Manufacturing Technology 2025, 25(4):469-481 | DOI: 10.21062/mft.2025.056

Experimental Evaluation of Vibration Responses to Progressive Gear Damage in Planetary Gear

Tomáš Gajdošík ORCID..., Matúš Vereš ORCID..., Igor Gajdáč ORCID..., Ronald Bašťovanský ORCID...
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Žilina in Žilina. Univerzitná 8215/1, 010 26 Žilina. Slovak Republic

This study presents a systematic experimental analysis of vibration responses in a planetary gearbox (type A2000) under both undamaged and artificially induced fault conditions. The primary aim was to identify specific frequency-domain signatures of various types and severities of gear defects—such as pitting on the flanks of gear teeth, missing teeth, unbalance of the carrier, and damage to the ring gear—through spectral analysis of vibration signals. Measurements were conducted in both loaded and unloaded states using non-contact torque sensors and a multi-channel diagnostic system (SKF IMx-S) with tri-axial accelerometers. The results demonstrate a strong correlation between the severity of gear damage and the amplitude and structure of sidebands around the gear mesh frequencies. Notably, the presence of pitting consistently increased the sideband amplitudes, while unbalance induced distinct harmonics in the frequency spectrum. Damage to the ring gear and central gear exhibited overlapping features but were distinguishable in the acceleration envelope spectrum. The findings provide a foundation for the early-stage identification of gearbox faults and highlight the potential for deploying automated diagnostic systems in industrial applications. Future work will focus on real-time AI-based detection methods and application of the results in industrial environments such as Continental and U.S. Steel.

Keywords: Gearbox diagnostics, Planetary gearbox, Vibration analysis, Gear damage detection, Artificial damage on gears
Grants and funding:

This work was supported by the Scientific Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic (VEGA), project no. 1/0568/24, Research in the field of loading and stress deformation states of rolling bearing cages. The authors gratefully acknowledge this support

Received: June 8, 2025; Revised: October 10, 2025; Accepted: October 13, 2025; Prepublished online: November 10, 2025; Published: November 11, 2025  Show citation

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Gajdošík T, Vereš M, Gajdáč I, Bašťovanský R. Experimental Evaluation of Vibration Responses to Progressive Gear Damage in Planetary Gear. Manufacturing Technology. 2025;25(4):469-481. doi: 10.21062/mft.2025.056.
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