Dual Spline Gear Assembly for Self-Alignment Under Misalignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing gear systems face challenges in maintaining alignment under various operating conditions, leading to misalignment, stress concentrations, premature wear, and failure, with conventional solutions offering limited misalignment compensation, inadequate load-bearing capability, increased complexity, and compromised performance.
Innovation Solution
A dual spline self-aligning gear system is formed by combining a metallic toothed ring gear with thermoplastic or powder metal spline gears, utilizing a locking assembly to ensure secure connections and accommodate both radial and axial forces, while incorporating features for self-alignment and damping.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional gear systems are used, then manufacturing and assembly are simpler, but misalignment occurs leading to stress concentrations and premature failure
Solution Approach 1:
The gear system is divided into multiple independent spline gears that can be assembled separately and then lock together to form a complete gear assembly, allowing each segment to be manufactured and aligned independently
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple spline gears are nested within a common outer diameter, with each gear fitting within the same radial space but positioned at different axial locations, creating a compact multi-gear assembly
2Manufacturing precision
If misalignment compensation is increased, then alignment tolerance improves, but load-bearing capability decreases
Solution Approach 1:
Different regions of the gear system have different properties: the spline teeth are designed with specific profiles for load bearing, while the overall gear configuration allows for misalignment accommodation through geometric design
Solution Approach 2:
The gear system uses specific geometric parameters including 30-degree pressure angle spline teeth, 0.160 pitch, and controlled addendum/dedendum dimensions to optimize both alignment tolerance and load-bearing capacity
3Reliability
If gear components are made more robust to handle misalignment, then durability improves, but weight and size increase
Solution Approach 1:
The gear system utilizes plastic material with inherent damping properties to absorb misalignment stresses without requiring additional heavy reinforcement structures
Solution Approach 2:
The gear design allows for dynamic adjustment through the interaction of multiple spline gears that can slightly shift and adapt to misalignment conditions during operation, rather than requiring rigid fixed-position components
Data Source
AI summary
A method of forming spline gears and assembling a dual spline self-aligning gear includes forming a first spline gear and a second spline gear by hobbing to form a plurality of outer spline and inner spline teeth alternating with a plurality of inner spline grooves. Receiving a toothed ring gear having outer gear teeth and inner gear teeth alternating with inner gear grooves each having a radially extending rib. Coating the inner gear teeth and the inner gear grooves with a glue layer then inserting the first spline gear between the inner gear grooves of the toothed ring gear. Inserting the second spline gear between the inner gear grooves of the toothed ring gear.