Effects of Surface Engineering on the Efficiency of Involute Helical Gears – An Experimental Investigation

Zhang, J; Shaw, B; Hammer, A; Sewell, I

doi:10.51202/9783181024225-995

Effects of Surface Engineering on the Efficiency of Involute Helical Gears – An Experimental Investigation

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Jishan Zhang, Professor Brian Shaw, Ian Sewell

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Abstract

© 2023 The Authors. Improving gear efficiency, i.e. reducing gear power loss, is extremely important for the reduction in weight and size of the overall mechanical power transmission systems seen in electric vehicle and aviation industries. In this experimental investigation, a mechanical power recirculating back-to-back gear test rig with two identical gearboxes both fitted with casehardened helical gears was used, a new proposal was made on how to calculate gearbox and gear mesh efficiencies based on measured rig power loss. The effect of gear surface engineering on the efficiencies was studied when gears used were surface finished by different methods such as grinding, ISF (isotropic surface finishing) superfinishing, mechanical polishing and mechanical polishing + WC/C coating. Test results showed that mechanical polished + WC/C coated gears were the most efficient; smoothing up gear surfaces could also improve the efficiency for un-coated gears. It was found that the input power of the test rig was linked with the surface condition of meshing gears, if monitored, making it possible to determine how to run-in new gear pairs, as well as to identify if any failure such as scuffing has occurred to gears while running.