Towards constant mesh stiffness helical gears: The influence of integer overlap ratios

Abstract This work presents the development and dynamic analysis of Constant Mesh Stiffness Gears. First, a study of the contact length variation between gears is conducted since it has great influence on the gear mesh stiffness. Following that, an algorithm capable of generating Constant Mesh Stiffness Gears (CMSGears) was developed while considering the gears’ safety factors and mesh efficiency. The dynamic performance of these gears was evaluated resorting to a single degree of freedom dynamic model which considered teeth contact loss. The CMSGears created respect the gear design principles and both the gear safety factors and gear mesh efficiency were successfully taken into account. With regard to the dynamic behavior of these gears, they ended up revealing great potential in the reduction of noise, vibration and dynamic overload.