Observations of acoustic emission activity during gear defect diagnosis.

It is widely recognised that acoustic emission (AE) is gaining ground as a non- destructive technique (NDT) for health diagnosis on rotating machinery. The source of AE is attributed to the release of stored elastic energy that manifests itself in the form of elastic waves that propagate in all directions on the surface of a material. These detectable AE waves can provide useful information about the health condition of a machine. This paper reports on part of an ongoing experimental investigation on the application of AE for gear defect diagnosis. Furthermore, the possibility of monitoring gear defects from the bearing casing is examined. It is concluded that AE offers a complimentary tool for health monitoring of gears.