Design Method for Optimizing Contact Ratio of Hypoid Gears

Innumerable solutions can be obtained when the pitch surface of a hypoid gear is solved from the requirements of two cones. The pitch angle is determined by the Gleason method based on the idea that the tooth lengthwise curvature corresponds to the cutter radius. This study proposes a new design method that can optimize the contact ratio using the pitch angle, using the new tooth geometry advocated by Honda. The balance of the contact ratios of the convex and concave sides of a gear can be optimized by designing the pitch angle. By optimizing the contact ratio, noise and vibration performance can be improved. In addition, highly efficient gear design can be achieved by decreasing the spiral angle.The effectiveness of this optimized design method is confirmed by measuring transmission errors under load. Design examples of a highly efficient gear by reducing the spiral angle and a gear which ensures high noise and vibration performance are shown. Using this proposed method expands the design freedom of hypoid gears.© 2013 ASME