On the application of the beta distribution to gear damage analysis

Abstract The kurtosis of the beta distribution has been reported as a good indicator of the condition of a gear. The characteristic, or shape, parameters are usually estimated by the method of moments (MM). In this paper, the parameters are estimated using both the method of moments and maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) techniques. It is observed that the MLE technique provides better detection performance. Although the MLE technique requires more processing time, as compared to the MM technique, it is still within the limits for on-line monitoring.