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:
Mar. 20, 2007
Filed:
Feb. 07, 2003
Faydor L. Litvin, Skokie, IL (US);
Xiangshun Zhao, Farmington, MI (US);
John Sofia, Birmingham, MI (US);
Theresa Barrett, Leonard, MI (US);
Faydor L. Litvin, Skokie, IL (US);
Xiangshun Zhao, Farmington, MI (US);
John Sofia, Birmingham, MI (US);
Theresa Barrett, Leonard, MI (US);
American Axle & Manufacturing, Inc., Detroit, MI (US);
Abstract
The present invention provides for bevel gears having a localized and stable bearing contact. The localization of bearing contact is achieved by substitution of flat tooth surfaces with parabolic tooth surfaces. This is accomplished by either modifying line-contact directly or by using a generating parabolic cylinder during generation of the tooth surfaces. The actual contact area is spread over an ellipse centered around an instantaneous theoretical point of contact at the apex of the parabolic tooth surface. This localized bearing contact reduces the shift of the bearing due to assembly and manufacturing errors, thereby providing a more durable and quieter gear. Furthermore, the geometry of the gear enables creation of dies from which the gear may be forged. Transmission errors are modeled using a pre-designed parabolic function that coincides with the parabolic tooth surface design of the present invention.