Gear backlash refers to the clearance, or play, between the teeth of gears in a mechanical transmission system. Gear designers have strived to minimize gearing systems’ backlash due to the impact on precision, efficiency, noise, vibrations, wear, motion control, system complexity, and safety. Their significance varies depending on the applications, but designers need to carefully consider these factors when developing robotics systems to ensure they meet the desired performance and safety standards.
The performance of an Electric Vehicle Power Unit is directly connected with critical tolerances. Tolerances drive opportunities for performance enhancement with cost reduction. The tests normally used to determine and validate tolerances are both expensive and time consuming with prototype parts. By replacing the initial tests with Digital Twin simulations, results can be obtained quickly, and at a much lower cost. This article discusses one of these tests and the results.Â
A reader asks: We are currently revising our gear standards and tolerances and a few questions with the new standard AGMA 2002-C16 have risen. Firstly,
the way to calculate the tooth thickness tolerance seems to need a "manufacturing profile shift coefficient" that isn't specified in the standard; neither is another standard referred to for this coefficient. This tolerance on tooth thickness is needed later to calculate the span width as well as the pin diameter. Furthermore, there seems to be no tolerancing on the major and minor diameters of a gear.
