Simulation of Spiral Bevel Gear Tooth Manufacturing to Aid in One Piece Gear Shaft Design

Many spiral bevel gear applications are implemented with a two piece gear where the gear and shaft are bolted or inertia welded as an assembly task. Eliminating a bolted, splined, or welded joint between the spiral bevel gear and shaft can reduce complexity and cost in a transmission design. Simulations of the motion of spiral bevel machine tools have been developed to ensure successful integral shaft designs for helicopters. Awareness of the location of the wheel during spiral bevel gear tooth manufacturing enables a design solution to iterate between the gear shaft and spiral bevel gear tooth design. The simulation was revisited to refine a preliminary two dimensional tool as well as create a more detailed three dimensional visualization for use during the design process. The design process was applied to three helicopter bevel gear designs. Physical verification was completed on two designs as a risk reduction in the bevel gear grinding machine before the design was released to manufacturing. The tools used in the design process as well as verification during manufacturing are discussed in this publication for three different integral shaft spiral bevel gears for helicopters.