Integral Ring Gear and Torque Arm With Hardened Gear Teeth
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional wind turbine gearbox manufacturing involves complex and expensive processes with separately manufactured ring gears and torque arms, requiring multiple manufacturing steps, fasteners, and heat treatment, which leads to dimensional distortion and increased costs.
Innovation Solution
The method involves forming an integral ring gear and torque arm as a single part using additive manufacturing, applying a coating material like boron nitride or tungsten carbide to increase hardness, and casting the components together, eliminating the need for separate manufacturing and heat treatment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the ring gear and torque arm are separately manufactured and assembled using conventional methods, then the components can accommodate varying stresses and loading, but the manufacturing process becomes complex and expensive, requiring multiple manufacturing steps, fasteners, and heat treatment
Solution Approach 1:
The ring gear and torque arm are merged into a single integral component manufactured via additive manufacturing. This eliminates the need for separate manufacturing processes, fasteners, and assembly steps, directly resolving the contradiction by simplifying the manufacturing process while maintaining the ability to accommodate varying stresses through the integrated design.
Solution Approach 2:
The integral ring gear and torque arm component performs multiple functions simultaneously - it provides gear engagement, torque transmission, and structural support. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate components and assembly operations, addressing both the manufacturing simplicity and assembly complexity aspects of the contradiction.
2Manufacturing precision
If the ring gear is separately manufactured and heat treated to obtain certain hardness, then the gear teeth achieve required hardness, but dimensional distortion occurs during heat treatment
Solution Approach 1:
The additive manufacturing process parameters are optimized to produce gear teeth with the required hardness directly during manufacturing, eliminating the need for subsequent heat treatment. This parameter optimization resolves the contradiction by achieving both dimensional accuracy and gear tooth hardness through controlled manufacturing parameters rather than post-processing heat treatment.
Solution Approach 2:
The ring gear and torque arm are manufactured as an integral component using additive manufacturing with materials that provide both the required structural properties and gear tooth hardness. This composite approach eliminates dimensional distortion associated with heat treatment while maintaining the necessary strength and hardness properties.
3Reliability
If the ring gear and torque arm are fastened together via connecting fasteners and flanges, then the components can be assembled, but machining costs increase and reliability decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The ring gear and torque arm are merged into a single integral component, eliminating the need for connecting fasteners and flanges. This merger directly addresses the contradiction by removing the sources of potential failure points (fasteners) while simultaneously eliminating the additional machining operations required for separate components, thereby improving both reliability and manufacturing cost.
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
This approach reduces machining costs, eliminates dimensional distortion, and simplifies the manufacturing process by integrating the ring gear and torque arm, enhancing the gearbox assembly's reliability and efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
applying a coating material to the plurality of gear teeth of the ring gear via an additive manufacturing process so as to increase a hardness of the plurality of gear teeth
Implementation Method 2
forming an integral ring gear and torque arm as a single part using additive manufacturing
Data Source
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AI summary
An integral ring gear 145 and torque arm 150 for a wind turbine gearbox and method 100 of manufacturing same includes forming the ring gear 145 and the associated gear housing as a single part using the same material, e.g., using a casting process. Further, the ring gear 145 defines an inner circumferential surface 146 having a plurality of gear teeth 149. Thus, the method 100 also includes applying a coating material 156 to the gear teeth 149 of the ring gear 145 via an additive manufacturing process, such as cold spraying, so as to increase a hardness of gear teeth 149.