Feasibility of a Linear Phased Acoustic Array for Health Monitoring of Gears

摘要

This paper investigates the feasibility of sensing damage emanating from rotating drivetrain elements such as bearings, gear teeth, and drive shafts via airborne paths. A linear phased acoustic array of microphones is evaluated as a potential fault detection scheme for detecting acoustic signatures radiating from gearbox components. Specifically, this paper discusses the minimum spot size for a given linear array geometry and its sensitivity to acoustic sources. In addition, the use of beam focusing and beam steering to track individual tooth mesh dynamics are analyzed. Experimental results for a linear array are presented to illustrate the concepts of adaptive beam steering and acoustic filtering. This feasibility study indicates that the linear array can be used to track the acoustic signatures of gear mesh dynamics at higher harmonics of the mesh frequency.