Gear Box Design with Flywheel for Reduced Vibrations and Energy Savings

Severe vibrations have been encountered in power drives that use hydrostatic power transmissions to provide the power at the working implement. Such vibrations often lead to failure of the hydraulic motor, hydraulic pump, hoses, speed reducing gear box, drive chain and other working components that may be a part of the power transmission system.

This paper describes the design approach taken to provide inertia by use of a flywheel to a speed reducing gear box driven by a hydraulic motor in an application where high torque peaks are present. A further improvement is obtained by the use of a slip clutch for applications where the implement is being brought to a complete stop in milliseconds.

The use of the flywheel reduces or eliminates the vibrations and associated failures and improves efficiency.