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At least 127 records · Page 7

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NASA NTRS2016

Performance Investigation of a Full-Scale Hybrid Composite Bull Gear

Hybrid composite gears have been investigated as a weight saving technology for rotorcraft transmissions. These gears differ from conventional steel gears in that the structural material between the shaft interface and the gear rim is replaced with a lightweight carbon fiber composite. The work discussed here is an extension of previous coupon level hybrid gear tests to a full-scale bull gear. The NASA Glenn Research Center High-Speed Helical Gear Rig was modified for this program allowing several hybrid gear web configurations to be tested while utilizing the same gear rim. Testing was performed on both a baseline (steel) web configuration and a hybrid (steel-composite)configuration. Vibration, orbit and temperature data were recorded and compared between configurations. Vibration levels did not differ greatly between the hybrid and steel configurations, nor did temperature differential between inlet and outlet. While orbit shape displayed differences between the hybrid and baseline configurations, the general overall amplitude was comparable. The hybrid configuration discussed here successfully ran at 3300 hp(2,460 kW), however, progressive growth of the orbit while running at this test condition discontinued the test. Researchers continue to search for the cause of this orbit shift.

Transmissions↗

NASA NTRS1973

A life study of AISI M-50 and Super Nitralloy spur gears with and without tip relief

Tests were conducted at 170 F with groups of 3.5-in.-pitch-diameter spur gear with and without tip relief made of consumable-electrode vacuum melted (CVM) Spur Nitralloy (5Ni-2Al) and CVM AISI M-50 steel. The AISI M-50 gears without tip relief had lives approximately 50 percent longer than the Super Nitralloy gears without tip relief. However, the Super Nitralloy gears with tip relief had lives equal to the AISI M-50 gears without tip relief. The difference in lives were not statistically significant. All gears failed by classical pitting fatigue at the pitch circle. However, the AIAI M-50 gears with tip relief failed by tooth fracture. AISI M-50 gear sets without tip relief having a spalled gear tooth which were deliberately overrun after spalling had occurred, failed by tooth fracture.

Townsend, D. P.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Study of lubricant jet flow phenomena in spur gears - Out of mesh condition

An analysis was conducted for oil jet lubrication on the disengaging side of a gear mesh. Results of the analysis were computerized and used to determine the oil jet impingement depth for several gear ratios and oil jet to pitch line velocity ratios. An experimental program was conducted on the NASA gear test rig using high-speed photography to experimentally determine the oil jet impingement depth on the disengaging side of mesh. Impingement depth reaches a maximum at gear ratio near 1.5 where chopping by the leading gear tooth limits the impingement depth. The pinion impingement depth is zero above a gear ratio of 1.172 for a jet velocity to pitch time velocity ratio of 1.0 and is similar for other velocity ratios. The impingement depth for gear and pinion are equal and approximately one-half the maximum at a gear ratio of 1.0. Impingement depth on either the gear or pinion many be improved by relocation of the jet from the pitch line or by changing the jet angle. Results of the analysis were verified by experimental results using a high-speed camera and a well lighted oil jet.

Townsend, D. P.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Effect of lubricant extreme-pressure additives on surface fatigue life of AISI 9310 spur gears

Surface fatigue tests were conducted with AISI 9310 spur gears using a formulated synthetic tetraester oil (conforming to MIL-L-23699 specifications) as the lubricant containing either sulfur or phosphorus as the EP additive. Four groups of gears were tested. One group of gears tested without an additive in the lubricant acted as the reference oil. In the other three groups either a 0.1 wt % sulfur or phosphorus additive was added to the tetraester oil to enhance gear surface fatigue life. Test conditions included a gear temperature of 334 K (160 F), a maximum Hertz stress of 1.71 GPa (248 000 psi), and a speed of 10,000 rpm. The gears tested with a 0.1 wt % phosphorus additive showed pitting fatigue life 2.6 times the life of gears tested with the reference tetraester based oil. Although fatigue lives of two groups of gears tested with the sulfur additive in the oil showed improvement over the control group gear life, the results, unlike those obtained with the phosphorus oil, were not considered to be statistically significant.

Scibbe, H. W.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Surface fatigue life of carburized and hardened M50NiL and AISI 9310 spur gears and rolling-contact test bars

Spur gear endurance tests and rolling-element surface tests were conducted to investigate vacuum-induction-melted, vacuum-arc-melted (VIM-VAR) M50NiL steel for use as a gear steel in advanced aircraft applications, to determine its endurance characteristics, and to compare the results with those for standard VAR and VIM-VAR AISI 9310 gear material. Tests were conducted with spur gears and rolling-contact bars manufactured from VIM-VAR M50NiL and VAR and VIM-VAR AISI 9310. The gear pitch diameter was 8.9 cm (3.5 in.). Gear test conditions were an inlet oil temperature of 320 K (116 F), and outlet oil temperature of 350 K (170 F), a maximum Hertz stress of 1.71 GPa (248 ksi), and a speed of 10,000 rpm. Bench rolling-element fatigue tests were conducted at ambient temperatures with a bar speed of 12,500 rpm and a maximum Hertz stress of 4.83 GPA (700 ksi). The VIM-VAR M50NiL gears had a surface fatigue life that was 4.5 and 11.5 times that for VIM-VAR and VAR AISI 9310 gears, respectively. The surface fatigue life of the VIM-VAR M50NiL rolling-contact bars was 13.2 and 21.6 times that for the VIM-VAR and VAR AISI 9310, respectively. The VIM-VAR M50NiL material was shown to have good resistance to fracture through a fatigue spall and to have fatigue life far superior to that of both VIM-VAR and VAR AISI 9310 gears and rolling-contact bars.

Townsend, Dennis P.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Surface fatigue life of carburized and hardened M50NiL and AISI 9310 spur gears and rolling-contact test bars

Townsend, Dennis P.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Local Synthesis and Tooth Contact Analysis of Face-Milled Spiral Bevel Gears

Computerized simulation of meshing and bearing contact for spiral bevel gears and hypoid gears is a significant achievement that could substantially improve the technology and the quality of the gears. An approach to the synthesis of face-milled spiral bevel gears and their tooth contact analysis is presented. The proposed approach is based on the following ideas: application of the principle of local synthesis that provides optimal conditions of meshing and contact at the mean contact point, M, and in the neighborhood of M; and application of relations between principle directions and curvatures for surfaces being in line contact or in point contact. The developed local synthesis of gears provides the following: (1) the required gear ratio at M; (2) a localized bearing contact with the desired direction of the tangent to the contact path on gear tooth surface and the desired length of the major axis of contact ellipse at M; (3) a predesigned parabolic function of a controlled level for transmission errors which enables absorption of linear functions of transmission errors caused by misalignment and reduces the level of vibrations. The proposed approach does not require either the tilt of the head-cutter for the process of generation or modified roll for the pinion generation. Improved conditions of meshing and contact of the gears can be achieved without the above mentioned parameters. A computer program for determination of basic machine-tool settings and tooth contact analysis for the designed gears is presented. The approach is illustrated with a numerical example.

Litvin, Faydor L.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Surface fatigue life of M50NiL and AISI 9310 spur gears and R C bars

Spur gear endurance tests and rolling element surface fatigue tests were conducted to study vacuum induction melted, vacuum arc remelted (VIM-VAR) M50NiL steel for use as a gear steel in advanced aircraft applications, to determine its endurance characteristics, and to compare the results with those for standard VAR and VIM-VAR AISI 9310 gear material. Tests were conducted with spur gears and rolling contact bars manufactured from VIM-VAR M50NiL and VAR and VIM-VAR AISI 9310. The gear pitch diameter was 8.9 cm. Gear test conditions were an inlet oil temperature of 320 K, and outlet oil temperature of 350 K, a maximum Hertz stress of 1.71 GPa, and a speed of 10000 rpm. Bench rolling element fatigue tests were conducted at ambient temperatures with a bar speed of 12,500 rpm and a maximum Hertz stress of 4.83 GPa. The VIM-VAR M50NiL gears had a surface fatigue life that was 4.5 and 11.5 times that for VIM-VAR and VAR AISI 9310 gears, respectively. The surface fatigue life of the VIM-VAR M50NiL rolling contact bars was 13.2 and 21.6 times that for the VIM-VAR and VAR AISI 9310, respectively. The VIM-VAR M50NiL material was shown to have good resistance to fracture through a fatigue spall and superior fatigue life to both other gears.

Townsend, Dennis P.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Effect of contact ratio on spur gear dynamic load

A computer simulation is presented which shows how the gear contact ratio affects the dynamic load on a spur gear transmission. The contact ratio can be affected by the tooth addendum, the pressure angle, the tooth size (diametral pitch), and the center distance. The analysis presented was performed using the NASA gear dynamics code, DANST. In the analysis, the contact ratio was varied over the range 1.20 to 2.40 by changing the length of the tooth addendum. In order to simplify the analysis, other parameters related to contact ratio were held constant. The contact ratio was found to have a significant influence on gear dynamics. Over a wide range of operating speeds, a contact ratio close to 2.0 minimized dynamic load. For low contact ratio gears (contact ratio less than 2.0), increasing the contact ratio reduced the gear dynamic load. For high contact ratio gears (contact ratio = or greater than 2.0), the selection of contact ratio should take into consideration the intended operating speeds. In general, high contact ratio gears minimized dynamic load better than low contact ratio gears.

Liou, Chuen-Huei↗

NASA NTRS1992

Application of Face-Gear Drives in Helicopter Transmissions

The use of face gears in helicopter transmissions was explored. A light-weight, split torque transmission design utilizing face gears was described. Face-gear design and geometry were investigated. Topics included tooth generation, limiting inner and outer radii, tooth contact analysis, contact ratio, gear eccentricity, and structural stiffness. Design charts were developed to determine minimum and maximum face-gear inner and outer radii. Analytical study of transmission error showed face-gear drives were relatively insensitive to gear misalignment, but tooth contact was affected by misalignment. A method of localizing bearing contact to compensate for misalignment was explored. The proper choice of shaft support stiffness enabled good load sharing in the split torque transmission design. Face-gear experimental studies were also included and the feasibility of face gears in high-speed, high-load applications such as helicopter transmissions was demonstrated.

Litvin, F. L.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Experimental testing of prototype face gears for helicopter transmissions

An experimental program to test the feasibility of using face gears in a high-speed and high-power environment was conducted. Four face gear sets were tested, two sets at a time, in a closed-loop test stand at pinion rotational speeds to 19,100 rpm and to 271 kW. The test gear sets were one-half scale of the helicopter design gear set. Testing the gears at one-eighth power, the test gear set had slightly increased bending and compressive stresses when compared to the full scale design. The tests were performed in the LeRC spiral bevel gear test facility. All four sets of gears successfully ran at 100 percent of design torque and speed for 30 million pinion cycles, and two sets successfully ran at 200 percent of torque for an additional 30 million pinion cycles. The results, although limited, demonstrated the feasibility of using face gears for high-speed, high-load applications.

Handschuh, R.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Flex-Gears

Flex-Gears are being developed as an alternative to brushes and slip rings to conduct electricity across a rotating joint. Flex-Gears roll in the annulus of sun and ring gears for electrical contact while maintaining their position by using a novel application of involute gears. A single Flex-Gear is predicted to transfer up to 2.8 amps, thereby allowing a six inch diameter device, holding 30 Flex-Gears, to transfer over 80 amps. Semi-rigid Flex-Gears are proposed to decrease Flex-Gear stress and insure proper gear meshing.

Tsai, Lung-Wen↗

NASA NTRS1940

Drag Determination of the Forward Component of a Tricycle Landing Gear

Wind-tunnel tests were performed to determine the drag of the front-wheel arrangements of several types of tricycle landing gear. One wheel was tested in arrangements to simulate both nonretracted and partially retracted types. The landing gears were tested in conjunction with a fuselage, and the effects of wheel extension and longitudinal location were determined. The drag changed very little with either longitudinal location or wheel extension for the landing gear with the lowest drag; a completely faired landing gear of the wheelspan, single-strut type. The drag of the trouser-type landing gear increased considerably, however, with an increase in the wheel extension. The wheel of the unaired retractable landing gear was at least one-half retracted into the fuselage before the drag became less than that of the best nonretracted landing gear. The drag per unit frontal area of the landing gears of the present tests was about the same as that found for similar landing gears in earlier tests.

Harmon, Hubert N↗

NASA NTRS2000

Handbook on Face Gear Drives with a Spur Involute Pinion

The use of face gears in power transmission and drive systems has a significant number of benefits. Face gears allow a variety of new transmission arrangements as well as high reduction ratio capability. This leads to drive system weight reduction and improvements in performance. In this work, basic information about the design and analysis of face gear drives is presented. The work considers face gears in mesh with spur involute pinions for both intersecting axes and offset drives. Tooth geometry, kinematics, generation of face gears with localized bearing contact by cutting and grinding, avoidance of tooth undercutting, avoidance of tooth pointing, tooth contact analysis, and algorithms for the simulation of meshing and contact arc all topics which are discussed. In addition, applications of face gear drives are presented. Included are design uses in aerospace applications such as helicopter transmissions, split-torque face gear arrangements, comparisons of face gears with bevel gears, and general design considerations.

Litvin, F. L.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Gear tooth topological modification

The topology of parallel axis gears, such as spur and helical gears is modified to produce quieter and more smoothly operating gear sets with more uniform load distribution. A finite element analysis of the gear in its operating mode is made to produce a plot of radial and tangential deflections of the pinion and gear tooth surfaces which will occur when the gears are loaded during operation. The resultant plot is then inverted to produce a plot, or set of coordinates, which will define the path of travel of the gear tooth grinding wheel, which path is a mirror image of the plot of the finite element analysis. The resulting gears, when subjected to operating loads, will thus be deflected tangentially and radially to their optimum operating, or theoretical true involute, positions so as to produce quieter, smoother, and more evenly loaded gear trains.

Kish, Jules G.↗

NASA NTRS2010

Evaluation of Gear Condition Indicator Performance on Rotorcraft Fleet

The U.S. Army is currently expanding its fleet of Health Usage Monitoring Systems (HUMS) equipped aircraft at significant rates, to now include over 1,000 rotorcraft. Two different on-board HUMS, the Honeywell Modern Signal Processing Unit (MSPU) and the Goodrich Integrated Vehicle Health Management System (IVHMS), are collecting vibration health data on aircraft that include the Apache, Blackhawk, Chinook, and Kiowa Warrior. The objective of this paper is to recommend the most effective gear condition indicators for fleet use based on both a theoretical foundation and field data. Gear diagnostics with better performance will be recommended based on both a theoretical foundation and results of in-fleet use. In order to evaluate the gear condition indicator performance on rotorcraft fleets, results of more than five years of health monitoring for gear faults in the entire HUMS equipped Army helicopter fleet will be presented. More than ten examples of gear faults indicated by the gear CI have been compiled and each reviewed for accuracy. False alarms indications will also be discussed. Performance data from test rigs and seeded fault tests will also be presented. The results of the fleet analysis will be discussed, and a performance metric assigned to each of the competing algorithms. Gear fault diagnostic algorithms that are compliant with ADS-79A will be recommended for future use and development. The performance of gear algorithms used in the commercial units and the effectiveness of the gear CI as a fault identifier will be assessed using the criteria outlined in the standards in ADS-79A-HDBK, an Army handbook that outlines the conversion from Reliability Centered Maintenance to the On-Condition status of Condition Based Maintenance.

Antolick, Lance J.↗

NASA NTRS2014

Vibration and Operational Characteristics of a Composite-Steel (Hybrid) Gear

Hybrid gears have been tested consisting of metallic gear teeth and shafting connected by composite web. Both free vibration and dynamic operation tests were completed at the NASA Glenn Spur Gear Fatigue Test Facility, comparing these hybrid gears to their steel counterparts. The free vibration tests indicated that the natural frequency of the hybrid gear was approximately 800 Hz lower than the steel test gear. The dynamic vibration tests were conducted at five different rotational speeds and three levels of torque in a four square test configuration. The hybrid gears were tested both as fabricated (machined, composite layup, then composite cure) and after regrinding the gear teeth to the required aerospace tolerance. The dynamic vibration tests indicated that the level of vibration for either type of gearing was sensitive to the level of load and rotational speed.

Handschuh, Robert F.↗

NASA NTRS2019

Ultrasonic Gear Steel Fatigue at NASA

Gear tooth bending fatigue life is one of the main drivers of rotorcraft gear box weight and maintenance cost. Depending on rotorcraft gearbox speed, 10,000 flight hours can easily mean reaching gear tooth bending fatigue cycles in the 10^10 cycle regime. Traditionally gear fatigue life in the 10^10 cycle regime is estimated based on empirical correction factors applied to the traditional fatigue limit of 10^7 cycles. In order to improve on this method of life prediction, enable better gear box design, and reduce gear box maintenance cost, NASA has started an ultrasonic gear steel fatigue program to quantify the 10^10 life of gear steels. Ultrasonic fatigue testing makes use of piezo electric actuators and resonance to generate stress-strain cycles at 20 kHz. The ability to test gear steals at 20 kHz reduces test time for 10^10 cycles from roughly 16 years with traditional 20 Hz testing to 6 days. In this presentation, the establishment of NASA's ultrasonic test capability, results to date, and future testing plans will be discussed.

Tallerico, Thomas F.↗