Dontyne software and consultancy services are aimed at the efficient design and manufacture of geared systems and their use in the transmission industry. In the five years since formation the company has enjoyed rapid growth with nearly 100 customers in 15 countries. The main markets are U.K., Europe, United States and Japan. The customer base is broad covering automotive and motor sport, marine, mining and military applications. The support is from main offices in U.K. and Australia, with various sales and technical support around the world. India represents a new and exciting market and there is already suitable support in place. The company has enjoyed success due to the rapid development time enabled by the software products. Together with the modular construction it is versatile enough to be utilized by companies with existing design tools or in-house development. Dontyne offers training on gear design theory as well as bespoke work, including integration to in-house software.

The Gear Production Suite is a collection of software tools which form a powerful product development system with common access from different departments (design, manufacture, inspection) on one or multiple sites for efficient management of project data. Tools can be used to carry out design and manufacture optimization, gear inspection, failure analysis or product development. Improved communication enables rapid analysis and reduced lead times resulting in considerable efficiency savings and better quality control.

"We have had a really good year extending our customer base greatly worldwide," says Dontyne's Mike Fish. "We have recently moved into new offices in Newcastle city center to support the growth. Following the success of the Gear Expo in Cincinnati it was very opportune to be able to follow it with an exhibition like IPTEX 2012 so soon after. The feedback from the visitors to the stand was that the easy-to-use GUI and low cost made our software very desirable. The reduced time to develop and optimize design for performance was especially noticed by the attendees.

Of special note though were the machine simulations and links to metrology equipment. This is of particular interest to those involved in manufacture, and this is why we are confident that many companies in India will be able to utilize our software to great effect. We produce machine simulation of spur and helical manufacture, whether by hob, grind (and dressing), shaped, shaved, wire erosion or injection mold. We also look at worm gear manufacture thread grinding and hobbing of the wheel."

Additionally, Dontyne is developing techniques to look at bevel manufacture as bevel gears will be new for the 5.0 version in February. "The ‘Connections' functionality has been extended from just spline to offer shaft and bearing design tools. Following the implementation of Micropitting ISO TR 15144 Method A and B for Release 4.6 in October, we have implemented a technique for the new release developed by Dave Barnett to predict the behavior of micropitting erosion well beyond the period defined in the ISO. This is linked to our tooth contact analysis model such that the long term effects on operating characteristics can be properly assessed."