Ground bevel and hypoid gears have a designed motion error that defines parts of their NVH behavior. The surface structure is defined by the hard finishing process.

A reader wants to know: Are profile ground and hobbed globoidal worm sets better than multi-axis CNC generated globoidal worm gear sets for reduction of noise and vibration?

In the design process of transmissions, one major criterion is the resulting noise emission of the powertrain due to gear excitation. Within the past years, much investigation has shown that the noise emission can be attributed to quasi-static transmission error. Therefore, the transmission error can be used for a tooth contact analysis in the design process, as well as a characteristic value for quality assurance by experimental inspections.

With the ongoing push towards electric vehicles (EVs), there is likely to be increasing focus on the noise impact of the gearing required for the transmission of power from the (high-speed) electric motor to the road. Understanding automotive noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) and methodologies for total in-vehicle noise presupposes relatively large, internal combustion (IC) contributions, compared to gear noise. Further, it may be advantageous to run the electric motors at significantly higher rotational speed than conventional automotive IC engines, sending geartrains into yet higher speed ranges. Thus the move to EV or hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) places greater or different demands on geartrain noise. This work combines both a traditional NVH approach (in-vehicle and rig noise, waterfall plots, Campbell diagrams and Fourier analysis) - with highly detailed transmission error measurement and simulation of the complete drivetrain - to fully understand noise sources within an EV hub drive. A detailed methodology is presented, combining both a full series of tests and advanced simulation to troubleshoot and optimize an EV hub drive for noise reduction.

Due to increasing requirements regarding the vibrational behavior of automotive transmissions, it is necessary to develop reliable methods for noise evaluation and design optimization. Continuous research led to the development of an elaborate method for gear noise evaluation. The presented methodology enables the gear engineer to optimize the microgeometry with respect to robust manufacturing.

A transverse-torsional dynamic model of a spur gear pair is employed to investigate the influence of gear tooth indexing errors on the dynamic response. With measured long-period quasi-static transmission error time traces as the primary excitation, the model predicts frequency-domain dynamic mesh force and dynamic transmission error spectra. The dynamic responses due to both deterministic and random tooth indexing errors are predicted.

The question is quite broad, as there are different methods for setting various types of gears and complexity of gear assemblies, but all gears have a few things in common.

If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration. — Nikola Tesla

NVH — noise, vibration and harshness — is a key issue in the design and development of modern transmission and driveline systems.

At Muncie Power, the objective of noise and vibration testing is to develop effective ways to eliminate power take-off (PTO) gear rattle, with specific emphasis on PTO products. The type of sound of largest concern in this industry is tonal.