases have symptoms of gearbox components faults, including eccentric and broken
gears, unbalanced shaft and bearing faults. The three parameters; kurtosis, RMS and
crest factor are introduced in Chapter 2. Nevertheless, global maximum is defined as
the highest point over a domain of a signal or a distribution. In other words, it is the
greatest peak of a signal (Sahu and Sugumaran, 2013). Also, global maximum is
deemed a dimensional parameter as it reflects the magnitude of a signal (WANG and
CHEN, 2009). Yet, global maximum defers from local maximum in that the latter is a
peak or a point higher than its two adjacent points but not necessarily to be the
highest point. That is, a function might have local maxima that are the maximum
points, but it will have only one global maximum (Dawkins, 2016).
Theoretically, all the result of the four parameters should be lower in values for the
good conditions signal (Case 1) than for the other 3 defective signals, but for the above
findings, it is only true for RMS. The kurtoses of the three good conditions signals; raw,
34
deterministic and non-deterministic are larger than that of the defective signals of
Case 4, and the kurtosis of the deterministic-Case 1 is also greater than that of
deterministic-Case 3. In addition, the global maxima of deterministic and non-
deterministic parts of Case 1 are higher than that of the signal of Case 4, which has
symptoms of faulty components. Further, the crest factor (CF) of raw-Case 1 is greater
than that of all the other three signals, and the CF of deterministic-Case 1 is larger
than that of Case 2. Hence, from these results, only RMS can be deemed a reliable
condition indicator, whilst the results of the other three methods do not follow
consistent patterns. Nonetheless, RMS method has been widely used for evaluating
signals and also for indicating optimum filter bands for envelope analysis (Hajda 1996
cited in Caetano and Rodet 2011). Hence, in this report, the effectiveness of global
maximum and kurtosis for indicating informative filter bands of defective signals is
investigated. Moreover, a comparison between the two parameters based on the
results of enveloping their pointed bands is conducted later. A reason behind this
approach of using two parameters for evaluating the vibration signals is that neither
of the two parameters could show a consistent trend in indicating the conditions of
the analysed vibration signals. However, the main motive behind investigating the
effectiveness of global maximum as a condition indicator for excited frequency bands
is that no published work could be found on using this statistical tool in this field.
Further, no published work could be found on using local maxima as condition
indicators too. Yet, it was decided to conduct a quantitative research study on the
potentiality of global maximum as a good condition indicator for excited bands of
vibration signals.
Figure 23 shows the global maximum (GM) and some local maxima (LM) of the
aforementioned signals; Case 1 and Case3 in the time domain. These signals were
recorded from the industrial gearbox depicted in Fig.17. The first signal (a) has no
faults, whilst the second signal (b) has two faults; sheared keyway at the output shaft
and a defect inner race of the bearing at the input side of the input shaft.
35
GM
GM LM
LM
Figure 23 Comparison of global maximum and local maxima of good conditions signal
(a) and a defective signal (b)
As can be seen, the magnitudes of both global maximum and local maxima are greater
in the defective signal than that in the good conditions signal. Although in the good
conditions signal there is a global maximum too, the increased value of the this
parameter in the defective signal has led to the need to investigate the effectiveness
of using global maximum of signals have different types of fault signatures to locate
informative frequency bands for envelope analysis.
On the other hand, kurtosis is widely used for detecting fault symptoms in vibration
signals. That is, vibration signals generated by rotating machines of typical conditions
will have Gaussian probability distribution, which corresponds to a kurtosis of 3.
Nonetheless, as the components of these machines deteriorate, periodic impulses will
be generated. Subsequently, the structures of the signals will be changed by both the
frequency and the amplitudes of the impulses. Consequently, the kurtoses of these
signals will be greater than 3. Hence, kurtosis is a preferred condition indicator in the
field of vibration monitoring due to its sensitivity to periodic signal impulses caused
by faults in components of rotating machinery such as gearbox (Sun et al., 2013) and
(Lebold et al., 2000). Fig. 24 shows two signals of two shapes and their corresponding
kurtoses.
36
Figure 24 Shapes and Kurtoses values of two signals (Lorenzo and Calabro, 2007)
In addition, kurtosis can indicate the severity of a fault present in a vibration signal
(Randall, 2011). Besides, kurtosis has proved to be a reliable method for locating
informative frequency bands for envelope analysis (Lorenzo and Calabro, 2007). In
particular, kurtosis is calculated for the frequency components of a signal. However,
in this case it is known as spectral kurtosis (SK) (Wang et al., 2015). In other terms,
spectral kurtosis can indicate impulses or resonances of a signal and their location in
the frequency domain (González de la Rosa et al., 2013). Also, SK technique can
determine the optimal bandwidth and centre frequency so envelope analysis can be
applied to this band to extract hidden characteristic frequencies (Sawalhi and Randall,
2004). Fig.25 shows an example of a kurtogram, which represents spectral kurtoses
calculated for filtered vibration signals derived from a locomotive bearing test bench
(Zhao et al., 2014).
37
Figure 25 Kurtogram of multi-fault vibration signal (Zhao et al., 2014)
Referring to Fig. 25, the primary vibration signal is decomposed into subbands at
different levels, and the kurtogram is obtained by calculating the kurtoses of the
filtered signals. The kurtogram shows that the frequency band with a centre frequency
of 5937.5 Hz and a bandwidth of 625 Hz has the largest kurtosis. This band is pointed
by the arrow, and the increased kurtosis of this excited band is due to impulses
induced by a fault in a bearing inner race (Zhao et al., 2014).
3.6. Hilbert Transform for Envelope Analysis
Generally, bearing characteristic frequencies have relatively low energy. This is due to
the fact that the impact energy generated by a fault on a rotating rolling element or a
fault on a surface hit by said element is distributed over a wide frequency range.
Moreover, bearing characteristic frequencies are usually buried within noise and
vibrations generated from other components of rotating machinery Courrech (2000,
cited in Tyagi 2003, p. 1). As a result, detecting these faults can be difficult or
38
impossible without using special tools other than FFT. Hence, envelope detection is a
powerful technique often used for recovering hidden bearing fault signatures (Tyagi,
2003). Yet, this technique is also able to detect shaft faults (Chacon et al., 2013).
Envelope detection is commonly used to recover characteristic frequencies of
defective components within gearboxes. As can be seen in Fig. 26, the signal in the
time domain; depicted by the dark purple colour gets enveloped as shown by the red
colour (Chacon et al., 2013) and (Tyagi, 2003).
Figure 26 Envelope Extraction (Chacon et al., 2013)
However, the envelope around the bursts in the waveform now represents the impact
events as repetitions of the same defect. By obtaining the frequency spectrum of the
envelope, the characteristic frequency of the fault and its harmonics can be seen.
Nevertheless, a flow chart of the envelope detection process is shown in Fig. 27.
Figure 27 Envelope Detection Process (Tyagi, 2003)
39
Envelope detection for extracting fault characteristic frequencies embedded within
vibration signals is commonly performed using Hilbert Transform to extract the
envelopes of the signals, and then applying Fast Fourier Transform to obtain the
envelope spectrums in the frequency domain so a fault frequency and its harmonics
can be identified (Tyagi, 2003).
Hilbert Transform is defined as follows (Boskoski and Ureve, 2011):
1 +∞ 𝑓(𝑡)
𝑓̂(𝑓(𝑡)) = ∫ 𝑑 𝜏……………………….(13)
2𝜋 −∞ 𝑡−𝜏
Where,
f(t) is the signal,
t is time, and
𝜏 is a translation parameter.
40
3.7. Summary
In this chapter, the theory of Wavelet Transform and its applications in de-noising
vibration signals have been highlighted as this tool will be used in the following
chapter for de-noising the given vibration signals. Further, the principles of different
types of frequency filters are covered. Nonetheless, only band-pass filters will be used
in the following analysis since there is no need for the other types of filters. Moreover,
the band-pass filters will be used are FIR filters as this type has been proved to yield
the optimum results.
FFT for obtaining frequency spectrums of vibration signals and its high computation
speed feature have been discussed. Accordingly, this tool will be used in the following
chapter to obtain the frequency spectrums of the processed signals. In addition,
statistical parameters; global maximum, local maximum and kurtosis have also been
covered in terms of their effectiveness for indicating resonant bands for envelope
analysis. However, due to the absence of any work on using global maximum as a
condition indicator for envelope analysis, global maximum will be used in the
following chapter to locate informative frequency bands of both the deterministic
signals and the non-deterministic signals. It is reliability and effectiveness will be
investigated by enveloping the indicated bands, and the results will be compared with
those obtained from kurtosis. In addition, the theory of envelope analysis and the use
of Hilbert Transform for obtaining the envelopes of signals have been highlighted in
this chapter. Nonetheless, based on the proved capability of Hilbert Transform for
extracting hidden fault symptoms, it will be applied in the coming analysis to the
selected frequency bands.
41
Chapter 4: Results and Analyses
In this chapter the first step of the signal processing approach according to the decided
methodology (Fig. 18) is decomposing the raw vibration signals into deterministic
signals and non-deterministic signals. This pre-processing is essential for further
effective processing as demonstrated next.
4.1. De-Noising Vibration Signals
The figure below shows the four recorded vibration signals in their measurement
forms. As can be seen, noise is present in each of the signals, though the signal to noise
ratio of Case 2 is higher than that of the other three signals. Possible sources of the
noises in the signals are the accelerometer (Miller, Foust and Cemer, 2011), vibrational
reflections or close by modal resonances (Bertot, Beaujean and Vendittis, 2014).
Figure 28 Primary monitored waveforms of the four studied cases
42
The higher vibration amplitudes can be seen first at the signal of Case 2 and second at
the signal of Case 3. Gearbox components faults of Case 2 are eccentric idler gear 48T,
broken output pinion 80T and damaged bearing ball at the input side of the input side,
whilst the mechanical problems of Case 3 are a bearing inner race fault at the input
side of the input shaft and a sheared keyway at the output shaft. Nonetheless, in Case
4, the gearbox components faults are an unbalanced input shaft, a defect in a bearing
ball at the input side of the idler shaft and a fault in the bearing outer race at the input
side of the output shaft.
To retrieve the characteristic defect frequencies, decomposing each of the vibration
signals into a deterministic part and a non-deterministic part is an essential pre-
processing step for further successful processing (Garde and Swami, 2014).
The signals in Fig. 28 are in their measurement forms (time domain). However, due to
both the constant rotational speeds of the four signals and the periodic nature of the
rotating shafts and the meshing gears, the characteristic frequencies generated by
said components are stationary and so they are expected to be present in the
deterministic signals. On the other hand, impulses associated with faults in bearings
are not exactly periodic because of the random varying slip phenomenon of the rolling
elements. In other words, their faults’ impulses are roughly periodic and so their
characteristic frequencies are non-stationary. Thus, the characteristic frequencies of
faulty bearings are expected to be found in the non-deterministic signals (Kumar et
al., 2016). So, the given four raw vibration signals were de-noised in their original
domain using a MATLAB code of Wavelet Transform. Three levels of decomposition
was found to give the optimum results, hence, the vibration signals were de-noised
accordingly.
The deterministic signal and non-deterministic signal of Case 1 are shown in Fig. 29,
whilst the results of de-nosing the other 3 signals are shown in the Appendix; Figs. 62,
63 and 64.
43
Figure 29 Deterministic signal and non-deterministic signal of good conditions
4.2. Frequency Band Selections
The purpose of the flowing process is to select the optimum frequency bands for
envelope analyses. However, when a FFT MATLAB code applied to the de-noised
signals, it was found that all the frequency components of all signals fall within the
range 0 to just above 33 KHz. Nevertheless, according to McFadden and Smith (1983,
cited in Tyagi 2003, p.6), the optimum bands for envelope analysis are often within
the frequency range 10 to 50 Hz. Hence, a bank of bandpass filters of 1000 Hz
bandwidths was applied to each of the deterministic signals and non-deterministic
signals, for the range 15,000 to 33,000 Hz.
To select the optimum frequency bands for envelope analysis, two statistical
parameters; global maximum and kurtosis were used as condition indicators for both
deterministic signals and non-deterministic signal. This is to detect abnormalities in
the signals so envelope analysis can be applied to each indicated frequency band to
extract the hidden characteristic frequencies. A comparison of the results of the two
condition indicators is made in this chapter, and their effectiveness are discussed and
compared later.
44
a- Deterministic Signals
Global maximum and kurtosis of each 1 KHz filter band, starting at 15 KHz, of the four
deterministic signals were found using the MATLAB® functions max and kurtosis. The
received global maxima are depicted as a colour map in Fig. 30.
Referring to Fig. 30, the signal of case 1 is of good conditions. However, it has its
highest global maximum 0.0002075 at the filtered signal 20-21 KHz, whilst Case 2 of
the eccentric idler gear 48T, broken output pinion 80T and damaged bearing ball at
the input side of the input shaft has the greatest global maximum 0.0004649 at the
frequency band 21-22 KHz. However, the mechanical problems of Case 3 are bearing
inner race fault at the input side of the input shaft and a sheared keyway at the output
shaft. Its highest global maximum 0.000313194 is at 20-21 KHz.
Figure 30 Color map for global maxima of 4 deterministic signals
The gearbox components faults of case 4 are unbalanced input shaft, defective
bearing ball at the input side of the idler shaft and a defect in the bearing outer race
at the input side of the output shaft. Its greatest global maximum 0.00025914 is at the
band 21-22 KHz. Nevertheless, it is clearly seen that in the colour map the greatest
global maximum amongst the four signals belongs to Case 2.
On the other hand, the calculated kurtoses of the deterministic frequency bands do
not follow the same pattern as that of the global maxima. The colour map in Fig. 31
45
shows that the largest kurtosis of each deterministic signal is always for the frequency
band 16-17 KHz, whilst the global maxima indicated frequency bands between 20 and
22 KHz for envelope analysis. Further, the colour map in Fig. 31 shows significant
kurtoses at the band 32-33 KHz of each signal. Strangely, the kurtoses values at the
two aforementioned bands of the four signals are in thousands even for the good
conditions signal, whilst at most of the other bands, the values fall between 4 and 9.
Figure 31 Colour map for kurtoses of 4 deterministic signals
It is noteworthy that a signal of normal distribution should have the kurtosis close to
3, and a kurtosis of a signal larger than 3 indicates an impulsive signal. Such an impulse
is associated with an abnormality in the conditions of the monitored gearbox.
However, the largest kurtosis of Case 1 (good conditions) is a thousandfold greater
than that expected, and the kurtoses of Cases 2, 3 and 4 are however greater. They
are 4858, 12952 and 10144 respectively. These extreme values, especially for the good
conditions signal lead one to doubt the reliability of this statistical parameter as a
condition indicators for deterministic signals. Nonetheless, this will be further
investigated at the envelope analyses stage of the deterministic frequency bands
indicated by kurtosis.
46
b- Non-deterministic Signals
Similarly to the deterministic signals, MATLAB functions were used to find the global
maximum and kurtosis of the filtered non-deterministic signals. Starting with global
maximum, the colour map in Fig. 32 shows that the greatest global maximum of case
1 is for the band 26-27 KHz, but its magnitude (0.00059) does not significantly differ
from the global maxima of the other filtered signals of Case 1. In terms of the other 3
signals, the increased magnitudes of their global maxima correspond to high impulsive
vibrations, which are understood to be associated with the faults in the three cases.
Figure 32 Color map for global maxima of 4 non-deterministic Signals
The highest global maximum of Case 2 is 0.00166 for the filtered signal 23-24 KHz,
whilst for Case 3 and Case 4, the largest values are for the band 22-23 KHz. They are
0.001788 and 0.002009 respectively. Yet, the highest global maximum amongst all the
filtered non-deterministic signals is for the band 22-23 KHz of Case 4. The gearbox
components faults of this case are an unbalanced input shaft, a defective bearing ball
at the input side of the idler shaft and a fault in the bearing outer race at the input
side of the output shaft.
In addition, kurtosis was calculated for each 1000 Hz band of the selected range of the
non-deterministic signals. The results are depicted in Fig. 33.
47
Figure 33 Colour map for kurtosis values of 4 non-deterministic Signals
Similarly to the global maxima of the non-deterministic signal of Case 1, no

considerable variations can be noticed in the kurtoses of the 18 frequency bands, and
all the kurtoses fall between 3.1 and 3.9. Yet, the filtered signal 31-32 KHz of the
largest kurtosis (3.86) will be further investigated later. On the other hand, the three
cases; 2, 3 and 4 all have their greatest kurtoses at the frequency band 22-23 KHz. The
values here are 10.06, 8.598 and 22.31 respectively, and they substantially differ from
that of the good conditions case and from most kurtoses of the other bands with
respect to each signal. However, the greatest magnitudes of the two statistical
parameters; global maxima and kurtosis for the filtered non-deterministic signals are
both at band 22-23 KHz of Case 4. The gearbox components faults of this case are an
unbalanced input shaft, a defective bearing ball at the input side of the idler shaft and
a damaged bearing outer race at the input side of the output shaft. Moreover, when
comparing the results of the two condition indicators for locating excited bands of the
non-deterministic signals for envelope analyses, one can see that the two condition
indicators pointed either the same band as in Case 3 and Case 4, or they indicated very
close bands as in Case 2.
48
4.3. Vibration Analysis and Envelope Analysis
The following vibration analysis and envelope analysis are applied to each
deterministic signal and non-deterministic signal of the aforementioned cases 1, 2, 3
and 4. Whilst fault signatures associated with faults in gears or shafts are expected to
be found in the deterministic signals, the fault signatures of damaged bearings are
expected to be present in the non-deterministic signals.
The deterministic signal and the non-deterministic signal of Case 1 of the good
conditions are first analysed to conclude about the ideal frequency spectrums, and
use said spectrums as a reference when analysing the signals of the other cases.
4.3.1. Deterministic Signals
a- Case 1
The figure below shows the frequency spectrum of the deterministic signal of Case 1.
This case is free of faults as all the elements of the gearbox are known to be of good
conditions. However, there are several excitations of high energy at different
frequency zones between 0 and 6000 Hz.
Figure 34 Frequency Spectrum of deterministic signal of good conditions
49
None of the resonances has clear sidebands. Yet, the excitations of the highest
amplitudes, between 0 and 6000 Hz, are magnified in Fig. 35.
1X and 3X IS
Harmonic of GMF
GMF
IS
Figure 35 Magnified portion of frequency spectrum in Fig. 1
Referring to Fig. 35, the gear mesh frequency (GMF = 800 Hz) is present, but without
sidebands. However, it is associated with either one of or both second idler gear 48T
and output pinion 80T. On the other hand, the gear mesh frequency 1600 Hz of the
gears 32T and 96T is not present. The frequency component (Harmonic of GMF) is at
2400 Hz. Although this resonance can be the third harmonic of the GMF 800 Hz or the
second harmonic of the GMF 1,600 Hz, it is more likely to be the third harmonic of the
GMF 800 Hz as the fundamental frequency of the other frequency component is not
present. Nevertheless, the absence of clear running speed sidebands at the
resonances of gear mesh frequencies did not allow to link those excitations to their
exact sources. Further, only the input shaft fundamental frequency (IS) and its second
harmonic appear in the spectrum. This confirms that the shaft is at good conditions.
In order to know all the aspects of the good conditions vibration signal so it can be
used as a reference when analysing the other signals, envelope analysis using Hilbert
Transform was applied to the frequency band 20-21 KHz, which was indicated by
global maximum. The result is shown in Fig. 36.
50
IS 3X IDS
OS
IDS
8X IDS
7X IDS
Figure 36 Spectrum of enveloped deterministic signal (20-21 KHz) of good condition
As can be seen, the fundamental frequencies (IS), (IDS) and (OS) of the three shafts of
the gearbox; input shaft, idler shaft and output shaft respectively are present. Yet,
while the output shaft can only be seen by its running speed, the idler shaft IDS has
several harmonics, and its third harmonic has the highest magnitude in the spectrum.
The input shaft is present by its running frequency. However, because both the second
harmonic of the input shaft frequency and the ninth harmonic of the idler shaft
frequency are at 100 Hz, the marked spectral line at this frequency could not be
defined.
This signal is known to be of good conditions. Hence, the location and the amplitude
of its spectral lines in the frequency spectrum have been taken as a reference when
investigating the deterministic signals of the other cases.
51
b- Case 2
In this case, the second idler gear 48T is eccentric, and the output pinion 80T is broken.
The gear mesh frequencies (GMF) of both gears are 800 Hz. Also, the bearing at the
input side of the input shaft has a fault in one of its balls. Its defect frequency is 99.6
Hz. The spectrum of the deterministic signal of Case 2 is shown in Fig. 37.
GMF
IDS sidebands
Figure 37 Frequency Spectrum of deterministic signal of Case 2
The frequency spectrum shows excitations of high energy peaked at 800 Hz with
sidebands equal to the idler shaft frequency (IDS) 16.67 Hz. The excitations are higher
in magnitude than that in the good conditions signal by nearly 600%. However, due to
the presence of IDS sidebands, this resonance can be defined as the gear mesh
frequency of the eccentric second idler gear 48T that is mounted on the idler shaft.
The deterministic signal of Case 2 was further explored by first enveloping the filtered
signal 21-22 KHz as was indicated by the global maximum in Fig. 30.
52
IDS
2X IDS
3X IDS
Figure 38 Spectrum of enveloped deterministic signal (21-22 KHz) of Case 2
As can be seen in the figure above, the first three harmonics of the idler shaft
frequency are clearly present. Although they are also present in the envelope
spectrum of the typical conditions signal, the amplitudes of the first two harmonics
here are almost 3 times that in the good conditions signal. This indicates that the shaft
is affected by the eccentric second idler gear 48T. Moreover, evaluating both Fig.38
and Fig.37, one can see that the fault signature of the eccentric gear is clearly present
in both figures, whilst this is not true for the fault signature of the broken output
pinion 80T.
In addition, the colour map in Fig. 31 was used to select the filtered signal 16-17 KHz
of Case 2, based on its largest kurtosis, for envelope analysis to see if the fault
signature of the broken output pinion 80T can be extracted.
53
1X IDS
2X IDS
3X IDS
4X IDS
Referring to Fig. 39, the envelope spectrum shows the first 4 harmonics of the idler
shaft frequency. The high amplitudes of these harmonics in contrast to that in the
good conditions confirm that the shaft is affect by the eccentric idler gear 48T
mounted thereon. Although the broken output pinion 80T can also affect the
operation of the idler shaft, no fault signs associated with the output shaft, to which
the broken out pinion is attached, could be found in these analysis to confirm the
damage of the said pinion.
The envelope analysis of the filtered signal 16-17 KHz that was indicated by kurtosis
has not revealed new information, and the amplitudes of its spectral lines are lower
than that in the enveloped signal 20-210 KHz that was indicated by global maximum.
This leads to the fact that for the deterministic signal of Case 2, global maximum is
better than kurtosis for indicating informative frequency bands.
Another trail for investigating about the unfound fault signature of the broken output
pinion 80T was made by enveloping the frequency band 500-1500 Hz of the excitations
of the highest energy in the original frequency spectrum of the deterministic signal in
Fig. 37. The spectrum of the enveloped signal is the following.
54
1X and 2X IDS
3X and 4X IDS
OS
Figure 40 Spectrum of enveloped deterministic signal (0.5-1.5 KHz) of Case 2
The envelope spectrum shows a spectral line at 10 Hz of a marginal magnitude in

addition to the expected harmonics of the idler shaft frequency. Although the
frequency 10 Hz is known to be the running speed of the output shaft, the amplitude
of its spectral line in the figure above is lower than that in the envelope spectrum of
the good conditions signal. However, a compelling sign of the broken output pinion
80T could not be detected by the several analyses of the deterministic signal of Case
2. The reason of this might be that a tiny fracture of the gear was separated and it has
not affected the gear considerably. Nevertheless, this fault signature will be searched
later when analysing the non-deterministic signal of Case 2.
55
c- Case 3
In this case, the bearing at the input side of the input shaft has a fault on its inner race.
The inner race defect frequency is 247.38 Hz. The keyway of the output shaft is
sheared. The output shaft frequency is 10 Hz, the idler shaft frequency is 16.67 Hz and
the input shaft frequency is 50 Hz. The spectrum of the deterministic signal is shown
next.
IS
Harmonic of GMF
GMF
The marked spectral line (IS) is the fundamental frequency of the input shaft. The
amplitude here is greater by 36 % than that in the spectrum of the good conditions,
which indicates that the shaft is not operating at typical conditions. Possibly because
of the defective inner race of the bearing that supports it or it might be affected by
the sheared keyway at the output shaft. In addition, there are other resonances in the
spectrum, but without sidebands. Excitations at 800 Hz are the gear mesh frequency
of either the output pinion 80T that is mounted on the output shaft or its meshing
idler gear 48T. The resonance (Harmonic of GMF) at 2400 Hz is a harmonic of either
the gear mesh frequency 800 Hz or the gear mesh frequency 1600 Hz of the input
pinion 32T or the first idler gear 96T. Nonetheless, its source could not identified as it
does not have sidebands. Yet, due to the shear in keyway at the output shaft, the said
56
excitations are likely to be associated with either or both the idler gear 48T and the
output pinion 80T. For further exploration of the signal, global maximum (Fig. 30) as a
first condition indicator was used to select an excited frequency band for envelope
analysis. Thus, the band 20-21 KHz was enveloped using Hilbert Transform, and the
result is shown in Fig. 42.
IS
OS
IDS 2X IS
The fault signature of the defective inner race (BPFI= 247.38 Hz) is not present in the
enveloped signal. It is expected to be extracted from the non-deterministic signal,
which will be analysed later.
For a better presentation of the important frequency components in the spectrum,
the portion from 0 to 300 Hz is magnified and shown next.
57
2X and 3X OS
IS
OS
IDS 2X IS
2X IDS
4X IDS
The fundamental frequency of the output shaft is present, but its amplitude do not
differ from that in the envelope spectrum of the good conditions signal. Nevertheless,
the difference is that the second and third harmonics appear in this signal, though
with marginal amplitudes. This may be attributed to both the relatively distant
position of the accelerometer and the relatively low running speed of the output shaft.
Also, the shear of the keyway might be mild. However, the amplitudes of the
fundamental frequencies of both input shaft and idler shaft are higher than that in the
spectrum of the good conditions by nearly 33 % and 25 % respectively. This indicates
that the idler shaft and the input shaft are both affected by the sheared keyway at the
output shaft. Also, this confirms that the measured fault signal of the damage at the
output shaft is weak.
Relying on the greatest kurtosis of the filtered deterministic signals of Case 3, another
envelope was applied to the band 16-17 KHz. The spectrum of the enveloped signal is
shown next.
58
Although there is a marked spectral line at 10 Hz that might be linked to the output
shaft fundamental frequency, neither its amplitude nor the amplitudes of the other
spectral lines can be interpreted or compared to previous findings. The signal
indicated by the global maximum revealed more and clearer information about Case
3 than the above signal, which was pointed by kurtosis.
d- Case 4
In this case, the input shaft is unbalanced (IS = 50 Hz), the bearing at the input side of
the idler shaft has a fault in one of its balls (BSF = 33.2 Hz), and the bearing at the input
side of the output shaft has a fault in its outer race (BPFO = 30.52 Hz). The spectrum
of this signal is shown in Fig. 45.
59
Similarly to the spectrums of the previously analysed deterministic signals, several

excitations of high energies are present in the above spectrum at frequencies between
0 and 6000 Hz. A magnification of this zone is shown in Fig. 46.
IS
GMF1
Harmonic of GMF
3X IS
GMF2
Figure 46 Magnified portion of frequency spectrum in Fig. 45
The fundamental frequency of the unbalanced input shaft (IS) has the highest
amplitude in contrast to the other components. Besides, it is almost twice than that
60
in the typical conditions signal. Also, the appearing of the third harmonic of the input
shaft frequency with considerable amplitude confirms the unbalance of the input
shaft.
The fundamental GMF of the idler gear 48T and the output pinion 80T is 800 Hz.
Excitations at this frequency are present here at GMF1, However, neither of the
resonances above have sidebands, but the resonance at GMF1 has a greater
amplitude than that in the spectrum of the good conditions signal. So, they can be
defined as the gear mesh frequency of the second idler gear 48T due to the fact that
idler shaft and its mounted thereon both second idler gear 48T and first idler gear 96T
are expected to be affected by the unbalanced input shaft through the meshing of the
first idler gear 96T with the input pinion 32T that is mounted on the input shaft.
Furthermore, the resonance GMF2 is at 1200 Hz, and both input pinion 32T and first
idler gear 96T have gear mesh frequency of 1200 Hz. Nonetheless, the position of the
accelerometer with respect to each of the two gears is the same, and theses
excitations do not have sidebands. But, because the unbalanced input shaft has larger
vibration magnitudes than the idler shaft, the said resonance is expected to belong
the input pinion 32T that is mounted on the input shaft. The insignificant magnitude
of the GMF2 excitations can be attributed to the relatively distant position of the
accelerometer from the input pinion 32T that resulted in receiving the signal after it
lost a great deal of its energy.
In order to investigate the signal more, envelope analysis was applied to the filtered
signal 21000-22000 Hz, which was located by the global maximum method. The
envelope spectrum is shown next.
61
IS
IDS 2X IDS 4X IDS

7X IDS
OS 12X IDS
11X IDS
The fundamental frequency of the input shaft has the highest amplitude, but this
amplitude does not differ from that in the envelope spectrum the good conditions.
However, the fault signature of the unbalanced input shaft is clearly present in the
original spectrum of the deterministic signal. Nevertheless, in the above envelope
spectrum, both the second harmonic of the input shaft frequency and the sixth
harmonic of the idler shaft frequency coincide at 100 Hz. Moreover, the fourth,
eleventh and twelfth harmonics of the idler shaft frequency, which did not appear in
the envelope spectrum of the typical conditions indicate that the idler shaft is affected
by the unbalanced input shaft. Also, the first indicated spectral line in the spectrum
coincides with an ungiven fault frequency 6.36 Hz of a damaged cage of one of the
two bearings supporting the idler shaft. Nonetheless, the marginal amplitude of the
said spectral line and the absence of any related harmonics have led it to be neglected
in this spectrum, but the presence of this sign will be further explored in the following
and the later analyses of Case 4.
Another envelope analysis has been performed based on the results of the calculated
kurtosis shown in Fig. 31. The frequency band 16-17 KHz was enveloped as shown in
Fig. 48.
62
Similarly to the envelope spectrum of Case 3 in Fig. 44, the frequency band 16-17 KHz
that was pointed by kurtosis cannot be analysed and no useful information can be
extracted from it. In other words, kurtosis as a condition indicator for deterministic
signals is often not useful for pointing informative bands that can reveal useful
information about the conditions of the gearbox.
However, by processing and analysing the deterministic signal of Case 4, one can say
that the fault sign of the unbalanced input shaft is predominant in the original
frequency spectrum of the signal. Yet, this characteristic frequency is not compelling
in the spectrum of the enveloped signals as it did not differ from that in the ideal
conditions. Also, signs of the affect idler shaft by the unbalanced input shaft are clearly
present in the envelope spectrum in Fig. 47. Nonetheless, the fault signature of the
two damaged bearing BSF=33.2 Hz and BPFO=30.52 Hz have not shown in any of the
spectrums. These non-stationary defect frequencies are expected to be recovered
when analysing the non-deterministic signal of Case 4.
63
4.3.2. Non-deterministic Signals
a- Case 1
The figure below shows the frequency spectrum of the non-deterministic of Case 1.
The excitations of the highest energy are within the zone 8700- 9400 Hz. They are
peaked at 8950, but they do not have clear sidebands. The second indicated resonance
is peaked at 5290 Hz. Nevertheless, neither of the resonances correspond to a known
source of vibration.
Figure 49 Spectrum of non-deterministic signal of good conditions
Further analysis of the highest energy excitations has been performed by enveloping
the frequency range 8500-9500 Hz using Hilbert Transform. The result is shown next.
64
2X IS
4X IS
6X IS
IS
Figure 50 Spectrum of enveloped non-deterministic signal (8.5-9.5 KHz) of good

conditions
As can be seen in the figure above, only the input shaft fundamental frequency (IS)
and its harmonics are present, and no sign of any of the other elements of the gearbox
is present.
Further analysis of the non-deterministic signal was performed by enveloping the
excited bands as were located by the two condition indicators, global maximum and
kurtosis. Although the colour map of global maximum in Fig. 32 does not show
considerable variations in the global maxima of good conditions filtered signals, the
highest global maximum is at the band 26-27 KHz. Thus, this signal was enveloped and
the result is shown in Fig. 51.
65
2X IS
6X IS

conditions
Whilst the spectral lines 2X IS and 6X IS can be understood to be the second harmonic
and the sixth harmonic of the input shaft frequency, neither of the other four marked
frequency components could be linked to any possible source of vibration. The first
spectral line is at 13.5 Hz, the second is at 179 Hz, the third is at 313.5 Hz and the
frequency component of the greatest amplitude is at 360 Hz. However, another
envelope analysis was applied to the filtered signal 31-32 KHz of the largest kurtosis
as shown in Fig. 52.
66
2X IS

conditions
Referring to Fig. 52, similarly to the preceding spectrum, the undefinable spectral lines
at 13.5, 313.5 and 360 Hz are clearly present. The component at 100 Hz are present.
The frequency component (2X IS) is expected to be the second harmonic of the input
shaft. Nonetheless, the spectral line at 300 Hz does not appear here, whilst the
undefinable spectral line at 313.5 Hz has a magnitude of almost 150 % of that in the
preceding spectrum. However, since Case 1 is known to be a signal of good conditions,
the spectrums of its non-deterministic signal were considered as a reference when
analysing the signals of the other three cases.
b- Case 2
In this case, the bearing at the input side of the input shaft has a fault in one of its
rolling elements. Its fault frequency is 99.6 Hz. Also, the second idler gear 48T is
eccentric, and the output pinion 80T is broken. The gear mesh frequencies of both
gears are 800 Hz. The spectrum of the non-deterministic signal of Case 2 is shown in
Fig. 53.
67
BSF sidebands
Figure 53 Spectrum of the non-deterministic signal of Case 2
The frequency spectrum shows excitations of high energies at two frequency zones.
The first resonance has the greatest amplitude, and it is within the zone 2500-7500
Hz. It is peaked at 5107 Hz. In addition, similarly to the non-deterministic signal of
good conditions, there are marked excitations of high energy at 8950 Hz, but with
sidebands of approximately 100 Hz. Case 2 has a fault in a bearing’s ball associated
with 99.6 Hz, and faults in two gears associated with GMFs of 800 Hz. Hence, the 100
Hz sidebands are the fault signature of the bearing’s ball. However, it is noteworthy
that the gear mesh frequencies 800 Hz and 1600 Hz could not be detected in the above
spectrum and the resonance of the highest magnitude is crowded with too many
excitations. Nevertheless, the non-deterministic signal was further explored by
enveloping the frequency range 23-24 KHz of the highest global maximum according
to the colour map in Fig. 33. The spectrum of the enveloped signal is shown next.
68
1X and 2X IDS
1X IS BSF
2X BSF 3X BSF
3X IS 4X IS
5X IS
OS
Figure 54 Spectrum of enveloped non-deterministic signal (23-24 KHz) of Case 2
The first and second harmonics of the idler shaft frequency (IDS) indicate that the idler
shaft is not operating at good conditions due to the eccentric second idler gear 48T
mounted thereon. This is also supported by the fact that the said frequency
components have not appeared in neither of the enveloped non-deterministic signals
of the good conditions. Moreover, the signs of the affected idler shaft are also present
in the envelope spectrums of the deterministic signal-Case2 (Figs. 38, 39 and 40), and
they are stronger there. On the other hand, the broken output pinion 80T is mounted
on the output shaft, but the associated fault signature is present by only the
fundamental frequency of the output shaft (OS). This was also the case when analysing
the deterministic signal of Case 2, but the amplitude of the output shaft frequency
there is approximately twice than in the above spectrum. In addition, no significant
differences between the signs of the input shaft here and in the envelope spectrums
of the good conditions could be seen. In addition, the spectral lines marked by BSF
and 2X BSF are the first and second harmonics of the bearing ball spin defect
frequency. These signs have not appeared in the spectrum of the deterministic signal.
The non-deterministic signal was further explored by enveloping the filtered signal 22-
23 KHz of the greatest kurtosis according to the colour map in Fig. 33.
69
BSF
IDS IS 2X BSF
3X BSF
2X IDS 3X IS
4X BSF
5X IS
Referring to Fig. 55, as was expected, the fault signature BSF (99.6 Hz) of the damaged
bearing ball exists by its several harmonics. Also, the first and the second harmonics
of the idler shaft frequency (IDS) are clearly present in the envelope spectrum. This
indicates that the shaft is affected by the eccentric idler gear 48T mounted thereon.
However, the signs of the affected shaft are stronger in the envelope spectrums of the
deterministic part. Besides, the fundamental frequency of the input shaft (IS) is
present, but its harmonics are accompanied by other spectral lines. As there is no
known source for these frequency components, they are expected to be produced by
the software and so they have been ignored. Yet, neither the number of harmonics of
the input shaft frequency nor their amplitudes are greater than that in the envelope
spectrums of the typical conditions. Also, the three marked spectral lines at 347.5, 360
and 395 Hz could not be lined to any possible source of vibration. Nevertheless, by
evaluating the results of the analysis applied to both the deterministic signal and non-
deterministic signal of Case 2, it was concluded that the input shaft has not been
affected by the faulty components.
70
c- Case 3
In this case, the bearing at the input side of the input shaft has a fault in its inner race,
and its defect frequency (BPFI) is 247.38 Hz. The output shaft has the keyway sheared.
The output shaft frequency is 10 Hz. The spectrum of this signal is shown in Fig. 56.
50 Hz sidebands
Figure 56 Spectrum of non-deterministic signal of Case 3
There are two resonances circled in Fig. 56.The resonance of the highest amplitude is
peaked at 8950 Hz, and it has 50 Hz sidebands, which might indicate that the input
shaft is affected by the fault in its bearing. Neither the characteristic frequency of the
defective bearing ball nor a fault sign associated with the output shaft (sheared
keyway) could be detected in the spectrum. According to Xu (2014, p.26), bearing fault
signatures are usually very weak and embedded in the resonance signals, mostly in
high frequency bands. Hence, they do not often show clearly in a primary frequency
spectrum. However, for envelope analysis, global maximum and kurtosis indicated the
same filtered signal 22-23 KHz. The envelope spectrum obtained by enveloping this
band is shown in Fig. 57.
71
2X IS BPFI
IS
3X IS
4X IS
As can be seen in Fig. 57, the fault signature of the damaged bearing inner race is
present by its fundamental defect frequency (BPFI), which has the greatest magnitude
in the spectrum. Further, the pattern of the input shaft harmonics is slightly different
from that in the spectrum of the good conditions. In particular, the third harmonic is
clearly present here by its considerable amplitude, whilst it has a negligible amplitude
in the spectrum of the good conditions. This may be interpreted that the input shaft
is slightly affected by the fault in its supporting bearing. Surprisingly, the keyway of
the output shaft is sheared, but no signs associated with this damage could be found
in the above envelope spectrum.
Further exploration of the non-deterministic signal of Case 3 was conducted by
applying envelope analysis to the frequency band 8500-9500 Hz within which the
resonance of the highest magnitude appears in the original frequency spectrum (Fig.
56). The result is shown in Fig. 58.
72
OS IDS
4X IS
2X IS
IS
BPFI
Figure 58 Spectrum of enveloped non-deterministic signal (8.5 - 9.5 KHz) of Case 3
Although the amplitude of the fourth harmonic of the input shaft frequency is greater
in this envelope spectrum than that in the preceding enveloped signal, the other
harmonics are lower in magnitude here in contrast to the two preceding envelope
spectrums and the spectrum of the good conditions. Therefore, no new information
with respect to the input shaft could be extracted from Fig. 58. Nevertheless, the
defect frequency of the bearing inner race is marginal in the above envelope spectrum
when compared to that in the preceding envelope spectrum. That is, its amplitude
here is approximately 20% of that in Fig. 57. In addition, the two magnified spectral
lines OS and IDS correspond to the fundamental frequencies of the output shaft and
the idler shaft respectively. Yet, their magnitudes are tiny, and they do not have
harmonics. Thus, it can be said that the damage sign of the sheared keyway at the
output shaft is present in the enveloped non-deterministic signal of Case 3 through
the appearances of OS and IDS, but the fault signal is too weak.
73
d- Case 4
In this case, the input shaft is unbalanced (IS = 50 Hz), the bearing at the input side of
the idler shaft has a fault in one of its balls (BSF = 33.2 Hz), and the bearing at the input
side of the output shaft has a fault in its outer race (BPFO = 30.52 Hz). The spectrum
of the non-deterministic signal is shown in Fig. 59.
50 Hz sidebands
Figure 59 Spectrum of the non-deterministic signal of Case 4
There are two resonances circled in Fig. 59. The first marked excitations with respect
to the frequency axis are within the zone 3,000 – 6,000 Hz and their peak is at 4,290
Hz. Nonetheless, the resonance of the highest amplitude is within the frequency range
8,800-9,200 Hz, and it is peaked at 8,950 Hz. Besides, the latter excitations have 50 Hz
sidebands, which can be attributed to the unbalanced input shaft. However, the BSF
(33.2 Hz) and BPFO (30.52 Hz) are not present in the said spectrum.
Both statistical parameters; global maximum and kurtosis indicated the same
frequency band 22-23 KHz for envelope analysis. So, Hilbert Transform was applied to
this signal and the obtained envelope spectrum is shown next.
74
IS 2X IS
3X IS
5X IS 6X IS
7X IS
4X IS 8X IS
Referring to Fig. 60, there are many harmonics of the input shaft frequency (IS). When
comparing this to the spectrums of the good conditions, the number of these
harmonics and their amplitudes confirm that the operating condition of the input
shaft is not ideal. In other words, these harmonics confirm the unbalance of the input
shaft. However, the said harmonics are always accompanied by other spectral lines,
which do not correspond to any known frequency amongst those given or calculated.
From their pattern, one may expect that they are produced by the software.
Moreover, the first indicated spectral line with respect to the frequency axis is at 31
Hz, but the defect frequency of the bearing ball outer race is 30.52 Hz. Considering
that non-stationary signals generated by defective bearings may differ from the
theoretical values by 1 to 2 % (Kumar et al., 2016), this frequency component 31 Hz
can be linked to the defective outer race (BPFO=30.52 Hz) of the bearing at the input
side of the output shaft. Yet, its amplitude is too low that it cannot be considered as a
strong fault signature.
Surprisingly, no sign of fault associated with the damaged bearing ball (BSF=33.2 Hz)
could be found in the envelope spectrum. Nevertheless, further exploration of the
non-deterministic signal of Case 4 was conducted by applying envelope analysis to the
75
frequency band 8500-9500 Hz within which the excitations of the highest energy
appear in the original spectrum of the non-deterministic signal.
4X IS
2X IS
3X IS
IS
Figure 61 Spectrum of enveloped non-deterministic signal (8.5-9.5 KHz) of Case 4
Referring to Fig. 61, only the harmonics of the unbalanced input shaft frequency are
present, and neither of the fault signatures associated with the two damaged bearings
appeared. However, the preceding spectrum of the enveloped signal that was
indicated by both condition indicators shows more harmonics of the input shaft
frequency and so it reveals more information about the condition of the shaft.
The fault signatures associated with the two damaged bearings could not be extracted
from the analysis of the deterministic signal of Case 4.They were expected to be
extracted from the enveloped non-deterministic signal of Case 4, but these envelope
analysis could not recover the frequency component too, except the marginal spectral line in
Fig. 60 that could be linked to the fault in the bearing outer race. The possible causes
behinds these fault signatures not being easily detectable by vibration analysis are
discussed in the following chapter.
76
4.4. Summary
In this chapter, 4 vibration signals; one good conditions signal and 3 defective signals
recorded from an industrial gearbox were processed using several MATLAB Codes.
First, the signals were de-noised so that the deterministic part and non-deterministic
part of each signal were obtained. Subsequently, the frequency range 15 to 33 KHz of
each deterministic signal and non-deterministic signal was decomposed into sub-
bands of 1000 Hz bandwidth using a filter bank of FIR band-pass filters. Then, global
maximum and kurtosis were used as condition indicators to locate resonant frequency
bands. Based on the greatest values of the two parameters, two frequency bands of
each deterministic signal and non-deterministic signal were enveloped using Hilbert
Transform to recover hidden characteristic frequencies of faulty components within
the gearbox. However, FFT was applied to each de-noised signal and also to the
enveloped signals to obtain their frequency spectrums. Nonetheless, envelope
analysis and then FFT were also applied to excitations of high energies detected in the
frequency spectrums of the primary deterministic signals and non-deterministic
signals, especially when there were resonances with sidebands.
The criterion used for detecting faults in the analysed signals is based on comparing
the frequency spectrums of the defective signals with the frequency spectrums of the
good condition signal. Nevertheless, the results received from said analyses are
discussed in the following chapter.
77
5. Discussion
Using a MATLAB code of Wavelet Transform for de-nosing the vibration signals helped
separate the non-stationary signals from the stationary signals. The pure spectrums
of the resultant deterministic signals and non-deterministic signals were helpful in
showing signs of faulty components within the gearbox. In particular, the fault
signature of the eccentric idler gear 48T of Case 2 could be directly detected in the
spectrum of the deterministic signal. Also, the damage signature of the faulty bearing
ball at the input side of the input shaft of Case 2 was indirectly present in the spectrum
of the non-deterministic signal by the appearance of the input shaft frequency in the
form of sidebands of high energy excitations. However, no fault sign associated with
the broken output pinion 80T appeared in neither of the original spectrums of the de-
noised signals of Case 2. For Case 3, the fault signature of the damaged inner race of
the bearing at the input side of the input shaft and the fault signature of the sheared
keyway at the output shaft were detected in the deterministic signal and non-
deterministic signal respectively. That is, the fault signature of the damaged inner race
appeared through the increased amplitude of the input shaft frequency, whilst the
fault signature of the sheared keyway was present by the input shaft frequency
sidebands of the highest energy excitations. In terms of Case 4, the unbalanced input
shaft could be easily detected in the spectrum of the deterministic signal by the
considerable magnitudes of its first and third harmonics, by the presence of the gear
mesh frequency of either the input pinion 32T mounted on the input shaft or its
meshing idler gear 96T and was detected also from the increased magnitude of the
gear mesh frequency of affected idler gear 48T. Besides, the fault signature of the
unbalanced input shaft of Case 4 was also present in the spectrum of the non-
deterministic signal in the form of the input shaft frequency sidebands at the
excitations of the highest energy. Nonetheless, no fault signatures associated with
neither the faulty ball of the bearing at the input side of the idler shaft nor the
damaged outer race of the bearing at the input side of the output shaft could be
detected in neither of two original spectrums of Case 4.
In brief, it can be said that the presence of the faulty components of the four studied
cases faulty components in the original spectrums of the deterministic signals and
78
non-deterministic signals significantly on their distance from the accelerometer. That
is, the input shaft and idler gear 48T are the closest components to the accelerometer
in contrast to all the faulty components in the four analysed cases. So, their imperfect
conditions were easily detected by the changes in their frequencies or by the present
of the attached shaft running speed as side bands. However, the fault signature of the
faulty bearing at the input side of the input shaft could be identified in the non-
deterministic signal by its defect frequency sidebands. On the other hand, no fault
signs of the broken output pinion 80T appeared in the original frequency spectrums
of the de-noised signals. Possible causes of this is that the signals of the defective gear
are overwhelmed by signals generated by its meshing idler gear 48T, which has higher
shaft running speed and is closer to the accelerometer. Further, the fracture of the
output pinion 80T might be marginal such that it did not impair the pinion
considerably. In addition, the farthest faulty elements with regard to the
accelerometer are the bearing at the input side of the input shaft and the bearing at
the input side of the output shaft. Thus, the fault signatures of these components were
not present in neither of the spectrums, and because their running speeds are
relatively low (16.67 Hz and 10 Hz respectively), their vibration amplitudes and their
effects on their shafts were inconsiderable.
Applying a filter bank to each of the deterministic signals and non-deterministic signals
enabled the use of condition indicators to locate informative frequency bands. In
terms of the deterministic signals, global maximum has proved to be effective for
indicating excited frequency, whilst kurtosis cannot be deemed a reliable condition
indicator as it sometimes indicated signals that were not useful for extracting any
information. With regard to the non-deterministic signals, both global maxima and
kurtosis pointed the same frequency band of Case 3 and Case 4, which enabled the
extraction of fault signatures when envelope analysis were applied to them. In terms
of the non-deterministic signal of case 2, the signal was indicated by kurtosis slightly
revealed more information about the conditions of the gearbox than the signal was
indicated by global maximum. Yet, the latter was also useful and so global maximum
can also be deemed a good condition indicator for filtered non-deterministic signals.
79
In brief, while kurtosis was effective as a condition indicator only for pointing resonant
frequency bands of non-deterministic signals, global maximum has proved to be a
good condition indicator when dealing with both deterministic signals and non-
deterministic signals, especially deterministic signals.
With regard to envelope analysis, Hilbert Transform has proved to be an effective tool
for recovering fault signatures embedded in both deterministic signals and non-
deterministic signals. For Case 2, signs of the idler shaft that is affected by the
eccentric idler gear 48T could be extracted from the envelope analysis of both the
deterministic signal and non-deterministic signal, though the signs are much stronger
in the former. Nevertheless, whilst the absence of signs associated with the damaged
ball of the bearing at the input side of the input shaft at the enveloped deterministic
signal was not surprising as they were expected to be extracted from the non-
deterministic signal, no sign associated with the broken output pinion 80T could be
extracted from the deterministic signal of Case 2. Further exploration of the signal of
Case 2 by enveloping its non-deterministic signal enabled the extraction of the fault
signature of the damaged bearing ball. However, the fault signature of the broken
output pinion was too weak as it could only be detected by the appearance of only
the fundamental frequency of the affected output shaft with a marginal amplitude at
the two envelope spectrums of the non-deterministic signal of Case 2. This can be
attributed to both the relatively low speed of the output shaft and the relatively
distant position of the accelerometer from both the broken output pinion 48T and the
output shaft, which resulted in their transferred signals to lose a great deal of their
energies before being measured. In terms of Case 3, the fault signature of the sheared
keyway at the output shaft appeared in the envelope spectrums of both the
deterministic signal and non-deterministic signal by the presence of the harmonics of
the affected output shaft, idler shaft and input shaft and their considerable
amplitudes, though their signs were stronger in the envelope spectrum of the
deterministic signal. On the other hand, the defect frequency BPFI of the ball bearing
is strongly present in the frequency spectrum of the enveloped non-deterministic
signal. In Case 4, the signs of the unbalanced input shaft appeared in the envelope
spectrum of the deterministic signal by the increased number of harmonics of the idler
80
shaft frequency, whilst the spectral lines associated with the input shaft frequency did
not indicate its imperfect condition. However, the fault symptoms of the shaft are
clearly present in the envelope spectrum of the non-deterministic signal. On the other
hand, the fault symptoms related to the damaged bearing ball could not be recovered
by the envelope analysis of neither the non-deterministic signal nor the deterministic
signal. Yet, the defect frequency (BPFO) of the faulty bearing outer race appeared in
the envelope spectrum of the filtered signal indicated by the both condition indicators,
though with tiny amplitude. Nonetheless, it is understood that the distant position of
the accelerometer from the two damaged bearings resulted in their signals decayed
substantially before transferring to sensor, and so they were too weak, especially the
signal of the defective outer race, which has not appeared in any of the spectrums.
Furthermore, the damages of the two bearings might be in their very early stages and
so they have not generated serious vibrations of high energies that can be detected.
In a nutshell, envelope analysis has been very helpful for recovering fault symptoms
hidden in the vibration signals, but the strength of the fault signs in the vibration
signals relied remarkably on the distance between the faulty components and the
accelerometer. Also, the running speeds of the damage elements and the stages of
their faults are understood to play significant roles in the detection of their signals.
81
Chapter 6: Conclusion and Future Work
6.1. Conclusion
This work investigated the effectiveness of diagnosing the conditions of industrial

gearboxes through vibration monitoring and analysis. Different types of faults in
components within the two-stage spur gearbox were monitored by a fixed
accelerometer, and MATLAB codes have been developed for detecting and diagnosing
the signs of the faults by first de-noising the signals using Wavelet Transform, apply
filter banks to each of the deterministic signals and non-deterministic signals, use two
condition indicators; global maximum and kurtosis to select the optimum frequency
bands for envelope analysis.
Based on the results of the analyses, vibration analysis is proven to be amongst the
most powerful, reliable and practical condition monitoring techniques. Also, global
maximum is proven to be a reliable condition indicator for both deterministic signals
and non-deterministic signals.
Thus, using vibration monitoring technique, it is possible to prevent major failures of
components and systems, such as industrial gearboxes, and reduce service and repair
costs. However, finding the resonance frequencies of the components of the system
is essential for successful condition monitoring. Also, it was found that the position of
the accelerometer with respect to each component of the monitored system plays a
key role in successfully detecting and diagnosing faults in said component. Hence,
depending on the size of the monitored system, two or more accelerometers will be
needed to capture vibration signals of the components before they have decayed
along their transmission path.
82
6.2. Future Work
In order to improve fault detection within industrial gearbox, the following

recommendation should be taken within consideration:
- Automatic detection and diagnosis of faults within rotating machines.
- Modelling and analysing the effect and growth of faults within rotating machines
through rotordynamics analysis and multibody analysis instead of conducting
experiments, to save time and cost.
- Further investigation of the effectiveness of different statistical parameters as

condition indicators for selecting the optimum frequency bands for envelope analysis.
- Also, there is an interest in using combinations of different statistical parameters to

select the best resonant bands for envelope analysis and comparing their results with
individual indicators.
-It is proven in this report that the position of the accelerometer with respect to each
of the components of the monitored gearbox plays a key role in capturing the
vibration signals generated from said components before they have decayed
substantially. Hence, it would be favourable to investigate the relation between the
boundary conditions and the decaying rates of vibration signal generated from
different types of faults in different types of components within mechanical systems.
83
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90
Appendix
Figure 62 Non-deterministic signal and deterministic signal of Case 2
91
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C O V E N T R Y

Faculty of Engineering and Computing

MSc Mechanical Engineering

Fault Detection within Industrial Gearbox Using Vibration

Author: Ehab Bashir El-Ajtel

Supervisor: Dr. Faris Elasha

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Science

Academic Year: 2015/16

Vibration monitoring of industrial gearboxes is one of effective techniques for

Chapter 2 (Literature Review)

Chapter 4: Results and Analyses

Chapter 6: Conclusion and Future Work

Figure 1 Spur gears …….……………..…………………………………..…………………….……………….…6

FFT Fast Fourier Transform

The importance of machinery’s reliabilities for operating normally as expected in the

1.1. Background and Motivations

1.2. Project Aims and Objectives

The objectives are:

* To conduct literature review to evaluate the existing diagnostic techniques.

* To increase understanding of vibration technology and its ability to monitor

2.2.1. Reactive Maintenance

This type of maintenance is also known as operating to failure maintenance, and it is

2.2.2. Preventive Maintenance

This is a fixed time based maintenance and it is performed on a regular basis to

2.2.3. Predictive Maintenance

Predictive maintenance is a maintenance based on the monitored conditions of

Figure 1 Spur gears (Mazurkiewicz, 2001)

Figure 2 Helical Gears (Bizdir.co.in, 2015)

Figure 4 Worm gear pair (Bizdir.co.in, 2015)

2.4. Failure Modes of Gears

2.5. Rolling Element Bearing

2.6. Failure Modes of Rolling Element Bearing

Defects in bearings are associated with increases in vibrations. Depending on the

2.7. Condition Monitoring Techniques

2.7.1. Temperature Monitoring

2.7.2. Oil Condition Monitoring

Figure 11 Schematic of x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (Wolska and Vrebos, 2004)

2.7.3. Acoustic Emission Monitoring

2.7.4. Vibration Monitoring

2.8. Signal Processing Techniques

2.8.1. Time Domain Analysis

b- Root Mean Square (RMS)

Figure 15 Signal analysis in the frequency domain (Al-Arbi, 2012)

2.8.4. Blind Source Separation (BSS)

In industrial gearboxes vibration measurements, the vibration signals can be disturbed

Figure 16 Framework of Blind Source Separation (Zhou and Chelidze, 2007)

3.1. Experimental Setup

Figure 17 Schematic of the vibration-monitored industrial Gearbox

3.2. Signals Processing

Figure 18 Signal processing approach

3.3. Wavelet Transform for De-noising Signals

3.4. Band Filters and Fast Fourier Transform

According to (Music.columbia.edu, 2003), the four basic types of frequency selective

Figure 21 Concepts of the four basic types of frequencies filtering

An example of a second-order non-recursive (FIR) filter is represented by following

3.5. Condition Indicators for Frequency Band Selections

Fault feature detections in vibration signals can be performed using different

3.6. Hilbert Transform for Envelope Analysis

Figure 26 Envelope Extraction (Chacon et al., 2013)

Figure 27 Envelope Detection Process (Tyagi, 2003)

4.1. De-Noising Vibration Signals

Figure 28 Primary monitored waveforms of the four studied cases

4.2. Frequency Band Selections