Investigation on the semi-conjugate tooth model and disc milling process of logarithmic spiral bevel gears of pure-rolling contact

摘要

Conventional logarithmic spiral bevel gears (LSBGs) introduce full-conjugate surfaces (line contact) to generate teeth of the pinion and the gear. However, in general, these full-conjugate surfaces are constructed by spherical involute curves and it is difficult to manufacture these surfaces. Therefore, this article tries to use semi-conjugate surfaces (point contact) as the tooth profiles to make they can be manufactured by the disc milling process and of pure-rolling contact. The design method, manufacture kinematics and stress distribution situations of the LSBGs with semi-conjugate surfaces are investigated. Conjugate surface theory and spatial conjugate curve meshing theory are both introduced to complete the analytical arguments. Finite element analysis (FEA) is introduced to evaluate the contact mechanical characteristics of the LSBGs under loads. From the analytical and simulated results, it is concluded that, through the disc milling process, the LSBGs of continuous pure-rolling contact can be manufactured and mesh correctly. Besides, the manufactured LSBGs maintain pure-rolling contact approximately when they are under loads.