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Proposal for a Multiple-DOF Spherical Gear and Investigation of Backlash and Transmitted Efficiency Between Gears

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Abstract

A gear is used not only for power transmission but also in precision positioning. A conventional and general gear has only one degree of freedom motion. Therefore, the case of its use is limited. In this paper, we propose and manufacture an innovative spherical gear. The proposed spherical gear has a multiple degrees of freedom motion. Compared with other spherical gear, the proposed spherical gear does not have complex shape. Moreover, the handle of the proposed spherical gear is similar to that of a spur gear. The experimental apparatus using the spherical gear pair measures a transmission efficiency and an angular backlash between the gears. According to experimental results, the spherical gear teeth could mesh firmly and transmit power at any shaft angle. In addition, the maximum transmission efficiency and the angular backlash become about 87.1% and 16.9 mrad when the shaft angle is 0°, respectively.

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Acknowledgements

The public interest NAGAI foundation for science & technology and TATEMATSU foundation financially supported this study. This work was also supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 16K06062. Mr. T. Kawamura, who graduated from the National Institute of Technology, Toyota College, helped to design the spherical gear using 3-D CAD, and Mr. T. Maeda and Mr. T. Higuchi of the Toyota Innovation Centre helped in the manufacture of the gears. Mr. T. Yamashita and Mr. R. Yamazaki, of the NITTC Precision laboratory, served as assistants in the experiments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Toyota College, 2-1 Eisei-cho, Toyota, Aichi, 471-8525, Japan

    Toshiharu Tanaka & Akira Kotani

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Shizuoka University, 3-5-1 Johoku, Naka-ku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, 432-8561, Japan

    Takaaki Oiwa

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  1. Toshiharu Tanaka
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  2. Takaaki Oiwa
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  3. Akira Kotani
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Correspondence to Toshiharu Tanaka.

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Tanaka, T., Oiwa, T. & Kotani, A. Proposal for a Multiple-DOF Spherical Gear and Investigation of Backlash and Transmitted Efficiency Between Gears. Int. J. Precis. Eng. Manuf. 22, 1897–1908 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12541-021-00587-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12541-021-00587-x

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