The Power Loss and Efficiency Analysis of a 3DOFs Planetary Gear Box

Abstract

The power loss and efficiency model of a planetary gear transmission system was built with a system modeling method. The method takes many transmission elements such as gear, planetary gear sets, hydraulic torque converter, friction disk, lubrication, sealing, bump and motor etc. into consideration and calculates non-load and load power loss for each element. The overall calculated power loss and efficiency is more accurate than the meshing power method. To make simulation more reliable it is compared with the test data. In the paper some planetary gearbox is selected and its power loss and efficiency were measured from the experiment. The power loss and efficiency of each gear of the planetary gearbox are compared and verified and corresponds well with the test data. The power loss error drop from 10% to 5% with the system method compared with meshing power method. It shows that the system method for power loss and efficiency analysis is more reliable. It provides important basis for engineers to improve design and reduces the power losses. It provides solutions to increase the planetary gear transmission efficiency and finally makes the whole vehicle lighter and the power density higher than before.