Pitch Configurations: Definitions, Analytical and Computer Synthesis

Abstract

The synthesis and the design of spatial gears with crossed axes are based on solving of two problems: synthesis of the pitch surfaces and synthesis of the active tooth surfaces. The solution of the problem for synthesis of the pitch surfaces with different form and geometry serves the design of the gears blanks, as well as the calculation of the active tooth surfaces of the gears teeth. The usage of the pitch circles as an alternative of the pitch surfaces makes the process of the synthesis and the design of the hyperboloid gears more clearly from a geometric viewpoint. It is highly important when designing hyperboloid gears with non-orthogonal crossed axes and internally mating gears. Thus, the introduction of the pitch circles helps creating innovative kinds of spatial gears with crossed axes. The examined pitch configurations, synthesized by a computer, define the basic geometric characteristics of the gears with crossed axes of rotation. In the most common case, the pitch configurations do not coincide with elements of the axodes of this class of gear mechanisms, the axodes being hyperboloids of revolution.