Abstract
The design of multi-stage gear drives is a time-consuming process because it includes more complicated problems, which are not considered in the design of single-stage gear drives. The designer has no determine the number of reduction stages and the gear ratios of each reduction stage. In addition, the design problems include not only dimensional design but also configuration design of gear drive elements. There is no definite rule or principle for these types of design problems. Thus the design practices largely depend on the sense and the experiences of the designer, and consequently result in undesirable design solution. A new and generalized design algorithm has been proposed to support the designer at the preliminary phase of the design of multi-stage gear drives. The proposed design algorithm automates the design process by integrating the dimensional design and the configuration design process. The algorithm consists of four steps. In the first step, the user determines the number of reduction stages. In the second step, gear ratios of every stage are chosen using the random search method. The values of the basic design parameters of a gear are chose in the third step by using the generate and test method. Then the values of the dimensions, such as pitch diameter, outer diameter and face width, are calculated for the configuration design in the next step. The strength and durability of each gear is guaranteed by the bending strength and the pitting resistance rating practices by using AGMA rating formulas. In the final step, the configuration design is carried out using simulated annealing algorithm. The positions of gears and shafts are determined to minimize the geometrical volume (size) of a gearbox while avoiding interferences between them. These steps are carried out iteratively until a desirable solution is acquired. The proposed design algorithm is applied to the preliminary design of four-stage gear drives in order to validate the availability. The design solution has considerably good results in both aspects of the dimensional and the configuration design.
