Our question this issue deals with high-ratio hypoid gears, and it should be noted here that this is a tricky area of gearing with a dearth of literature on the topic. That being the case, finding “experts” willing to stick their necks out and take on the subject was not a given.
In today’s manufacturing environment, shorter and more efficient product
development has become the norm. It is therefore important to consider every
detail of the development process, with a particular emphasis on design. For
green machining of gears, the most productive and important process is hobbing. In order to analyze process design for this paper, a manufacturing simulation was developed capable of calculating chip geometries and process forces based on different models. As an important tool for manufacturing technology engineers, an economic feasibility analysis is implemented as well. The aim of this paper is to show how an efficient process design—as well as an efficient process—can be designed.
The first edition of the international calculation method for micropitting—ISO TR 15144–1:2010—was just published
last December. It is the first and only official, international calculation method established for dealing with
micropitting. Years ago, AGMA published a method for the calculation of oil film thickness containing some comments
about micropitting, and the German FVA published a calculation method based on intensive research results. The FVA and the AGMA methods are close to the ISO TR, but the calculation of micropitting safety factors is new.
After a period of operation, high-speed turbo gears may exhibit a change in longitudinal tooth contact pattern, reducing full face width contact and thereby increasing risk of tooth distress due to the decreased loaded area of the teeth. But this can be tricky—the phenomenon may or may not occur. Or, in some units the shift is more severe than others, with documented cases in which shifting occurred after as little as 16,000 hours of operation. In other cases, there is no evidence of any change for units in operation for more than 170,000 hours. This condition exists primarily in helical gears. All recorded observations here have been with case-carburized and ground gear sets. This presentation describes phenomena observed in a limited sampling of the countless high-speed gear units in field operation. While the authors found no existing literature describing this behavior, further investigation suggests a possible cause. Left unchecked and without corrective action, this occurrence may result in tooth breakage.
Faithful Addendum readers are accustomed to finding upbeat, whimsical and oddball stories about gears in this
space. What follows is not about gears, exactly. Rather, it is, as opposed to the usual bleak news about America losing its manufacturing mojo—a look at a positive, hopeful development in that regard.
Induction hardening is widely used in both the automotive and aerospace gear industries to minimize heat treat distortion and obtain favorable compressive residual stresses for improved fatigue performance. The heating process during induction hardening has a significant effect on the quality of the heat-treated parts. However, the quenching process often receives less attention even though it is equally important.
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.