A novel method for gear reducer’s transient temperature field analysis based on thermo-fluid interaction

Abstract

In this paper, we focus on the need for temperature field analysis of gear transmission, as a important issue related to gear transmission's reliability. Most of previous studies were based on traditional heat transfer theory, focusing on numerical analysis method, however oil cooling effect has not been included in consideration. Based on CFD, this paper proposed a thermo-fluid coupled transient temperature field analysis method to a single reduction gear unit with oil bath lubrication and cooling conditions. This paper proceeds as follow. Firstly, the characteristics of gear reducer's heat generation and heat dissipation was analized, then utilize RNG k-Ɛ turbulence model to simulate the typically strong swirl inside the flow field, take advantage of implicit algorithm VOF model to accurately captures instantaneous changes of internal oil-gas interface. In the end, dynamic mesh was utilized to tracking the oil fluid during the process of gear movement. The heat gener-ated by gear set was calculated through analytic method and then impacted to gear surfaces in the simulation by user defined functions. Thus an effective model and method using Fluent software for direct simulation of gear reducer transient temperature field analysis is proposed, research is an important supporting role on the reliability and longevity of gear structure.