INVESTIGATION OF AN OPTICAL NONCONTACT GEAR GEOMETRY MEASUREMENT SYSTEM - MEASUREMENT OF PITCH ERRORS AND TOOTH PROFILES

This article presents a new noncontact system for measuring pitch erro rs and tooth profiles. The pitch error measuring system has two optica l probes that are equivalent to the fixed probe and measuring probe, r espectively, of the pitch variation measuring machine based on the mea suring of straight distance. Because there is no mechanical interferen ce between the probes and the test gear, high-speed measurements are p ossible with this system. In this system, a measuring time of 3 to 4 s econds was required to measure the pitch errors of a spur gear with a module of 0.8 and 48 teeth. In the system for tooth profile measuremen t, the optical probe, which corresponds to the measuring probe, moves in the radial direction of the test gear and detects the surface displ acement for each tooth. ft took 42 seconds to measure the profiles of all 48 teeth of the gear. At each tooth surface, 60 sampling points ar e taken.