Planetary bearing defect detection in a commercial helicopter main gearbox with vibration and acoustic emission. (September 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Elasha, Faris; Greaves, Matthew; Mba, David
• Is Part Of: Structural health monitoring. Volume 17:Number 5(2018)
• Page Start: 1192
• Page End: 1212
• Publication Date: 2018-09
• Subjects: Helicopter main gearbox -- acoustic emission -- signal separation -- bearing diagnostics; Structural health monitoring -- Periodicals; Structural stability -- Periodicals; Strength of materials -- Periodicals; Nondestructive testing -- Periodicals; Constructions -- Stabilité -- Périodiques; Résistance des matériaux -- Périodiques; Contrôle non destructif -- Périodiques; Electronic journals; 624.17
• DOI: 10.1177/1475921717738713
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1475-9217

Abstract

Helicopter gearboxes significantly differ from other transmission types and exhibit unique behaviours that reduce the effectiveness of traditional fault diagnostics methods. In addition, due to lack of redundancy, helicopter transmission failure can lead to catastrophic accidents. Bearing faults in helicopter gearboxes are difficult to discriminate due to the low signal-to-noise ratio in the presence of gear vibration. In addition, the vibration response from the planet gear bearings must be transmitted via a time-varying path through the ring gear to externally mounted accelerometers, which cause yet further bearing vibration signal suppression. This research programme has resulted in the successful proof of concept of a broadband wireless transmission sensor that incorporates power scavenging while operating within a helicopter gearbox. In addition, this article investigates the application of signal separation techniques in detection of bearing faults within the epicyclic module of a large helicopter (CS-29) main gearbox using vibration and acoustic emissions. It compares their effectiveness for various operating conditions. Three signal processing techniques, including an adaptive filter, spectral kurtosis and envelope analysis, were combined for this investigation. In addition, this research discusses the feasibility of using acoustic emission for helicopter gearbox monitoring.