A Novel Approach for Continuous Acoustic Emission Monitoring on Rotating Machinery Without the Use of Slip Ring

Abstract

The acoustic emission (AE) technique is a powerful nondestructive tool for health monitoring of structures and mechanical components, especially due to its sensitivity to capture high frequency signals, which are associated with the early stages of damage development and evolution. The aim of the present work is twofold. The first is the evaluation of a new concept of transducer mounting on rotating structures without the use of the expensive solution of the slip ring. The new concept is realized in a single stage in-house built gearbox setup. The second is the evaluation of the potential of the acquired with the new concept AE signals in distinguishing between different types of artificially induced damage on the gears. Run-in tests were carried out to study the effect of gear damage on the AE recordings. The acoustic emission signature of the healthy gears is first acquired. Then artificial defects are seeded and the acquisition is repeated. The AE signals are analyzed, and their root-mean-square values are calculated. The capability of the new approach of AE acquisition in discriminating between different loading and damage states is shown and discussed. Interesting findings on the effect of the oil temperature on AE recordings only speculated theoretically so far are also presented.

The combined use of vibration, acoustic emission and oil debris on-line monitoring towards a more effective condition monitoring of rotating machinery

“…A special innovative device was designed in order to mount the AE sensor in a rotating component avoiding thus the costly solution of the slip-ring that is typically used in literature. Its effectiveness and operation is discussed elsewhere [22].…”

Market-based resource allocation for distributed data processing in wireless sensor networks

“…To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers, to redistribute to lists, or to use any component of this work in other works requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Permissions may be requested from models, as well as detecting degradation and failure in engineered systems including rotating machinery [Loutas et al 2008], civil structures [Ni et al 2008], hydrological systems [Parajka and Bloschl 2008], and aerospace vehicles [Staszewski et al 2009], among others. Traditional methods of data collection in all of these applications involve the use of tethered data acquisition systems.…”

Gear tooth root fatigue test monitoring with continuous acoustic emission: Advanced signal processing techniques for detection of incipient failure

“…Previous investigations into monitoring of spur gears have shown some success in detecting gross changes in gear health or lubricant film thickness between gear teeth, predominantly by monitoring root mean square (RMS) levels of AE signals. 7–10 AE also showed potential in the monitoring of full scale freight axle tests. 11 However, much development is still required, particularly in terms of investigation and characterisation of signals from the range of AE sources within a gear system.…”