Evaluation of gear noise behaviour with application force level

Reducing excessive vibration and undesired noise is one of the most important goals throughout the whole development phases of gearboxes. Among different development stages, different technical measurements are available to estimate the excitation behaviour of gear meshes. However, the comparison of the result of these measurement types among the development stages may be inconsistent due to different dimensions. In order to ensure the best comparability as well as comprehensive interpretation of the vibration characteristics of gear meshes, an application force level was developed. This characteristic value allows noise behaviour evaluation by means of different measurement types. Moreover, the evaluation boundary of this characteristic value is customizable to encourage the flexibility for further specific evaluations. In this article, the formulation of application force level is derived and its usage is shown. Although the application force level was intentionally developed for the gear design, it can also be applied to other kinds of application fields.