Recent Patents on Mechanical Engineering 2009, 2, 179-192 179

1874-477X/09 $100.00+.00 2009 Bentham Science Publishers Ltd.

A New System for Testing Gears Under Variable Torque and Speed
Athanassios Mihailidis* and Ioannis Nerantzis
Laboratory of Machine Elements and Machine Design, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Aristotle University of
Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
Received: June 22, 2009; Accepted: July 30, 2009; Revised: August 26, 2009
Abstract: In many applications, the transmitted power by a gearbox is fluctuating strongly. For example, in wind energy
converters the rotor torque depends on the wind velocity and therefore varyies over a wide range, whereas the rotor speed
is constant. In automotive applications, both torque and speed vary according to the driving conditions. It is evident, that
in order to test such gearboxes, test rigs are needed that enable torque and speed to vary during the test according to the
testing requirements and simulate the actual loading conditions as accurately as possible. The first part of this paper is a
review of the many known mechanical devices developed to load gears. Their advantages and disadvantages are
commented and presented. The second part describes a novel system designed and built by the authors (patent pending),
which makes it possible to apply the test torque and speed according to a given load pattern during the test of the gears. It
can further be implemented in close power loop test rigs (known also as back-to-back test rigs) such as the FZG test rig.
The gearboxes of the test rig may be similar enabling thus the measurements of the power loss and efficiency of the gear
pairs. It can also be used in the research of fatigue related surface failures, such as pittings and micro-pittings. The system
consists mainly of a self-locking planetary Wolfrom gear train. Its sun gear is connected to a high starting torque electric
motor, while its two ring gears are connected to the shafts ends of the two gearboxes. The operation of the motor is
controlled by a computer. The software compares the actually applied torque, which is measured by a contactless torque
meter, with the required torque, which has been already prescribed.
Keywords: Back-to-back gear test rig, gear testing machine, FZG test rig, Ryder gear machine & IAE test machine.
INTRODUCTION
The requirements set to modern gear boxes are really
tough to meet: They need to be even more efficient, stronger,
smaller, quieter, easier to produce and finally they need to
cost less. Despite the impressive progress made in the last
years regarding the analysis and simulation, experiments are
still essential. There are many modes of failure that may
appear when the load carrying capacity of a gear pair is
exceeded. Tooth breakage, pittings and micro-pittings as
well as excessive wear or even scuffing are the most com-
monly met. Besides the load carrying capacity, there are also
other important parameters like efficiency and dynamic
behavior that need to be experimentally investigated. There-
fore, test rigs that allow gears to operate under predefined
speed and torque conditions are needed.
An apparently simple way to design such a test rig is to
place the test gearbox between a motor and a brake as shown
in Fig. (1a). However, this design has many disadvantages:
First, the motor has to supply all the power under which the
gearbox has to be tested. Then, the brake has to transform it
to heat that is often difficult to dissipate. High installation
cost and high energy consumption are the result. Therefore,
the implementation of such designs is rather limited and such
systems are not further discussed hereafter.
A more efficient way to load gears is to include the test
gear box in a closed power loop, which can be either

Address correspondence to this author at the Laboratory of Machine
Elements & Machine Design, Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece;
Tel: +30-2310-996073; Fax: +30-2310-996037;
E-mail: mihailidis@meng.auth.gr
electrical or mechanical as shown in Fig. (1b) & (1c). In the
first case, an electric motor drives the input shaft of the test
gearbox. Its output shaft is coupled to a generator that feeds
the power back to the network. In this way, the total energy
consumption is significantly reduced. However, the draw-
back of the big size of both motor and generator remains,
since they have to be chosen according to the maximum test
power, which is usually higher than the nominal. In the
second case, the input and output shafts of two gearboxes
that have exactly the same transmission ratio are connected
to each other by intermediate shafts building a closed loop. A
torque applying device can be included in the power loop.
Then the applied torque loads both gearboxes. An external
motor is used to rotate the system. In steady state, it has to
supply only the total power loss of the system and therefore
its power rating is much lower than the power that actually
loads the gears.
The advantages of such test rigs are: Installation cost is
significantly reduced, since no generator or brake is needed
and the driving motor has to be rated according only to the
total power loss.
The energy consumption is also much less compared to
the simple motor - test gearbox - brake design mentioned
above. Another important advantage is that it permits the
determination of the efficiency of the gearboxes directly by
measuring the rotational speed and torque of the driving
motor. Considering the high efficiency of modern gearboxes
it seems extremely difficult to obtain the power loss of a
gearbox with acceptable accuracy just by measuring the
input and output power. For example, if the deviation of the
power measurement is + 2%, and the efficiency of the
180 Recent Patents on Mechanical Engineering 2009, Vol. 2, No. 3 Mihailidis and Nerantzis
gearbox about 98%, the error in the determination of the
power loss is almost +100%!
One of the firsts, who used a test rig with closed power
loop, was Rikli [1] who reported about his gear efficiency
measurements almost a century ago. Since then, such test
rigs are widely employed in a vast variety of designs to test
not only gears and gearboxes, but also other power trans-
mitting machine elements such as shafts, couplings and
universal joints.
In many applications, the power transmitted by a gearbox
fluctuates strongly. For example, in wind energy converters
the rotor torque depends on the wind velocity and therefore it
varies over a wide range, whereas the rotor speed is constant.
In automotive applications both torque and speed vary
according to the driving conditions. In order to test such
gearboxes, the test rig should enable torque and speed to
vary during the test according to the testing requirements and
simulate the actual loading conditions as accurately as
possible. The variation of speed can be achieved in a
convenient way by using either a DC motor or an inverter
controlled AC motor. A review of the relevant electric and
electronic systems used to control the speed of the driving
motor of gear test rigs is outside the scope of the current
paper. However, to vary the torque according to a pre-
defined load spectrum is a challenging design task. Many
patents have been published addressing this requirement.
The first part of this paper includes a review of many known
gear and gearbox test rigs showing the historical evolution,
with particular emphasis on their torque applying devices.























Fig. (1). Gear test rig layouts. (a) Open power loop, (b) closed electrical loop and (c) closed mechanical power loop.
New System for Testing Gears Recent Patents on Mechanical Engineering 2009, Vol. 2, No. 3 181
Although some of them are quite old, they are included in
the review because new materials and manufacturing
technologies could make their implementation much more
feasible. Their advantages and disadvantages are commented
and presented. The second part describes a novel system
designed and built by the authors that enables to apply the
test torque and speed according to a given load pattern
during the test of the gears. It can further be implemented in
closed power loop test rigs (known also as back-to-back test
rigs) such as the FZG test rig. The gear boxes of the test rig
may be similar enabling thus the measurement of the power
loss and efficiency of the gear pairs. Additionally, it can be
used in the research of fatigue related surface failures, such
as pittings and micro-pittings as well as wear and scuffing.
CLOSED MECHANICAL POWER LOOP GEAR TEST
RIGS AND TORQUE APPLYING DEVICES
According to the way in which the torque load is applied,
closed mechanical loop gear test rigs can be classified in
mechanical and hydraulic systems. Other known mechanical
systems to load and test gears having elastic elements,
chains, inertial devices are not included in the review
because they have not been applied to a closed mechanical
power loop design.
Mechanical Systems
One of the most widespread test rigs is the FZG
(Forschungsstelle fr Zahnrder und Getriebebau of the
Technical University Munich) back-to-back test rig, [2]. Its
principle of operation is shown in Fig. (2). The gears of the
two gearboxes have equal teeth numbers and consequently
the same transmission ratio. The slow shafts are connected
by an intermediate torque measuring shaft. The fast shafts
are connected by a load flange coupling that permits both
ends to rotate relative to each other. When the rig is out of
operation and the coupling bolts are loose, one flange can be
fixed and the required test torque can be applied to the other
by means of a lever and weights. Then, the bolts are tighten-
ed prohibiting thus the relative movement of the coupling
flanges and entrapping in this way the applied torque in the
system. The flanges of the torque measuring flange rotate
against each other according to the torsional deformation of
the intermediate shaft proving thus the readout of the test
torque. The previously fixed flange of the load coupling can
now be released and the test rig set in operation. The power,
which the gearboxes have to transmit, is equal to the product
of the applied torque and the rotational speed. The driving
motor has only to supply the power losses. This feature is not
only energy saving, but it also allows for the determination
of the efficiency of one test gearbox. Provided that both
gearboxes are identical, it can be assumed with sufficient
accuracy that they have the same power loss. Since no other
sources of significant power loss are present in the power
loop, the power loss of a single gearbox can be easily
obtained by dividing the total power loss by two.
Apart from research, the FZG test rig is widely used to
determine the scuffing load carrying capacity [3-7] and the
wear behaviour [8] of oils and greases, as well as their
influence on the friction coefficient and efficiency [9, 10]
and on the formation of micro-pittings [11] and pittings [12,
13]. The same design concept has also been used in other test














Fig. (2). Layout of the FZG test rig.
182 Recent Patents on Mechanical Engineering 2009, Vol. 2, No. 3 Mihailidis and Nerantzis
rigs like the IAE gear machine [14], a test rig for hypoid
gears [15] and a crossed helical gears test rig [16]. Fresen et
al. [17] showed an interesting test rig consisting of four
identical test gearboxes that allows for the deter-mination of
the power loss.
The torque applying clutch of the above test rigs is
simple and reliable; however it has the drawback that the
applied torque cannot be controlled during the test. As
mentioned above, a device is needed which enables to vary
the test torque during the test without interrupting it, in order
to simulate the actual loading conditions accurately. Such
devices often employ planetary gear trains.
Lanahan [18], Klinger [19], Langenbeck [20] and
Basedow [21] presented such systems. The most simple of
them consists of a simple planetary gear train and is shown
schematically in Fig. (3). Torque is applied to the planet
carrier by an auxiliary worm gearing during the test either
manually or by a numerically controlled stepper motor. The
test torque results from the difference in the rotation direc-
tion and rate of the sun and ring gears. Figure 4 shows a
further development that employs a double planetary gear
train without ring gears. The teeth numbers of the gears are
chosen in such a way that for a given rotation angle of the
planet carrier the suns rotate in the same direction but at
different angles applying thus the test torque. Load is applied
in the same manner to the planet carrier. The main
disadvantage of these systems is that they cannot be used if it
is required to determine the power loss of one test gearbox
because of the following reasons: First, the power flows
through the gears of the planetary system and causes addi-
tional power losses. Second, the transmission ratios of the
test gearboxes must be exactly adapted to the transmission
ratio of the planetary system and therefore, they cannot be
identical. Consequently, the power loss of one test gearbox
cannot be obtained accurately from the total power loss of
the test rig. In order to tackle this drawback, Gruscka and
Herrmann [22] proposed to include in the power loop
another identical double planetary system, as shown in Fig.
(5). In this configuration, both test gearboxes can be iden-
tical. However, the power flows through the planetary gear
trains and causes additional losses making thus difficult to
obtain the power loss of a single test gearbox.
Instead of using planetary gear trains, Schrder et al. [23]
implemented a strain wave gearing which has been pre-
viously presented by Musser [24] and was called by him
strain-wave gearing-tubular shaft. Such devices are now-
adays commonly called harmonic drives and are commer-
cially available. Their main part is a ball bearing whose cross
section is elliptical instead of cylindrical as shown in Fig.
(6). The outer ring of this bearing has an external gearing. It
is actually a flexible gear which engages with the internal
gearing of a ring gear at the points near the major diameter
of the ellipse. The teeth number difference is usually small
and therefore the transmission ratio is high, usually in the
range 1:50 to 1:320. In the proposed configuration the shaft
of an auxiliary motor is connected to the inner ring. The test
torque results from the difference in the rotation angles of
the outer bearing ring and the ring gear. If both test
gearboxes have the same transmission ratio, the auxiliary
motor has to rotate during the test with the same speed. This
is a drawback because the power loss of the auxiliary motor
is usually unknown and decreases the accuracy in the deter-
mination of the efficiency of a test gearbox. An interesting
design, based on the same principle, was presented by
Brggemann et al. [25]. They employed a cycloidal drive
instead of the harmonic drive as shown in Fig. (7). In this
way, they succeeded to extend significantly the upper limit
of the test torque.
Besides load couplings and planetary gear trains or
harmonic and cycloid drives, another interesting way to load
the test gear boxes is to include in the power loop an
additional gear pair that generates the test torque when it is
moved in the transverse direction as shown in Fig. (8).
Harald et al. [26] as well as Yano et al. [27] presented test
rigs based on this concept. These test rigs do not allow for
the determination of the efficiency of the test gear box. How-
ever, they have the advantage that they enable very rapid test
torque variations.
Bader [28] succeeded in designing a test rig that did not
include any torque applying device in the closed power loop.
The simplest version of this test rig consists of two
gearboxes that have exactly the same transmission ratio and
are connected by two universal joints shafts, as shown in Fig.
(9). One of the gearboxes rests on a separate base that is
mounted by a joint, which permits it to rotate around an axis








Fig. (3). Simple planetary system used to impose the test torque.
New System for Testing Gears Recent Patents on Mechanical Engineering 2009, Vol. 2, No. 3 183










Fig. (4). Double planetary system without ring gears used to impose the test torque.











Fig. (5). Two identical planetary gear trains without ring gears used to impose the test torque and compensate the rotational speed
respectively.


















Fig. (6). A harmonic drive used to impose the test torque.
184 Recent Patents on Mechanical Engineering 2009, Vol. 2, No. 3 Mihailidis and Nerantzis





















Fig. (7). A cycloidal drive used to impose the test torque.




















Fig. (8). Application of the test torque by pushing the auxiliary gear pair in the transverse direction.
New System for Testing Gears Recent Patents on Mechanical Engineering 2009, Vol. 2, No. 3 185



















Fig. (9). Application of the test torque by rotating the complete gearbox.

parallel to the shafts of the gearboxes, applying thus the test
torque. Considering the high torsional stiffness of the
machine elements included in the power loop, the resulting
deflections are small and therefore the power loss in the
universal joints can be neglected. Hence, this test rig can be
used for efficiency measurements provided that the two gear-
boxes are identical. However, this concept has the limitation
that it is not applicable in gearboxes with transmission ratio
equal to 1:1.
Hydraulic Systems
Many designers replaced the simple load clutch of the
mechanical systems by a hydraulic torque applying device in
order to adjust the test torque by controlling the hydraulic
pressure. One of the first attempts to design such a device
was presented by Collins [29] and it is shown in Fig. (10).
Collins included in the power loop an intermediate shaft
which was provided on its both ends with helical splines that
had opposite directions. This shaft was mounted by ball
bearings inside a case that was designed to operate as a
bidirectional hydraulic piston. By imposing pressure in one
of the pressure compartments, an axial load was applied on
the intermediate shaft and the test torque was generated due
to its helical splines. Although it was not initially foreseen, a
torque meter should be included in order to measure the
actually applied test torque, since the friction on the flanks of
the splines is proportional to the applied torque and therefore
introduces a difficulty in controlling the torque accurately
only by the pressure. The device can be integrated in a test
rig with two identical gearboxes. However, it does not permit
the measurement of the efficiency, because of the consi-
derable power loss in the piston bearings which are axially
loaded.
Based on the same operating principle, Hennings [30]
designed a torque applying clutch consisting of a drum and a
disk with mating helical splines. It was controlled by a
hydraulic piston, as shown in Fig. (11). However, this design
has the same disadvantages as the one previously mentioned.
Schneider et al. [31] used hydraulic cylinders in order to
apply the test torque. One end of the cylinders was attached
to pins located on a flange assembled on the gear shaft, while
the other end was attached to pins placed on the gear, as
shown in Fig. (12). The friction in this design is no longer
affected by the test torque.
Ryder [32] replaced the helical splines by helical gears
and built a gear tester consisting of a single gearbox with two
shafts as shown in Fig. (13). These shafts are connected by
two spur gear pairs having exactly the same transmission
ratio building a closed power loop. The helix angle of these
gear pairs is different. In the original configuration, the
narrow gears were straight while the wide ones were helical.
The hub of a wide gear was designed to operate as a
hydraulic piston. Therefore, by applying hydraulic pressure,
an axial force is imposed and the required test torque is
generated. The Ryder test rig has been widely adopted [33]
and is still being used in oil and gear tests especially in the
United States. It effectively enables the variation of the test
torque during operation by controlling the hydraulic pres-
sure, but does not allow for the determination of the effi-
ciency of a single gear pair. Obviously, complete gearboxes
cannot be tested in the Ryder test machine.
186 Recent Patents on Mechanical Engineering 2009, Vol. 2, No. 3 Mihailidis and Nerantzis










Fig. (10). Intermediate shaft with helical splines mounted inside a hydraulic piston used to impose the test torque.











Fig. (11). Torque applying clutch with helical spline controlled by a hydraulic cylinder.



















Fig. (12). Circumferentially located hydraulic cylinders used to impose the test torque.
New System for Testing Gears Recent Patents on Mechanical Engineering 2009, Vol. 2, No. 3 187










Fig. (13). The Ryder gear testing machine.

Shipley [34] introduced a torque applying device consis-
ting of a drum and a rotor. Both were provided with radial
wings forming pressure chambers, as shown in Fig. (14) Test
torque is generated by pressing oil in the even numbered
chambers. By properly designing the unit with needle
bearings and contactless seals, friction can be minimized and
test torque can be accurately controlled by oil pressure. This
concept proved quite successful. The design of such devices,
which are now called hydraulic rotary cylinders, has been
enhanced and they include an angle sensor, slip rings,
rotating oil connector couplers and servo-valves. They are
commercially available for up to 8000 Nm torque. Klinger
[19] presented test rigs equipped with a hydraulic rotary
cylinder. Kugler [35] designed such a cylinder inside the hub
of a test gearbox gear in order to apply the test torque, as
shown in Fig. (15).
NEW TEST TORQUE IMPOSING SYSTEM
The main part of the proposed system [36] is a planetary
gear train, as shown in Fig. (16). It was originally designed
by Wolfrom [37] and consists of a sun gear, two sets of
planetary gears attached to the same planet carrier and two
ring gears. They are used in a many industrial, automotive
and aeronautical applications.
Loomann [38] and Mller [39] include a comprehensive
analysis; therefore, only the results will be mentioned here.
The rotational speeds of the sun gear, carrier and ring gears
fulfill the following relationship, that enables one to calcu-
late the transmission ratio according to which member drives
and which is driven.
1~
z
r
1
z
p
2
z
p
1
z
r
2
[
\
|
|

)
j
j
c
s
+
z
r
1
z
p
2
z
p
1
z
r
2
~
z
r
1
z
s
[
\
|
|

)
j
j
c
r
1
+
z
r
1
z
s
~1
[
\
|

)
j c
r
2
= 0 (1)
z refers to the number of teeth and the indices s, p
1
, p
2
, r
1
and
r
2
to the sun, planetary and ring gears respectively. It should
be noted that the teeth number of internal gearings is always
negative.
When the Wolfrom system operates as a reducer, the sun
gear is driving, one ring gear is fixed and the other is the
driven. In this case the transmission ratio is given by the
following equation obtained directly from Eq. (1):
i =

s

r
2

r1
=0
=
1
z
r
1
z
s
1
z
r
1
z
p
2
z
p
1
z
r
2
(2)
If the ring gear with the smaller teeth number is fixed, the
transmission ratio is negative, meaning that the sun gear and
the free ring gear rotate in opposite directions. By designing
the ring gears with proper profile modification it is possible
to have the planets of both sets with the same number of
teeth. In this case, very high transmission ratios can be
achieved by choosing the teeth numbers of the ring gears
close to each other.
The efficiency of such a gear train depends strongly on
which member is driving. If the sun drives, the first ring gear
is fixed and the second driven, then the efficiency ratio is
given by the following equation [38]:

red.
=
1
z
r
1
z
s
1
z
r
1
z
r
2

1
z
r
1
z
r
2
1
z
r
1
z
s
(3)
In the above formula the power loss caused by the
bearings is neglected and the efficiency ratios of all gear
pairs are considered constant and equal to . If a ring gear is
the driving part, then the efficiency can be estimated by the
following equation [38]:

inc.
=
1
2

z
r
1
z
r
2
1
z
r
1
z
r
2
(4)
From the above Eqs. (3) and (4), it can be clearly seen
that the efficiency of a Wolfrom system depends strongly on
the operation mode. Further, Eq. (4) shows that the effi-
ciency of the system, when it operates as speed increaser,
may become negative, which means that the Wolfrom
system is in this case self locking. This is an essential
property of the system because otherwise, if the Wolfrom
gear train was not self locking it would not be possible to
determine the efficiency of the test gearboxes.
188 Recent Patents on Mechanical Engineering 2009, Vol. 2, No. 3 Mihailidis and Nerantzis




















Fig. (14). Hydraulic rotary cylinder used to impose the test torque.





















Fig. (15). Hydraulic rotary cylinder designed inside the gear hub.
New System for Testing Gears Recent Patents on Mechanical Engineering 2009, Vol. 2, No. 3 189











Fig. (16). Wolfrom planetary gear train.

The above calculation of the efficiency of the Wolfrom
system is simplified, since the power loss of the bearings is
not taken into account. Nevertheless, the results of this calcu-
lation are on the safe side since the decisive feature of the
proposed system is that the Wolfrom gear train is self-
locking. The simplified calculation shows that the system has
this feature. A more detailed calculation considering the
power loss of the bearings would yield an even lower
efficiency ratio.
Figure 17 shows the concept of the proposed torque
applying system. The transmission ratio calculated by Eq. (2)
is 1: 385. Assuming that the efficiency of a single gear pair
is about 98.5%, the overall efficiency when the sun gear
drives is 49% as obtained by Eq. (3). This means that in
order to impose a test torque of 1000 Nm only 5.29 Nm have
to be imposed to the sun gear. Consequently, it can be driven
by a small size stepper motor. When one of the ring gears
attempts to drive, the efficiency obtained by Eq. (4) is
1.02%. Consequently, the planetary gear train is locked and
no braking torque is required to be applied to the sun gear.
The stepper motor has to operate only while applying or
varying the test torque. Otherwise, the whole planetary gear
train, including the non-operating stepper motor rotates as a
block. Consequently, the proposed system can be used to
obtain the efficiency of the gearboxes by simply measuring
the torque applied by the main motor since no power loss
occurs in the torque applying system which operates as a
rigid shaft.
An important design issue concerns the clearance of the
planetary gear train. Figure 18 shows some ways that have
been proposed in order to address this issue. Butsch et al.
[40] proposed a cost effective way to minimize the clearance
by adjusting the relative radial position of the ring gears and
the planet carrier during the assembly. Orlowski [41]
presented a Wolfrom system whose ring gears had helical
gearings in opposite directions. Each planet consisted of two
parts, which had also helical gearing in opposite directions in
order to engage with the corresponding ring gear. During the
assembly, they were adjusted to each ring gear. The planets
were supported on the carrier pins by needle bearings being
thus able to self-center between the two ring gears. Cesaroni
[42] applied the same principle to the final wheel drive of
electric trucks. Sulz [43] designed later a Wolfrom system
with bevel gears. The axes of the carrier pin were inclined by
a small angle relative to the sun axis. By adjusting the axial
position of the carrier and one ring gear, it was made
possible to minimize the clearance.
Another problem, which is common to all planetary gear
trains, concerns the load distribution across the planets.
Often, the sun and ring gears are left unsupported in the
radial direction so that they can self-center between the
planets.







Fig. (17). Proposed torque applying system.
190 Recent Patents on Mechanical Engineering 2009, Vol. 2, No. 3 Mihailidis and Nerantzis
In the proposed design, shown in Figs. (19) & (20), the
above issues are addressed by the following features: First,
the tolerance of the planet - ring gears engagement was
chosen tight and the rims of the ring gears were made thin.
Second, no bearings are provided to support the carrier.
Instead, it is left unsupported in the radial direction, so that it
can self-center to the ring gears. Third, the sun gear is
machined at the free end of the thin and relatively long
driving shaft, which can be easily deformed, allowing thus
the sun gear to center itself between the planetary gears. As
mentioned earlier, the stepper motor has to operate only
when an adjustment of the test torque needs to be done. In
this case only a few rotations of the stepper motor shaft are
needed. For example, 3 rotations of the sun gear are
sufficient in order to apply the maximum torque, which
corresponds to 3.11 degrees relative movement of the ring
gears. Therefore, grease lubrication proved sufficient.
Current and control signals are transmitted to the stepper
motor by the brushes shown also in Figs. (19) & (20). The
proposed system includes further a speed and torque mea-
suring flange that measures the applied test torque during
operation of the test rig and feeds its signals to the control
system of the test rig. If it is out of the predefined range, it is
automatically corrected by driving the stepper motor towards
the appropriate direction. A user defined matrix that includes
rotational speed of the main motor, test torque and time is
stored in the control system, enabling thus the testing of the
gears accordingly. A significant feature of the proposed
system is that it can be fitted in a standard FZG test rig due
to its compact dimensions.
CURRENT & FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
The design of test rigs has improved extensively and
many layouts have been proposed, each one of them having
its particular advantages and drawbacks as outlined in this
paper. However, most of them are designed for industrial
applications and high power ratings, especially the hydraulic
ones. Their application range should be extended to cover
the need for testing mini or even miniature gears and
gearboxes.
Modern applications demand to design gears and gear-
boxes even more compact in order to save costs and mate-
rials. Consequently, more research has to be done on fatigue
induced failures and adapt the service life of the transmission
system to the service life of the complete machine. Modern
lubricants should be friendly to the environment and whether
possible bio-degradable. Therefore, it has to be investigated
further how their lubrication properties evolve over operation
time. In order to save energy, the efficiency of power trans-
mission systems has to be increased. New materials,
including plastics and composites as well as coatings, have
promising properties and are becoming available. Their
application to gear design often seems attractive and they
need to be experimentally evaluated. Therefore, new test rigs
have to be designed accordingly.
The proposed torque applying system is simpler and
costs less than the hydraulic ones. Preliminary tests proved
that it can successfully impose the test torque according to a
given load pattern. Further, it can be easily mounted in a
FZG test rig. An inherent limitation of the system is that it
does not allow for the extremely rapid load changes needed
to simulate operation under heavy shocks. Forthcoming work
includes the optimization of the control system, investigation
of the dynamic behavior and verification that standardized
tests can be accurately carried out.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
None reported.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare no conflict of interest.











Fig. (18). Patented ways to reduce backlash in planetary gear trains: (a) By adjusting the radial position of carrier and ring gear relative to
each other, (b) By split double helical planets and (c) By beveled planets.
New System for Testing Gears Recent Patents on Mechanical Engineering 2009, Vol. 2, No. 3 191
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Fig. (19). Cross section and exploded view of the new test torque imposing system.








Fig. (20). General view of the proposed test torque imposing system.
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