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Design of New Cost Reduced Gearbox
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LRT is a Gearbox Specialist, Mechanical Engineer, Product Design Engineer, Gears and Power Transmissions Design and Development Consultant, Gearbox Technology Consultant with world-class expertise in gearbox technology, design and development of gears and power transmissions.
Speak to this experienced, world-class expert now.
- Call (317) 735-4852
- E-mail lrt@rapid-response-consulting.com
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During the employment in an automotive company this engineer was asked to reduce the cost of the existing gearbox. The gear drive consisted of a metal worm driving a metal gear.
The most expensive part in this gearbox was the metal gear due to the high cost of the manufacturing process. It was decided to replace the metal gear with a plastic gear. The gear cutting process would be replaced by injection molding.
The lower strength of the selected plastic material compared with steel was offset by a tooth modification, The tooth thickness to tooth space ratio was changed from 50:50 to 65:35, meaning the tooth thickness of the plastic gear was increased and the one of the steel worm was decreased.
The pressure angle was also changed from 20° to 15° to minimize the separating forces between the worm and the gear.
Delrin, an Acetal resin, was selected for the gear due to excellent fatigue properties combined with a high yield strength compared to other plastic materials.
A prototype mold was made for the gear. The prototype worm was machined.
The roll-forming process was selected for the worm as the production process. The initial tooling cost for rolled worms is much higher than for machined worms, but this is offset by the production cycle time which is about three to six times faster than that of machining.
The next challenge was to find the correct lubricant for this application. The mechanism had to operate in a temperature range from -40°C to +85°C. The lubricant needed sufficient film strength at the high temperature to adequately prevent wear, but at the same time it still had to be fluent enough at the low temperature.
After several failed life cycle tests with different greases, mostly at -40°C, a lithium soap based synthetic grease with PTFE additives for friction reduction was selected. The gearbox now met all the required specifications and production tooling was released.
Due to the large production volume of this gearbox the company benefited from significant cost savings.
Read other articles by this KKAI Associate:
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| Gearbox Specialist, Mechanical Engineer, Product Design Engineer, Gears and Power Transmissions Design and Development Consultant, Gearbox Technology Consultant, gearbox technology, design and development of gears and power transmissions. | |
| Resume of RBE | gearbox design, structural dynamics, expert consultant |
| Resume of JAM | gear, materials, mechanical expert consultant |
| Resume of HBU | industrial lubricant, tribology expert consultant |
| Resume of JOP | bearings expert consultant |
| Resume of GLN | acoustics, vibration, vehicle dynamics, expert consultant |
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Rapid Response Engineering® Solutions
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