Load share model based gear loss factor prediction in high contact ratio spur gear drive

Abstract

Gear loss factor is considered to be a crucial parameter, and is governed by factors like contact load, sliding velocity, contact ratio, etc. Sliding power loss is a function of the gear loss factor and friction coefficient. It depends on the contact tooth load and its contact surfaces. A small decline in the gear loss factor and variation in the friction coefficient reduces the energy consumption which improves gear efficiency significantly. Hence, accurate prediction of the gear loss factor is important. This paper deliberates on measuring the contact load of High Contact Ratio (HCR) non-standard gear drive, using the finite element contact model. The input for the gear loss factor is obtained from a 2D elastic contact model using ANSYS. In the previous works the load is considered as a rigid hypothetical element, but in the real case it is varying at each instantaneous contact point. To address this, a more accurate method of predicting the power loss using the contact load share model is proposed. The effectiveness of this technique, built on the computational data and its accuracy are examined. Based on the accuracy, the load share model was suggested to be the most effective one compared to other techniques. The results show that the proposed model provides an effective tool for making reliability assessments on power loss and efficiency of high contact ratio gear drives under diverse operating conditions.