Low loss gears

In most transmission systems, one of the main power loss sources is the loaded gear mesh. High power losses lead to high energy consumption, high temperatures, early oil aging, increased failure risk and high cooling requirements. In many cases, high efficiency is not the main focus, and design criteria such as load capacity or vibration excitation predominate the gear shape design. Those design criteria mostly counteract the highest possible efficiency. In this article, the influences of gear geometry parameters on gear efficiency, load capacity, and excitation are shown. Therefore, design instructions can be derived, which lead to low-loss gears with equivalent load capacity.