Air-guiding hood assembly for a transmission

Abstract

The invention relates to an air-guiding hood assembly (10) for a transmission (40) for circumferentially positioning around a transmission input shaft (46) of the transmission (40), comprising a first hood module (12) and a second hood module (14), the first hood module (12) forming an opening (16) surrounded by a sheet-metal material of the hood module (12), and the first hood module (12) and the second hood module (14) being connected, and the sheet-metal material of the first hood module (12) that forms the opening (16) and a sheet-metal material of the second hood module (14) being positioned substantially parallel to one another at a distance from one another. By modularizing the air-guiding hoods, a large number of applications in the form of installation positions, transmission sizes and types can be achieved with few complex components.

Description

[0001] FLENDER GMBH

[0002] FLENDER INDUSTRIEGETRIEBE GMBH Düsseldorf, February 17, 2026 Our reference: FD 45792 - 2025P04766WO

[0003] Flender GmbH

[0004] Alfred-Flender-Str. 77, 46395 Bocholt, Germany

[0005] and

[0006] Flender Industriegetriebe GmbH

[0007] Thierbacher Straße 24, 09322 Penig, Germany

[0008] Air guide hood arrangement for a gearbox

[0009] Description

[0010] The invention relates to an air guide hood arrangement and a gearbox with an air guide hood arrangement for circumferential arrangement around a gearbox input shaft of the gearbox, with a first hood module which forms an opening surrounded by a sheet metal material of the hood module.

[0011] Gearboxes have a thermal performance limit due to the heat generated during operation. In some cases, the thermal performance limit is lower than the mechanical performance limit. In these cases, cooling is necessary to raise the thermal performance limit and ideally bring it in line with the mechanical performance limit. Cooling can be achieved in various ways. One option is air cooling. There are two main types of air cooling: the shaft fan, which is continuously driven by the drive shaft, and the electrically driven fan. Both fan types are located outside the gearbox and therefore result in accessible rotating parts that can pose a risk of injury. For this reason, a protective cover is required.In the context of air cooling, this protective hood becomes an air guide hood assembly to ensure better airflow in addition to protecting it from rotating parts (protective function) – cooling function. Each air guide hood assembly has a defined air inlet and outlet area. Air guide hood assemblies are available for spur and bevel gear transmissions in various sizes, ratios, and numbers of gear stages. This results in a high degree of variety, making it difficult to provide a suitable air guide hood assembly for each transmission variant, which presents a logistical challenge. One air guide hood assembly is known from WO 2021 / 180484 A1. There is a constant need to reduce the variety of possible air guide hood assemblies for different transmission types and sizes.

[0012] The purpose of the invention is to demonstrate measures that make it possible to reduce the variety of possible air guide hood arrangements for different gearbox types and sizes.

[0013] The problem is solved by an air guide hood arrangement having the features of claim 1 and claim 8. Preferred embodiments are specified in the dependent claims and the following description, each of which, individually or in combination, can represent an aspect of the invention. When a feature is presented in combination with another feature, this serves only to simplify the presentation of the invention and is in no way intended to imply that this feature cannot also be a further development of the invention without the other feature.

[0014] One embodiment relates to an air guide hood arrangement for a gearbox for circumferential arrangement around a gearbox input shaft of the gearbox, comprising a first hood module and a second hood module, wherein the first hood module forms an opening surrounded by a sheet metal material of the hood module, and wherein the first hood module and the second hood module are connected, and the sheet metal material of the first hood module forming the opening and a sheet metal material of the second hood module are arranged at a distance from each other, substantially parallel to each other. The gearbox comprises a gearbox housing, which can be a universal housing suitable for installation on any of its six sides. The gearbox housing can be mounted in various installation positions. Generally, these are upright, horizontal, and vertical. The air guide hood arrangement can be used in any of these installation positions.Consequently, it is no longer necessary to have different air guide hood arrangements for the different installation methods.

[0015] The first hood module can be described as a fan module and serves to fulfill both protective and cooling functions. This first hood module is dimensioned to ensure sufficient cooling during operation. The second hood module, connected to the first, improves the cooling performance, thereby increasing the thermal performance limit and ideally reaching the mechanical performance limit. The first hood module can also be designed to be vertically adjustable, allowing for more effective cooling of the gearbox's top surface. For this purpose, the first hood module can be equipped with elongated holes at the mounting points. This air guide hood arrangement can be used with gearboxes equipped with electric fans.

[0016] In a preferred embodiment of the air guide hood arrangement, the first and / or the second hood module may each have two hood flanks that are perpendicular to each other. This ensures that the air guide hood arrangement functions at least partially as an enclosure for the gearbox.

[0017] In a further preferred embodiment of the air guide hood arrangement, the first and second hood modules are indirectly connected to each other via an additional plate. The additional plate can be, for example, screwed or riveted to one of the hood modules and butt against or overlap the other hood module. An additional plate can be used in this way, in particular, if the first and second hood modules have different dimensions in one direction of their extension, so that the additional plate mediates between the two dimensions.

[0018] In a further preferred embodiment of the air guide hood arrangement, one of the two hood modules is shaped symmetrically about a central axis M. In particular, it can be provided that the symmetrically shaped hood module is composed of several, in particular two, sheet metal parts.

[0019] Preferred designs include those in which the sheet metal of the first and / or second hood module incorporates defined breakout areas created by material weakening, allowing these areas to be removed from the sheet metal as needed. This enables the hood module to be used even if, for example, a sensor, an oil line, or a special bearing cap disrupts the contour. In such cases, one of these breakout areas is removed during assembly, and the hood module is installed without the need to create a separate design variant beforehand.

[0020] The problem is also solved by an air guide hood arrangement for a gearbox, designed to surround a gearbox input shaft. This hood comprises a first hood module that forms an opening surrounded by a sheet metal component of the hood module. The first hood module extends from the sheet metal component forming the opening, forming a right-angled and circumferentially at least largely closed collar from the sheet metal, and at least a second hood module is connected to this collar. The first hood module can be symmetrical about a central axis M. Furthermore, the first hood module can be composed of several, in particular two, sheet metal components. Such an air guide arrangement can be used, in particular, with bevel gear transmissions.

[0021] The problem can also be solved by a gearbox with a fan assembly, comprising at least one fan wheel and an air guide vane assembly as described above. In this case, the at least one fan wheel can be rotationally fixed to a gearbox input shaft, or the fan wheel can be designed as an electric fan. The gearbox can be designed as a spur gear transmission or a bevel gear transmission.

[0022] The invention is explained below by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings and preferred embodiments, wherein the features shown below can represent an aspect of the invention, either individually or in combination. The drawings show:

[0023] Fig. 1: a schematic top view of a spur gear transmission with an air guide hood arrangement,

[0024] Fig. 2: an embodiment of an air guide hood arrangement for a gearbox according to Fig. 1, Fig. 3a), 3b): an embodiment of a first hood module and an additional plate for an air guide hood arrangement,

[0025] Fig. 4: an embodiment of an air guide hood arrangement for a bevel helical gear unit and Fig. 5: an embodiment of an air guide hood arrangement for a helical gear unit with electric fan.

[0026] Figure 1 shows a schematic top view of a transmission 40 in the form of a spur gear transmission. The transmission 40 can also be designed as a bevel gear transmission. The transmission 40 is illustrated with respect to a transmission housing 50, a transmission input shaft 46, and a transmission output shaft 48. An air guide hood assembly 10 is also shown, which in this case is arranged on the side of the transmission input shaft 46, partially enclosing the transmission housing 50. The air guide hood assembly 10 comprises a first hood module 12 and a second hood module 14.

[0027] Figure 2 shows a possible embodiment of an air guide hood assembly 10 with a first hood module 12 and a second hood module 14. It can be seen that a sheet metal component of the first hood module 12 forms an opening 16 that surrounds the transmission input shaft 46 of the transmission 40. The opening 16 is in turn surrounded by an air grille 28, which can be round. Inside the first hood module 12, behind the air grille 28, a fan wheel 44 is arranged, which in this case is permanently and rotationally fixed to the transmission input shaft 46. The first hood module 12 and the second hood module 14 are connected to each other, with the two modules 12 and 14 having different vertical heights. To compensate for this difference in vertical height between the two modules 12 and 14, an additional sheet metal component 22 is arranged in the connection area. The additional sheet metal 22 indirectly connects the two hood modules 12, 14 to each other.

[0028] The sheet metal material of the first hood module 12, forming the opening 16, and a sheet metal material of the second hood module 14 are arranged at a distance from each other, essentially parallel to one another. This allows the air guide hood assembly 10 to partially surround the gearbox 40 in a U-shape, so that cooling air can flow in this surrounding area. The second hood module 14 has two hood flanks 18, 20 that are perpendicular to each other. It is also possible for both hood modules 12, 14 to each have two vertical hood flanks 18, 20, as shown schematically in Figure 1. Alternatively, only the first hood module 12 can have two hood flanks 18, 20 that are perpendicular to each other, but this is not shown. The first hood module 12 can be shaped symmetrically about a central axis M, as shown here.Furthermore, the symmetrically shaped hood module 12, 14, in this case the first hood module 12, can be composed of two sheet metal parts 30, 32.

[0029] Figure 3a) shows another embodiment of a first hood module 12. Elongated holes 34 are visible, allowing the hood module 12 to be positioned differently relative to mounting points on the gearbox housing 50 (not shown). Reference numeral 24 denotes knockout areas that may be provided in the sheet metal of the first and / or second hood module 12, 14 by weakening the material, in order to allow the knockout areas 24 to be removed from the sheet metal as needed. Figure 3b) shows an embodiment of an additional sheet metal piece 22.

[0030] Figure 4 shows a possible embodiment of an air guide hood arrangement 10 for a bevel gear transmission 40, comprising a first hood module 12 and a second hood module 14. The first hood module 12 again forms an opening 16 surrounded by a sheet metal component of the hood module 12. Extending from the sheet metal component forming the opening 16, the first hood module 12 forms a collar 26 that is set at a right angle and is at least largely closed. A second hood module 14 is connected to the collar 26 on one side of the transmission 40. Another second hood module 14 is connected to the collar 26 on the other side of the transmission 40. In this variant, the first hood module 12 can be equipped with two identical hood modules 14. However, different hood modules can also be used on each side. The two second hood modules 14 extend the air guide arrangement 10 in the axial direction of the gearbox 40.The first hood module 12 can also be shaped symmetrically to a central axis M in its variant for conical gear drive 40 and be composed of two sheet metal parts 30, 32.

[0031] Figure 5 shows a possible embodiment of an air guide hood arrangement 10 for the use of electric fans in a spur gear transmission 40. Electric fans are not shown in this illustration.

[0032] The design of an air guide hood assembly 10 for bevel and spur gear drives represents an optimized compromise between effective heat dissipation, component variety, combinatorics with mounting options, and cost. The modular design of the air guide hoods allows for a large number of applications in terms of mounting positions, gear sizes, and types to be achieved with just a few complex components. In addition, the air guide hood assembly 10 was developed using numerical simulation of the airflow. The simulation results allow the contour to be adjusted to reduce turbulence and maximize the cooling effect. This results in improved cooling when using this air guide hood assembly 10. [Reference numeral list]

[0033] 10 Air duct hood arrangement 12 Hood module

[0034] 14 Hood module

[0035] 16 Opening

[0036] 18 Hood flank

[0037] 20 Hood flank

[0038] 22 Additional sheet metal

[0039] 24 Breakout area

[0040] 26 collars

[0041] 28 air vents

[0042] 30 parts

[0043] Part 32

[0044] 34 elongated holes

[0045] 40 gearboxes

[0046] 42 fan arrangement

[0047] 44 Fan wheel

[0048] 46 Gearbox input shaft 48 Gearbox output shaft 50 Gearbox housing

Claims

Patent claims 1. Air guide hood arrangement (10) for a gearbox (40) for circumferential arrangement around a gearbox input shaft (46) of the gearbox (40), comprising a first hood module (12) and a second hood module (14), wherein the first hood module (12) forms an opening (16) surrounded by a sheet metal material of the hood module (12), and wherein the first hood module (12) and the second hood module (14) are connected and the sheet metal material of the first hood module (12) forming the opening (16) and a sheet metal material of the second hood module (14) are arranged at a distance from each other substantially parallel to each other.

2. Air guide hood arrangement (10) according to claim 1, characterized in that the first (12) and / or the second hood module (14) each have two hood flanks (18, 20) that are at least largely perpendicular to each other.

3. Air guide hood arrangement (10) according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the first (12) and the second hood module (14) are indirectly connected to each other via an additional sheet (22).

4. Air guide hood arrangement (10) according to claim 3, characterized in that the first (12) and the second hood module (14) have different dimensions in one direction of their extension and the additional sheet (22) mediates between the two dimensions.

5. Air guide hood arrangement (10) according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that one of the two hood modules (12, 14) is shaped symmetrically about a central axis (M).

6. Air guide hood arrangement (10) according to claim 5, characterized in that the symmetrically shaped hood module (12, 14) is composed of several, in particular two, sheet metal parts.

7. Air guide hood arrangement (10) according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that in the sheet metal material of the first (12) and / or the second hood module (14) breakout areas (24) delimited by a material weakening are provided in order to remove the breakout areas (24) from the sheet metal material as required.

8. Air guide hood arrangement (10) for a gearbox (40) for circumferential arrangement around a gearbox input shaft (46) of the gearbox (40), comprising a first hood module (12) which forms an opening (16) surrounded by a sheet metal material of the hood module (12), wherein the first hood module (12) forms a right-angled and circumferentially at least largely closed collar (26) from the sheet metal material starting from the sheet metal material forming the opening (16) and at least a second hood module (14) is connected to the collar (26).

9. Air guide hood arrangement (10) according to claim 8, characterized in that the first hood module (12) is shaped symmetrically about a central axis M.

10. Air guide hood arrangement (10) according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that the first hood module (12) is composed of several, in particular two, sheet metal material parts.

11. Gearbox (40) with a fan arrangement (42), the fan arrangement (42) comprising at least one fan wheel (44) and an air guide hood arrangement (10) according to one of the preceding claims.

12. Gearbox (40) according to claim 11, characterized in that the at least one fan wheel (44) is rotationally fixed to a gearbox input shaft (46) of the gearbox (40) or the fan wheel (44) is designed as an electric fan.

13. Gearbox (40) according to claim 11 or 12, characterized in that the gearbox (40) is designed as a spur gear gearbox or as a bevel gear gearbox.

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