Investigation of Tribological-Based Thermal Behaviours of Lubricating Oil of Worm Gearbox: A Review

Abstract

AbstractThis paper presents the importance of the study of the thermal behaviours of lubricant oil of worm gearbox. Worm gearbox due to sliding motion between teeth's of worm and worm wheel causes friction energy loss. The friction energy loss is converted into heat energy and that heat energy is dissipated into lubricating oil of worm gearbox. The performance of lubricating oil is decreasing due to an increase in the temperature which causes decreases in the overall performance of gearbox. When the lubricant oil temperature is the response parameter, then many factors are affecting on that response parameter those are called process parameters. The viscosity of lubricant oil, additives in the oil, load on the worm wheel, the speed of worm, the geometry of gear, the oil level, the clearance, position of the worm, etc., is the process parameters. Selecting some process parameters and response parameters, the thermal behaviour of the lubricant oil of the worm gearbox can be analysed for optimum levels of process parameters. This special test rig of the worm gearbox must be developed based on temperature sensors which gives response parameter readings under different process parameters at their different levels. The results obtained by experimentation can be validated with simulation results. The Taguchi optimization technique can be used for the optimization of experiments. Grey relational analysis (GRA) can be used to determine optimum process parameters. ANOVA analysis can be used to find the relative contribution of process parameters on response parameters.KeywordsTribologyLubricating oilThermal behavioursWorm gearbox