Abstract
The actual contact point of a spiral bevel gear pair deviates from the theoretical contact point due to the gear deformation caused by the load. However, changes in meshing characteristics due to the migration of contact points are often ignored in previous studies on the elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) analysis of spiral bevel gears. The purpose of this article is to analyze the impact of contact point migration on the results of EHL analysis. Loaded tooth contact analysis (LTCA) based on the finite element method is applied to determine the loaded contact point of the meshing tooth pair. Then, the osculating paraboloids at this point are extracted from the gear tooth surface geometry. The geometric and kinematic parameters for EHL simulation are determined according to the differential geometry theory. Numerical solutions to the Newtonian isothermal EHL of a spiral bevel gear pair at the migrated and theoretical contact points are compared to quantify the error involved in neglecting the contact point adjustment. The results show that under heavy-loaded conditions, the actual contact point of the deformed gear pair at a given pinion (gear) roll angle is different from the theoretical contact point considerably, and so do the meshing parameters. EHL analysis of spiral bevel gears under significant load using theoretical meshing parameters will result in obvious errors, especially in the prediction of film thickness.
Highlights
Spiral bevel gears, the most common form of gearing used for transmitting significant power between nonparallel shafts, have the potential to wear, pitting, and scuffing due to lubrication failure. erefore, the lubrication behaviour of these gears has long been the concern of many research studies
Xu and Kahraman [3] predicted the transmission efficiency of hypoid gear pairs, where the friction coefficient is calculated by applying a line contact elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) model which is only reasonable for the theoretical conjugate tooth surfaces
The load sharing among simultaneously engaged tooth pairs was evaluated using the loaded tooth contact analysis (LTCA), and the meshing parameters were calculated at the theoretical contact point (TCP) obtained through tooth contact analysis (TCA) which is, only valid under the no-load and light-loaded conditions
Summary
The most common form of gearing used for transmitting significant power between nonparallel shafts, have the potential to wear, pitting, and scuffing due to lubrication failure. erefore, the lubrication behaviour of these gears has long been the concern of many research studies. The load sharing among simultaneously engaged tooth pairs was evaluated using the loaded tooth contact analysis (LTCA), and the meshing parameters were calculated at the theoretical contact point (TCP) obtained through tooth contact analysis (TCA) which is, only valid under the no-load and light-loaded conditions Many researchers such as Wang [13], Zhou et al [14], and Sun et al [15] have revealed that the contact path (which consists of all contact points over a tooth engagement cycle) of the mating spiral bevel gear pair under loaded condition is different from the theoretical one due to deformation of gear teeth and the body caused by the load. Numerical solutions to the Newtonian isothermal EHL of a Gleason-type spiral bevel gear pair at the loaded and theoretical (unloaded) contact points are obtained and compared to quantify the error involved in neglecting the contact point adjustment due to deformation caused by the load
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