Thermal Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication Analysis for Point Contact Transmission

To investigate the thermal EHL (elastohydrodynamic lubrication) in point contact transmission, a model considering the two-dimensional surface velocity of tooth face and the running-in is proposed. The numerical solutions for pressure, temperature and film thickness distribution in the contact zone are obtained by solving equations including the Reynolds, Energy and the elastic displacement with variable dimension meshing method. The model was used to study the point contact transmission of the circular arc gear in a windlass. The main results show that it is pure rolling along the direction of tooth width, and the rolling speed plays a leading role in improving the lubricating performance and transmission efficiency of circular arc gear. The squeeze film effect makes the pressure peak tend to be gentle and the film thickness increase slightly.