Five-Axis Gear Milling for Constant Tooth Flank Machining
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current gear manufacturing methods, such as continuous and individual indexing processes, are inefficient due to high setup efforts, expensive specialized tools, and long machining times, especially for producing spiral bevel gears, which require heavy and costly tools with limited versatility and flexibility.
Innovation Solution
A machine tool with a five-axis milling capability that uses a tool with adjustable cutting edges to maintain a constant distance along the tooth flank, allowing for simultaneous control of rotary and translational movements to produce gears with varying geometries on a single machine, reducing tool costs and machining time.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Shape
If heavy tools with large diameter are used for producing spiral bevel gears, then the tool can cover the required radius of the longitudinal arc of the tooth flank, but the machining time increases and the tool cannot be stored in standard tool magazines
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making the tool axis adjustable and repositionable during the machining process. Instead of using a fixed heavy tool with large diameter, the system dynamically adjusts the tool's position and orientation to maintain the required cutting radius while using a lighter, more versatile tool that can be stored in standard magazines.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameters of the machining process by allowing the tool axis to be repositioned in space. This enables the use of a tool with smaller diameter by changing its spatial parameters (position and orientation) rather than relying on a tool with fixed large dimensions.
2Manufacturing precision
If specialized milling cutters are manufactured for each specific gearing, then the exact tooth gap geometry can be achieved, but the tool cost increases and delivery time lengthens
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies universality by designing a milling cutter that can machine multiple types of gearings (spur gears, helical gears, bevel gears, hypoid gears) with a single tool. The tool achieves this through programmable repositioning of its axis, eliminating the need for specialized cutters for each gear type while maintaining manufacturing precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses dynamics by making the tool axis repositionable during the machining process. This dynamic adjustment capability allows a single universal tool to adapt to different gearing geometries, replacing the need for multiple specialized tools and reducing both cost and delivery time.
3Manufacturing precision
If the tool outer diameter is matched to the radius of curvature of the tooth flank, then the correct tooth geometry is produced, but the tool weight increases requiring more powerful drives and reducing feed rates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the spatial parameters of the tool (position and orientation of the tool axis) rather than changing the tool's physical dimensions. This allows the use of a lighter tool with smaller diameter by repositioning it to maintain the required cutting radius, thereby reducing tool weight while preserving manufacturing precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent moves the solution from the dimensional domain (changing tool diameter) to the spatial domain (changing tool axis position and orientation). By utilizing the additional degrees of freedom in tool positioning, the system achieves the required tooth flank curvature with a lighter tool.
4Adaptability or versatility
If a universal milling machine with repositionable tool axis is used, then one tool can produce multiple gearing types, but the machine complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent achieves versatility by implementing programmable repositioning of the tool axis parameters (position and orientation). This software-controlled parameter adjustment provides adaptability for multiple gearing types without requiring complex mechanical modifications to the machine structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements universality by designing the milling machine with a repositionable tool axis that can be programmed for different gearing types. This single machine structure serves multiple functions (spur gears, helical gears, bevel gears, hypoid gears) through software control rather than multiple specialized machines.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a machine tool, particularly a milling machine, comprising a machine frame, a tool carrier mounted on the machine frame for receiving a tool, a drive device for rotationally driving the tool in the tool carrier about a tool axis, a receiving apparatus mounted on the tool frame for receiving a work piece, a first rotational drive apparatus for creating a first relative angular movement between the tool carrier and the receiving apparatus, and a second rotational drive apparatus for creating a second relative angular movement between the tool carrier and the receiving apparatus, a translational drive apparatus for creating a relative translational movement between the tool carrier und the receiving apparatus along three axis, a control device designed in a way such that it allows for a control of the relative straight movements between the tool carrier and the receiving apparatus and of the relative angular movements between the tool carrier and the receiving apparatus substantially at the same time. The tool is designed as a face or face circumference cutter and comprises blades that have at least a partial contour of a gearing to be milled into the work piece. The outside diameter of the blades is greater than the distance of two neighboring tooth flanks - tooth gap. The invention is characterized in that the control device is designed in a way such that the tool is moved though the region of the gearing to be produced such that it is displaced along the tooth flank to be machined at the same or substantially the same distance to the tooth gap base and/or tooth tip of the gearing to be created.