Unique Load Sharing Device
The Compact Orbital Gears Flexible Pin
Our epicyclic gearboxes employ a unique load-sharing device,
which has been designed and used by Compact Orbital Gears for
the last three decades.
Planet wheel rotates on flexibly mounted spindle.
Most successful high power epicyclic gears incorporate some means
of load sharing to correct for manufacturing errors and tolerance
build up. In the Compact Orbital Gears design the planet gear
is mounted on a bearing sleeve which is supported on the outboard
end of a flexible pin cantilevered out from the carrier plate.
Planet spindle loaded at centre.
The normal working load is an evenly distributed load along the
tooth face, where the centroid is symmetrical with the free length
of the pin. Under load the pin deflects as a double cantilever
and the planet will remain parallel to the gearing. If any planet
is subjected to more load than the others, the pin will deflect
a greater amount and the remaining planets will then take up the
load.
Planet spindle loaded at end.
The pin can also deflect in an angular fashion if subjected to
end loading and in this way can accommodate for torsional wrap-up
or helix angle errors in the gears, and deflections due to gearcase
deflection.
The pin, positioned centrally between the gear mesh, only has
to move half the error at any one mesh and is designed to have
static deflection under torque considerably greater than the errors
to be accommodated. It is therefore subject to a large static
deflection with a small superimposed ripple due to the gear errors,
so is not in a fatigue condition.
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