A Numerical Gear Rolling Test Method for Face-Hobbed Hypoid Gears

Abstract

A numerical gear rolling test (NGRT) method for actual tooth surfaces was proposed. The non-uniform rational B-spline (NURBS) fitting method was adapted to reconstruct the actual tooth surface, and the instant meshing point as well as the transmission error of two meshing gears were solved. The instant contact ellipse boundary of each meshing point can be accurately searched, and then the contact pattern formed by a series of contact ellipses on the actual tooth surface can be obtained. Finally, the rolling test experiment for a pair of hypoid gears was conducted to verify the feasibility of the proposed method. The result shows that the contact pattern obtained is consistent with the actual rolling test result, the relative errors of the transmission error amplitudes were only 4.5% and 5.3% for the drive and coast sides, respectively, and the contact ellipse of the actual tooth surface is not necessarily a standard ellipse and the instant contact path is not necessarily a straight line. This NGRT method helps to reduce equipment and time costs in closed-loop gear manufacturing, which is of great significance for mass production.