Influence of Gear-Shaft-Bearing Configurations on Vibration Characteristics of Spiral Bevel Gear Drives

The design of the shafts and bearings significantly influences the dynamics of spiral bevel gears like most high-speed precision gears employed in the powertrains of emerging and traditional automobiles, trucks, and off-highway vehicles. In this article, the influence of design changes of gear-shaft-bearing configurations on the dynamics of spiral bevel gears is investigated by applying the finite element-based dynamic model. Two kinds of representative gear-shaft-bearing configurations, i.e., straddle-mounted pinion configuration and overhung-mounted pinion configuration, are compared from the viewpoint of the vibrations and dynamics of the spiral bevel-geared rotor system. The results show that the changes of gear-shaft-bearing configurations can lead to a significant change in spiral bevel gear dynamic responses, including dynamic mesh force, dynamic bearing loads, and so on. The underlying physics controlling these effects are also discovered.