Studies on the Dynamic Performance of a Spur Gear With Hollow Teeth

Abstract

Abstract Performance of spur gears largely depends on the magnitude and nature of variation of dynamic loads occuring between mating teeth. Variable tooth mesh stiffness is one of the primary sources causing parametric excitations resulting in dynamic loads. The usual method of varying the mesh stiffness to reduce dynamic loads is to use high contact ratio and profile modified gears. In this paper, a new type of tooth design to improve the dynamic performance of spur gears is presented. In this, a through hole is drilled in each tooth in a direction parallel to the gear axis. The diameter of the hole and its position on the tooth centre line are variable. Such a gear is called a hollow gear. Dynamic analysis is carried out for the mesh of hollow pinions mating with solid gears. The results are compared with solid pinions (no holes in teeth) meshing with solid gears. Finite element method is used for the analysis. For estimation of the dynamic load variation in hollow-solid and solid-solid gear meshes, a model incorporating the varying mesh stiffness and damping of gear teeth is used. Governing differential equations are solved using unconditionally stable Newmark-beta algorithm. The dynamic loads obtained are used as an input time varying loads for the determination of dynamic fillet and hole stress response of solid and hollow gear teeth whichever is applicable. Modal superposition technique is used for transient response analysis. The study shows that for the same damping ratio, dynamic loads in hollow-solid meshes are nearly the same as in a solid-solid mesh. In reality, the dynamic loads in a hollow-solid mesh are less than a solid-solid mesh due to its inherent higher material damping.