Improved method for analyzing automotive transmission parts (shaft/gear) manufactured using the warm shrink fitting process

Abstract

There are three sub-processes associated with the assembly of an automobile transmission: heat fitting, shrink fitting, and combination fitting. In the heat fitting stage, the gear is heated to a specified temperature and then squeezed towards the outer diameter of the shaft. The stress of the heat-fitted gear depends on the yield strength of the gear. In the shrink fitting process, the gear is typically squeezed towards the shaft at room temperature using a press. An alternate method, known as warm shrink fitting, heats the already warm gear and safely squeezes it toward the shaft. The warm shrink fitting process for automobile transmission parts is becoming more commonplace, but the additional heating can cause the dimensions of the assembled parts (shaft/gear) to change with respect to both the outer diameter and the profile of the gear. As a result, there may be additional noise and vibration between gears. To address these problems, we analyzed the warm shrink fitting process using the contact pressure caused by fitting interference between the outer diameter of the shaft and the inner diameter of the gear, fitting temperature, and the profile tolerance of the gear as design parameters. In this study, a closed form equation for predicting the contact pressure and fitting load is proposed. This equation is used to develop an optimization technique for the warm shrink fitting process. The reliability of the model was verified using experimental results measured in the field, and FEM with thermal-structural coupled field analysis. Actual loads measured in the field showed good agreement with the results obtained by theoretical and finite element analysis, and expansion of the outer diameters of the gears agreed well with the results.