Design and stress analysis of low-noise adjusted bearing contact spiral bevel gears

An integrated computerized approach for design and stress analysis of low-noise spiral bevel gear drives with adjusted bearing contact has been developed. The computational procedure is an iterative process requiring four separate steps that provide: (a) a parabolic function of transmission errors that is able to reduce the effect of errors of alignment, and (b) reduction of the shift of bearing contact caused by misalignment. Application of finite element analysis permits the contact and bending stresses to be determined and the formation of the bearing contact to be investigated. The design of finite element models and boundary conditions is automated and does not require intermediate CAD computer programs. A commercially available finite element analysis computer program with contact capability is used to conduct the stress analysis. The theory developed is illustrated with numerical examples.