Towards the Development of a Tribotronic Gearbox

Abstract

Gearboxes are used in a wide range of industries to transmit rotating motion. Failure of these devices is costly, more than 50% of industrial maintenance costs are reported to be spent on powertrain components. In recent years, prognosis and health management of gearboxes has been an area of considerable interest for researchers who wish to advance methods for early fault prediction, fault classification and severity determination. Tribotronics is a new research area that will take prognostics and health management of mechanical systems to the next level. Tribotronics is the integration of actuation of tribological systems and components with condition monitoring with the aim of controlling and minimising tribological loss outputs such as friction and wear that lead to failure.

This paper describes an approach to the design of a tribotronic system for gearboxes. It will include a review of current tribotronic systems in use, as well as sensors and actuators that can be used for tribotronic systems. The paper will also propose a system which includes: sensors, actuation, data acquisition and intelligent control that will allow the system to react to certain tribological parameters to improve its performance and elongate its service life.