Characteristics of a New Type of Cylindrical Worm-Gear Drive

Abstract

A new type of cylindrical worm-gear drive is presented. The worm is ground by a grinding wheel whose profile consists of two circular arcs, and the obtained worm profile is concave. The teeth of the gear are processed by a hob whose generator surface is identical to the worm surface. The aim of this paper is to introduce this new type of worm gearing and to compare the operating characteristics of the new type and of the commonly used worm-gear drives on the basis of tooth contact analysis, load distribution calculation, and thermal elastohydrodynamic lubrication analyses. The results obtained show the advantages of the new type of worm gear. The results of the load distribution calculation and EHD lubrication analysis are also used for the optimization of the design parameters of the new type of worm-gear drive.