LossyGear

Gear with mesh efficiency and bearing friction (stuck/rolling possible)

Information

This information is part of the Modelica Standard Library maintained by the Modelica Association.

This component models the gear ratio and the losses of a standard gear box in a reliable way including the stuck phases that may occur at zero speed. The gear boxes that can be handled are fixed in the ground or on a moving support, have one input and one output shaft, and are essentially described by the equations:

             flange_a.phi  = i*flange_b.phi;
-(flange_b.tau - tau_bf_b) = i*eta_mf*(flange_a.tau - tau_bf_a);

// or        -flange_b.tau = i*eta_mf*(flange_a.tau - tau_bf_a - tau_bf_b/(i*eta_mf));

where

  • i is the constant gear ratio,
  • eta_mf = eta_mf(w_a) is the mesh efficiency due to the friction between the teeth of the gear wheels,
  • tau_bf_a = tau_bf_a(w_a) is the bearing friction torque on the flange_a side,
  • tau_bf_b = tau_bf_b(w_a) is the bearing friction torque on the flange_b side, and
  • w_a = der(flange_a.phi) is the speed of flange_a

The loss terms "eta_mf", "tau_bf_a" and "tau_bf_b" are functions of the absolute value of the input shaft speed w_a and of the energy flow direction. They are defined by parameter lossTable[:,5] where the columns of this table have the following meaning:

|w_a| eta_mf1 eta_mf2 |tau_bf1| |tau_bf2|
... ... ... ... ...
... ... ... ... ...

with

|w_a| Absolute value of angular velocity of input shaft flange_a
eta_mf1 Mesh efficiency in case that flange_a is driving
eta_mf2 Mesh efficiency in case that flange_b is driving
|tau_bf1| Absolute resultant bearing friction torque with respect to flange_a in case that flange_a is driving
(= |tau_bf_a*eta_mf1 + tau_bf_b/i|)
|tau_bf2| Absolute resultant bearing friction torque with respect to flange_a in case that flange_b is driving
(= |tau_bf_a/eta_mf2 + tau_bf_b/i|)

With these variables, the mesh efficiency and the bearing friction are formally defined as:

if (flange_a.tau - tau_bf_a)*w_a > 0 or
   (flange_a.tau - tau_bf_a) == 0 and w_a > 0 then
   eta_mf := eta_mf1
   tau_bf := tau_bf1
elseif (flange_a.tau - tau_bf_a)*w_a < 0 or
       (flange_a.tau - tau_bf_a) == 0 and w_a < 0 then
   eta_mf := 1/eta_mf2
   tau_bf := tau_bf2
else // w_a == 0
   eta_mf and tau_bf are computed such that der(w_a) = 0
end if;
-flange_b.tau = i*(eta_mf*flange_a.tau - tau_bf);

Note, that the losses are modeled in a physically meaningful way taking into account that at zero speed the movement may be locked due to the friction in the gear teeth and/or in the bearings. Due to this important property, this component can be used in situations where the combination of the components Modelica.Mechanics.Rotational.IdealGear and Modelica.Mechanics.Rotational.GearEfficiency will fail because, e.g., chattering occurs when using the Modelica.Mechanics.Rotational.GearEfficiency model.

Acknowledgement:

  • The essential idea to model efficiency in this way is from Christoph Pelchen, ZF Friedrichshafen.
  • The article (Pelchen et.al. 2002), see Literature below, and the first implementation of LossyGear (up to version 3.1 of package Modelica) contained a bug leading to a non-converging solution in cases where the driving side is not obvious. This was pointed out by Christian Bertsch and Max Westenkirchner, Bosch, and Christian Bertsch proposed a concrete solution how to fix this bug, see Literature below.

Literature

Parameters (4)

useSupport

Value: false

Type: Boolean

Description: = true, if support flange enabled, otherwise implicitly grounded

useHeatPort

Value: false

Type: Boolean

Description: =true, if heatPort is enabled

ratio

Value:

Type: Real

Description: Transmission ratio (flange_a.phi/flange_b.phi)

lossTable

Value: [0, 1, 1, 0, 0]

Type: Real[:,5]

Description: Array for mesh efficiencies and bearing friction depending on speed

Connectors (4)

flange_a

Type: Flange_a

Description: Flange of left shaft

flange_b

Type: Flange_b

Description: Flange of right shaft

support

Type: Support

Description: Support/housing of component

heatPort

Type: HeatPort_a

Description: Optional port to which dissipated losses are transported in form of heat

Used in Examples (4)

LossyGearDemo1

Modelica.Mechanics.Rotational.Examples

Example to show that gear efficiency may lead to stuck motion

LossyGearDemo2

Modelica.Mechanics.Rotational.Examples

Example to show combination of LossyGear and BearingFriction

LossyGearDemo3

Modelica.Mechanics.Rotational.Examples

Example that failed in the previous version of the LossyGear version

HeatLosses

Modelica.Mechanics.Rotational.Examples

Demonstrate the modeling of heat losses

Used in Components (1)

Gearbox

Modelica.Mechanics.Rotational.Components

Realistic model of a gearbox (based on LossyGear)