Gear Noise Development Using Dr. Taguchi's Tolerance Design of Experiment Approach

In the transmission and powertrain divisions of the automotive industry, audible noise transmitted by gear meshing is one of the highest quality characteristics for customer satisfaction. This paper involves an overview of an approach of reducing gear noise in manual transmissions and powertrain components.

A traditional method of full factorial experimentation is usually the norm in gear noise development. This method is very expensive, time-consuming, and yields marginal results.

The method of Dr. Taguchi's Design of Experiments was implemented on the speed gear pairs of a manual transmission. Different combinations of gear geometry characteristics were tested using design of experiments. Optimum manufacturing tolerances are then set using the results of the experiment.

The significance of this type of experimentation is that it results in a substantial reduction in gear noise, as well as reduction in pre-production gear development time and manufacturing costs.