Estudo da viabilidade da termografia para a detecção de falha por lubrificação inadequada em redutor de rosca sem fim.

Abstract

The objective of this study is to evaluate the possibility of detecting failures in a worm gear reducer system due to inadequate lubrication, using the infrared thermography technique, in a laboratory with controlled conditions. The motivation of this study arose from the study on thermotribology, in which was found that there is lack of understanding the relation between the contact failures between moving parts and the change of temperature in these parts in machines and equipments. Methodologically, this research, as a quantitative approach, is classified as applied, explanatory, experimental and bibliographical. To collect the experimental data, thermographic tests were carried out in a mechanical worm gear reducer, where the temperature values were measured from its surface for the following operating conditions: no load, varying the lubricant levels, and with load, varying lubricant levels, in a closed environment with strict control of ambient temperature and air humidity. As a result, temperature values that start at 23 °C and reach up to 45 °C for unloaded conditions and temperatures that start at 23 °C and reach up to 59 °C for loaded conditions were presented. These results reveal that the gearbox did not present a significant temperature change due to lack of lubrication, even when working with extra load. The results also present equations that relates the heating of the gearbox with its operation. Hence this paper shows that it is not possible to distinguish, via thermography, the lubricant deficiency in a LILO ERV-042-n2 gearbox.