The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 11, 2004
Filed:
Jun. 30, 2000
Dong Zhu, Farmington Hills, MI (US);
Michael Bujold, Royal Oak, MI (US);
Patrick Watts, Gastonia, NC (US);
Eaton Corporation, Cleveland, OH (US);
Abstract
An optimally finished gear has a surface roughness between approximately 5 micro-inches Ra to 10 micro-inches Ra. The reduced surface roughness, when located at the gear teeth, can reduce the maximum contact stress by more than fifty percent. Similarly, the subsurface shear stress can be reduced by approximately thirty percent. The reduced contact stress and reduced shear stress results from improved lubrication conditions between the gear teeth. Surface roughness greater than 10 micro-inches Ra results in increased contact of the surface peaks, while surface roughness lower than 3 micro-inches is too smooth to retain adequate lubrication between the gear teeth.