Experimental Setup and Methodology to Carryout Fatigue Testing of Spiral Bevel Gears Used in Differential Gear Box Using NVH Approach

Abstract

Currently the fatigue testing of bevel gears are being done by using non rotating type of fixtures that applies fatigue load on a single tooth, which does not resemble the actual loading condition in an automotive differential gear box. This paper discusses the experimental setup with the noise and vibration analysis approach to determine the signature of failures of spiral bevel gears. The proposed experimental setup seems promising for further research and development in the fatigue testing of spiral bevel gears. The Crown pinion and wheel assembly is used for the testing. The pinion is connected to the electric 3 phase AC motor of 75HP with a suitable coupling and the crown wheel is mounted on the half axle shaft, which in turn is connected to an electric dynamometer. The speed/torque of electric motor and the load applied by the dynamometer can be varied. The acoustic sensor is mounted near the differential gear box and the accelerometers are mounted on the Pinion bearing, Crown wheel bearing and the half axle bearing. A four channel data acquisition system is used to log data in time domain (raw data) by three accelerometers and an acoustic sensor. The variations of sound pressure(dB) v/s time, sound Pressure(FFT-(RMS)) amplitude v/s Frequency, Acceleration v/s Time, Octave analysis i.e., Band power v/s Frequency, Noise spectrum Power v/s Frequency, Histogram, Power density v/s Time can be obtained. These data are then used to plot vibration and SPP levels in frequency domain to develop the noise and vibration signature of that crown pinion for given cycles of operation. The tests on Bevel pinion and gear set were performed in the BEC, Bagalkot NVH lab facility. The gear set run successfully at double the rated torque for 30 million pinion cycles. And the signature of pinion failure was obtained. The results demonstrated the suitability of using the given bevel crown pinion and gears set for specified speed, high load application in differential gear box of an automobile.