Tooth flank corrections of wide face width helical gears that account for shaft deflections

The tooth flank correction of power transmission helical gears with wide face width is studied by using a finite element based shaft deflection analysis program in conjunction with a numerical load distribution analysis procedure. The load distributions along the line of action, the elastic deflections and transmission errors of gear pairs are obtained by solving the equations of compatibility of displacement and equilibrium of forces. This paper discusses the influences of tooth flank corrections (tip relief, root relief, lead modification, end relief and their combinations) on gear stresses and transmission errors due to shaft deflections. The technique used in the paper has the capability of modeling all significant geometric and elastic contributions due to tooth contact of the pair being analyzed as well as other gears mounted on the same shafts. The results show that it is possible to optimize at the design stage the gear micro-geometry for minimum stresses and transmission errors without changing the gear macro-geometry.