The Influence of Gear Meshing Clearance

The influence of gear meshing clearance

1. Gear wear and reduced lifespan: Excessive gear mesh clearance can exacerbate gear wear and reduce the service life of gears. This is because the gap is too large, causing sliding between the two tooth surfaces during the meshing process, resulting in wear. In addition, if the gap is too large, it is bound to have a smaller tooth thickness and affect the strength, especially for gear transmission systems that require forward and reverse rotation, there will be a significant impact during speed change, which can easily cause tooth breakage and other failures. If the meshing clearance is too small, it may cause excessive pressure on the gear during the meshing process, which can also accelerate gear wear.

2. Decreased transmission accuracy: Excessive or insufficient meshing clearance of gears can lead to a decrease in transmission accuracy, resulting in significant errors in power transmission.

3. Impact on the smoothness and stability of gear transmission: The presence of backlash can cause inter tooth impact, affecting the smoothness and stability of gear transmission. If the gap is too large, the tooth surface of the gear will generate impact load, damage the oil film, and produce impact noise when the speed or load changes sharply, which will also exacerbate the wear of the tooth surface. In severe cases, it can cause the gear teeth to break.

4. Noise and vibration affecting gear transmission: Excessive or insufficient meshing clearance may cause significant impact or tooth surface sliding during gear meshing, resulting in noise.

5. Impact on the response speed of gear transmission system: Excessive gear mesh clearance may cause the response of the transmission system to lag behind the issuance of motor commands, resulting in reverse dead zone (idle travel), as well as impact, vibration, noise, etc., which greatly affects the transmission accuracy.

6. Impact on the dynamic behavior of gear transmission systems: The change in backlash can not only affect the amplitude of vibration in the gear transmission system, but also significantly alter the dynamic behavior of the gear transmission system, causing a jump between chaotic and periodic states.

Overall, the size of gear mesh clearance has a significant impact on the service life, transmission accuracy, smoothness and stability of transmission, noise and vibration, and the quality of gear transmission. Therefore, when designing and using gears, it is necessary to strictly control the size of the gear mesh clearance to ensure the normal operation of the gears and extend their service life.