Design of a Noncircular Planetary Gear Mechanism for Hydraulic Motor

Abstract

Given the design difficulty and poor accuracy of tooth profile of noncircular gear used in noncircular gear hydraulic motor, it is proposed to reduce the design difficulty and improve the design accuracy by using arc-shaped pitch curve instead of noncircular pitch curve with continuously varying curvature. Based on the geometric relationship and transmission relationship of the noncircular planetary gear mechanism, a nonlinear programming model is constructed for the circular arc-shaped pitch curve. By solving the nonlinear programming model, a noncircular planetary gear mechanism with a modulus of m = 1.5 is designed. The noncircular gear mechanism with the arc-shaped pitch curve was machined and installed in a hydraulic motor, and an efficiency comparison experiment was conducted with a high-order elliptical noncircular gear mechanism with a continuously varying curvature. The experiment shows that the efficiency of the two noncircular gear mechanisms is basically the same, and the best speed range is 100–400 rpm. The noncircular planetary gear mechanism with an arc-shaped pitch curve designed in this paper has reasonable structure, correct transmission relationship, and simple design method, which shows that the design method proposed in this paper has a good engineering application value.