An alignment angle error compensation method of spiral bevel gear tooth surface measurement based on tooth surface matching

In the precision measurement of spiral bevel gears (SBGs) by gear measuring center (GMC), as the manufacturing and assembly error of the GMC exists, there is an alignment angle error between the upper and lower centers. The tooth surface error caused by this alignment angle error is analyzed. A method of accurate registration between the measured tooth surface and the theoretical tooth surface is proposed to calculate the tooth surface deviation variables. And a matching point search method is proposed to solve the corresponding relationship between the measured tooth surface and the theoretical tooth surface of SBG. Then, cubic B-spline interpolation and spiral interpolation are combined to interpolate the points around the theoretical points. Finally, experimental results show that the tilt angles and eccentricities are calculated precisely, which verifies the accuracy and feasibility of the registration algorithm proposed in this paper. After compensation, the alignment angle error of the gear axis that is included in the measurement results of the SBG tooth surface deviation reduces remarkably, and this method can improve the measurement accuracy of the gear measuring machine significantly when measuring the tooth surface deviation.