The effect of shaft stiffness on the gear vibration.

Abstract

The vibration of a helical gear pair set on rather long shafts which should be regarded as flexible is discussed. The effects of the shaft length, the gear position along the shaft and the tooth stiffness upon gear vibration were investigated experimentally. It was proved that changing the shaft elasticity determines only the resonant frequency, and that the vibration amplitude is dependent upon the vibratory performance of the helical gear pair. Furthermore, the natural frequencies of a gear system are calculated by the use of the transfer matrix method. They are in good agreement with the experimental results. It is also clear that the shaft will be regarded to be rigid when the shaft is at least ten times as stiff as the teeth in mating.