Design and manufacture method of aviation face gear with high load-bearing based on gear skiving process

Abstract Face gear drive has been widely investigated in the aviation field as a power split device on the helicopter main reducer. However, high-speed and heavy-load condition makes the face gear prone to tooth surface pitting, leading to deterioration of transmission performance. To improve the load-bearing capacity of face gear, this paper proposes a design and modification method based on gear skiving process for face gear drives. Firstly, gear skiving mathematical models for a face gear pair are established, and a continuously profile-shifted modification method is presented based on these mathematical models. Then, the load-bearing capacity of the modified face gear pair is minutely analyzed and discussed through contact analysis. The contact stress of the modified face gear is reduced by 47.78% on right side and 41.1% on left side compared with unmodified face gear. Finally, gear skiving experiments and meshing performance tests of face gear pairs are conducted. The measurement results show consistency with calculation results. Thus, the proposed design and continuously profile-shifted modification method based on gear skiving process is feasible and contributive in load-bearing capacity improvement.