MECH 3203: MECHANICS OF MACHINES AND VIBRATIONS

CASE STUDY 1 (GEARED TRANSMISSION SYSTEM)

Submission Date: 22/12/2020

Students need to read and understand a journal paper entitled “An Experimental Investigation of Spur Gear
Efficiency” on how the author of the paper conducted experimental analysis to investigate and study
efficiency of the spur gear. In this study, a test methodology was developed for the measurement of spur
gear efficiency under high-speed and variable torque conditions. A power-circulating test machine was
designed to operate at speeds to 10,000 rpm and transmitted power levels to 700 kW. A precision torque
measurement system was implemented, and its accuracy and repeatability in measuring torque loss in the
power loop was demonstrated. Tests were conducted on gears with two values of modules and two surface
roughness levels, operating in a dry sump jet-lubrication environment with three different gear lubricants.
These tests were used to quantify the influence of these parameters on both load dependent (mechanical),
load-independent (spin), and total power loss. Trends in mechanical gear mesh efficiency and total gearbox
efficiency were discussed in terms of rotational speed and transmitted torque. The students need to submit
the theoretical calculations of the efficiency (handwritten) and percentage of errors in one table (softcopy)
for the experimental analysis that have been done by the author. The calculations of the percentage of error
must be tabulated in the table below. The students need to calculate the efficiency for surface Ground
(Lubricant A and B) only, please ignore other surface conditions. You may refer to any other journal papers
or technical papers as your references. The dateline for this case study is 22th December 2020 (before
5.30pm). All submission must be by e-mail to nursherida.jalaluddin@iukl.edu.my
Table 1

23T 40T
Efficiency Experimental Theoretical Error Experimental Theoretical Error
(%) (Ground A) (Ground A)

(20 marks)
(CLO1:PLO1:C3)
I. Introduction
Efficiency of spur and helical gear systems has become an increasingly important research topic as the fuel
economy requirements for today’s passenger vehicles and rotorcraft are more stringent, due not only to fuel
cost but also to environmental concerns associated with energy utilization and air pollution. Improved gear
system efficiency also results in less frictional heat generation within the gearbox, resulting in
improvements in gear failure modes such as scoring and pitting and lower-capacity lubrication systems.

2.0 Measurement of Spur Gear Efficiency

Test Machine and Test Procedure. The spur gear efficiency test machine used in this study, shown in Fig.
1(a), was designed and procured as part of an earlier spur gear efficiency investigation. The test machine
consists of two identical gearboxes, each containing one gear mesh, four identical cylindrical roller bearings,
and five 30 mm shaft seals. This machine utilizes a four-square-type power circulation concept such that
one gear from each gearbox is connected to the corresponding gear of the other gearbox, as illustrated in
the schematic of the machine layout shown in Fig. 1(b).
 Fig. 1 (a) The spur gear efficiency test machine and (b) a schematic layout of the machine

Gear Specimens, Test Matrix, and Repeatability. A total of four sets of spur gears were used in the test
matrix shown in Table 1. Figure 2 illustrates two of the test gears. Each test gear set is formed by two
identical gear pairs, or four gears in total. The scope of the test program was limited to the investigation of
the impact of gear module m, surface finish amplitude, and lubricant type on spur gear efficiency.
For the study on gear module, 23-tooth (23T) ground gears with m=3.95 mm were compared to 40-tooth
(40 T) ground gears with m=2.32 mm. Table 2 lists basic design parameters of these gears
.

Calculation of Components of Power Losses from TT Measurements. There are a large number of
sources of power loss in a gearbox due to complex mechanical and fluid-mechanical interactions. These
losses can be grouped based on their dependence on load such that

where PT=ωTT is the total measured power loss, Pmech is the total mechanical (load-dependent) power loss,
and Pspin is the total load-independent spin power loss, which includes gear windage, inertial losses from the
impinging oil lubrication jet, shaft seals, and bearing viscous power losses.

The bearing power loss formula was used to separate bearing losses from Pmech so that the gear mesh
mechanical power loss Pm was obtained from the measured values of PT for loaded and unloaded cases as
Pm= 1/ 2 (PT−Pspin)−4Pb,L. Finally, the average total efficiency of each gearbox (gear pair, bearings, and seals)
and the average gear mesh mechanical efficiency were calculated, respectively, by
 Marking Scheme

No Item Marks
1 Stress theoretical calculations in report format (please refer 5
below for the example)
2 Percentage of error, efficiency calculations & references 15

Total 20

(CLO1:PLO2:C3)

EXAMPLE

Table of Contents
1.0 Equations ............................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

2.0 Table Of Calculations ........................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

3.0 Discussions ............................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.

4.0 Conclusions ............................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.

5.0 References .............................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.