An Investigation of Root Stresses of Hypoid Gears with Misalignments

Abstract

In this study, the impact of misalignments on root stresses of hypoid gear sets is investigated experimentally and theoretically. An experimental set-up designed to allow operation of a hypoid gear pair under loaded quasi-static conditions with various types of tightly controlled misalignments is introduced. These misalignments include the position errors (V and H) of the pinion along the vertical and horizontal directions, the position error (G) of the gear along its axis, and the angle error (γ) between the two gear axes. For example, face-hobbed hypoid gear pair from an automotive axle application is instrumented via a set of strain gauges positioned at the roots along the faces of multiple teeth to measure root strains within a range of input torque. These root strain measurements at different V, H, G, and γ values are presented. A computational model is also proposed to predict the root stresses of face-milled and face-hobbed hypoid gear pairs under various loading and misalignment conditions. The model employs an automated finite elements mesh generator based on a predefined template for a general and computationally efficient treatment of the problem. Model predictions are compared to measurements at the end to assess the accuracy of the model and describe the measured sensitivities.