12 STEPS IN DESIGNING AND BUILDING HIGHLY ENGINEERED

GEARS AND GEARBOXES

When designing custom gears and gearboxes for a dynamic test system application, there are times when a
highly engineered solution is required instead of an off-the-shelf option.

1. When the speed and torque requirements of a dynamic testing system push operating envelopes to
extremes, and/or
2. Where the performance of the gears must not have an impact on or influence the recorded
performance of the test article

A rigorous 12 step process is required to ensure that a dynamic test system has a long and trouble-free
machine life:

1. Evaluate Design Criteria and Geometric Constraints

2. Calculate Speeds, Torque, and Loads
3. Determine Gear/Shaft Designs and Support with Appropriate Calculations
4. Select Bearings and Mounts
5. Determine Gear/Shaft Manufacturing Methods and Materials
6. Evaluate and Verify Gearbox Design & Construction
7. Determine and Calculate Lubrication Requirements
8. Establish Gearbox Assembly Procedures
9. Perform Efficiency Calculations
10. Design Gearbox Instrumentation and Routing Locations
11. Complete Assembly Inspection Documents
12. Perform Final Acceptance Testing

Evaluate Design Criteria and Geometric Constraints

Either a customer-created Scope of Work (SOW) or an internally created document based upon the
performance requirements of the machine end use should be used to create the project’s foundation.

Calculate Speeds, Torque, and Loads

The function of each test machine is to provide outputs which will apply some range of rotational speed
through a range of torque or other loads under simulated operating conditions, either for a pre-determined
period of time or until failure. If not provided in the SOW, the speeds, torque and load values should be
determined by the machine requirements.

Each intermediate shaft speed and transmitted load must be calculated to ensure that the gears, shafts and
bearings can survive under maximum conditions for the expected life of the machine. Calculations are made
and charted for each gear/shaft until the input interface is reached, usually at a point where a motor is sized
and applied.
Factors which affect the number of gear meshes from input-to-output relate to the output speed and the
practical ratio change per mesh, as well as the geometric constraints of the test article. The number of gear
stages or meshes to achieve the output location(s) will determine the size, shape and design of the gearbox
housing and its mounting considerations.

Determine Gear/Shaft Designs and Support with Appropriate

Calculations
This stage of the design process is critical to ensure an efficient, quiet, and trouble-free gearbox life.
Calculations are performed and checked by the engineering design team and then verified by the advanced
analysis team for accuracy and completeness.

Free-Body Diagrams are created for each gear interface to ensure that all forces to be experienced are
applied and fully understood. These forces are then analyzed for their impact on the component’s
operation.

Proprietary and commercially available engineering tools are used to provide values and verification of:

 Gear tooth stresses

 Bending stresses
 Contact ratios
 Module selection
 Helix angles
 Gear face width requirements
 Shaft deflections
 Shaft fatigue limitations and utilization
 Gear profile modification and crowning
 Lateral and torsional vibrational analysis

Select Bearings and Mounts

Bearing selection can become an iterative process and is influenced by many of the calculations in Step 3.
The radial and axial forces at play as determined by the free-body diagrams as well as rotational speed have
the major impact on the bearing selection process, however, other factors such as gear and shaft sizing due
to geometric constraints, required design life (L10 life), bearing availability and costs all play a role in the
ultimate selection decisions.

Practical design factors are brought into play, such as ease of assembly and disassembly, bearing mounting
and pre-loading, as well as the ability to supply proper lubrication to the bearings.

Determine Gear/Shaft Manufacturing Methods and Materials

Decisions are now made to determine if gears will be separate from and keyed to the shafts or integral to
the shafts. Gear processing decisions are made including the selection of the gear materials, (usually aircraft
quality 8620 or 9310 Steels), carburizing and heat treatment specifications, gear grinding requirements,
isotropic superfinishing requirements, and gear/shaft balancing specifications.

All gears produced must be accompanied by material certifications, heat treating certifications, grind profile
charts, nital etch and magnetic particle inspection reports and dimensional inspection reports. With the
collection of this documentation, each gear has a unique birth history record.
Evaluate and Verify Gearbox Design & Construction
The design of each gearbox is generally determined by the geometric constraints of the test machine or
application, predominantly the required locations of inputs and outputs and the number of gear shafts
necessary to span the input and output centers. Machine function will determine the complexity of the
gearbox construction which is an important factor in gearbox material selection.

Regardless of the material selection, all gearboxes must undergo complete Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and
modal analysis. Bearing separation forces and all external loads and forces are considered when performing
FEA to ensure that gearbox construction is sufficiently robust to meet the machine demands. Modal analysis
is performed to ensure that the natural frequencies of the gearboxes fall outside of the operating range of
the machine performance envelope.

Calculate Lubrication Requirements

Gearbox gears and bearings should be jet lubricated. All bearings and gears should employ interchangeable
lubrication orifices which allow for easy replacement and flow adjustment without dismantling the gearbox.

Calculations are performed to ensure that lubrication applied to bearings meets or exceeds bearing
manufacturers’ jet lube velocity parameters for proper lubrication penetration. Bearing losses due to heat
are calculated and become factors in the overall lube system design for flow and cooling. Gear lube jet sizes
are calculated to ensure that lube impingement levels guarantee that all gear teeth receive adequate lube
flow down to the roots of the teeth and that proper flow is maintained for heat removal.

All of the above calculations are then combined to size the central lubrication system flow, pressure and
cooling requirements.

Establish Gearbox Assembly Procedures

Gearbox design must be practical as well as robust. Proper design will not only allow for ease of assembly,
but must also provide for easy disassembly in cases of failure requiring component replacement. Access
panels for visual inspection and maintenance are valuable to minimize disassembly during service.

Perform Efficiency Calculations

Gearbox efficiency will determine power losses, which when converted to heat, must be removed by the
lube system’s cooling heat exchangers. Efficiency calculations will also ensure that input motors will provide
sufficient power to overcome losses and result in correct gearbox output power.

Design Gearbox Instrumentation and Routing Locations

Gearboxes must be fully instrumented so that bearing and gear health is constantly monitored. This
provides a tremendous troubleshooting tool as well as an early warning system of a potential problem.

All bearing arrangements must have thermocouples which report bearing operating temperatures to a
master control and monitoring system. Any deviation from the acceptable temperature range must initiate
an alarm and potential machine shutdown. Trend data should be recorded and the long-range performance
of each bearing studied.

Input and Output shaft fixed and floating bearing assemblies must be outfitted with accelerometers to
measure shaft vibrations. Every attempt should be made to locate the accelerometers along the line of
action between gears to measure maximum values. Accelerometer signals are also transmitted to the
master control system and excessive values create alarms and shut down machine operation. Trend data is
maintained for vibration information.

Complete Assembly Inspection Documents

Complete inspection reports for every gearbox must be prepared in advance of assembly. These reports
contain specific information and specifications about each bearing, shaft and gear. Information such as shaft
end play, gear backlash, bearing pre-load and spacer data is recorded and compared to accepted values.

Assembler confirmation is required for various completeness and inspection tests. A smoke generator is
used to confirm lubrication flow through piping and orifices and to detect leaks and the results are recorded.
A section of the inspection report is used to record gear contact patterns and still another section records
bearing temperatures and accelerometer readings in the unloaded state as well as at 25%, 50%, 75% and
under full load.

These reports chronicle a baseline performance, ensuring that gearboxes were assembled correctly and
completely and providing reference data for troubleshooting after machines are put into daily use.

Perform Final Acceptance Testing

Before any machine can be shipped to a customer, an Acceptance Testing Plan is established and the
complete parameters of this plan must be met. Usually, machine performance criteria determine the
elements of the Acceptance Plan. It is important that the gearbox performance is such that it does not have
any negative influence on the overall machine performance. If the gearbox design steps above are carefully
followed, this is sure to be the case.

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