Noncircular gear design and generation by rack cutter

Abstract

The paper considers the Gielis’ superformula in the attempt of generalizing the procedure of planar noncircular gear centrode design. The superformula introduces six defining parameters that influence the curvature, magnitude and symmetry for closed/opened curves. The computer modeling of the gear centrode, based on direct profile method, enables the analysis of the defining parameters influence on centrode geometry and optimal parameter values to be selected. For convex shapes, the gear tooth profiles are further generated by simulating the gear cutting process, considering the given pitch line, a rack-cutter with standard parameters and the process specific kinematics.