Abstract: Diagnosis of worm gear defects is challenging and this is reflected in the limited number of publications. However, these gears are commonly used in many applications such as escalators, mills, and conveyors, and are expected to work 24 hours a day in the production system. Any failures with the gearboxes may introduce unwanted downtime, expensive repair, and even human casualties. Therefore it is essential to detect and diagnose faults in the initial stage. This paper aims to give insight on various diagnosis methods to detect the presence of naturally developed faults within worm gearboxes. This was undertaken in an attempt to identify the presence of defects within the worm gearboxes. It is shown that irrespective of the predominantly sliding motion of the gears, diagnosis of faults is feasible as long as the appropriate analysis technique is employed.

Keywords: Worm Gearbox, Fault Detection, Vibration Analysis, Oil Analysis, Condition Monitoring.