On grinding manufacture technique and tooth contact and stress analysis of ring-involute spherical gears

Abstract

The spherical gear is a new gear-driven mechanism with two degrees of freedom (DOF), which can transfer spatial motion and power. A grinding machine is designed for manufacturing spherical gear with a plate grinding wheel by using generating method. Based on the mathematical models of spherical gears, the tooth contact analysis (TCA) of spherical gear pairs is performed, and the contact point paths on tooth surfaces of spherical gears are investigated. Finally, the tooth contact and bending stress analysis are simulated using Finite element method (FEM).