Optimisation of cylindrical gear pairs: A review

Abstract Gear pairs effectively transmit power and movement over short distances. Their design is well-defined in the technical literature, including standards and handbooks. However, the resulting transmission performance will still mostly depend on the designer's skill and experience. Thus, by including the optimisation in the transmission design process, it is possible to increase its value through enhanced operational characteristics. In addition to providing an overview of studies on gear optimisation, this review article aims to summarise results obtained by other researchers and to formalise gear optimisation process. The paper is focused on the macro-geometry optimisation, while also providing some details on micro-geometry, aiming to present a comprehensive optimisation procedure. Based on the reviewed literature, recommendations for carrying out the gear pair optimisation process were given, including the design variable selection, selection of objective functions, and formulation of constraints. Finally, rough macro-geometry design guidelines based on the findings reported by other researchers were provided.

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