The Power of Standards

Where would your business be without standards? Can you imagine if every gear manufacturer used different inspection and rating criteria? Or if you had to re-learn new gear nomenclature for each manufacturer you talked to? Standards are the documented set of generally accepted rules, guidelines, and requirements within an industry. They are based on proven and verified practices and provide a common language for an industry. AGMA has standards covering all aspects of gearing, from design, to inspection, to materials, to assembly, and to specialized applications such as wind or aerospace industries.

Seeking Standards Experts

AGMA wants you to be involved in gear standards development. Committee meetings are a great place to network and collaborate with experts in the field, broaden your knowledge, capture technical expertise in writing, refine the standards you use, and see how your influence helps shape best practices throughout America and around the world. We are especially looking for experts to join four new standardization projects.

Two Newly Revised AGMA Standards

AGMA is pleased to announce the publication of two new revisions: ANSI/AGMA 2116-B24, Evaluation of Double Flank Testers for Radial Composite Measurement of Gears, written by the AGMA Gear Accuracy Committee, and ANSI/AGMA 6008-B24, Specifications for Powder Metallurgy Gears written by the AGMA Powder Metallurgy Committee.

Town Hall: Is It EV-Standards Time?

For 107 years, AGMA has been the go-to place for gear standards. We have been bringing together engineers and leaders from across our industry to keep our standards updated and in line with new technologies. We started with noise issues on electric street cars in the early 1900s, and today we lead the global ISO TC 60 committee on standards including wind-turbine gear-box development. As new technologies and gear applications emerged, AGMA has gathered experts to discuss, brainstorm, share, and collaborate on the topics of the day such as plastic gears, epicyclic gears, marine gears, wind turbine gearboxes, and, of course, gear sets for internal combustion vehicles. We have also kept updated standards on gear accuracy, materials, and lubrication. This work has led to standards that reduce costs, improve quality, and make safer products for manufacturers and consumers worldwide.

ABMA Update

The individual components that go into a power transmission system such as gears, bearings, shafts, seals, fasteners, housings, or lubricant, all affect one another. A small tweak to the design of one may require a cascade of other design changes throughout the system. Because of this, the gear engineer should have some knowledge of the design of components besides gears. To that point, for this month’s article, I’m taking a sidestep from writing about gears to give an update on bearings; components found in nearly every power transmission system.

Two New AGMA Publications

AGMA is pleased to announce the publication of two new documents: ANSI/AGMA 1012-H23, Gear Nomenclature, Definition of Terms with Symbols, written by the AGMA Nomenclature Committee, and AGMA 947-A23, Gear Reducers—Thermal Capacity written by the AGMA Enclosed Drives for Industrial Applications Committee.

AI and Industry Standards: Evolution or Revolution?

I’ve been seeing a lot of hype surrounding OpenAI’s artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT-4 recently. Including acing standardized tests and writing college term papers in seconds. Each time I read about it, I wonder how it, or a future generation of artificial intelligence (AI), will be used in companies and particularly in my job. To answer my question there’s no better place to go than to ask ChatGPT-4 itself.

Fail Better

This month's issue of Gear Technology covers a subject engineers love to learn about from others but hate to learn about through firsthand experience: gear failure. In a broad sense, all engineering is concerned with failure. Eventually, all parts fail, so engineers need to determine the limits of their design and ensure that it will meet the requirements of the particular application.

2022 AGMA Technical Committee Activity

Thanks to our many hardworking volunteer committee members, 2022 was a productive year for the AGMA Technical Division with the publication of two new and three revised information sheets. Looking ahead to 2023, many AGMA technical committees plan to meet face to face for the first time since 2019, and they will continue work on ten projects.

Three New AGMA Publications

AGMA is pleased to announce the publication of three new documents: AGMA 923-C22, Metallurgical Specifications for Steel and Cast Iron Gearing, written by the AGMA Metallurgy and Materials Committee, AGMA 929-B22, Calculation of Bevel Gear Top Land, Slot Widths and Cutter Edge Radii, written by the AGMA Bevel Gearing Committee, and AGMA 955-A22, Guidance for Industrial Gear Lubrication written by the AGMA Lubrication Committee.

Seeking Metallurgy and Heat-Treating Experts

The AGMA Aerospace Gearing committee is seeking new committee members to revise AGMA 926-C99, Recommended Practice for Carburized Aerospace Gearing. Specifically, metallurgy and heat-treating experts are needed. This information sheet recommends material case properties, microstructure, processing procedures, and other critical parameters for carburized aerospace gears. Due to the unique requirements of aerospace gearing, such as typically smaller lot sizes, demands for higher precision, and stringent quality requirements, this information sheet aims to provide deeper, aerospace-specific information than other already published metallurgical specifications such as AGMA 923, Metallurgical Specifications for Steel Gearing or AMS2759/7, Carburizing and Heat Treatment of Carburizing Grade Steel Parts.

First Gear: The Roots of the Fall Technical Meeting

A brief history of AGMA's Fall Technical Meeting, along with a discussion of why this year's meeting (Oct 17-19 in Chicago) is as relevant as ever.

Origin Story: How Standards Start

Where would your business be without standards? Can you imagine if every gear manufacturer used different inspection and rating criteria? Or if you had to re-learn new gear nomenclature for each supplier and customer you talked to? Your costs and lead times would skyrocket whereas your quality and safety would plummet. Standards are the documented set of generally accepted practices, rules, guidelines, and requirements within an industry. They are meant to streamline the process, minimize overall cost and waste while improving quality, reliability, and overall customer satisfaction and fiscal health.  

WE WANT YOU!

AGMA wants you to be involved in gear standards development. The creation of standards helps drive innovation and increase the market value of gear design and manufacturing—it also promotes international trade and commerce, which in turn fuels more innovation. The AGMA Gear Accuracy committee is in the early planning stages for a comprehensive review, and possible revision, of the standard ANSI/AGMA 2116, Evaluation of Double Flank Testers for Radial Composite Measurement of Gears, and we need your input. Committee meetings are a great place to network and collaborate with experts in the field, broaden your knowledge, capture technical expertise in writing, refine the standards you use and see how your influence helps shape best practices throughout America and around the world.

Two New AGMA Publications

AGMA is happy to announce the publication of two new documents: AGMA 925-B22, Effect of Tribology and Lubrication on Gear Surface Distress, written by a subcommittee of the AGMA Helical Gear Rating Committee, and, AGMA 943-A22, Tolerances for Spur and Helical Racks, written by the AGMA Gear Accuracy Committee.

High-Speed Invitation