Failure analysis of performance vehicle mechanical gear

Antonios D Tsolakis,Konstantinos I Giannakopoulos,Andreas S Gkertsos,S Pantelakis,S Koubias

doi:10.1051/matecconf/201818804019

Antonios D Tsolakis, Konstantinos I Giannakopoulos + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201818804019

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Abstract

Gears are the main machine element in vehicle power transmission trains. In commercial vehicles, power transmission trains design complexity consists of the determination of the loading parameters which depends upon the working environment of the performance vehicle. In the present work a gear failure under dynamic loading is investigated. The failed gear is part of a 2 speed gearbox of a Rotax DD2 2-stroke Open- Wheel performance vehicle (go-cart type). The gearbox was in racing conditions when failure occurred. The vehicle was speeding in 2nd Gear at wide open throttle when instantaneously the driver by fault downshifted to 1st gear. The result was for the first gears break a whole piece and eventually the system to go out of operation. Chemical composition of the examined metallic components was determined via EDAX chemical analysis.

Highlights

Gear is one of the most fundamental structural component when it comes to motion or power transmission
In order to transmit power or motion, from one specific point in a mechanical system, to another one, a number of gears can be used in such configuration that the desired output is achieved
Based on the power needed in the output of a mechanical system, multiple gears are used in order to multiply or reduce the specific characteristics of input element

Summary

Introduction

Gear is one of the most fundamental structural component when it comes to motion or power transmission. In order to transmit power or motion, from one specific point in a mechanical system, to another one, a number of gears can be used in such configuration that the desired output is achieved. Based on the power needed in the output of a mechanical system, multiple gears are used in order to multiply or reduce the specific characteristics of input element (torque, RPM etc.). Transmission units are mechanical systems, composed by multiple gears, that provide a torque increase and RPM decrease in order to carry out tasks that require more torque that the output of the motor used. Fatigue failure [1,2,3,4] is one of the most common failure modes It occurs when a gear is subjected to dynamic loads that do not exceed the maximum allowed force that the component can handle. The mechanical structure gets weaker and eventually fails to support the load any further

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