Properties and environmental dependencies of mechatronic components like gear-drives and motors impact the overall performance of automated Production Systems. These properties, often in the form of characteristic curves, are only accessible from suppliers’ documents, like operating instructions or online catalogs. The proposed SysML’ profile integrates artifacts from SysML and UML into disciplinary views. It includes a reference mechanism to REXS (standard for gear properties) and ECLASS (standard for product data like UNSPSC) to overcome the semantic inconsistency of component properties and inclusion of curves. A metamodel is used for a more precise presentation of the proposed reference mechanism. Due to the static nature of a profile, a Business Process Modeling Notation is used to dynamically illustrate the benefits of SysML’ in the workflow.

Current challenges for today’s industry are an increase in gear ratio in one stage, an increase in load capacity as well as an increase in efficiency compared to standard gears. The standard tooth profile for cylindrical gears is an involute. This tooth profile has certain limits for external gearings regarding its geometry, e.g., undercutting and a small radius of curvature near the base circle. Special gearings overcome these limits and offer an enormous potential in gear design through their adapted profile geometries. New manufacturing possibilities for gears, such as additive manufacturing or 5‑axis milling, mean that special gears can also be produced economically.In comparison to involute gears the description of non-involute gears is often not standardized and parameters describing the geometry are not commonly defined. Thus, it is not possible to adequately determine the corresponding properties. One of these special tooth profiles is the eccentric cycloid gearing (EC gearing), in which a circular profile rolls with a profile of a trochoid equidistant. This flank geometry can provide advantages over the standard involute in certain applications.This study introduces a geometric description of the EC gearing, which is based on a defined set of parameters. Besides the geometrical parameters, parameters describing the characteristics of the gearing are proposed in accordance with the description of involute gears. This parametric description of the EC gearing enables an analytical determination of the flank, the contact geometry and load-free characteristics. With the parametric description shown and the variation of the geometry possible with it, gearings suitable for practical applications can be generated.

The drive system of robots and robot-like systems (RLS) is often designed with a combination of an e-motor and a gearbox with a high transmission ratio to optimize performance. The various types of possible robot gearboxes can be selected based on their characteristics, which strongly influence the performance of the entire robotic system. Planetary gear drives have advantages due to their high efficiency and low design complexity. Disadvantageous is the low transmission ratio per stage and the resulting large design space required with the currently predominant involute gearing. Using special tooth profile shapes, such as the eccentric cycloid (EC) gearing, enables a high transmission ratio per stage to be achieved, thus reducing the design space required. In order to evaluate the design, a description of the geometry and characteristics of the EC gearing is necessary. The application-optimized design can be made accessible on an interdisciplinary basis using a suitable description language for the product development of the complete robotic system. The paper shows the design and analysis of a planetary gearbox with a high transmission ratio for applications in robotics. The planetary gear stage is designed with the EC gearing, which offers advantages compared to the involute gearing. The performance of the selected gearing is evaluated based on various characteristics. This allows advantages to be identified compared to the established types of transmission for robots and RLS. Overall, the paper presents a new robot gearbox with a comprehensive description and analysis directly accessible for simulation or production using additive manufacturing.

In this paper a variant of eccentric drives will be described, which uses rolling elements instead of an eccentric gear. These rolling elements are constrained by a concentric carrier allowing for radial movement and are moved by an eccentric crank. They mesh with a gear geometry that translates their radial movement into tangential movement and constrains their position. Multiple offset eccentricities may be used with the same gear to reduce occurring forces. Such a drive may prove easier to manufacture than currently used eccentric drives, but the characteristics are not yet fully researched.The components and the working principle of such a drive will be described, and consistent names for the components will be established in this paper. Using these the movement of the rolling elements and the resulting gear geometry will be mathematically described. The forces on a singular rolling element will be derived. An overview of and comparison with related drive mechanisms will be given to aid in the classification of this drive. Different variations of this drive will be discussed, including the choice of rolling elements, whether to use an external or internal gear, and whether a direction-reversing or non-direction-reversing drive is advantageous.

Advancements in manufacturing technology provide users with new opportunities for the design of gears. Special gearings with customized non-involute tooth profile geometries offer a promising alternative to conventional involute gears, addressing limitations, such as undercutting and small radii of curvature near the tooth root. However, the absence of standardized design procedures for non-involute gears, such as ISO 6336 for involute gears, often necessitates reliance on numerical simulations and methodologies using approximations. Analytical methods for determining key parameters—such as the topological load distribution and contact pressures—are currently specialized for involute gears and can hardly be directly applied to special gears. This paper proposes a generalization of the analytical static load distribution calculation for non-involute tooth profiles. A relationship between the applied torque and the transmission error at every meshing position is derived. This approach is validated using the calculation software RIKOR with two exemplary involute gearings, demonstrating consistency with the established method. Additionally, the proposed framework is applied to an exemplary cycloid gear and an eccentric cycloid gear to demonstrate the capability to analyze arbitrary tooth profile geometries. The results highlight the potential for the reliable and efficient design of non-involute gears through analytical methods.

Foreword The International Conference on Gears in Garching near Munich, Germany, is an established platform for researchers on and manufacturers of gears…