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This paper aims to reveal the mechanism of air barrier effect in jet lubrication and to figure out the influence of gear parameters and conditions on air barrier, thus providing guidance to the design of jet lubrication in ultra-high speed gear cooling system.

The computational fluid dynamics method is used to calculate the flow and pressure of ultra-high speed gears. The flow and pressure distributions are obtained under different gear parameters and working conditions, so their variations are obtained. A multiphase flow model is established to simulate the flow regime of oil jet to ultra-high speed gears. Simple experiments are carried out to observe the air barrier effect of high-speed gears.

Air barrier effect exists in the jet lubrication of ultra-high speed spur gears, which could prevent oil jet to reach on the gear surfaces. The results show that the generated pressure has positive relations with gear speed, module and width; however, as the increasing of gear width, their marginal contribution to pressure is decreasing. The computational results coincide well with the experimental results.

The research presented here proposed the air barrier effect of ultra-high speed gears for the first time. It also leads to a design reference guideline that could be used in jet lubrication of ultra-high speed gears, thus preventing lubrication and cooling failures.

AT THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON GEARING arranged by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in London from the 23rd to 25th September, a special session was set aside for the Discussion of Lubrication and the following papers were presented :—

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of nanoadditive lubricants on the vibration and noise characteristics of helical gears compared with conventional lubricants. The experiment aims to analyze whether nanoadditive lubricants can effectively reduce gear vibration and noise under different speeds and loads. It also analyzes the sensitivity of the vibration reduction to load and speed changes. In addition, it compares the axial and radial vibration reduction effects. The goal is to explore the application of nanolubricants for vibration damping and noise reduction in gear transmissions. The results provide a basis for further research on nanolubricant effects under high-speed conditions.

Helical gears of 20CrMnTi were lubricated with conventional oil and nanoadditive oils. An open helical gearbox with spray lubrication was tested under different speeds (200–500 rpm) and loads (20–100 N·m). Gear noise was measured by a sound level meter. Axial and radial vibrations were detected using an M+P VibRunner system and fast Fourier transform analysis. Vibration spectrums under conventional and nanolubrication were compared. Gear tooth surfaces were observed after testing. The experiment aimed to analyze the noise and vibration reduction effects of nanoadditive lubricants on helical gears and the sensitivity to load and speed.

The key findings are that nanoadditive lubricants significantly reduce the axial and radial vibrations of helical gears under low-speed conditions compared with conventional lubricants, with a more pronounced effect on axial vibrations. The vibration reduction is more sensitive to rotational speed than load. At the same load and speed, nanolubrication reduces noise by 2%–5% versus conventional lubrication. Nanoparticles change the friction from sliding to rolling and compensate for meshing errors, leading to smoother vibrations. The nanolubricants alter the gear tooth surfaces and optimize the microtopography. The results provide a basis for exploring nanolubricant effects under high speeds.

The originality and value of this work is the experimental analysis of the effects of nanoadditive lubricants on the vibration and noise characteristics of hard tooth surface helical gears, which has rarely been studied before. The comparative results under different speeds and loads provide new insights into the vibration damping capabilities of nanolubricants in gear transmissions. The findings reveal the higher sensitivity to rotational speed versus load and the differences in axial and radial vibration reduction. The exploration of nanolubricant effects on gear tribological performance and surface interactions provides a valuable reference for further research, especially under higher speed conditions closer to real applications.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-07-2023-0220/

SINCE THE INTRODUCTION of the hypoid gear as the right‐angled drive in automotive rear axles there has been a constant demand for specialised lubricants, particularly for running‐in purposes. Requirements are gradually and constantly becoming more severe and standards of performance adequate 5 or 10 years ago may be marginal today and unacceptable in the future.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the dynamic responses of a spur gear pair with unloaded static transmission error (STE) excitation numerically and experimentally and the influences of the system factors including mesh stiffness, error excitation and torque on the dynamic transmission error (DTE).

A simple lumped parameters dynamic model of a gear pair considering time-varying mesh stiffness, backlash and unloaded STE excitation is developed. The STE is calculated from the measured tooth profile deviation under the unloaded condition. A four-square gear test rig is designed to measure and analyze the DTE and vibration responses of the gear pair. The dynamic responses of the gear transmission are studied numerically and experimentally.

The predicted numerical DTE matches well with the experimental results. When the real unloaded STE excitation without any approximation is used, the dynamic response is dominated by the mesh frequency and its high order harmonic components, which may not be result caused by the assembling error. The sub-harmonic and super-harmonic resonant behaviors are excited because of the high order harmonic components of STE. It will not certainly prevent the separations of mesh teeth when the gear pair is under the condition of high speed and heavy load.

This study helps to improve the modeling method of the dynamic analysis of spur gear transmission and provide some reference for the understanding of the influence of mesh stiffness, STE excitation and system torque on the vibration behaviors.

Besides other approaches, fuel savings in automotive applications and energy savings, in general, also require high‐efficiency gearboxes. Different approaches are shown regarding how to further improve gearbox efficiency. This paper aims to address these issues.

The paper takes the following approach: theoretical and experimental investigations of bearing arrangements and gear design as well as lubricant type and lubricant supply to the components lead to efficiency optimisation.

No‐load losses can be reduced, especially at low temperatures and part‐load conditions when using low‐viscosity oils with a high viscosity index and low oil immersion depth or low spray oil supply of the components. Bearing systems can be optimised when using more efficient systems than cross‐loading arrangements with high preload. Low‐loss gears can contribute substantially to load‐dependent power loss reduction in the gear mesh. Low‐friction oils are available for further reduction of gear and bearing mesh losses. All in all, a reduction of the gearbox losses in an average of 50 per cent is technically feasible.

Results from different projects of the authors and from the literature are combined to quantitatively evaluate the potential of power loss reduction in gearboxes.

IN 1927 PACKARD introduced for the first time a hypoid rear axle in their private cars in order to keep the universal shaft tunnel in the passenger space as small as possible. Since then hypoid rear axles have been fitted to a very large extent in private cars of conventional construction (engine in front and rear wheel drive).

In order to ensure effective lubrication of industrial gears, it is first desirable to have a basic knowledge of the tribological implications in their design, ie, to study conditions which can arise when the interacting surfaces are in relative motion.

In combination, a supercharger, multi‐speed transmission for driving said supercharger comprising a continuously driven carrier, medium and high speed planet gears rotatably supported on said carrier, sunwheels independently mounted in connexion with said planet gears, a ring gear in driving relation to said supercharger and in driven relation to said planet gears, means for selectively arresting the motion of either of said sunwheels to cause said ring gear to rotate at a selected medium or high speed, a low speed gear unit comprising means to free said low gear ratio unit when either of said medium or high ratios are engaged and to further automatically connect said low gear ratio to said ring gear whenever the medium and high speed ratios are disengaged.

The analysis of lubricating properties and efficiency is important for aviation high-speed gear. So far, the project of lubricating properties and efficiency are processing under the condition of a given lubricating state, which is still depending on practical experience. This paper aims to mostly focus on the analysis of given lubricating state but lost sight of the relevance of lubrication parameters and lubricating state, which not only makes the analysis of aviation high-speed gear transmission and efficiency fail to trace to practical situation but also has an adverse effect on the reliance and validity of the project.

Based on this, the numerical model of spraying oil and oil film spreading is established, and the quantitative relationship between spray lubrication parameters and spreading characteristics of oil film is studied. According to the geometric and mechanical conditions of meshing points and taking the influence of rich-oil/starved-oil lubrication and roughness of teeth surface into consideration, corrected film thickness under condition of elasto-hydrodynamic lubrication and lubricating state of mesh points are analyzed. On this basis, power consumption and efficiency of gear transmission are also calculated by figuring out the solid friction and oil friction separately.

Through the research of this thesis, the effect of friction power consumption and efficiency with lubrication parameters is discussed. The effect of lubrication parameters on friction power consumption and efficiency of gear is complex. With the increase of spreading film thickness and film length, the frictional power consumption is less and the efficiency is higher.

This work provides a systematic technological approach to lubrication design and efficiency calculation of aviation high-speed gear transmission, which has remarkable engineering significance for the accurate lubrication design of the aviation mechanical parts.