Mario Sosa

Effect of assembly errors in back-to-back gear efficiency testing

As gear efficiency is improved in small steps, it is important to be able to distinguish actual improvements from scatter that can occur while testing. An FZG back-to-back gear test rig was used to ...

Efficiency and temperature of spur gears using spray lubrication compared to dip lubrication

Increased machine efficiency is a requirement in today’s world and geared transmissions are no exception. A back-to-back gear test rig was used to compare dip lubrication with spray lubrication regarding gearbox efficiency, mesh efficiency, gear temperature and surface roughness. Gears lubricated at the inlet of the mesh show a lower measured temperature when compared to spray lubrication at the outlet of the mesh. Spray lubrication, when compared to dip lubrication, yields the same efficiency for both rotating directions at the tested speeds of 0.5 to 20 m/s. Spray lubrication shows a significantly higher total gearbox efficiency at higher speeds, higher measured tooth temperature and no measurable change in surface roughness.

The effect of elasticity in powder metal gears on tooth loading and mean coefficient of friction

Powder metal gears have a lower density than conventional steel gears due to their intrinsic porosity from the manufacturing process. This also results in a lower elasticity leading to larger deformations and lower contact pressure in a gear contact. By using different modelling tools (namely FEA and available commercial software), the load behavior along the line of action is studied to compare the influence of lower elasticity with standard wrought steel elasticity for FZG-C type gears. A further step is taken analyzing this effect on the mean coefficient of friction through the recalculation of the gear mesh power loss factor. Conclusions observed are differences in load distribution and marginal differences in the gear mesh power loss factor when comparing sintered and wrought steel FZG-C type gears. Sintered steel showed a marginally longer line of action and simultaneously a decrease of the single tooth contact length when compared to wrought steel, while differences in the gear mesh power loss factor proved non-essential due to the spread in previously measured experimental data.