ABSTRACT

Interactions between gear and lubricant are very important for understanding and predicting the efficiency and durability of a gearbox. This study investigates two aspects of lubrication related to gearboxes – lubricant flow due to rotating gears, as well as the hardware thermal response due to contact friction. The first part of the paper uses computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to investigate windage and churning loss of a simple gearbox. The results of this modeling provide visualization of lubricant flow and distribution inside the gearbox, as well as quantitative prediction of churning loss inside the gearbox. Lubricant properties affecting the churning loss are also discussed. The second part of the paper presents thermal modeling results of a Mini-Traction Machine (MTM) test rig. We chose modeling MTM test rig as the foundational technology demonstration because it is wide availability for lubricant developer and ease of experimental validation for modeling.

Author(s): Weixue Tian, Pinzhi Liu, Michael Blumenfeld, Ganta Naveen

ISBN: 978-1-64353-149-6