The Bearing Friction of Compound Planetary Gears in the Early Stage Design for Cost Saving and Efficiency

Abstract

The efficiency of planetary gearboxes mainly depends on the toothand bearing friction losses. This work shows the new mathematical model and the results of the calculations to compare the tooth and the bearing friction losses in order to determine the efficiency of different types of planetary gears and evaluate the influence of the construction on the bearing friction losses and through it on the efficiency of planetary gears. In order to economy of energy transportation it is very important to find the best gearbox construction for a given application and to reach the highest efficiency. In transmission system of gas turbine powered ships, power stations, wind turbines or other large machines in industry heavy-duty gearboxes are used with high gear ratio, efficiency of which is one of the most important issues. During the design of such equipment the main goal is to find the best constructions fitting to the requirements of the given application and to reduce the friction losses generated in the gearboxes. These heavy-duty tooth gearboxes are often planetary gears being able to meet the following requirements declared against the drive systems: • High specific load carrying capacity • High gear ratio • Small size • Small mass/power ratio in some application • High efficiency. There are some types of planetary gears which ensure high gear ratio, while their power flow is unbeneficial, because a large part of the rolling power (the idle power) circulate inside the planetary gearbox decreasing the efficiency. In the simple planetary gears there is no idle power circulation. Therefore heavy-duty planetary drives are set together of simple planetary gears in order to transmit megawatts or even more power, while they must be compact and efficient.