Efficiency of Worm Gear Drives Under Transient Operating Conditions

In oil-lubricated worm gears, all moving components cause power losses during operation. These losses depend, among other things, on the viscosity of the lubricant used, which in turn is determined by the temperature present in the gearbox. The dependency between the temperature and the power dissipation is mutual, and they influence each other. For the analysis of gearboxes under transient conditions, the relationship among operating conditions, power dissipation, and temperature must be considered. In this paper, a method for the analysis of these interrelationships is presented, which is based on the combination of tribological simulation and thermal networks. With the developed calculation model, the gearbox efficiency and the temperature over time can be estimated for arbitrary load cases. The calculation results are compared with measurements on a real gearbox.