A parametric modeling for fast radial infeed planning process in gear skiving

In gear skiving, the infeed planning process for the multiple radial infeed strategy affects cutting efficiency, local cutting features, and cutter life. The maximum uncut chip thickness nonlinearly changes with infeed combinations, making the infeed planning process challenging. Here, we propose a parametric model to achieve fast infeed planning based on the uncut chip thickness in parametric space. First, the relation between the infeed and chip boundary evolution is elucidated; then, the concept of initial uncut chip geometry (iUCG) is established to perform fast infeed planning according to the chip boundary and uncut chip thickness distribution. An industrial case study is presented to validate the method and demonstrate the implementation. As a result, a decision-making principle that includes infeed planning starting from the finishing to the rough stages enables fast planning owning to the invariance of iUCG and lower simulation capacity requirement on the chip boundary. In such case, the infeed of the “previous” skiving pass can be efficiently determined according to the maximum uncut chip thickness criterion with a constraint condition. The proposed parametric model advances the infeed planning process, further contributing to the multivariable optimization of gear skiving.