Partial Cycloid Gear Teeth for Load Capacity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Cycloid drives face limitations in load capacity due to mechanical wear and tear, and require precise manufacturing to compensate for eccentricity, making them costly and complex.
Innovation Solution
The use of gear teeth with a partial cycloid profile, which allows for a larger number of smaller teeth, balancing bending and compressive strength, and reducing the number of parts needed to compensate for eccentricity, thereby enhancing load capacity and reducing manufacturing costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If precise manufacturing is implemented to compensate for eccentricity, then reliability is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and eliminates the need for complex eccentricity compensation mechanisms by using a standard concentric gear configuration with partial cycloid teeth. The partial cycloid profile inherently provides the desired performance characteristics without requiring precise manufacturing to compensate for eccentricity, thereby reducing device complexity and manufacturing cost while maintaining reliability.
2Strength
If larger number of smaller teeth are used, then load capacity is improved, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the geometric parameters of the gear teeth by implementing a partial cycloid profile instead of a full cycloid or standard involute profile. This parameter change allows for a larger number of teeth to be used while maintaining manufacturability, as the partial cycloid can be generated with standard manufacturing processes. The modified tooth geometry distributes load more effectively across multiple teeth, improving load capacity without excessively increasing manufacturing precision requirements.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus includes a ring gear having a plurality of gear teeth, where each of the plurality of gear teeth of the planet gear has a partial cycloid profile, and a planet gear rotatable within the ring gear, where the planet gear has a plurality of gear teeth, and each of the plurality of gear teeth of the planet gear has a partial cycloid profile. The total number of gear teeth of the planet gear is smaller than the total number of gear teeth of the ring gear. The gear teeth of the planet gear operatively mesh with corresponding gear teeth of the ring gear. The total number of gear teeth of the planet gear provides each gear tooth of the planet gear with a bending strength and a compressive strength such that the bending strength and the compressive strength differ by less than a predetermined amount.