Non-invasive analysis for detecting gear fractures in automotive transmissions

Vibration analysis has proven to be effective for detecting failures in rotating elements. The objective of this study is to identify different failure conditions in a gear within an automotive gearbox by inducing failures in the gear and subsequently processing the vibration signals in the frequency domain using the Fast Fourier Transform. Two accelerometers were used to acquire data from the automotive transmission under different operating frequencies, to identify patterns indicative of failure in the damaged gear. The results show that the method can help identify the failure in the gear according to the amplitude value, differentiating between failure due to fracture and eccentricity. The increase in vibration levels is directly related to the severity of the failure present in the gear.