Gear set

Abstract

A gear set 200 comprises an input shaft 201, an output shaft 215 and two or more pairs of helical gears 202, 203, 213, 214 of opposite hand Each pair of gears 202, 203, 213, 214 are fixed relative to each other but axially moveable in tandem and mounted on the input shaft 201 and / or the output shaft 215. Three or more lay shafts 207, 208, 209 each having an input gear 204, 205, 206 engaged with one of the pairs of helical gears 202, 203 and an output gear 210, 211, 212 engaged with one of the other helical gears 213, 214 on the output shaft 215 for transmitting rotational movement from the input shaft 201 to the output shaft 215. In operation an imbalance in load sharing between the lay shafts 207,208,209 results in axial movement of the pairs of helical gears 202, 203, 213, 214 tending to reduce the imbalance.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to a gear set for converting torque and speed of a rotating power source, in particular, to a gear set with a plurality of lay shafts for load distribution. Background technique [0002] In order to reduce the size and weight of the gearbox, it is known to transmit the load via multiple layshafts (also known as layshafts or layshafts) rather than one larger layshaft. This allows for a reduction in the overall size of the gearbox as the load can be transmitted more efficiently through two smaller shafts rather than one larger shaft. However, the downside of gearing is that it can cause one gear to mesh before the others, resulting in a larger percentage of the load being borne by a single layshaft. This necessitates an increased safety factor in the design of the secondary shaft, reducing the advantage of using such multiple shafts. [0003] For two layshafts, it is possible to ensure an even load distribution between the...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Although in principle additional layshafts could result in a further size reduction, the load sharing technique described above using a pair of helical gears with opposite helical teeth cannot be used for more than two layshafts because of the increased connection to the input helical gear 22 , 23, the other countershaft will not be able to balance the load between this shaft and other shafts connected to the same gear

Furthermore, the addition of an additional layshaft connected through a separate helical gear would not allow this shaft to be balanced with either of the existing layshafts 26, 28

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