Curved Tooth Flexible Shaft Coupling for Lower Contact Stress
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Solution Overview
Problem
Flexible shaft couplings with external and internal gears having involute profiles face increased contact stress due to smaller contact areas, which can lead to misalignment and inefficiency in power transmission.
Innovation Solution
The flexible shaft coupling design includes gears with tooth surfaces where at least one of the tooth surfaces is curved outward when viewed in the tooth trace direction, reducing contact stress by maintaining a larger contact area.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If external and internal gears with an involute profile are used to accommodate greater relative displacement, then the contact areas between gears become smaller, but this causes greater contact stress
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies curvature to the tooth surfaces by making at least one of the first tooth surface or second tooth surface curved outward when viewed in the tooth trace direction. This curved surface design increases the contact area between meshing gears compared to traditional involute profiles, thereby reducing contact stress while maintaining the ability to accommodate relative displacement between drive shafts and axles
Data Source
AI summary
A flexible shaft coupling includes a first gear and a second gear meshing with the first gear. The first gear has a first tooth surface, the second gear has a second tooth surface, and at least one of the first tooth surface or the second tooth surface is curved outward when viewed in a tooth trace direction.