Thermo-mechanical characteristics of high-speed and heavy-load modified gears with elasto-hydrodynamic contacts

The thermo-mechanical characteristics of high-speed and heavy-load modified gears in non-Newtonian transient micro thermo-elasto-hydrodynamic contacts are investigated. The synthetic stiffness model is developed from the stiffness of both the oil film and gear pair. Scuffing prediction and mesh efficiency are determined by the total contact temperature and frictional loss ratio respectively. By utilizing the verified numerical procedure, effects of geometric parameters on aforementioned thermo-mechanical characteristics are discussed. The results show that crown modification and the increase of tooth number, module, and pressure angle contribute to vibration and impact reduction of gear drive. Larger tooth number and module are beneficial to scuffing resistance and efficiency improvement. It indicates that gear system can achieve high-performance transmission by rationally matching geometric parameters.