The research presented here is part of an ongoing (six years to date) project of the Cluster of Excellence (CoE). CoE is a faculty-wide group of researchers from RWTH Aachen University in Aachen (North Rhine-Westphalia). This presentation is a result of the group’s examination of "integrative production technology for high-wage countries," in which a shaft for a dual-clutch gearbox is developed.

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 quality of gearing is a function of many factors ranging from design, manufacturing processes, machine capability, gear steel material, the machine operator, and the quality control methods employed. This article discusses many of the bevel gear manufacturing problems encountered by gear manufacturers and some of the troubleshooting techniques used.