Frictional power losses on spur gears with tip reliefs. The load sharing role

Abstract The load sharing impact on the efficiency of spur gears with modified profile was assessed in this work. The aim was to analyse the influence of the profile modifications on the load sharing, which also considers the effect of the torque level on the system deflections, and how these load sharing variations affected the system efficiency. Due to the frictional effect importance on power losses, in the operating conditions considered, sliding friction between teeth in presence of lubricant was studied in this proposal. The results established that tip relief improves the efficiency of the system due to the reduction of effective contact ratio. Moreover, there is a tip relief which makes optimal the efficiency in specific operating conditions, corresponding to the unit value of the effective contact ratio. Thus, the main conclusion of this work is that the tip relief which makes optimal the efficiency coincides with the theoretical dynamic optimum of the transmission.