Distribution Unlimited COMPUTERIZED DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF FACE-MILLED, UNIFORM TOOTH HEIGHT SPIRAL BEVEL GEAR DRIVES

Face-milled spiral bevel gears with uniform tooth height are considered. An approach is proposed for the design of low-noise and localized bearing contact of such gears. The approach is based on the mismatch of contacting surfaces and permits two types of bearing contact either directed lon-gitudinally or across the surface to be obtained. A Tooth Contact Analysis (TCA) computer program was developed. This analysis was used to determine the influence of mis-alignment on meshing and contact of the spiral bevel gears. A numerical example that illustrates the developed theory is provided.