Influence of Misalignments on EHD Lubrication in Hypoid Gears

The thermal elastohydrodynamic analysis of lubrication is applied to investigate the influence of misalignments of the meshing members on EHD lubrication in hypoid gears. The calculation is based on the simultaneous solution of the Reynolds, elasticity, energy, and Laplace’s equations. The full thermal EHD lubrication analysis is applied, therefore, the oil viscosity variation with respect to pressure and temperature and the density variation with respect to pressure are included. The real shape of the gap existing between the contacting tooth surfaces is treated, based on gear teeth geometry defined by the gear processing method and including the misalignments of mating members. By using the corresponding computer program, the influence of pinion’s running offset and axial adjustment errors, and angular position error of pinion axis on maximum oil film pressure and temperature, EHD load carrying capacity, and on power losses in the oil film is investigated. The obtained results are presented and discussed.