Mathematic model and tooth contact analysis of a new spiral non-circular bevel gear

A novel spiral non-circular bevel gear that could be applied to variable-speed driving in intersecting axes was proposed by combining the design principles of non-circular bevel gears and the manufacturing principles of face-milling spiral bevel gears.Unlike straight non-circular bevel gears,spiral non-circular bevel gears have numerous advantages,such as a high contact ratio,high intensity,good dynamic performance,and an adjustable contact region.In addition,while manufacturing straight non-circular bevel gears is difficult,spiral non-circular bevel gears can be efficiently and precisely fabricated with a 6-axis bevel gear cutting machine.First,the generating principles of spiral non-circular bevel gears were introduced.Next,a mathematical model,including a generating tooth profile,tooth spiral,pressure angle,and generated tooth profile for this gear type was established.Then the precision of the model was verified by a tooth contact analysis using FEA,and the contact patterns and stress distributions of the spiral non-circular bevel gears were investigated.

Time-Varying Mesh Stiffness Calculation and Dynamic Modeling of Spiral Bevel Gear with Spalling Defects

Time-varying mesh stiffness(TVMS)is a vital internal excitation source for the spiral bevel gear(SBG)transmission system.Spalling defect often causes decrease in gear mesh stiffness and changes the dynamic characteristics of the gear system,which further increases noise and vibration.This paper aims to calculate the TVMS and establish dynamic model of SBG with spalling defect.In this study,a novel analytical model based on slice method is proposed to calculate the TVMS of SBG considering spalling defect.Subsequently,the influence of spalling defect on the TVMS is studied through a numerical simulation,and the proposed analytical model is verified by a finite element model.Besides,an 8-degrees-of-freedom dynamic model is established for SBG transmission system.Incorporating the spalling defect into TVMS,the dynamic responses of spalled SBG are analyzed.The numerical results indicate that spalling defect would cause periodic impact in time domain.Finally,an experiment is designed to verify the proposed dynamic model.The experimental results show that the spalling defect makes the response characterized by periodic impact with the rotating frequency of spalled pinion.

Experimental Research on the Surface Quality of Milling Contour Bevel Gears

Contour bevel gears have the advantages of high coincidence,low noise and large bearing capacity,which are widely used in automobile manufacturing,shipbuilding and construction machinery.However,when the surface quality is poor,the effective contact area between the gear mating surfaces decreases,affecting the stability of the fit and thus the transmission accuracy,so it is of great significance to optimize the surface quality of the contour bevel gear.This paper firstly analyzes the formation process of machined surface roughness of contour bevel gears on the basis of generating machining method,and dry milling experiments of contour bevel gears are conducted to analyze the effects of cutting speed and feed rate on the machined surface roughness and surface topography of the workpiece.Then,the surface defects on the machined surface of the workpiece are studied by SEM,and the causes of the surface defects are analyzed by EDS.After that,XRD is used to compare the microscopic grains of the machined surface and the substrate material for diffraction peak analysis,and the effect of cutting parameters on the microhardness of the workpiece machined surface is investigated by work hardening experiment.The research results are of great significance for improving the machining accuracy of contour bevel gears,reducing friction losses and improving transmission efficiency.

Design of Pinion Machine Tool-settings for Spiral Bevel Gears by Controlling Contact Path and Transmission Errors

This paper proposes a new approach to design pinion machine tool-settings for spiral bevel gears by controlling contact path and transmission errors. It is based on the satisfaction of contact condition of three given control points on the tooth surface. The three meshing points are controlled to be on a predesigned straight contact path that meets the pre-designed parabolic function of transmission errors. Designed separately, the magnitude of transmission errors and the orientation of the contact path are subjected to precise control. In addition, in order to meet the manufacturing requirements, we suggest to modify the values of blank offset, one of the pinion machine tool-settings, and redesign pinion ma- chine tool-settings to ensure that the magnitude and the geometry of transmission errors should not be influenced apart from minor effects on the predesigned straight contact path. The proposed approach together with its ideas has been proven by a numerical example and the manufacturing practice of a pair of spiral bevel gears.

GEOMETRIC MODELING OF GENERATING-MANUFACTURED SPIRAL BEVEL GEARS BASED ON CUTTING SIMULATION

A geometric modeling method for generating-manufactured spiral bevel gears（SBGs） is proposed. It consists of two steps： （1） creating a reference model by simulating the process of cutting spiral bevel gear,（2） reconstructing the final solid model by collecting data points from the reference model and fitting these points into NURBS surfaces. In this method,cutting simulation avoids abstruse mathematical theories and complex methods,thus making it convenient to obtain data points on the complex tooth surface before the gear is manufactured and efficient to increase the accuracy of the solid model. Also,the representations of tooth surfaces of the final model is unified as a NURBS surface function. The NURBS surface is continuous and smooth,thus it is available for wide applications in CAD/CAE. The experiment proves that the method can be used to establish an accurate pair of SBG models,thus providing a feasible and effective way for CAD/CAE modeling.

ALGORITHMS OF GENERATION MOTION AND DIRECT INTERPOLATION FOR SPIRAL BEVEL GEAR NC MACHINING

The generating motion of the generating gear and the work gear on spiral bevel gear NC machining is analyzed. The mathematical model of the tooth surface of spiral bevel gear is presented. A direct interpolation algorithm of spiral bevel gear NC machining is proposed, thus establishing the relationship between the motion of the cutter-head center and the rotation of the work gear. The interpolation algorithm is implemented to control the gear cutting on self-developed spiral bevel gear NC cutting machine. An example is given to verify the mathematical model and the interpolation algorithm.

Pinion Tooth Surface Generation Strategy of Spiral Bevel Gears

Aviation spiral bevel gears are often generated by spiral generated modified（SGM） roll method.In this style,pinion tooth surface modified generation strategy has an important influence on the meshing and contact performances.For the optimal contact pattern and transmission error function,local synthesis is applied to obtain the machine-tool settings of pinion.For digitized machine,four tooth surface generation styles of pinion are proposed.For every style,tooth contact analysis（TCA） is applied to obtain contact pattern and transmission error function.For the difference between TCA transmission error function and design objective curve,the degree of symmetry and agreement are defined and the corresponding sub-objective functions are established.Linear weighted combination method is applied to get an equivalent objective function to evaluate the shape of transmission error function.The computer programs for the process above are developed to analyze the meshing performances of the four pinion tooth surface generation styles for a pair of aviation spiral bevel gears with 38/43 teeth numbers.The four analytical results are compared with each other and show that the incomplete modified roll is optimal for this gear pair.This study is an expansion to generation strategy of spiral bevel gears,and offers new alternatives to computer numerical control（CNC） manufacture of spiral bevel gears.

Measurement and Compensation of Deviations of Real Tooth Surface of Spiral Bevel Gear

This paper presents a method for measurement of deviation of the real gear tooth surface from the theoretical one with a coordinate measurement machine and compensation of repeatable parts. By investigation of characteristics of distortion of the gear tooth surface along the circle direction, the deviation is derived from distortion, and the definition of deviation with the geometrical invariability is proposed. Then the approach for determination of the location and orientation of the gear with respect to the coordinate measurement machine and the measurement way are developed. The deviation is represented with a difference surface, and an algorithm for derivation of parameters of global form deviations from the discrete points has been provided. Finally, the compensation approach is discussed.

Finite element analysis of contact fatigue and bending fatigue of a theoretical assembling straight bevel gear pair

The aim of this work is to propose a 3D FE model of a theoretical assembling straight bevel gear pair to analyze the contact fatigue on the tooth surface and the bending fatigue in the tooth root. Based on the cumulative fatigue criterion and the stress-life equation, the key meshing states of the gear pair were investigated for the contact fatigue and the bending fatigue. Then, the reliability of the proposed model was proved by comparing the calculation result with the simulation result. Further study was performed to analyze the variation of the contact fatigue stress and the bending fatigue stress under different loads. Furthermore, the roles of the driving pinion and the driven gear pair were evaluated in the fatigue life of the straight bevel gear pair and the main fatigue failure mode was determined for the significant gear. The results show that the fatigue failure of the driving pinion is the main fatigue failure for the straight bevel gear pair and the bending fatigue failure is the main fatigue failure for the driving pinion.

Tooth surface geometry optimization of spiral bevel and hypoid gears generated by duplex helical method with circular profile blade

In order to effectively improve meshing performance of spiral bevel and hypoid gears generated by the duplex helical method, the effects of straight lined and circular cutting edges profile on meshing and contact of spiral bevel and hypoid gears were investigated analytically. Firstly, a mathematical model of spiral bevel and hypoid gears with circular blade profile was established according to the cutting characteristics of the duplex helical method. Based on a hypoid gear drive, the tooth bearings and the functions of transmission errors of four design cases were analyzed respectively by the use of the tooth contact analysis(TCA), and the contact stresses of the four design cases were analyzed and compared using simulation software. Finally, the curvature radius of the circular profile blade was optimized. The results show that the contact stresses are availably reduced, and the areas of edge contact and severe contact stresses can be avoided by selecting appropriate circular blade profile. In addition, the convex and concave sides are separately modified by the use of different curvature radii of inside and outside blades, which can increase the flexibility of the duplex helical method.

Design and Experimental Research on Seedling Pick-Up Mechanism of Planetary Gear Train with Combined Non-circular Gear Transmission

Currently, transplanting mechanisms for dryland plug seedlings in China are mainly semiautomatic and have low efficiency. The rotary seedling pick-up mechanism with a planetary gear train for non-uniform intermittent transmission, and a concave and convex locking arc device, has a large rigid impact. To solve these problems, according to the design requirements for a dryland plug seedling transplanting mechanism, a rotary seedling pick-up mechanism of a planetary gear train with combined non-circular gear transmission of incomplete eccentric circular and noncircular gears was proposed. This has the characteristics of two-times greater fluctuation of the transmission ratio in a cycle, and can achieve a non-uniform continuous drive. Through analysis of the working principle of the seedling pick-up mechanism, its kinematics model was established. The human–computer interaction optimization method and self-developed computer-aided analysis and optimization software were used to obtain a set of parameters that satisfy the operation requirements of the seedling pick-up mechanism. According to the optimized parameters, the structure of the seedling pick-up mechanism was designed, a virtual prototype of the mechanism was created, and a physical prototype was manufactured. A virtual motion simulation of the mechanism was performed, high-speed photographic kinematics tests were conducted, and the kinematic properties of the physical prototype were investigated, whereby the correctness of the theoretical model and the optimized design of the mechanism were verified. Further, laboratory seedling pick-up tests were conducted. The success ratio of seedling pick-up was 93.8% when the seedling pick-up efficiency of the mechanism was 60 plants per minute per row, indicating that the mechanism has a high efficiency and success ratio for seedling pick-up and can be applied to a dryland plug seedling transplanter.

Filling Rules of Bevel Gears in the Closed-die Cold Forging

The closed-died cold forging technology of the bevel gears used in Jada car was investigated. With the analysis of the strain field and velocity field of the plastic deformation and the endured forces of the dies, the filling rules for the metal were analyzed by the elastic-plastic finite element method （FEM）. The results show that there is a great difference among closed-die cold forging, extrusion and forging, as far as the metal flowing is concerned. The outer addendum cannot be filled completely in the closed-die cold forging of the bevel gears, and the round angle will be formed. But it does not influence the application of the bevel gears. At the beginning, the rigid area is formed in the cavity of the lower die. And then it will move upwards to supply the metal for the gear filling. For the closed-die cold forging of the bevel gears, the force acting on the upper die and the lower die is significantly different.

Influence of Alignment Errors on Contact Pressure during Straight Bevel Gear Meshing Process

Straight bevel gears are widely applied in automotive, aerospace, chemical and many other fields as one of the most common type of gears. Currently, the researches on straight bevel gears have focused on the fields of fatigue, wear, noise and vibration, while little attention is paid to the effect of multiple alignment errors on the gear tooth wear. To study the influence of alignment errors on the gear tooth wear, a simulated model of a straight bevel gear pair is established. Then, the contact pressure on the tooth surface is analyzed under the various alignment errors according to the Archard wear relationship. The main combinations of alignment errors played vital roles on the tooth wear are investigated. The result shows that under the single alignment error, the contact pressure moves to the tooth heel and increases greatly at here when ？P=0.1 or ？G=0.1; when ？E=–0.03, the contact pressure greatly increases at the tooth heel, but it obviously increases at the tooth toe when ？E=0.03; the alignment error ？γ=1 has little effect on the contact pressure on the tooth surface. Moreover, the combination of ？P, ？G, ？E〈0 and ？γ is the most dangerous type among the multiple alignment errors. This research provides valuable guidelines for predicting the tooth wear under various alignment errors.

Kinematic Modeling and Characteristic Analysis of Eccentric Conjugate Non-circular Gear & Crank-Rocker & Gears Train Weft Insertion Mechanism

A novel weft insertion mechanism named eccentric conjugate non-circular gear & crank-rocker & gears train weft insertion mechanism was proposed in order to better meet the requirements of rapier loom's weft insertion mechanism as well as reduce the manufacturing difficulty. Meanwhile, based on the working principle of this mechanism, kinematical mathematic models of this mechanism were established and an aided analysis and simulation software was compiled. The influences of eccentricity ratio, deformation coefficient, and other important parameters on the kinematics characteristics of this mechanism were analyzed by using the software. A group of preferable parameters which could meet the requirements of weft insertion technology were obtained by means of human-computer interactive optimization method. The maximum velocity, maximum acceleration, and variation of acceleration of this mechanism are smaller than those of the conjugate cam weft insertion mechanism applied on TT96 rapier loom under the conditions of the same unilateral total stroke of rapier head and the same rotary speed of loom spindle; meanwhile the other demands of weaving technology can be met by this novel weft insertion mechanism.

Effect of static transmission error on dynamic responses of spiral bevel gears

The effect of static transmission error on nonlinear dynamic response of the spiral bevel gear system combining with time-varying stiffness and backlash was investigated.Firstly,two different control equations of the spiral bevel gear model were adopted,where the static transmission error was expressed in two patterns as predesigned parabolic function and sine function of transmission errors.The dynamic response,bifurcation map,time domain response,phase curve and Poincare map were obtained by applying the explicit Runge-Kutta integration routine with variable-step.A comparative study was carried out and some profound phenomena were detected.The results show that there are many different kinds of tooth rattling phenomena at low speed.With the increase of speed,the system enters into stable motion without any rattling in the region(0.72,1.64),which indicates that the system with predesigned parabolic function of transmission error has preferable capability at high speed.

Analysis and modeling of error of spiral bevel gear grinder based on multi-body system theory

Six-axis numerical control spiral bevel gear grinder was taken as the object, multi-body system theory and Denavit-Hartenberg homogeneous transformed matrix （HTM） were utilized to establish the grinder synthesis error model, and the validity of model was confirmed by the experiment. Additionally, in grinding wheel tool point coordinate system, the errors of six degrees of freedom were simulated when the grinding wheel revolving around C-axis, moving along X-axis and Y-axis. The influence of these six errors on teeth space, helix angle, pitch, teeth profile was discussed. The simulation results show that the angle error is in the range from -0.148 4 tad to -0.241 9 rad when grinding wheel moving along X, Y-axis; the translation error is in the range from 0.866 0 μm to 3.605 3μm when grinding wheel moving along X-axis. These angle and translation errors have a great influence on the helix angle, pitch, teeth thickness and tooth socket.

Virtual System Solution of CNC Machine for Spiral Bevel and Hypoid Gears

A virtual computerized numerical control C CNC） processing system is built for spiral bevel and hypoid gears. The pre-designed process of the solution to locate the way of realization is investigated. A kind of combined programming method and principle of solid modeling are chosen. Multienvironmental programming thought and the inter-connected mechanisms between different environments are applied in the proposed system. The problems of data exchange and compatibility of modules are settled. Environment of the system is founded with object oriented programming thought. AutoCAD is located as the graphic environment. Matlab is used for editing the computation module. Virtual C ＋＋6.0 is the realization environment of the main module. Windows is the platform for realizing the multi-environmental method. Through establishing the virtual system based windows message handling mechanism and the component object model, the application of multienvironmental programming is realized in the manufacture system simulation. The virtual gear product can be achieved in the accomplished software.

Reverse Design and Test of Non-circular Gear & Crank-Rocker & Gear Trains Weft Insertion Mechanism

For the purpose of obtaining satisfactory performance of the non-circular gear & crank-rocker & gear trains (NCCRG) weft insertion mechanism which was proposed in this paper, the ideal kinematic curve of this weft insertion mechanism was given, and the reverse solution models of this mechanism were established. A reverse design and simulation software was compiled based on Visual Basic 6.0 to obtain the mechanism parameters, including the pitch curves and tooth profiles of the non-circular gears. A test-bed of this mechanism was developed according to these parameters. The kinematic performance of this weft insertion mechanism was tested by high-speed video tape recorder with its corresponding video analytical software Blaster's MAS. And the test results were identical with the theoretical calculation. Compared with the conjugate cam weft insertion mechanism which is applied on TT96 rapier loom, under the condition of same weft insertion rate, the variation of acceleration of this mechanism is smaller. This novel weft insertion mechanism can meet the requirements of weft insertion on rapier looms with smooth and steady motion.

Design and Experiment of Non-circular Combined Gear Train Beating-up Mechanism

The most important performance of a beating-up mechanism is that the dwelling time of the sley must ensure the completion of the weft insertion. To meet this requirement, a new non-circular combined gear train beating-up mechanism which is composed of two-stage planetary gear trains is proposed. The first-stage is a Fourier planetary gear train and the second-stage is a non-circular planetary gear train. For designing of this new mechanism, the ideal kinematic equations of the sley are constructed first. Then the kinematic model of the first-stage Fourier planetary gear train is established and the reverse solution for the pitch curves of the second-stage non-circular gears is deduced. With a computer-aided design program, the influences of several important parameters on the pitch curves of the second-stage non-circular gears are analyzed, and a set of preferable structural parameters are obtained. Finally, a test bed of this mechanism is developed and the experimental results show that this new beating-up mechanism can achieve the designed dwelling time, namely it can meet the requirements of beating-up process.

Effect of key factors on cold orbital forging of a spur bevel gear

Cold orbital forging is an advanced spur bevel gear forming technology. Generally, the spur bevel gear in the cold orbital forging process is formed by two steps: the preforming step and the final step. Due to the great importance of the final step to gear forming and its complication with interactive factors, this work aims at examining the influence of key factors on the final step in cold orbital forging of a spur bevel gear. Using the finite element(FE) method and control variate method, the influence rules of four key factors, rotation velocity of the upper tool, n, feeding velocity of the lower tool, v, tilted angle of the upper tool, γ, friction factor between the tools and the billet, m, on the geometry and the deformation inhomogeneity of the cold orbital forged gear are thoroughly clarified. The research results show that the flash becomes more homogeneous with increasing v, increasing m, decreasing n or decreasing γ. And the deformation of the gear becomes more homogeneous with increasing v, decreasing n or decreasing γ. Finally, a corresponding experiment is conducted, which verifies the accuracy of FE simulation conclusions.