COMPUTERIZED DESIGN, GENERATION AND SIMULATION OF MESHING OF ORTHOGONAL OFFSET FACE-GEAR DRIVE WITH A SPUR INVOLUTE PINION WITH LOCALIZED BEARING CONTACT

Computerized generation, localization of bearing contact and simulatio n of meshing and contact of an orthogonal offset face-gear drive with a spur involute pinion are considered. The authors propose an approach that enables one to: (i) localize and stabilize the bearing contact, and (ii) simplify the design of a face-gear free of undercutting and p ointing. The existing theory of face-gear drives is complemented with the idea of axes of meshing that enables one to: (i) simplify the dete rmination of conditions of tooth pointing, and (ii) apply an alternati ve approach for the derivation of meshing equation. Computer programs for all stages of investigation are developed. Numerical results for t he test of the developed theory and its illustration are provided. The authors limit the discussions to the case of an orthogonal face-gear drive with a crossing angle of 90 degrees. However, the proposed appro ach is easy to extend for non-orthogonal face-gear drives. (C) 1998 El sevier Science Ltd.