Frame 6 Gear Drive Operation and

Maintenance Considerations
Presented to
Frame 6 Users Conference
Houston, Texas
August 29, 2005
 Frame 6 Gear Drive Operation and
Maintenance Considerations
Presentation Outline
I. Gear Drive Preventive Maintenance/Criteria For Repair
1. Preventive Maintenance Guidelines
2. Repair Criteria - Oil Sampling, Noise, Vibration, Temperature
3. Tooth Contact Evaluation Acceptable and Unacceptable
4. Disassemble/Inspect Versus Condition Monitoring
II. Historical Load Box and Accessory Drive Operational
Problems
1. Accessory Drive #1 Shaft Thrust Bearing Failure
2. Load Box High Bearing Temperatures
3. Labyrinth Seal Leakage

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Frame 6 Gear Drive Operation and
Maintenance Considerations

I. PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE / REPAIR CRITERIA

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 Preventive Maintenance
9 Look at trend data, not single data points
9 Be consistent during data acquisition
9 Automate record keeping to allow rapid evaluation of
data
9 Know your equipment baselines, taken at startup and
after repair
9 Identify and maintain access to critical spares
9 Buy OEM quality replacement parts

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 Criteria For Repair
9Visual Inspection
Significant shift in tooth contact pattern
Rapid change in level of tooth wear
Significant levels of metallic debris
9Vibration
Significant increase in amplitude at equipments
predominant frequencies (know the limitations of
your vibration equipment)

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 Criteria For Repair
9Oil Sample/Wear Particle Analysis
Significant increase in high alloy steel particles
(gears and bearings)
Significant increase in bronze, tin or lead particles
9Noise and Temperature Levels
Significant change/unusual noise

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 Vibration Data Evaluation
9Data is easily misinterpreted
Improper equipment
Bad choice of data points
Variations in operating conditions
Complex system and/or multiple vibration
problems
9Avoid the temptation to be a JV vibration
expert

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 Vibration Data Evaluation
9Typical vibration signatures:
1x shaft RPM rotor balance, single
tooth defect
2x shaft RPM misalignment (axial)
.4x shaft RPM bearing whirl
# teeth x shaft RPM tooth geometry
Variable frequencies structural resonance,
system resonance, rotor
critical

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 Checking Tooth Contact
9Tools of the trade:
Soft blue (Prussian blue)
Gear marking compound
Paint brush
Hard blue for checking
loaded contact

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Checking Contact

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 When to Check Contact
9At assembly for new unit/rebuild (soft blue)
9At time of installation (soft blue & hard blue)
9First outage (read original hard blue)
9Continued outages (reapply hard blue and look
for changes)
9Document results

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 Interpret Pattern
9Optimum pattern is centered, tapering off at
each end, not necessarily full

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Unacceptable Tooth Contact

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 Causes of Bad Contact
9Excessive bearing clearance or damage
9Housing bore damage or misalignment
9Uneven foundation or improper support (soft
foot)
9Gear geometry mismatch
9Shaft, casing or tooth deflection under load
9Thermal distortion under load
9Component to component misalignment
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 Causes of Gear Element Misalignment/
Bad Tooth Contact
Gear Element Misalignment Results in Local Gear Tooth Overload

Internal Housing Bores Internal Gear Geometry External Connected

Not Machined Parallel Not Matching, IE Helix Machinery Cocks Gear
Angle Mismatch Element In Bearing Bores
External Housing
Racked on Foundation Internal Worn Bearing Bore
Permits Gear Separating
Forces To Cause Gear
Element To Run Cocked

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 Correction of Bad Contact
9Reset or replace bearings
9Remachine casing
9Reshim casing, fix foundation
9Compensate for deflection with modified
geometry (lead modification)
9Compensate for thermal distortion with
modified geometry (lead modification)

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 Double Helical Gear Failures
9Axial Misalignment
9External Thrust
9Loss of float
Wrong coupling gap
Wrong coupling selection
Wear/damage to housing bores
Thermal growth in drive train

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Double Helical Gear Failure

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 Systems Considerations Plate/Diaphragm
Coupling Axial Alignment
Useful Axial Misalignment
Stiffness Operating Range
Maximum Coupling
Operating Stiffness

Minimum Coupling
Operating Stiffness

Compression (Preload) Tension (Stretch)

Displacement
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Importance of Proper Gear Tooth Backlash

Definition is the running

clearance between two
mating teeth.

9 Importance of Maintaining Proper Backlash

9 Prevents tooth interference due to thermal growth
9 Prevents tooth interference due to centerdistance variance
9 Prevents tooth interference due to effects of centrifugal force
9 Prevents excessive gear element tooth acceleration during torque
reversals

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Importance of Proper Gear Tooth Backlash
9 If backlash increases appreciably:
9 Check for tooth surface wear/distress
9 Check for bearing wear/distress

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 Frame 6 Gear Drive Operation and
Maintenance Considerations
II. Historical Frame 6 Gear Problems
Accessory Drive #1 Shaft Thrust Bearing Failure
Load Box Bearing High Temperature Operation
Labyrinth Seal Leaks

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Accessory Drive #1 Shaft Thrust Bearing
Failure
9 Root cause axial coupling misalignment
9 Misalignment generates excessive thrust load
9 Possible consequences
9 Failed thrust bearing
9 Damage to #1 shaft
9 Cracked housing
9 PGC Upgrade
9 Thrust bearing design change
9 Plane to tapered land design
9 Thrust capacity increased 100%
9 1,500 3,000 lbs.

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Accessory Drive Housing Casting Repair
Problem:
#1 Shaft lower housing crack in
inboard bearing area
Solution:
Machined out cracked area,
installed saddle and rebored housing

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Load Box High Bearing Temperatures
Root cause non-optimal bearing design
PGC upgrade elliptical bearing design to offset half design
Bearing Design Comparison
Elliptical Offset Half
Calculated Oil Flow to Bearing 16.4 GPM 23.0 GPM
Calculated Embedded TC Temp. 240 - 250 F 200 - 210 F

Load 41 MW
Oil Inlet Temp 130 F
Bearing Clearance - .011 013 inch
Oil Pressure 20 psig

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Hydrodynamic Bearing Configurations

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 Bearing Geometry Comparison

Offset Halves Lemon Bore Elliptical

Two oil wedges Two oil wedges each direction Two oil wedges each direction
Uni-directional Bidirectional Bidirectional
Higher oil flow, lower Higher oil flow, lower Lower oil flow, higher
operational temperature operational temperature operational temperature
Higher load capacity Lower load capacity Lower load capacity

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Load Box HSS Labyrinth Seal Leakage
No leak Labyrinth seal
Correct seal design
Serviceable seal condition
Unobstructed drain path
No easy task:
200 + GPM oil flow
High gear element rotating
speeds
Small operating space

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 Shaft Labyrinth Seal Design
Isolated inboard cavity
and labyrinth drains
Low pressure air tap
between labyrinth
cavities
Labyrinth seal design
rule of thumb: Labyrinth
seal I.D. to bearing
journal clearance is twice
bearing I.D. to journal
clearance

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HSS Detail Oil Drain Path
Stationary oil restricting
ring installed on quill
shaft bearing forward end
Oil flinger groove
replaced by sharp edged
oil flinger
Double land stationary oil
restricting seals against
rotating oil flinger

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Shaft Oil Flinger Design

GOOD BETTER BEST

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Low Speed Shaft Detail Oil Drainage
Oil deflector minimizes
oil churning induced by
rotating LSS coupling
Oil deflector prevents oil
churning beyond 9:00
position
Local baffle in oil
deflector assures
adequate high speed
labyrinth oil drain

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 Disassemble/Inspect Versus Condition
Monitoring
DeBaeckes Corollary: When you take apart a perfectly
serviceable gearbox, the probability of doing more harm than
good is greater than any of us care to imagine
Disassemble/Inspect Concerns:
Risk of contamination ingress
Risk of something not going back together properly, i.e. pinched
bearing
Risk of breaking delicate, hard to access components, i.e. embedded
thermocouple wires
Risk of handling damage, i.e. dropped gear elements
Cost of getting gearbox ready to disassemble/inspect (getting to it)
Cost of gearbox disassembly/inspection/reassembly

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 Disassemble/Inspect Versus Condition
Monitoring
A properly maintained and operated gearbox has
the potential to operate trouble-free without an
overhaul for its design service life. (20 years or
more)
An adequate condition monitoring/preventive
maintenance program should dictate the
necessity of gearbox teardown inspection and
overhaul

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 Disassemble/Inspect Versus Condition
Monitoring
Key elements of an effective condition monitoring/preventive
maintenance program are:
Keep the oil clean and in serviceable condition. Perform
periodic oil sampling and wear particle analysis
Maintain gearbox and lubrication system in accordance with
manufacturers periodic operational maintenance requirements
Monitor critical bearing temperatures and vibration levels
using proven data acquisition and analysis techniques
Monitor gear tooth contact patterns on a regular, periodic basis

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Frame 6 Gear Drive Operation and
Maintenance Considerations

Question and Answers

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