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A new method is demonstrated for rating the “severity” of a hypoid gear set duty cycle (revolutions at torque) using the intercept of T-N curve to support gearset selection and sizing decision across vehicle programs. Historically, it has been customary to compute a cumulative damage (using Miner's Rule) for a rotating component duty cycle given a T-N curve slope and intercept for the component and failure mode of interest. The slope and intercept of a T-N curve is often proprietary to the axle manufacturer and are not published. Therefore, for upfront sizing and selection purposes representative T-N properties are used to assess relative component duty cycle severity via cumulative damage (non-dimensional quantity). A similar duty cycle severity rating can also be achieved by computing the intercept of the T-N curve instead of cumulative damage, which is the focus of this study.

Automotive parking gears were tempered using three different tempering processes with a motive of determining the best tempering processes in terms of the properties of the heat treated samples. The three tempering processes compared in this study are Induction temper, Furnace temper and Magnetic core-flux temper. Torsion tests, Residual Stress tests and metallurgical analysis were done on the samples that were induction heat-treated and then tempered using one of the above mentioned three tempering processes. The resultant test data was used to draw conclusions on the performance of the tempering processes.

The 45RFE is a new generation electronically controlled rear wheel drive automatic transmission. It employs real-time feedback, closed-loop modulation of shift functions to achieve outstanding shift quality and to meet demanding durability goals. It uses no shift valves; all friction element applications are effected with high-flow electro-hydraulic solenoid valves. A unique gear train arrangement of three planetary carriers allows all sun gears and annulus gears to have the same number of teeth respectively and use a common pinion gear in all carriers, resulting in significant manufacturing simplification. The three-planetary system is designed for four forward ratios of 3.00, 1.67, 1.00 and 0.75 and one reverse gear ratio equal to the low gear ratio. A fifth ratio of 1.50 is used only in certain kick-down shift sequences for highway passing. A sixth forward ratio, an additional overdrive ratio of 0.67, is available in the hardware.

The 45RFE is a new generation electronically controlled rear wheel drive transmission. It employs real-time feedback, closed-loop modulation of shift functions to achieve excellence in shift quality and to meet severe durability goals. The 45RFE uses no shift valves; all friction element applications are effected with high-flow electro-hydraulic solenoid valves. A unique gear train arrangement of three planetary carriers allows all sun and annulus gears to have identical numbers of teeth and to use common pinion gears in all carriers. This results in substantial manufacturing simplification. The three-planetary system is designed for four forward ratios of 3.00, 1.67, 1.00 and 0.75 and one reverse gear ratio equal to the low gear ratio. A fifth ratio of 1.50 is used mainly in certain kick-down shift sequences for highway passing. A sixth forward ratio, an additional overdrive ratio of 0.67, is available in the hardware.

A finite element/contact mechanics formulation is used to analyze the dynamic tooth forces that arise from damage-induced vibrations in spur gear pairs. Tooth root crack damage of varying sizes are analyzed for a wide range of speeds that include resonant gear speeds. The added localized compliance from tooth root crack damage leads to a re-distribution of the forces on the individual gear teeth in mesh. At speeds away from resonance, smaller dynamic forces occur on the damaged tooth and larger dynamic forces occur on the tooth that engages immediately after it. These dynamic tooth contact forces cause additional transient dynamic response in the gear pair. For certain speeds and sufficiently large tooth root cracks, the damage-induced dynamic response causes large enough vibration that tooth contact loss nonlinearity occurs. For some speeds near resonance, the damage-induced vibrations cause teeth that normally lose contact to remain in contact due to vibration.

This project investigated the effect of carburizing carbon-potential and thermal history on the bending fatigue performance of carburized SAE 4320 gear steel. Modified-Brugger cantilever bending fatigue specimens were carburized at carbon potentials of 0.60, 0.85, 1.05, and 1.25 wt. pct. carbon, and were either quenched and tempered or quenched, tempered, reheated, quenched, and tempered. The reheat treatment was designed to lower the solute carbon content in the case through the formation of transition carbides and refine the prior austenite grain size. Specimens were fatigue tested in a tension/tension cycle with a minimum to maximum stress ratio of 0.1. The bending fatigue results were correlated with case and core microstructures, hardness profiles, residual stress profiles, retained austenite profiles, and component distortion.

Passengers' frequent requests are for less Noise, Vibration and Harshness (NVH) in the vehicle compartment. This and the reduction of noise and vibration levels from major sources like the engine necessitate better performance of other sources of noise and vibrations in a vehicle. Some of these sources are the hydraulic circuits including the power steering system. Fluid pulses or pressure ripples, generated typically by a pump, become excitation forces to the structure of a vehicle or the steering gear and represent a considerable source of discomfort to the vehicle passengers. Current power steering technology attenuates this ripple along the pressure line connecting the pump to the steering gear. Finding the optimum design configuration for the components (hose, tuner, tube, and others) has been a matter of experience-based trial and error. This paper is a part of a program to simulate and optimize fluid borne noise in hydraulic circuits.

This particular study focuses on four specific gear steels: SAE 4320, SAE 8822, PS18, and 20MnCr5. Notched specimens are manufactured from the four materials. Three point bending experiments were conducted which include ultimate tests and fatigue tests. Part I is on ultimate test only. Part II will concentrate on fatigue testing. In order to see how the carburization affected the fatigue performance of these steels, a residual stress test was performed on one sample of each steel by mean of the incremental hole drilling method. The compressive stresses were found in all four steels with minimum and maximum stress approximately equal. This suggests that the residual stresses are biaxial in the carburized steel case. The difference between the maximum and minimum stresses is within 37% for all steels. The residual stress after the carburization process were found to be highest in the 4320 steel and SAE 8822, followed by PS 18 and then MnCr.

Part II of the paper focuses on fatigue tests of four specific gear steels: SAE 4320, SAE 8822, PS18, and 20MnCr5. Fatigue life, S-N curves are experimentally generated for all steels at low cycle fatigue and high cycle fatigue. The failure stresses at cycle one and slope of the linear portion of S-N curves are determined based on the experimental data. Endurance limits were tested. Uncertainty in the fatigue data is analyzed in details and values of sigma are calculated. Design curves were estimated based on the fatigue test results.

The penetration of hybrid or purely electric drivetrain solutions in automotive applications increases continuously, benefiting also from the rapid advancements in the complementary technologies related to the on-board electric energy generation and storage. The automotive community has made a strong commitment to the development of fuel cells into viable products during the next decade, and there are already several hybrid vehicle designs successfully commercialized. The current electric drive configurations are susceptible to significant improvements with respect to weight and envelope dimensions versus torque and power capacity. This paper introduces a compact wheel end power unit concept that integrates advanced motor, package bearing, and gear technologies, and summarizes the development work related to its integration with the specific components of an automotive driveline.

This paper describes an advanced vehicle dynamics and traction control system, using magnetic-powder clutch technology combined with planetary gear sets.

Lubricant formulations and lubricant additives have been demonstrated to have a major impact on the surface durability of rolling element bearings. However, there are very few standard tests used to assess the performance aspects of lubricants as they relate to bearing surface performance. Lubricant formulations have been slanted heavily toward protecting gear concentrated contacts from galling and wear. In addition, much of the performance differentiation of lubricants has been dependent on highly accelerated, standardized laboratory tests related to gears. Methods have been developed for properly evaluating a lubricant's performance characteristics as they relate to bearings. These methods are explained and the corresponding test results are reviewed, to show their effectiveness as lubricant performance evaluation tools.

In this paper, a comprehensive evaluation index for impact harshness (IH) is proposed. A mid-sized uni-body SUV is selected for this study, with the acceleration responses at the various vehicle body locations as objective functions. A sensitivity study is conducted using an ADAMS full vehicle model with flexible body structure representation over an IH event to analyze the influence of various suspension tuning parameters, including suspension springs, shock damping, steer gear ratio, unsprung mass, track-width, and bushing stiffness.

The additive chemistry of some gear lubricants can have a major impact on the surface durability of rolling element bearings (1). Lubricant formulation has been slanted heavily toward protecting gear concentrated contacts from galling and wear. As such, much of the performance differentiation of lubricants has been dependent on highly accelerated, standardized laboratory tests related to gears. Methods have been proposed to evaluate and quantify a lubricant's performance characteristics as they relate to rolling element bearings (2). Results from several lubricant performance evaluations are presented. The implications of these findings suggest that the detrimental performance effects on rolling element bearings need further fundamental study by the lubricant industry.

With the rapid development of computing technology, high-speed photography system and image processing recently, in order to meet growing dynamic mechanical engineering problems demand, a brief description of advances in recent research which solved some key problems of dynamic photo-elastic method will be given, including:(1) New digital dynamic photo-elastic instrument was developed. Multi-spark discharge light source was replaced by laser light source which was a high intensity light source continuous and real-time. Multiple cameras shooting system was replaced by high-speed photography system. The whole system device was controlled by software. The image optimization collection was realized and a strong guarantee was provided for digital image processing. (2)The static and dynamic photo-elastic materials were explored. The new formula and process of the dynamic photo-elastic model materials will be introduced. The silicon rubber mold was used without the release agent.

A finite element/contact mechanics (FE/CM) method is used to determine the tooth contact forces, static transmission error, and tooth pair stiffnesses for spur gear pairs that have pitting damage. The pitting damage prevents portions of the tooth surface from carrying load, which results in meaningfully different contact pressure distribution on the gear teeth and deformations at the mesh. Pits of elliptical shape are investigated. Parametric analyses are used to investigate the effect of pit width (along the tooth face) and height (along the tooth profile) on the gear tooth mesh interface. Pitting damage increases static transmission error and decreases tooth pair stiffness. Tooth contact forces differ only in the portions of the mesh cycle when multiple pairs of teeth are in contact and share the transmitted load. Pitting damage does not change the loads when only a single pair of teeth are in contact.

Motivated by accurate representations in gear dynamics models, this work analyzes the force-deflection relationship between spur gear pairs when the gear teeth have tooth root cracks. A finite element/contact mechanics approach is used to accurately capture the elastic deformations of the gear mesh incorporating kinematic gear motion; elastic deflections of the teeth, root, and blank; and elastic contact between the mating gear teeth. Tooth root crack damage of fixed sizes are analyzed, and the resulting static transmission error and mesh stiffness are calculated. These FE/CM model outputs are relatively insensitive to important gear crack geometry, including the initial crack location, the path it follows, and its final location. Crack-induced changes in static transmission error and mesh stiffness are driven by the remaining amount of the tooth that is healthy. Calculations of average-slope and local-slope mesh stiffness are included because both are used in gear dynamic models.

A predictive automatic gear shift system is currently under development. The system optimizes the gear shift process, taking the conditions of the road ahead into account, such that the fuel consumption is minimized. An essential part of the system is a module that predicts the vehicle speed dynamics: This calculates a speed trajectory, i.e. the most probable vehicle speed the driver will desire for the upcoming section of the route. In the paper the theoretical background for predicting the vehicle speed, and simulation results of the predictive shift algorithm are presented.