COMPUTERIZED DESIGN OF LOW-NOISE FACE-MILLED SPIRAL BEVEL GEARS

An advanced design methodology is proposed for the face-milled spiral bevel gears with modified tooth surface geometry that provides a reduc ed level of noise and has a stabilized bearing contact. The approach i s based on the local synthesis of the gear drive that provides the ''b est'' machine-tool settings. The theoretical aspects of the local synt hesis approach are based on the application of a predesigned parabolic Function for absorption of undesirable transmission errors caused by misalignment and the direct relations between principal curvatures and directions for mating surfaces. The meshing and contact of the gear d rive is synthesized and analyzed by a computer program. The generation of gears with the proposed geometry design can be accomplished with e xisting equipment. A numerical example that illustrates the proposed t heory is presented.