Analytical Expressions of the Efficiency of Standard and High Contact Ratio Involute Spur Gears

Simple, traditional methods for computation of the efficiency of spur gears are based on the hypotheses of constant friction coefficient and uniform load sharing along the path of contact. However, none of them is accurate. The friction coefficient is variable along the path of contact, though average values can be often considered for preliminary calculations. Nevertheless, the nonuniform load sharing produced by the changing rigidity of the pair of teeth has significant influence on the friction losses, due to the different relative sliding at any contact point. In previous works, the authors obtained a nonuniform model of load distribution based on the minimum elastic potential criterion, which was applied to compute the efficiency of standard gears. In this work, this model of load sharing is applied to study the efficiency of both standard and high contact ratio involute spur gears (with contact ratio between 1 and 2 and greater than 2, resp.). Approximate expressions for the friction power losses and for the efficiency are presented assuming the friction coefficient to be constant along the path of contact. A study of the influence of some transmission parameters (as the gear ratio, pressure angle, etc.) on the efficiency is also presented.