Stress Analysis of Spherical Gear Sets

The spherical gear is a new type of gear proposed by Mitome et al. [1]. Different from that of the conventional spur or helical gear sets, the spherical gear set can allow variable shaft angles and large axial misalignments without gear interference during the gear drive meshing [1, 2]. Geometrically, the spherical gear has two types of gear tooth profiles, the concave tooth and convex tooth. In practical transmission applications, the contact situation of a spherical gear set is very complex. To obtain a more realistic simulation result, the loaded tooth contact analysis (LTCA) has been performed by employing the finite element method (FEM). According to the derived mathematical model of spherical gear tooth surfaces, an automatic meshes generation program for three-dimensional spherical gears has been developed. Beside, tooth contact analysis (TCA) of spherical gears has been performed to simulate the contact points of the spherical gear set. Furthermore, the contact stress contours of spherical gear tooth surfaces and bending stress of tooth roots have been investigated by giving the design parameters, material properties, loadings and boundary conditions of spherical gears.