Zhai, Tianbo (2016-10). Prediction of Coupling Guard Temperature and Gearbox Windage Power Loss. Master's Thesis. Thesis uri icon

abstract

  • Gear Windage Power Loss (WPL) is due to fluid drag experienced by a gear when it is rotating in air or an air-oil mist. Gear WPL becomes significant and shall not be neglected in high speed applications. The temperature on coupling guard needs to comply with industry standards and is influenced by windage affect. There is practical significance in predicting coupling guard temperature and gearbox WPL. Simulation models were built and results were obtained from Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) solvers. The simulation results were validated by experimental data from the literature. A case study was also conducted to further validate the predictability of coupling guard temperature. Simulation experiments were designed and data generated to obtain Multivariable Regression Formulas (MRF) for gear WPL and guard temperature prediction. A comparison between CFD prediction of gear WPL and experimental results showed a relative error less than 12%. In the case study, the percentage difference between predicted guard temperature and test data was within 5%. For the given ranges of input parameters, MRF gave a better prediction than the empirical formula used in industry. The proposed MRF was accurate for coupling guards and gears that were not included in the CFD modeled systems, which were used to generate the data for obtaining the MRF. The prediction expressions also helped in the product design stage to mitigate gearbox WPL and coupling guard temperature.

publication date

  • October 2016