8 THE ANNALS OF UNIVERSITY “DUNĂREA DE JOS “ OF GALAŢI

FASCICLE VIII, 2005, ISSN 1221-4590

TRIBOLOGY

SYNTHESIS AND ANALYSIS OF PLASTIC CURVED FACEWIDTH

SPUR GEARS
Laurentia ANDREI, Gabriel ANDREI, Alexandru EPUREANU,
Iulian Gabriel BÎRSAN
The University “Dunarea de Jos” of Galati, Romania
Laurencia.andrei@ugal.ro

ABSTRACT
The paper gives an overview of a non-standard spur gear whose geometry is
defined by both tooth curvature and variable height along the gear face-width. The
gears are mainly designed for plastic gears, in order to enhance their transmissible
power. Virtual models are used to investigate gear mesh, tooth deflections and
strength, and a comparison to standard spur gears is drawn. Due to the complex
gear geometry, a cutting process is appropriate for the gear manufacture.

KEYWORDS: non-standard curved face width spur gear, plastic gear, gear
performances, gear manufacture

1. INTRODUCTION the gear transmissible power level; it also enhances

The conventional plastic spur gears are
continuously being investigated in order to increase
their transmissible power level, either by developing
performing materials, such as nanostructured
composites, or by modifying the gear tooth geometry.
The curved facewidth spur gears are not popular
for gear industry and not much has been published on
their performances and manufacture, to our
knowledge. The advantages of these gears, compared
to standard spur gears are [1]:
- high contact ratio,
- higher bending resistance and reduced contact
stresses,
- better meshing in plane misalignment conditions,
and
- there are no axial forces as are inherent in helical
gears.
Against these advantages there are limitations:
- the difficulty in gear design due to the complex
tooth geometry compared to conventional designs,
- the difficulty in gear train mounting and
- the sensitivity to center distance variations.
The gears described in this paper have a
modified geometry, controlled by two parameters: the
radius of the tooth curvature along the gear face width
and the reduction on gear tooth height towards the
gear face width ends. This non-standard gear is
specially designed for plastic gear, less sensitive to
variations in tooth profile geometry than their metal
counterparts. This modified tooth geometry increases
lubrication under operating conditions, but reduces
the gear manufacture possibilities.
The non-standard gear geometry and mesh are
investigated by both numerical method and solid
modeling technique. They enable the tooth flanks,
along the gear face width, to be drawn and compared
to the standard involute shape. Studies on virtual
models enable further analysis to be developed such
as tooth bending resistance and deflection, modify-
cations in sliding velocity, tooth generation errors.
The simulation of the gear generation, based on
a simple kinematics, enables the first attempt in gear
manufacture. Virtual gears are used to manufacture
the gear prototype, by the selective laser sintering as
a material incress manufacturing technique. Injection
moulding is the traditional technique for plastic gear
manufacture. Unfortunately, the complexity of the
shape of the curved face width gear, with modified
geometry, makes the design of a die almost
impossible. Therefore, it was decided to cut the gear
on a traditional milling machine, with specially
designed equipment and tools.
The tooth geometry precision and quality are
investigated as they are essential in gear operating
conditions. Experimental tests carried out by the
authors on the running curved face width spur gears,
with modified geometry, are focused on the gear
thermal behaviour and noise.
This paper resumes the significant theoretical
and experimental investigations on the non-standard
gear geometry and mesh.
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TRIBOLOGY

2. THEORETICAL INVESTIGATIONS Simulations of gear generation are also

ON GEAR PERFORMANCES developed using the solid modeling technique [3].
Several tools are “designed”, with similar shape
but different geometrical parameters, shown in figure
2.1. Non-Standard Gear Generation 3: Rg - the radius of the generating circle varies from
Process 16 mm to 28 mm, for a 24 mm gear face width, and β
- the tool axis inclination is considered at 0 - 25°.
Gear performances are developed on virtual AutoLISP routines are used for the curved spur gear
gears, using the traditional conjugate surface generation process simulation and a representation of
generation theory as well as the solid modeling the entire gear is produced (fig. 4).
techniques. Simulations of gear generation consider
the following kinematics:
- the tool performs the rotational motion about its
inclined axis;
- the gear blank is rotated about its axis and is
provided with translational motion, tangential to the
base circle of the gear. A special device provides the
rolling motion, required for the involute tooth flank
profile generation;
- a simple indexing motion is used to generate all the a) b)
concave teeth flanks and then the convex flanks,
using a different cutter. Fig. 3. Illustrating the virtual tools for the
A numerical computation [2], based on the tooth convex (a) and concave (b) flanks.
conjugate surface generation theory, enables to
produce the gear tooth forms in several sections along
the gear face width (fig. 1), as well as the line of
action (fig. 2); h indicates the distance from gear
centre. The following design specification is
considered: 2 mm modulus, 30 the number of teeth,
24 mm gear face width, 25° tool axis inclination and
20 mm is the radius of the generating circle. Figure 1
shows that the generated tooth profile is of involute
form except at the extreme ends of the gear face. The
straight lines of action, shown in figure 2, indicate the
gear conjugate motions.
Fig. 4. Illustrating the virtual gear blank with two
generated teeth [3].
y [mm]

2.2. Gear Tooth Geometry

Several non-standard gears are generated, with
the above design specification, in order to investigate
h=1mm h=6mm h=11mm
the variation of some tooth geometrical parameters
0
0 x [mm]
such as the maximum base circle radius Rb, the
maximum dedendum circle radius Rf and the
Fig. 1. Tooth profiles along maximum pressure angle α, recorded at the end of
the gear face width [2]. the gear face width, as they influence the gear
meshing condition (table 1).
y [mm]

Table 1
h=1mm Rg [mm]/β [°] Rb [mm] Rf [mm] α[°]
h=11mm
h=6mm
16 / 5 29.17 27.94 13.5
20 / 5 28.82 27.83 16.12
0
24 / 5 28.65 27.77 17.25
0 x [mm] 28 / 5 28.55 27.7 17.90
Fig. 2. Lines of action along 28 / 2 28.41 27.65 18.74
the gear face width [2]. 28 / 8 28.69 27.78 17.00
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start of mesh 3° gear rotational angle
17° gear rotational angle 20° gear rotational angle
Fig. 5. Illustrating the path of contact during gear mesh.
It is noticed that, for the same tool axis inclina-
tion, the decrease in the gear generating circle leads
to an increase of the dedendum circle radius,
implying a decrease in gear backlash – for Rg = 16
mm, the gear backlash is reduced to 0.06 mm which
definitely implies gear interference. Also, the tooth
flanks exhibits the involute profile on 70% of its
height compared to 85% in the case of the standard
tooth. The pressure angle also decreases leading to a
decrease in plastic gear resistance to wear, as it is
shown [4].
For the same value of the generating circle
radius, the increase in the tool axis inclination
increases the dedendum circle radius and decreases
the pressure angle, damaging the gear operating
conditions. A limited increase in the tool axis
inclination should be considered for each tooth
curvature, so that the gear mesh avoids interference.
2.3. Gear Mesh
The solid modeling technique also enables the
gear path of contact to be produced. Figure 5
illustrates the path of contact on the pinion tooth
convex flank, in a theoretical mesh of a gear train
with the contact ratio equal to 1 and 60 mm center
distance. The gears have been generated with a
geometry defined by 20 mm generating circle radius
and 5° the tool axis inclination. The gears contact
starts at the beginning of the theoretical line of action,
specific to the gear center section, where the tooth
flank exhibits the ideal involute; an interference,
produced by an additional gear rotational angle of
0.01°, is used.
The analysis of the gear path of contact shows
the peculiarities of the modified curved face width
gear mesh:
8° gear rotational angle 13° gear rotational angle
22° gear rotational angle 27° gear rotational angle
- the line of contact is a spatial curve, with a variable
curvature during the gear mesh;
- there are points along the line of action where three
tooth pairs are in contact, showing the high gear
contact ratio;
- a longer contact is specific to the gear tooth, a
consequence of both the tooth curvature and the
increase of gear base circle radius. Compared to its
ideal value of 20.3°, calculated for the standard spur
gear, the gear rotational angle, for a single tooth
contact, is increased to 27°.
2.4. Gear Bending Resistance
Curved face width spur gears are modeled using
COSMOS/M, version 2.5, set to the following
geometrical parameters: modulus 2 mm, 30 teeth and
24 mm face width. Poisson’s ratio for the plastic
material used in the gear manufacture, ERTALON
66SA, is 0.3 and the tensile modulus of elasticity is
3450 MPa. The gear 3D model consists of SOLID
elements - 8 vertex per solid and 3 possible
translational motions per vertex [5].
As a first step, the load is applied successively
on the concave and convex flanks of the pinion tooth.
A gear geometry is considered at 20 mm the
generating circle radius and at 0° the tool axis
inclination. For an applied load of 4 Nm, the tooth
bending resistance analysis shows that:
- the maximum von Mises stresses, recorded on the
tooth concave flank, is of 14.82 N/mm2 occurring on
limited areas close to the gear face ends, while most
of the tooth exhibits a medium of 5-7 N/mm2 stresses;
- the maximum Von Mises stresses, recorded on the
tooth convex flank, decrease significantly by 32%
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TRIBOLOGY
a) b)
Fig. 6. Illustrating the Von Mises stresses specific to curved face width gear (a),
double helical gear (b) and standard spur gear (c).
compared to the previous stresses values, and occur
on a large area along the tooth dedendum, on the
opposite flank.
As regarding the tooth displacements, it is found
out that the recorded displacement is reduced by
31.5% when load is applied on the tooth convex
flank. The maximum displacement of 35…40 µm
occurs on the entire tooth length, while the maximum
displacement of 50…60 µm, recorded when load is
applied on the tooth concave flank, moves to limited
areas near the gear face ends.
Generally the pinion is the first one to fail in a
plastic gear train [6]; therefore, the previous analysis
is important in the attempt of improving the pinion
behaviour through a convenient mounting, i.e. the
load should be applied on the pinion tooth concave
flanks. Both the tooth stresses and displacements are
lower than those specific to convex flanks, ignoring
the highest values recorded in limited areas at the end
of gear face width – analysing the gear path of
contact, the load acting on this areas is much reduced
than the theoretical one, considered in finite element
analysis.
Secondly, a comparison of the standard and
non-standard gear bending resistance is developed.
Loads are applied on the tooth concave flanks, related
to a torque of 4 Nm, in the assumption of having two
teeth in contact. Analysing the illustrations from
figure 6, concerning the maximum Von Mises
stresses as well as the stresses distribution, it is
noticed that:
- on the standard spur gear tooth (fig. 6c), the
maximum stresses are constant, at about 8 N/mm2.
The maximum stresses are developed on a large area
on the tooth dedendum, along the gear face width;
- on the curved face width spur gear tooth (fig. 6a),
the maximum stresses increase to 11 N/mm2, but they
are distributed on reduced areas close to the gear
ends;
- on the double helical gear tooth (fig. 6b), the
maximum stresses are concentrated in gear center
sections (35 N/mm2) and towards the gear face width
end sections (24 N/mm2), on extremely reduced areas.
In conclusion, the non-standard gear, with a
constant tooth height, has a higher bending resistance
than its standard counterparts. Even the recorded
11
c)
maximum stresses are by 27% higher than in case of
standard spur gear, the stresses are distributed on
limited areas where the load is not as high as it has
theoretically been considered. The double helical gear
is also convenient regarding the bending resistance,
but the recorded maximum stresses exceed by more
than 100% the specific values for the curved spur
gear.
A third analysis on non-standard gear bending
resistance is focused on the influence of the gear
tooth modified geometry on the Von Mises stresses
and tooth deflections. Figure 7 shows the variation of
the tooth bending stresses versus the tool axis
inclination – the tooth height respectively, for a
chosen 20 mm radius of the generating circle. It is
noticed that the maximum stresses increase with the
reduction in tooth height along the gear face width,
but it is recorded on extremely reduced areas close to
the tooth tip; moreover, the areas are reduced by the
increase in tool axis inclination. A similar distribution
of the bending stresses is exhibited by each tooth
geometry – the most affected is the unload tooth
flank, at the tooth dedendum, and the limited sections
of the loaded tooth flanks.
The tooth maximum displacement is recorded
for β = 0° and decreases with the increase in the tool
axis inclination (the reduction in tooth height). The
maximum tooth displacement is specific to the gear
center, where the tooth has the standard involute
profile.
Figure 8 shows the variation of the tooth ben-
ding stresses versus the generating circle radius – the
tooth curvature on the gear face width respectively,
for a chosen 5° the tool axis inclination. It is noticed
that the increase in the radius of the tooth curvature
decreases the maximum Von Mises stresses and
extends the area they occur along the gear face width
– a distribution specific to the spur gear. For reduced
values of the generating circle radius, the bending
stresses are not induced in the unload tooth flank. The
maximum tooth displacement is recorded for Rg = 16
mm and occurs at the gear face ends, where the
applied load is not as high as theoretically considered.
Increasing the radius of the tooth curvature, the
maximum tooth displacement rapidly decreases, but it
extends along the entire tooth length.
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1
Von Mises stresses [N/mm ]
2

40 laser beam
helical gear
2
30

20 width gear
curved face 3

standard spur gear

10 4

5 6
5 10 15 20 25 30
The tool axis inclination [°]
Fig. 9. Gear manufacture by SLS [8].
Fig. 7. The influence of the tool axis
inclination on the tooth bending resistance.
Von Mises stresses [N/mm ]
2

40
helical gear

30
curv
20 ed f
ace
width ge
standard spur gear ar
10

5 10 15 20
The radius of the generating circle [mm]
Fig. 8. The influence of the generating circle
radius on the tooth bending resistance.
3. NON-STANDARD GEAR
MANUFACTURE
3.1. Gear Manufacture by DCM
The authors used the selective laser sintering
(SLS), as a material incress manufacturing technique,
to form the solid three-dimensional non-standard
gear [7]. Figure 9 shows a schematic representation
of the process.
The unsintered nylon powder 2, from the
powder feed 1, is preheated to a temperature close to
its melting point and flatted by a leveling drum 4 into
the part cylinder 3. Here, the selective solidification
happens by further heating, up to the sintering tempe-
rature, by means of the XY controlled pulsed laser
beam 5. The powder grains being melt and stocked
together, the base plate moves down slowly and a
new layer of powder is spread across the surface. The
powder that is not scanned by the laser is unaffected
and remains in place to support the next layer of
powder. The gear shape is built in a discrete way,
with a point-to-point 2D layer technique. At the end
of the building process, the entire cake of sintered
and unsintered powder is allowed to cool down and
is lifted out of the machine. Then the loose powder is
shaken off and the sintered gear is free.
25 30
Fig. 10. Curved face width gear
with modified geometry [8].
Figure 10 illustrates a pair of the designed non-
standard gears, manufactured by SLS. The relatively
poor accuracy of the tooth flank is caused by the
particular simulation of the gear generation – the
increment of the rolling motion was limited by the
extremely large size of the file – as well as by the
relatively low precision of the manufacture
technique.
3.2. Gear Cutting Process
The curved face width gear, with modified
geometry, is designed to be manufactured on FUS
250 milling machine. Based on the kinematics
presented in 2.1, the cutting process requires special
equipment, in order to provide both the rolling and
the dividing motions, and special tools [8] (fig. 11).
The plastic gear blank 1 and a metal spur gear 2,
with the same module and number of teeth, form an
opposite set. The blank is fitted on the shaft 9 by two
specific bushing 14 and pin 11, which enable the gear
being generated to be further tested on a special rig
[5]. The screw 12 overcomes an additional blank
rotational motion due to the exerted cutting forces.
The gear being generated is connected to both
the machine-tool table, by the shaft 9 and the bearing
block 13, and the spindle support, by the following
elements: shaft 9 - metal spur gear 2 - barrel 4 - band
5 – wedge slide 8.
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13 7 8
9

5
11
6

Db

12 4 5 4 6 8

14 3
1 2
10
Fig. 11. A schematic presentation of the specific equipment [8].

2
Rb

3 Rg
4
Rg

Fig. 12. The tool heading configuration and position

related to the machine milling spindle [8].

The translational motion of the milling table 10
is transmitted to the entire equipment, including the
barrel 4 which simultaneously induces the rotational
motion for the gear set, thus the required rolling
motion necessary for the gear tooth involute profile
generation. A proper rolling motion is assured if the
outside diameter of the barrel (Db) is equal to the gear
base circle diameter, calculated in the gear centre
section. At one stage, one gear tooth flank is
generated. The blank and the standard gear 2 are then
simply dividing; the pin 7 initially disengages the
system rolling motion.
Variations of tooth geometry are generated by
different tool-headings. Figure 12 shows a schematic
illustration of the cutter heading 1 with its inclined
axis (β) related to the milling spindle direction. The
cutter 3 is located and accurately positioned into the
cutter heading 1 by special screws 4. The translation
of the cutter, along its axis, is controlled by the guide
pin 2 and enables the variation of the radius of the
generating circle (Rg). The limitation of the designed
cutter heading is that the tool axis inclination cannot
be varied and the generation of new gear geometries,
relative to the variation of the tooth height, requires
new cutter headings.
Two different cutters are used for the tooth
convex and concave sides. The normal sections of
the cutters show straight lines for the imaginary rack-
cutters flanks, with zero pressure angle, necessary to
generate an involute tooth profile in all sections
along the gear face width.
4. EXPERIMENTAL TESTS
A number of plastic curved face width gear,
with modified geometry, were cut to the following
specifications: gear modulus = 2 mm, number of teeth
= 30, gear face with = 24 mm, the radius of the
generating circle = 20 mm, the tool axis inclination =
25°.
Investigations on gear flanks are focused on the
tooth profile precision and on the flank surface
quality. In concern to gear running behaviour, with no
lubrication, measurements of the gear temperature
and noise are developed.
4.1. Tooth Profile Precision
The tooth profile is investigated using a
Coordinate Measuring Machine. A comparison to the
standard involute shows that [2, 9]:
- at gear center, the tooth has the standard involute
profile, as expected due to the gear kinematics;
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- in sections away from the gear center, the tooth
profile is slightly changed; it gets close to a different
involute, specific to a base circle whose radius is Rbi≠
Rb – a consequence of both the tool axis inclination
and tool cutting edge geometrical configuration.
measurements showed that the run-out errors of the
curved face width spur gears were quite large and
they would lead to an effective reduction of the
center distance and non-uniform wear on the tooth
rear face.

4.2. Tooth Surface Quality 98°

The tooth flank surface roughness is measured 90 90°

on a Talysurf machine and the data is exported to the 82°
80
3D mapping program Toposurf which produces a
topographical map of the investigated area (fig. 13)
70
and is able to calculate the physical and statistic

Temperature [°C]
roughness parameters in sections along the gear face 60
width and along the tooth height.
It is found out that, along the gear face width, 50
the flanks roughness is appropriate, considering the
manufacturing conditions: a single point cutter is 40
generating the tooth flank; there is no cooling liquid
during the gear manufacture as the cutting forces, 30
N = 1500 revs/min
specific to plastics, were considered relatively low.
20 N = 1000 revs/min
The manufacturing conditions influence mainly the N = 500 revs/min
tooth surface roughness along the gear height. = the predicted
10
surface temperature

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Time [min]

Fig. 14. Temperature of CFW spur gears as a

function of speed [10].

165°
160

140 136°

120
116°
Temperature [°C]

100
Fig. 13. Showing a 3D map of the tooth concave
flank surface [8]. 80

60
4.3. Gear Temperature T = 15 Nm
T = 12 Nm
40
The curved face width spur gear temperature is T = 9 Nm
= the predicted
measured [10] using the test rig designed by Walton 20 surface temperature
[11], to investigate the wear of polymer and
composite gears. The test rig also enables the gear 0
temperature to be measured using an infrared 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Time [min]
thermocouple placed 5 mm away from the test gear,
after the gear comes out of mesh. Suitable computer
data-based monitoring and data logging systems Fig. 15. Temperature of CFW spur gears as a
allow continuous measurement of the average surface function of torque [10].
temperature of the gear in operating conditions.
Figure 14 shows the significant influence of Figure 15 shows that the increase in torque
speed on gear temperature - a torque of 6 Nm is does not influence the increase in gear temperature
applied to the non-standard pinion. There are several significantly and the recorded maximum surface
reasons for the rapid increase in gear temperature: the temperature is lower than its predicted temperature –
tooth flank surface finish and a definite evidence of a speed of 500 rev/min is considered. The extremely
contact on the rear face – the transmission error high rate of the temperature rise is also explained by
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the tooth flank surface finish and running errors; in Figure 17 shows the influence of the applied
addition, the mechanical hysteresys losses, caused by torque on gear noise at 1000 rev/min speed. It can be
the viscoelastic nature of polymers, should be seen that the noise amplitude decreases with torque.
considered. This is explained by the reduction in friction forces,
Other tests were carried out, at higher torques, as for plastics the coefficient of friction decreases
but the gears were not allowed to run for too long in with load, so there is less excitation for gear teeth.
order to avoid the overheating. The gears failed at 25 Also, the increase in temperature modifies the
Nm while a similar standard spur gear train would flexibility of the teeth and the transmission error is
fail at about 15 Nm. The failure was caused by the changed.
high temperatures induced that affected the gear The main reason for the higher value of the
mesh rather than by excessive wear. non-standard spur gear noise is the manufacturing
process leading to important transmission errors and
4.4. Gear Noise rough tooth flank surface that induces high friction
forces. It is noticed that the temperature for curved
The non-standard gear noise is recorded using face width gears are extremely sensitive with respect
the above mentioned test rig; a small microphone is to gears speed. The higher the speed, the higher the
positioned in front of the gear train at exactly 50 mm rate of gear temperature increase; consequently, more
away from the meshing point. The microphone is held deflection occurs.
at the end of a long aluminum tube, clad in pipe
insulation, which helps to isolate it from 5. CONCLUSIONS
mechanically transmitted vibrations. The micro-
phone is connected to a standard PC computer that is A non-standard geometry is specially designed
running a program called Creative Wave Studio. This for the plastic spur gears in order to increase their
samples the microphone signals and gives a plot of transmissible power level. The gear tooth has a
noise pressure level against time. circular shape along the gear face width and a
Figure 16 shows the influence of gear speed on variable tooth height, decreasing to the gear end
noise (sound pressure in kN/m2), at a low torque of 5 sections.
Nm for speeds of 500 and 1500 rev/min. It can be Based on a simple specific kinematics, the gear
seen that the noise amplitude increases with speed, generation process is simulated both with numerical
due to the increase in tooth collisions. A similar and solid modeling methods. Investigations on gear
standard spur gear is quieter than the CFW gear, as tooth geometry show that the tooth flank is an
recorded, and reaches lower surface temperature. involute or near involute in all locations around the
face width.
130 Simulation of the gear mesh enables the path of
Sound pressure [dB]

spur gear
CFW gear 47 C 50 C 60 C contact to be produced and the increased contact
120
ratio, compared to the standard spur gears, is proven.
110
52 C
The finite element analysis was used for the
35 C 37 C 43 C
100 non-standard gear bending resistance study. The
double curvature of the gear tooth as well as the
90 33 C
reduced tooth height decrease the recorded Von
80 Mises stresses and locate the maximum stresses on
limited areas towards the end sections of the gear
70
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 face width.
Speed [revs/min] Based on the virtual gear, produced by the solid
Fig. 16. Sound pressure level versus speed, modeling method, the curved face width spur gear
for a 5 Nm torque [8]. prototype is manufactured by selective laser
sintering. Due to the difficulty of a moulding die
130
spur gear
design, the gears are then cut on a conventional
Sound pressure [dB]

120 47 C 68 C CFW gear milling machine. To provide the required kinematics

of the gear generation process, special tools and
110 70 C 75 C
44 C equipment are designed.
100 90 C Measurements of the gear tooth profile,
80 C 85 C
37 C 80 C developed on a CMM, showed the involute or near
90
involute tooth profile. The tooth flank surface
80 quality, investigated by a Talysurf machine, is
70
reasonable for a cutting process with a single point
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 generation process and with no lubrication during
Torque [Nm] manufacturing.
Fig. 17. Sound pressure level versus torque, The temperature of the running non-standard
at 1000 rev/min [8]. gear was measured on a specially designed test rig; it
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was found that, due to the gear generation errors and
due to the rough surface of the tooth flank (compared
to the standard moulding injected spur gears), the
temperature of the CFW gears increases rapidly and
it is more influenced by an increase in speed rather
than in the applied load.
Measurements of sound pressure level, with
variations in torque and speeds, showed that noise
level is very much dependent on speed. The curved
gears noise level decreases for high torques, mainly
as a consequence of the high temperature induced
that modifies the tooth stiffness.
There are reasons to encourage the curved face
width spur gear development and its application in
the gear industry, but the manufacture process should
be improved. Also, lubrication is recommended for
gear operating conditions.
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