A TLOT train gearbox fault diagnosis method based on ridge extraction under variable speed conditions

Abstract Owing to the rapidly varying working conditions of urban rail trains, the rotational speed conditions constantly shift in a short time span. As a key component of the running gear, the gearbox generates non-stationary vibration signals, making it challenging to monitor its health status. To address this challenge, a tacholess order tracking method (TLOT) based on ridge extraction method is proposed in this paper. This method determines the optimal search starting point using the time-frequency Gini coefficient and extracts the time-varying gearbox meshing frequency components from the time-frequency representation results. Furthermore, the TLOT method is utilized to process the strongly time-varying gearbox signal. In the order domain, multiple frequency components are extracted to reconstruct the signal. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves a superior ridge extraction effect on gearbox experimental signals. It accurately converts unstable signals into angular domain stable signals, enhancing the energy aggregation of time-varying unstable signals in the order domain. This approach addresses the problem of weak harmonic component extraction from gearbox signals and effectively reduces interference in the resonance band, realizing fault diagnosis of the gearbox under unstable working conditions.