Gearbox monitoring

Gearboxes: hidden risks in the drive train

Gearboxes are among the most complex elements of industrial drives — on conveyors, mills, rolling stands, compressors and fans. They run inside a closed housing, so degradation is invisible until late-stage audible noise.

Ultrasonic monitoring detects tooth and bearing faults early, before vibration in the audible range becomes obvious.

Degradation mechanisms

Gear pitting — contact fatigue on loaded teeth; ultrasound catches early pitting well.

Scoring — adhesive wear when the oil film breaks; SDT shows a sharp rise in high-frequency energy.

Bearing wear — from dirty oil or overload; 38 kHz ultrasound reveals initial raceway damage.

Oil degradation — contamination and oxidation increase ultrasonic levels on mesh points.

SDT340 methodology

Baseline readings after commissioning or overhaul, planned routes every 2–4 weeks on critical units, trend analysis in SoundPrint, and recorded waveforms for spectral identification of the failing component.

Measure at input and output shaft bearings and through the housing at each mesh pair. LUBExpert handles grease points without contaminating the oil sump.

Artesis EMCM on the drive

Continuous motor-current analysis picks up periodic load changes from worn teeth and bearings — especially valuable when the gearbox is hard to access.

Results

Plants running SDT + Artesis on gearboxes typically prevent catastrophic failures, cut lubricant use 25–35%, extend overhaul intervals 40–60%, and see ROI in 10–18 months.

Olympus — NDT and remote visual inspection

• Thickness gauging — casings, piping and vessels (39DL PLUS)
• Videoscopes — cavities and flow paths on outages (IPLEX One)

Catalogs: NDT · endoscopes · Olympus brand.