A One-Dimensional Convolutional Neural Network-Based Method for Diagnosis of Tooth Root Cracks in Asymmetric Spur Gear Pairs

Gears are fundamental components used to transmit power and motion in modern industry. Their health condition monitoring is crucial to ensure reliable operations, prevent unscheduled shutdowns, and minimize human casualties. From this standpoint, the present study proposed a one-dimensional convolutional neural network (1-D CNN) model to diagnose tooth root cracks for standard and asymmetric involute spur gears. A 6-degrees-of-freedom dynamic model of a one-stage spur gear transmission was established to achieve this end and simulate vibration responses of healthy and cracked (25%-50%-75%-100%) standard (20 degrees/20 degrees) and asymmetric (20 degrees/25 degrees and 20 degrees/30 degrees) spur gear pairs. Three levels of signal-to-noise ratios were added to the vibration data to complicate the early fault diagnosis task. The primary consideration of the present study is to investigate the asymmetric gears' dynamic characteristics and whether tooth asymmetry would yield an advantage in detecting tooth cracks easier to add to the improvements it affords in terms of impact resistance, bending strength, and fatigue life. The findings indicated that the developed 1-D CNN model's classification accuracy could be improved by up to 12.8% by using an asymmetric (20 degrees/30 degrees) tooth profile instead of a standard (20 degrees/20 degrees) design.