A Novel Spur Gear Inspection Method

Spur gears help transfer motion and power between the two parallel shafts. Spur gears, in general, are not used when pitch line speeds are above 20 m/s. They are used to construct gearboxes found in many machine tools and automobiles. Inspecting gears would ensure their successful functioning after they are deployed into service. Most of the techniques developed by researchers for spur gear inspection are manual or semi-automatic and post-process in nature. The present method uses the vision system and deep learning for spur gear inspection and is nondestructive. It is an ideal technique for non-contact and online inspection of spur gears. Both dimensional and surface texture inspection are possible in a single setup. The results obtained by the present inspection technique are accurate when validated with conventional methods.