Girth Gear Inspection
Girth Gear Inspection
Girth Gear
Inspection
Pre- and PostManufacture
QUESTION
What are the ins-and-outs of quality inspection of girth gears, from both a
manufacturer and buyer perspective?
Girth gear specifications: DP=6.327.12mm, Module=30, Number of teeth=208,
Teeth width=600mm, Dim.=6.367/4.900760,
Material=GS34CRMO4, Rep.=1.3 to 13
Response No. 1 provided by HMC Inc.:
There are many quality control requirements involved with girth gears. The
process begins in manufacturing and
continues through installation, run-off
and ongoing monitoring.
Manufacturer perspective:
During manufacturing:
Raw material: incoming checks and
inspections
These include, but are not limited
to, material certifications with full
reports from forging and plate
vendors, dimensional inspection
and hardness testing upon arrival,
and ultrasonic inspection of the
forgings.
Dimensional reports.
NDT hardness testing and verification.
Fabrication (welding)
Stress-relieving oven; digital
charting (thermal reports).
Dimensional checks.
Magnetic particle testing; ultrasonic testing of welds.
CWI (certified welding inspector)
visual checks.
Machining/tooth inspections
In-process dimensional, run-out
and surface finish checks for any
significant process.
On-board lead, pitch and profile checks on the teeth are performed.
Final inspection
During the final inspection everything is dimensionally inspected
and thoroughly reviewed to make
sure all items and inspections are
up to the specifications.
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Mesh test between gear and pinoils and the heavier, open-gearing
ion (contact pattern).
lubricants are very similar, thus
During installation and alignment:
inviting employees to potentially
Over the years, HMC has seen misuse the wrong lubrication materialignment cases where companies
als. This could prove to be a disasget in a hurry and/or have a lack of
trous situation for the operating
proper supervision and instructions.
quality of your girth gear. Proper
The girth gear driving pinion ends
selection and continuous inspecup getting aligned to the reduction of the girth gears lubrication
er, causing a misalignment issue
selection falls in parallel to both
between the girth gear teeth and the
proper alignment of the gearing
driving pinion teeth (Fig. 1).
and start-up monitoring/inspec Proper alignment should consist
tion, as mentioned above.
of: axial and radial alignment of
By routinely inspecting the qualthe girth gear to the center line of
ity of the oil lubricating the girth
kiln/mill; center line of the driving
gear system an effective doupinion is aligned to the center line
ble-check on proper alignment
of the girth gear; center line of the
would be created. In the event
reducer output shaft with coupling
of an improper initial alignment
is aligned to the center line of the
inspection, the results from a
girth gear driving pinion; finally, the
girth gear oil sample inspection
center line of the
motor is aligned
to the center line
of the reducer
input shaft with
coupling.
Run-off and ongoing monitoring
Proper oil inspection and selection
Oils and other
lubricants are
often stored in
the same area.
And often the
numerical and
alphabetical
identification
numbers that
Figure 1Example of girth gear misalignment: girth gear driving
identify the
pinion end is aligned to the reducer, causing misalignment
different gear/
between the girth gear teeth and driving pinion teeth
transmission
(courtesy HMC).
[www.geartechnology.com]
Customer perspective:
Manufacturer perspective:
Inspection stepsmanufacturer
side:
Given the critical service these gears perform, quality assurance is an integral
part of the manufacturing process. The
process begins with chemical analysis
of the blank material, magnetic particle inspection of the cast blanks or fabricated rims, heat treat documentation records, and mechanical properties testing. Once the gear blank leaves
the foundry or fabrication shop and is
rough-machined, ultrasonic testing of
the split-joint flange (where the gear is
bolted together), the rim and the mounting flange to the mill is performed to
ensure a sound base before cutting teeth.
The hardness of the blank is also confirmed at this time. Dimensional checks
are made to confirm interface dimensions. Run-out of the mounting flange,
face width and outside diameter is taken
to record the as-cut condition of the
blank to enable the same mounting conditions on the mill as on the gear cutter. Tooth attribute inspections, such as
profile and pitch, as well as tooth thickness, are recorded to confirm that the
gear matches the design requirements
of the engineer. A roll contact check, or
fixed center contact check is also completed to confirm that the helix (lead) of
the gear matches the pinion. Split joint
closure is measured to confirm that the
gear did not distort during the manufacturing process. Magnetic particle inspection of the finished gear teeth is typically conducted and the results reviewed
by the design engineer to identify and
relieve any surface indications present
on the gear teeth from the raw material.
The last step is to have the design engineer review all of this collected information to confirm that the finished product
meets the specification and provides the
client the performance they are expecting for the application.
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