EnergySoftwareToolsforSustainableMachineDesign

EC7thFrameworkProgrammeThemeICT
Challenge6:ICTforMobility,EnvironmentalSustainabilityandEnergyEfficiency
ICT2009.6.3:ICTforEnergyEfficiency
c)ICTservicesandsoftwaretoolsenhancedwithenergyfeatures

Smallormediumscalefocusedresearchproject(STREP)
Grantagreementno.247982

D2.1Document2:Literaturesurvey:wormgearlosses

MainAuthors:AdamMachetaandSebastianKania(ECEngineering)

DisseminationLevel
PUPublic
PPRestrictedtootherprogrammeparticipants(includingtheCommissionServices)
RERestrictedtoagroupspecifiedbytheconsortium(includingtheCommissionServices)
COConfidential,onlyformembersoftheconsortium(includingtheCommissionServices)

TableofContents
1.

INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................................2

2.

TYPESOFWORMGEARS:......................................................................................................................2

3.

ENERGYLOSSESINWORMGEARS.........................................................................................................3
3.1.
3.2.
3.3.
3.4.
3.5.
3.6.

4.

ENERGYLOSSESFROMFRICTION...................................................................................................................3
ENERGYLOSSESFROMIDLERGEARS..............................................................................................................5
ENERGYLOSSESFORMWINDING...................................................................................................................5
ENERGYLOSSESFROMCHURNING.................................................................................................................5
ENERGYLOSSESFROMBEARINGS..................................................................................................................5
OVERALLEFFICIENCY..................................................................................................................................5

WORMGEAREFFICIENCYACCORDINGTOPRODUCERS.........................................................................6
4.1.
4.2.

RINOMECHANICALP2020A.....................................................................................................................6
OTT4866SSR........................................................................................................................................6

5.

CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................................7

6.

FIGURES...............................................................................................................................................7

7.

REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................................8

Literature survey: Worm Gears

ECEngineering

1. Introduction

Thisdocumentwilldiscusspowerlossesinwormgearstransmissions.Awormdriveisagear
arrangementinwhichaworm(whichisagearintheformofascrew)mesheswithaworm
gear (which is similar in appearance to a spur gear, and isalso calleda worm wheel). Like
othergeararrangements,awormdrivecanreducerotationalspeedorallowhighertorque
tobetransmitted.Wormgearsaretheperfectchoicewhentheneedisforproducinglarge
motor speed gear reductions in a single step. A single reduction range of 5:1 100:1 is
considerednormalforwormgears.Itcanclimbupto127:1[1].

Figure1,Wormgear.

2. Typesofwormgears:

In Nonthroated worm gears, both the worm and the driven gear are not
throated.TheimageofanonthroatedwormGearisdepictedinfigure2[2].
In Single throated worm gears, one element (generally the driven gear) is
throated. Tooth contact takes place in a single moving point on a worm
drive(figure3)[2].
InDoublethroatedwormgears,thedrivengearaswellasthewormisthroated.
Higherloadsarepermissiblewithoutundergoingexcessivewear[2].

Literature survey: Worm Gears

ECEngineering

Figure2:(left)NonThroatedwormgear.
Figure3:(middle)Singlethroatedwormgear.
Figure4:(right)DoubleThroatedwormgear

3. Energylossesinwormgears

3.1. Energylossesfromfriction

Theefficiencyforwormgeariscalculatedsimilarlytothescrewmechanism.

Whenthewormisthedrivingelement

tan

(1)
tan( ' )

Andwhenthewormwheelisthedrivingelement

tan( ' )

(2)
tan

With: :leadangle
:apparentfrictionangle

Themagnitudeofthefictioncoefficientinwormgeardependsstrictlyonthequalityofthe
surfacetreatmentandtheslipvelocity,andcanbereadfromthefollowingchart[3][4].

Literature survey: Worm Gears

ECEngineering

Friction

Slip velocity v
Figure5,FrictionCoefficientvs.slipvelocity.

Effi i

With: 1:Turnedwormwithheattreatment
2:Wormwithreinforcedandpolishedwindingsidesurfaces

Theefficiencyofwormgeardependsonthecoefficientoffrictionandtheleadangle.Below
we can see the diagram representing the dependency of the efficiency and those two
parameters.Inordertoobtainawormgearwithhighefficiencyitisrecommendedtouse
theleadangleintherangebetween15and30[3][4].

Lead
Figure6.Efficiencyvs.leadangle.

Fromtheformulaforcalculatingefficiencywecanobservethatitispossibletoobtainaself
lockingwormgearwhenthefollowinginequalityholds:

'
(3)

Literature survey: Worm Gears

ECEngineering

Thereforetheleadanglemusttakeverysmallvaluesinbetween1to3whichcausesthe
efficiencytodroptobelow50%andresultsinlargeenergylossesandintensiveheatingof
the worm gear. Self locking worm gears can operate only under small losses and interval
workperiods[4][5].

3.2. Energylossesfromidlergears

Whenever we introduce additional idler gears into our gearbox we need to take into
considerationthatitwillslightlychangetheoverallefficiencyofourgearbox.Anidlergearis
anintermediategearwhichdoesn'tdriveashafttoperformanywork.Sometimes,asingle
idlergearisusedtoreversethedirection,inwhichcaseitmaybereferredtoasareverse
idler[6].

3.3. Energylossesformwinding

Energylossesfromwindingshouldbecalculatedinthesamemannerasforstraightgears.
Moredetailedinformationcanbefoundintheliteraturesurveyforgearlosses.

3.4. Energylossesfromchurning

Energy losses from churning are strictly connected with the lubrication of the gear and
should be calculated in the same manner as for straight gears. More detailed information
canbefoundintheliteraturesurveyforgearlosses.

3.5. Energylossesfrombearings

Energy losses from bearings are dependent on the loads due to the gear contact. . More
detailedinformationcanbefoundintheliteraturesurveyforbearinglosses.

3.6. Overallefficiency

Theoverallefficiencyisamultiplicationofallpreviouslypresentedsourcesofenergylosses,
and represents the ratio of the power at the output of the gearbox and the power at the
input.

P
overall output
(4)
Pinput

Literature survey: Worm Gears

ECEngineering

4. Wormgearefficiencyaccordingtoproducers
4.1. RinoMechanicalP2020A
Precisionwormgearreducer
Ratio20:1
Efficiency78%at1000rpm

Figure7.Precisionwormgear.

4.2. OTT4866SSR

Figure8.Precisionwormgear.

Literature survey: Worm Gears

ECEngineering

5. Conclusion

Basingonthisdocumentthefollowingremarkscanbedrawn:
Energylossesinwormgearscanbedividedintofourmajorpartsandthoseare:
Energylossesfromfriction
Energylossesfromidlergears
Energylossesfromwinding.
Energylossesfromchurning
Energylossesfrombearings

Whenitcomestoenergylossesfromwindingandbearingsthosearenodifferentfromthe
losses calculated for standard gears and thus there is no deliberation on those in this
particulardocument.
Energylossesregardingpotentialidlergearareaswellaconcernforalltypesofgearsbut
stillareafactoraffectingtheoverallefficiencyofagearboxandthusshouldbementioned.
Themostimportantfactorinwormgearenergylossesarelossesfromfrictionwhichdiffer
fromeachotherwhenthedrivingelementisthewormandthewormwheel.Theefficiency
is strictly dependent on the lead angle and the friction coefficient between the worm and
thewormwheel.Moreoverinsomespecialcases,thewormgearcanbecomeselflocking
mechanism,thisphenomenatakesplacewhentheleadangleissmallerthantheapparent
frictionangle.

6. Figures

Figure1,Wormgear...................................................................................................................2
Figure2,NonThroatedwormgear...........................................................................................3
Figure3,Singlethroatedwormgear..........................................................................................3
Figure4,DoubleThroatedwormgear.......................................................................................3
Figure5,FrictionCoefficientvs.slipvelocity.............................................................................4
Figure6.Efficiencyvs.leadangle...............................................................................................4
Figure7.Precisionwormgear....................................................................................................6
Figure8.Precisionwormgear....................................................................................................6

Literature survey: Worm Gears

ECEngineering

7. References

[1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worm_drive
[2]http://www.gearshub.com/wormgears.html
[3]LeonidW.KurmazMateriaydoprojektwzPKMPolitechnikawitokrzyskaKielce
1994
[4]EugeniuszMazanekPrzykadyobliczezpodstawkonstrukcjimaszynTom2oyska,
sprzgaihamulce,przekadniemech.WNTWarszawa2005
[5]LeonidW.Kurmaz,OlegL.KurmazProjektowaniewzwiczcimaszynPolitechnika
witokrzyskaKielce2003
[6]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idlerwheel

Literature survey: Worm Gears

ECEngineering