Parameter optimization and bearing load analysis of coupling for locomotive drive system

By analysing the properties of coupling and bearing load of locomotive drive system with finite elcment software ANSYS,the paper exercises optimal design based on the characteristics of the drive system and operation characteristics of the coupling. Taking bending stiffness and torsional stiffness of coupling as objective function,the performance charateristics of the coupling and its influences on bearing load before and after the optimzation were caculated respectively. The results shows that optimizing the structure of the coupling can incr ease the capacity for additional force caused by installation errors of the system,and also can decrease loading-increasing rate of the drive system bearing load.