Structural Analysis of Electric Vehicle Transmission - Mounts and Casing for Different Materials

The main objective of the study is to design and analyze casing and supports of a transmission system for an electric vehicle. The system comprises of motors as the power source, constant mesh gear box coupled with limited slip differential as the power transmitting source. The space occupied by the transmission system is a foremost constraint in designing the system. The wear and tear in the system is caused by the gear meshing process and transmission error which lead to failure of the transmission system. This internal excitation also produces a dynamic mesh force, which is transmitted to the casing and mounts through shafts and bearings. In order to overcome such issues in a transmission system, a gear box casing, differential mounts and motor mounts have been designed by the use of CAD-modeling software “SOLIDWORKS”. The designs were imported to FEA software “ANSYS” for carrying out static structural analysis. Static analysis is performed to determine the deformation, Von-Mises stresses, and Factor of Safety of the aforementioned models. The analysis is carried by applying various boundary conditions of fixed - fixed motion support and zero displacements for certain parts of the models. Calculated load values were then applied using ANSYS static analysis tool. Different materials are used for carrying out the analysis on the casing, differential mount, and motor mount, for varying thickness of the models. The materials opted for the study is Aluminum Alloy (Al 6061-T6) and (Al 7075-T6). The design of the models focused on weight reduction and appropriate stress distribution. A comparison study has been carried out for the materials. The study resulted in determining the thickness of the models and the material that can withstand the loads and excitations for maximum weight reduction.