Meshing and bearing analysis of nutation drive with face gear

Background: Nutation drive is being extensively investigated due to its ability to achieve a high reduction ratio with a compact structure and the potential for low vibration, high efficiency and design flexibility. However, many problems including the difficulty to process the inner bevel gear, less number of teeth in engagement and not being suitable for high-power transmission have restricted its development. Objective: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the contact strength of a patent about a new nutation drive developed based on meshing between two face gears, which has the advantages of both face gear and nutation drive, including large transmission ratio, large coincidence, small size, compact structure and strong bearing capacity. Methods: Based on the meshing principle and basic structure of the nutation face gear drive, the contact strength of nutation face gear transmission is analyzed by the Hertz contact analysis method and FEM method. Results: The maximum stress values of nutation face gear teeth are compared by two methods, which verify the accuracy of Hertz contact analytical method in calculating the contact strength of nutation face gear teeth. Furthermore, nine groups of three-dimensional models for the nutation face gear drive with a transmission ratio of 52 and different cutter parameters are established. Conclusion: The study analyzes the contact stress of fixed and rotary face gears in meshing with planetary face gears, and obtains the distribution law of contact stress and the influence of the number of teeth and parameters of the cutter on the load-carrying capacity. © 2020 Bentham Science Publishers.