Investigations on Drive Axle Thermal Behaviour: Power Loss and Heat-Transfer Estimations

In the present study, a truck drive axle and its gear set are analysed. As the gear set is a hypoid or a spiral bevel one, sliding and so tooth friction are an important source of dissipation. Other losses are mainly due to rolling element bearings and oil churning. The power losses are first calculated according to relationships given in ISO technical report. As comparison with test results shows great discrepancies, some modifications of the previous formulae are proposed. The thermal exchanges are also reviewed. Finally, two methods to obtain the bulk temperatures of the gear set are compared: a classical approach which focuses on the gear set only and a global approach which considers the complete axle using the thermal-network method.