Optimized use of cooling holes to decrease the amount of thermal damage on a plastic gear tooth

The full potential of plastic gear usage is limited by not only poor mechanical properties but also equally poor temperature limits and poor heat conduction properties. Cooling holes were developed to decrease the amount of thermal damage on the contact surface. These cooling holes promote increased stress and tooth deflection, thus exerting a negative effect. This article compares various cooling holes for plastic gear configurations and proposes novel cooling holes. Thermal and mechanical simulations that consider specific aspects of plastic gear meshing were performed. The main objective of this article was to verify the best methods for reducing thermal damage through cooling holes. The results indicate the best compromise between the temperature reduction and the mechanical properties of the new tooth geometry. The results also indicate that the simple variations in the cooling holes proposed can improve tooth performance.