An Analytical Investigation of Rattle Characteristics of Powder Metal Gears

This study employs an analytical model of a gear pair with transverse-torsional dynamics that allows analysis of single-sided, double-sided, and random rattle situations to contrast rattle characteristics of isotropic PM gears with a baseline steel gearset. This model utilizes time-varying gear mesh stiffness and transmission error as the internal excitation sources and time-varying operating torque as an external excitation. The gear rattle performance of PM gears is investigated under different torque conditions and operating speeds. The system kinetic and potential energy is assessed as an evaluation tool that can indicate the severity of different rattle conditions. The dynamic response of two different versions of an existing PM gear design are compared with a baseline traditional steel gear.