The load capacity of worm gears is mainly influenced by the size and the position of the contact pattern.

Transmission errors, axial shuttling forces and friction result in bearing forces that serve as the major excitations of gear noise. This paper will use these factors as well as gear stresses and tribological factors to assist in obtaining optimal gear designs.

This paper reviews the necessity for detailed specification, design and manufacture to achieve required performance in service. The precise definition of duty rating and a thorough understanding of the environmental conditions, whether it is in a marine or industrial application, is required to predict reliable performance of a gearbox through its service life. A case study relating to complex marine gears and other general practice is presented to review the techniques used by Allen Gears to design and develop a gearbox that integrates with the requirements of the whole machinery installation. Allen Gears has considerable experience in the design of a variety of industrial and marine gears(Ref. 1,2).

The effort described in this paper addresses a desire in the gear industry to increase power densities and reduce costs of geared transmissions. To achieve these objectives, new materials and manufacturing processes, utilized in the fabrication of gears, and being evaluated. In this effort, the first priority is to compare the performance of gears fabricated using current materials and processes. However, once that priority is satisfied, it rapidly transforms to requiring accurate design data to utilize these novel materials and processes. This paper describes the effort to address one aspect of this design data requirement.

The need for improved power transmissions that use gears and gearboxes with smaller overall dimensions and with lower noise generation has left manufacturing engineers searching for different methods of gear processing. This search has led to the requirement of hardened gears.

The selection of the proper steel for a given gear application is dependent on many factors. This paper discusses the many aspects related to material, design, manufacture, and application variables. The results of several studies on the optimization of alloy design for gas- and plasma- carburization processing and reviewed.

Using the DANTE software, a finite element simulation was developed and executed to study the response of a carburized 5120 steel helical gear to quenching in molten salt. The computer simulation included heat-up, carburization, transfer and immersion in a molten salt bath, quenching, and air cooling. The results of the simulation included carbon distribution of phases, dimensional change, hardness, and residual stress throughout the process. The predicted results were compared against measured results for hardness, dimensions and residual stress. The excellent agreement between predictions and measured values for this carburized 5120 steel gear provides a basis for assessing the various process parameters and their respective importance in the characteristics of not only these heat-treated parts, but of other compositions and shapes.

Modern gear design is generally based on standard tools. This makes gear design quite simple (almost like selecting fasteners), economical, and available for everyone, reducing tooling expenses and inventory. At the same time, it is well known that universal standard tools provide gears with less than optimum performance and - in some cases - do not allow for finding acceptable gear solutions. Application specifies, including low noise and vibration, high density of power transmission (lighter weight, smaller size) and others, require gears with nonstandard parameters. That's why, for example, aviation gear transmissions use tool profiles with custom proportions, such as pressure angle, addendum, and whole depth. The following considerations make application of nonstandard gears suitable and cost-efficient:

Gear pitting is one of the primary failure modes of automotive transmission gear sets. Over the past years, many alternatives have been intended to improve their gear surface durability. However, due to the nature of new process development, it takes a length of time and joint efforts between the development team and suppliers to investigate and verify each new approach.

There are numerous engineering evaluations required to design gear sets for optimum performance with regard to torque capacity, noise, size and cost. How much cost savings and added gear performance is available through optimization? Cost savings of 10% to 30% and 100% added capacity are not unusual. The contrast is more pronounced if the original design was prone to failure and not fit for function.