Helical Gear Backlash Elimination via Axial Preload Spring
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Solution Overview
Problem
The gear transmission system faces challenges with backlash, which causes unnecessary noises, vibrations, and positioning errors due to manufacturing errors and thermal expansion, leading to decreased transmission efficiency as industries demand higher precision.
Innovation Solution
A backlash eliminating device for helical gears is introduced, featuring a sleeve with spiral grooves that provides a preload spring force along the axial direction, ensuring tight engagement between helical gears and a match gear, eliminating backlash without causing additional torque issues.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a gap is provided between gear teeth to prevent rejection or jam due to manufacturing errors or thermal expansion, then reliability is improved, but backlash occurs causing noises, vibrations, and positioning errors
Solution Approach 1:
The spring applies a preliminary preload force to the gears in the axial direction, creating an initial compressive stress that counteracts the tendency of gears to separate due to manufacturing errors or thermal expansion. This preliminary anti-action eliminates backlash while maintaining reliable engagement, preventing both rejection/jam and excessive gap formation.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the stress state parameter of the gear engagement by introducing a preload force through the spring. This transforms the gear contact from a potential separation state to a compressed engagement state, eliminating backlash while maintaining the necessary gap for reliability through controlled elastic deformation.
2Measurement precision
If spring preload is applied to eliminate backlash, then transmission precision is improved, but additional torque may be introduced
Solution Approach 1:
The spring preload is applied locally in the axial direction at specific contact points between the spring and gear surfaces. This localized application eliminates backlash at the critical engagement interface without introducing significant additional torque to the overall gear transmission system, as the preload force is contained within the axial constraint geometry.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution effectively eliminates backlash, enhancing transmission precision, reducing noise and vibrations, and improving efficiency by ensuring consistent engagement between gears, thus meeting the increasing precision standards of modern industries.
Implementation Method 1
Each section of spiral sheet structures provides a preload spring force along an axial direction of the transmission shaft
Data Source
AI summary
A backlash eliminating device for helical gears is provided for a gear transmission system which includes a transmission shaft, two helical gears and a match gear. A sleeve mounted on the transmission shaft has an outer wall, an inner wall and at least two sections of spiral grooves penetrating through the outer wall and the inner wall. The sleeve includes a transmission part and two extremity parts. The transmission part is disposed between the spiral grooves, and is fixedly connected to the transmission shaft. The extremity parts are disposed outside of the spiral grooves. The helical gears are fixedly connected to the two extremity parts. The sleeve having the spiral grooves provides a preload spring force along an axial direction of the transmission shaft, so that the two helical gears are tightly engaged with the match gear.