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Automation of Gearbox Design: Originalarbeiten/Originals
Automation of Gearbox Design: Originalarbeiten/Originals
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10010-021-00517-3
ORIGINALARBEITEN/ORIGINALS
Received: 26 March 2021 / Accepted: 7 July 2021 / Published online: 13 September 2021
© The Author(s) 2021
Abstract
In order to respond to a shortened development time of today’s transmission systems, the automation of certain steps in
the design process is essential for ensuring an efficient development process. Computer-aided tools are widely used for
analyzing given design configurations because standardized methods are available to evaluate the load carrying capacity of
all key components of a simple gear train, namely bearings, shafts and gears. At an early stage of development, requirements
and restrictions need to be synthesized to design concepts. During this step, engineers typically rely on their experience and
proven practice. Design optimization usually is achieved through an iterative and time-consuming process of analyzing and
tuning towards an optimization objective. In this paper a time-saving, automated and systematic method for the design of
weight optimized helical gearboxes is proposed. The underlying method has been derived from both, norms and guidelines,
which exist for the design and layout of shafts, bearings and gear wheel bodies. Starting with only few input parameters,
a detailed shaft geometry with different diameter sections can be derived. A discrete set of values from standard tables
and rolling bearing catalogs represents the method’s framework for all realizable shaft diameters in each section. A mixed
integer nonlinear optimization problem results from the interdependence between these distinct values. For this purpose,
a systematic iterative approach has been developed and implemented in an established design program for gearbox systems.
The algorithm uses the results drawn from an analytical calculation of the shaft load carrying capacity to directly adjust
the shaft’s diameter and length values. The dimensioning of the wheel body, the service life calculation of rolling element
bearings and the selection of specific machine elements are embedded in a systematic sequence. As a result, the model
is capable to work out a weight-optimized gearbox that consists of gear meshes, shafts and bearings, taking all three
components into consideration at a time.
Marius Fürst
fuerst@fzg.mw.tum.de
1
Gear Research Centre (FZG), Department of Mechanical
Engineering, Technical University of Munich,
Boltzmannstraße 15, 85748 Garching, Germany
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Zusammenfassung
Dank zunehmender Automatisierung des Produktentwicklungsprozesses heutiger Getriebesysteme können auch kurze Ent-
wicklungszeiten effizient genutzt werden. In diesem Prozess ermöglichen standardisierte Rechenmethoden zur Bestim-
mung der Tragfähigkeit von Lagern, Wellen und Zahnrädern die rechnergestützte Bewertung aller Hauptkomponenten
einer Getriebekonstruktion. Zu Beginn der Produktentwicklung müssen sämtliche Anforderungen und Randbedingungen
in Getriebekonzepte überführt werden, wofür typischerweise auf Erfahrung und bewährtes Wissen zurückgegriffen wird.
Eine Optimierung des Getriebekonzeptes hinsichtlich eines bestimmten Ziels wird anschließend durch einen iterativen,
oft zeitaufwändigen, Prozess der Analyse und Feinabstimmung erreicht. In diesem Beitrag wird ein effizientes, automa-
tisierbares und systematisches Verfahren zur Auslegung gewichtsoptimierter Stirnradgetriebe vorgestellt. Die Methode
bindet gängige Normen und Richtlinien zur Auslegung und Gestaltung von Wellen, Lagern und Lagerungen sowie Rad-
körpern ein. Anhand weniger Eingangsparameter kann eine detaillierte, gestufte Wellengeometrie ermittelt werden. Das
geometrische Grundgerüst zur Bestimmung der zulässigen Durchmesser eines jeden Wellenabschnitts besteht aus einer
diskreten Wertemenge aus Normtabellen und Wälzlagerkatalogen. Die wechselseitige Abhängigkeit aller Wellenabschnit-
te führt zu einem gemischt-ganzzahligen nichtlinearen Optimierungsproblem, welches durch die Implementierung eines
systematischen Iterationsprozesses in einem etablierten Auslegungsprogramm für Getriebesysteme gelöst wird. In den
Optimierungsalgorithmus der Wellengeometrie fließen die Ergebnisse eines analytischen Tragfähigkeitsnachweises für
Wellen ein. Hierbei wird in systematischer Reihenfolge die Radkörperdimensionierung, die Bestimmung der nominellen
Lebensdauer von Wälzlagern und die Auswahl geeigneter Maschinenelemente verknüpft. Das beschriebene Vorgehen er-
möglicht eine gewichtsoptimierte Getriebeauslegung durch die simultane Berücksichtigung von Verzahnungen, Wellen und
Wälzlagern.
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Forsch Ingenieurwes (2022) 86:409–420 411
guages to generate consistent, domain specific models for center) as a requirement for mountability and simplification
different engineering tools. For the design of shafts, they of production. At the same time, this reflects an approxima-
propose a division into several sections, which are linked tion to the idealized shaft contour with constant equivalent
to the associated components (bearings, gears). However, stress (e.g. paraboloid for central shear force application).
an automated method for determining the diameters and For each of these sections, the respective diameter (e.g. load
lengths of the individual sections of a shaft is not men- capacity requirement, available standard part diameters) as
tioned. In the aforementioned works, the dimensioning of well as the length (e.g. width of standard parts, mounting
machine elements and geometry synthesis of gearboxes is chamfer) must be determined during the design process.
extensively studied, but no approach addresses the automa- To put it differently, this results in the following optimiza-
tion of all required steps to generate basically production- tion problem, which has to be solved individually for each
ready assemblies consisting of shafts, bearings and gears. section of a shaft:
This study develops an automatable method for a detailed
geometry synthesis and analysis of shafts in combination minimize z = 1=4 d 2 l + mme
with the dimensioning of wheel bodies, rolling element such that d 2 R
(1)
bearings and selection of specific machine elements. The d 2 F
shaft model is derived from fundamental rules of machine S − S min 0
design and is implemented in GAP.
Herein, a minimum of the objective function z (total mass)
is sought, which is composed of the mass of the shaft sec-
2 Method tion plus the mass of the related machine element mme .
Boundary conditions of this nonlinear mixed-integer opti-
This section shows the developed models’ structure and its mization problem are that the shaft diameter has to be out
underlying theory. It also covers the considerations made of the feasible set of discrete values F (i.e. available stan-
during the process of model derivation. dard part diameters) and within the range of stepping R.
Following basic design guidelines, R limits the maximum
2.1 Shaft geometry parameterization diameter step of two adjacent sections to D=d 1.4 [27].
At the same time, all safety factors S must exceed the given
Almost all main components of a transmission interact di- nominal value (e.g. shaft strength assessment, bearing ser-
rectly with a gear shaft. Therefore, gear shafts can be re- vice life, etc.). A schematic representation of the developed
garded as the central machine element of a transmission. two-leveled shaft model used to obtain a detailed stepped
When designing a shaft, the requirements and dimensions shaft geometry at the end of an iterative design process is
imposed by the connected machine elements must be taken shown in Fig. 1.
into account. In combination with design guidelines regard- Subsequently, all relevant section parameterizations will
ing function, manufacture, assembly and load, a generalized be outlined. The standards and calculation methods consid-
parameterization of the geometry of a gear shaft can be de- ered in the model are mentioned, and the type and position
rived. For this purpose, the shaft is divided into several char- of the notches relevant for strength assessment of the shafts
acteristic sections each of which is modeled by a different are described.
parameterization of the geometry (i.e. length and diame-
ter of the section). Assembling several different sections in 2.1.1 Section “Load”
a specific order leads to a parametric representation of the
shaft. We refer to this characteristic arrangement of the sec- Each gearbox has at least two connecting shafts for power
tions as the shaft skeleton. In the shaft skeleton, the qual- input and output. Allowing a high degree of design free-
itative dependence of the diameters on neighboring shaft dom, key or splined shaft connections are widely used for
sections is specified. For simple helical gearboxes without positive shaft-hub connections. The standard DIN 748 [1]
auxiliary function, such a generalized skeleton can already was intended to reduce this potentially high variability of
be defined on the basis of a few boundary conditions, such shaft ends. By making use of this standard in the shaft
as the desired type of bearing (e.g. locating/non-locating model the feasible design space for lengths and diameters
bearing arrangement) and the function of the shaft in the can be reduced. Additionally, a rough dimensioning of key
gear (input, intermediate, or output shaft). Technically mo- and splined shaft connections is included as [5, 11, 35]:
tivated requirements determine the qualitative structure of
2 KA Tnom
the shaft skeleton and form constraints of the optimiza- pm pallow : (2)
tion problem. Examples include an intended increase in the dm ls hs n '
diameter of the shaft shoulders (from the shaft ends to the
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2.1.4 Section “Rolling bearing” cording DIN ISO 281 [8], which must exceed the specified
nominal value:
Rolling bearings are used in most gear applications to trans-
mit forces and to define position of gear elements moving Lnm = a1 aISO L10 Lnm;nom : (3)
relative to each other. Standardized methods can be used to
calculate the load capacity and service life expectancy. In Depending on the bearing type and arrangement, rolling
this study, the selection of suitable rolling bearings is based element bearings require a specific positioning approach.
on the calculation of the expanded modified rating life ac- In addition, the adjacent shaft sections may be of different
characteristics (lock nut, gear, etc.), which results in the
chosen section parameterization shown in Fig. 5.
On one side, the rolling bearing limits the shaft section
(e.g. for an adjacent shaft shoulder or sleeve), on the other
side there is the possibility of providing a distance washer
for adjustment, a free shaft end, or a centering for a sleeve to
the adjacent lock nut. For all combinations it is ensured that
the inner ring is supported over the entire width except the
undercut at the circumference. Depending on the position
of the section in the skeleton, the overhanging length of the
section can be specified differently. Distance washers are
assumed to have a constant width of 0.5 mm, centerings are
expressed parametrically: l = bb + 0.05 d . This shaft sec-
tion contains a maximum of one notch, provided that there
is a shaft shoulder towards one side. In the load capacity
calculation this undercut of shape F [6] is considered.
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414 Forsch Ingenieurwes (2022) 86:409–420
hub beyond the section. This is represented in the model 2.1.7 Skeleton “Input/output shaft”
by a diameter-dependent factor: l = bh − 0.05 d . The cho-
sen parameterization of a gear wheel section is shown in For drive shafts, the following characteristic arrangement
Fig. 6. Two notches are taken into account in the load ca- of shaft sections was selected for a symmetrically mounted
pacity calculation: a key/spline connection and an undercut pinion in a locating/non-locating arrangement, see Fig. 8:
of shape F [6] at the shaft shoulder. load (1), sealing ring (2), axial lock (3), bearing (4),
spacer (5), gear (6), spacer (7), bearing (8) and axial
2.1.6 Section “Spacer” lock (9).
The spacers serve to maintain distances between the
The shaft sections described so far are characterized by bearings and the gear wheel or from the gear wheel to the
the fact that they always contain a machine element and gear housing. For a locating/non-locating bearing arrange-
can thus be dimensioned using the available standard part ment, both bearing inner rings must be axially secured. One
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Forsch Ingenieurwes (2022) 86:409–420 415
of the two axial locking devices can also be used to secure out. The selected shaft skeleton of the output shaft matches
the pinion, thereby shifting the notch effect of the rectan- the structure of the input shaft skeleton.
gular groove for circlips or of the thread for locknuts to
the less stressed areas of the shaft. In addition, one of the 2.1.8 Skeleton “Intermediate shaft”
two spacers (5) is to be designed as a shaft shoulder so
that the pinion and bearing can be supported accordingly. In contrast to the input shaft, there is no additional torque in-
Spacer (7), on the other hand, is designed as a sleeve. The put or output on the intermediate shaft. For a locating/non-
locating bearing support (4) is arranged close to the shaft locating bearing arrangement, the following characteristic
coupling (1) to ensure precise guidance. Because of the pre- arrangement of the shaft sections was chosen, see Fig. 9:
ceding sealing ring, the shaft diameters tend to be larger at axial lock (1), bearing (2), spacer (3), gear (4), spacer (5),
this point than at the second bearing point (8). This can be gear (6), spacer (7), bearing (8), axial lock (9).
used for the higher loaded locating bearing, since the load A design with a central shaft shoulder was selected for
capacity typically increases with the diameter. If the pinion axial locating of both bearing inner rings and gears. One
teeth are not to be cut into the shaft, it is advisable to axially bearing and one gear each can then be mounted with the
locate the pinion together with the non-locating bearing (8). same axial locking element. The axial lockings are located
This is because the relatively small root diameter of a pin- in non-critical areas on the shaft without impact of torque.
ion restricts the maximum diameters of the sections further The spacers (3) and (7) are designed as sleeves, but can
also be designed as shaft shoulders if the toothing on the
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pinion is cut in the shaft. The bearing with the larger radial formed until a valid geometry is found (i.e. all diameters
load (8) is chosen as the non-locating bearing. are within their specific range of stepping R). Here, the
section-specific boundary conditions (discrete value set F ,
2.1.9 Wheel and pinion design sufficient load capacity S ) are taken into account, since
a sufficiently dimensioned machine element (shaft-hub con-
In this study, the design of the wheel bodies is primar- nection, rolling bearing) must be found for each section.
ily used to estimate the mass of the gearbox and follows For shaft-hub connections, this is done roughly on the ba-
three basic design options: solid cylindrical, thin-walled sis of the torque to be transmitted, for rolling bearings from
web (lathed) and thin-walled web (forged) [29]. These expe- the calculation of the expanded specified rating life. The
rience-based parameterizations utilize quantities of the gear necessary calculation of the bearing forces is carried out
macro geometry and are therefore suitable for automation using RIKOR. All related lengths of shaft sections are then
in the given context. Due to higher forces, pinions are real- calculated according to the section parameterizations. Ev-
ized as solid disks. Provided that a minimum hub thickness ery iteration is followed by an update of the positions of
according to [21] can be maintained between the shaft di- the gear elements in GAP. After a first valid shaft geom-
ameter or the groove base and the tooth root, the pinion can etry has successfully been derived, a strength assessment
be equipped with a shaft-hub connection. of the shaft at the notch points is conducted according to
DIN 743 [12]. This step addresses the second of the above
2.1.10 Spacing stated issues which the algorithm has to deal with. A calcu-
lation program called WELLNESS [16] which is connected
The lateral distance between gears is determined paramet- to RIKOR is used in this step. The calculated notch safety
rically as a function of the circumferential speed and the factors are lead back into the design of the shaft geometry,
module [21]. The same correlation is chosen for the lateral so that a reduction of the relevant shaft diameters can be
distance between the wheel and the bearing. made in case of oversizing. This iterative procedure is re-
peated until a minimum of the objective function z is found
2.2 Transfer towards an automated process for each shaft section and, at the same time, all constraints
are satisfied. Since individual section diameters can only be
The shaft model described in Sect. 2.1 was implemented in varied independently within certain limits, several iterations
the existing program system GAP v5.1.0 [30]. The splitting are always required until convergence. Due to the discrete
of the total transmission ratio into several stages as well as set of values of available standard part diameters, it is not
the design of the gear toothing is based on the procedures possible to adapt all notch safeties ideally to the specified
described in publications by [14, 30, 31]. The object-ori- minimum.
ented programming language Java is suitable for mapping
the formulation of the shaft model as a sequence of dif-
ferent objects with mutual interaction. Digitized standard 3 Results and discussion
tables are read and processed as text-based input files in
the program. Via the graphical user interface, settings can The suitability of the shaft model for computer-aided auto-
be chosen by the user regarding the desired type of posi- mated design will be demonstrated by means of the design
tive torque transmission, axial locking element and rolling of an exemplary two-stage high-speed gear unit. The speci-
bearing type. An algorithm for automated design and lay- fications and the boundary conditions for shaft, bearing and
out of shafts, gears and bearings must essentially address gear dimensioning are listed in Table 1. Model preparation
two issues: How to design? and How to evaluate fitness?. only requires the presetting of these values in the GUI.
The first problem is implemented by means of an object- With the described design module, it was possible to
oriented shaft model. Here, the shaft consists of several find a converging and geometrically reasonable solution for
shaft sections (corresponding to the shaft skeleton), which the two-stage example gear unit. The calculation was com-
interact with each other. Each section knows about the state pleted on a computer with an Intel Core i7-8750H running
(diameter and length) of its directly neighboring sections. at 2.20 GHz using 16 GB of RAM after just a few minutes
According to the shaft skeleton, the choice of each diame- ( 5 min). Compared to the conventional approach, the
ter of a section determines the range of stepping R of its proposed model offers a significant time saving of several
directly adjacent section (i.e. the minimum and maximum man-hours thanks to the automation of manual steps. The
diameter value). By means of iterations over all shaft sec- notch safety specifications for the design are met on each
tions along a shaft, the desired relative structure of the shaft shaft as well as the calculated service lives of all rolling
skeleton can thus be converted into an absolute contour. For bearings exceed the target. A three-dimensional representa-
this purpose, an adjustment of the diameter values is per- tion of the design result can be seen in Fig. 10.
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Forsch Ingenieurwes (2022) 86:409–420 417
In this view, the machine elements are shown in an ab- dition to splined shaft connections and circlips, key con-
stracted form with simplified geometric shapes. However, nections and lock nuts are also taken into account in the
the selected machine elements are represented to scale by model. On this basis, a parameter study was carried out.
their main dimensions. The information about the desig- Its strength assessment results for the different variants are
nation of the selected standard parts, their dimensions and shown in Fig. 12. Since shaft geometries are slightly differ-
positions as well as the geometry of the notch points can be ent, the data points are qualitatively aligned to the baseline
accessed via dialog windows. An exact reproduction of the shaft. For lock nuts, an additional notch is considered on
gear shafts and machine elements can therefore be carried the thread undercut between the lock nut and the rolling
out directly in a CAD program, see Fig. 11 for the input bearing.
shaft. For all variants, the notch safety factors against fatigue
The calculated notch safeties according to DIN 743 for of the shaft are close to the target value at the first shaft
the given load case are plotted on this shaft in Fig. 12. section. The subsequent notches show a similar curve with
Variant 1 represents the baseline design according to the safety factors increasing towards the middle of the shaft.
specifications in Table 1. As explained in Sect. 2.1, in ad- The restriction to only discrete values for sealing rings and
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