Coupled Tooth Contact Analysis of Intersected Beveloid Gears for Marine Transmissions

Beveloid gears are widely applied in fields like ships, automobiles and industrial precision transmissions. In this paper, the formulas of the beveloid gear tooth surface used in marine transmissions were derived and a mesh model for the intersected beveloid gear pair was setup. Then loaded tooth contact analysis was performed using the finite element method considering the coupling of the assembly errors and the elastic deformation of tooth surface. Through the analysis, the influences of assembly errors on contact patterns, mesh force and tooth surface deformations were investigated. In a further step, the tooth profile modifications were performed to alleviate the edge contact and a subsequent major improvement of the mesh condition was obtained. Finally, loaded tooth contact experiments for marine gearboxes with small shaft angle were conducted. The tested results showed good correlation with the computed results. This work may provide some value for the practical design aiming at improved contact characteristics of the beveloid gears with intersected axes.