Tooth Flank Optimization Design of Hypoid Gear with Low Installation Error Sensitivity

Regarding problems such as the contact characteristics being extremely sensitive to installation error and generating vibration and noise caused by improper parameters design of hypoid gears, this paper proposed an optimized design method for gear aimed at reducing sensitivity to installation error. Firstly, it proposed a tooth flank contact characteristics evaluation model considering the installation error, including the variation of contact area, the offset of contact trace center value, and the variation of the conversion point amplitude of the transmission error curve. Then, it proposed a NURBS surface fitting method with reduced parameters and carried out tooth flank contact analysis. The mapping relationships among the installation error, the preset control parameters of tooth flank, the machining parameters of tooth flank and the contact characteristic parameters were established. Continuing, this study elucidated the influence patterns of installation error on tooth flank contact characteristics. It established a comprehensive sensitivity model for individual contact characteristic parameter relative to installation error. Finally, with the lowest sensitivity as the optimization goal, the genetic algorithm was used to optimize the design of the preset parameters of the tooth flank. Taking two typical operation condition as an example, through the comparative analysis of the meshing characteristics before and after optimization, it is found that the sensitivity of the optimized tooth flank contact area, the center point coordinates of the contact trace and the variation of the transmission error to the installation error are reduced. The tooth flank optimization design method proposed in this paper can effectively solve the problem that the tooth flank contact characteristics are extremely sensitive to the installation error, and reduce the vibration and noise in the transmission.