In gearboxes, rolling bearing power losses often make up a large amount of the total gearbox power losses. Therefore, an exact calculation of rolling bearing power losses is very important for resource and energy efficient gearbox design. The state of the art offers numerous friction calculation methods with different levels of detail to calculate power losses of rolling bearings. Bearing manufacturers like SKF and Schaeffler offer popular bearing-based/global calculation methods for standard rolling bearings. Contact-based/local calculation methods can consider a wider application field by generalization of tribological relations, which enables its application to e.g. hybrid bearings or non-standard bearings. The different methods may yield widely differing results. For its validation, measurement results are required. In this study, a broad comparison of calculation results with substantial measurement results is shown. Based on the validation a classification of the calculation methods is derived, which provides guidance for the design engineer to choose the appropriate method for the respective application. Contact-based/local calculation methods have the potential to predict friction in rolling bearings precisely.

In order to achieve the European Commission’s ambitious climate targets by 2030, BEVs (Battery Electric Vehicles) manufacturers are faced with the challenge of producing more efficient and ecological products. The electromechanical powertrain plays a key role in the efficiency of BEVs, which is why the design parameters in the development phase of electromechanical powertrains must be chosen carefully. One of the central design parameters is the maximum speed of the electric machines and the gear ratio of the connected transmissions. Due to the relationship between speed and torque, it is possible to design more compact and lighter electric machines by increasing the speed at constant power. However, with higher speed of the electric machines, a higher gear ratio is required, which results in a larger and heavier transmission. This study therefore examines the influence of maximum speed on the power density of electromechanical powertrains. Electric machines and transmissions with different maximum speeds are designed with the state-of-the-art for a selected reference vehicle. The designs are then examined with regard to the power density of the overall powertrain system. Compared to the reference vehicle, the results of the study show a considerable potential for increasing the power density of electromechanical powertrains by increasing the maximum speed of the electric machines.

Due to the growing need for gearboxes to be as lightweight and efficient as possible, it is most important that the gear mesh’s potential is utilized as well as possible. One way of doing that is to define a flank modification that optimally distributes the load over the flank. Best practice for defining a flank modification is to manually check out the load distribution and to define a value of the flank modification. In general, this is an iterative method to get an optimally distributed load. This method can also be automated. To do this, the deformations of the gearbox (shafts, bearings, gear mesh) are calculated. With those results, a modification proposal is calculated and applied to the calculation model. As soon as the values for the next additional modification proposal drop under a certain limit, the iteration is finished. This method consumes time and computing power. Additionally, since it is an iteration, it does not always converge. A new method for calculating the lead flank modification for all gear stages in the gearbox to be calculated is presented in this paper. The method shown in this paper uses additional degrees of freedom and equations, which are integrated into the linear equation system of the gearbox model. Those degrees of freedom and the equations apply the boundary condition to the model of a constant load distribution. By introducing additional factors in the equations, it is possible to calculate a lead flank modification for an arbitrary load distribution. By integrating these additional degrees of freedom and the equations, only one additional calculation is needed to get a modification proposal. Examples throughout this paper show the results of this method.

Classical machine elements have been around for centuries, even millennia. However, the current advancement in Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), together with Condition Monitoring (CM), requires that machine elements should be upgraded from a not-simple object to an intelligent object, able to provide information about its working conditions to its surroundings, especially its health. However, the integration of electronics in a mechanical component may lead to a reduction in its load capacity since the component may need to be modified in order to accommodate them. This paper describes a case study, where, differently from other cases present in the literature, sensor integration has been developed under the gear teeth of an actual case-hardened helical gear pair to be used within an actual gearbox. This article has two different purposes. On the one hand, it aims to investigate the effect that component-level SHM/CM has on the gear load carrying capacity. On the other hand, it also aims to be of inspiration to the reader who wants to undertake the challenges of designing a sensor-integrated gear.

For the development of high power density gearboxes the knowledge of the gear mesh behavior is important. Especially, the tooth deflection influences flank load distribution and is the basis for the design of flank modifications. Analytical and numerical approaches are suitable to evaluate the behavior. Since numerical methods are complex, elaborate and time-consuming, fast and accurate analytical methods are still important and are worth to be further developed and assessed.An analytical method for calculating tooth deformation for gears goes back to Weber and Banaschek from 1953. In the initial work the final equations are given without many intermediate steps in the plane strain assumption for materials with Poisson’s ratio ν = 0.3. This paper derives the tooth deflection equations in a more detailed and general manner for any linear material. The final equations are valid for the plane stress and plane strain state in one new closed representation and are therefore suitable for an efficient implementation. While the plane strain state is typical for gears, the plane stress state is significant for a thin slice model or special gearings. The presented method captures the shear influence with a more detailed calculation of the shear correction factor.A calculation study validates the results from the derived analytical tooth deflection calculation method with a plane Finite Element Model. In the study the point of application of force and the gear body are varied to cover the influence of different variants (size and mesh position). Finally limits of the analytical modeling and the validation are discussed.