Optimization of gears by using finite element analysis

A. Baradeswaran,R. Padma Priya

Abstract

In this article, we have made an attempt to reduce weight of gears which are the inevitable parts of any Machineries, Automobiles, etc. Weight reduction is the important factor which can attract the customer. In this work, we have removed optimum amount of material in the teeth such that the performance of gear is undisturbed. We have got surprising results when we tried this out with various geometrical cross sections such as circle, square, rectangle, trapezium, rhombus, triangle and hexagon. Interestingly, we found that Square cross section gives better results than others. Then we proceeded with two case studies – Positioning and Sizing. The whole work is done with CAE tools such as PRO-E WF2 (for modeling) and ANSYS 10 (for analysis).The results are presented and discussed with graphical comparisons.