Loaded tooth contact analysis of spiral bevel gears considering edge contact

The loaded tooth contact analysis (LTCA) plays an important part in designing the spiral bevel gear drives with high performance. The tooth edge contact of spiral bevel gears in operating is unavoidable, especially when under bearing loads. But the tooth edge contact is frequently ignored which makes the analyzed results deviate from the real operating conditions. An accurate and convenient edge tooth contact analysis technique of spiral bevel gears is developed, by which the contact points on tooth edges can be determined. Further, the main directions between two tooth surfaces on every edge contact point, that is, the possible contact point pairs, are found by a numerical search method. Finally, the tooth edge contact problem is resolved successfully. The compared and analyzed results show that the tooth edge contact has considerable influences on the strength and dynamics behaviors of spiral bevel gears, and a complete engagement course under load can be obtained.