A new electronic gearbox for gear hobbing machines

Abstract

This article presents a new kind of software-defined electronic gearbox for gear hobbing based on a theoretical model of the hobbing process. The electronic gearbox implementation and structure are studied in an embedded numerical control system (numerical control/computer numerical control). Data flow among the electronic gearbox modules is also analyzed in the numerical control system. Special G-codes with parameters are designed, and the electronic gearbox control implemented through numerical control programming is realized in a custom gear hobbing numerical control system. In addition, two different hobbing methods (axial and diagonal) are tested on the computer numerical control platform. Results show that the hobbing computer numerical control with the proposed electronic gearbox functions accurately, and error is measured using tracking errors in different axes and gear pitch error of the machined gear. As will be shown, the gear pitch error was found to be 0.0147 mm for axial hobbing and 0.0176 mm for diagonal hobbing.