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POWER LOSSES OF GEAR SYSTEMS

Article  in  Problems of Friction and Wear · December 2017

DOI: 10.18372/0370-2197.4(77).12136

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 ISSN 03702197 Problems of friction and wear, 2017, 4 (77) 107

UDC 621.833.1
V. STAVYTSKYY1, O. BASHTA2, P. NOSKO2, G. BOYKO1, A. GOLOVIN3,
N. STEBELETSKA2
1
Eastukrainian national university, Ukraine
2
National aviation university, Ukraine
3
Berezhany agrotechnical institute, Ukraine
POWER LOSSES OF GEAR SYSTEMS
This paper provides a review of experimental investigations and available models of
gear load-independent power losses (windage losses, churning losses and air-oil
pocketing power losses) for spur, helical, and bevel gears. The aim of the review is to
provide a comprehensive compilation of published information on gear load-
independent power losses to assist gearbox designers in identifying relevant experi-
mental and modeling information. While it is clear from the review of published work
that the rotational speed, gear geometrical parameters, degree of confinement, and
density of the fluid surrounding the gear are important, the degree of effect and gen-
eral solutions for reducing power loss are less clear. The motivation for this is that
for some applications, this power loss can be a significant component, particularly
lightly loaded high-speed applications.
Keywords: transmissions, gears, windage loss, churning loss, air-oil pocketing loss,
gearbox efficiency, empirical models
Introduction. Environmental awareness is pushing mechanical engineers to de-
velop mechanical systems, and in particular gear units, that have lower environmental
impact. Such objective can be reached through different perspectives: reduce gear
power loss and improve efficiency, reduce gear operating temperature, reduce friction
between gear teeth, reduce gear load-independent power losses. The losses associated
with meshing gears are important in the design of many industrial, marine, and gas
turbine situations. Gearbox efficiency varies from 98% to 99% for the best designed
high power applications. The highest rated gearboxes now exceed 100 MW [1], so for
such a gearbox a 1 per cent power loss equates to 1 MW and this is not insignificant.
Power losses of a gearbox containing several gear pairs that are supported by
shafts and rolling element bearings can be classified into two groups. The first group
is comprised of load-dependent (friction-induced) power losses caused primarily due
to contacting surfaces of gears and the bearings. The losses in the second group are
independent of load and are often referred to as spin power losses. There are many
sources of such losses, the primary ones being oil churning and windage that are pre-
sent as a result of oil/air drag on the periphery and faces of the gears, pocket-
ing/squeezing of lubricant from the cavities of the gear mesh, and viscous dissipation
of bearings. While losses from these two groups are often comparable under high-
load, low-speed conditions, the spin losses were shown to dominate over the load-
dependent power losses at higher operating speed conditions. Of the total losses, for a
typical gearbox, 40 per cent come from meshing, 50 per cent from bearings, and 10
per cent from windage and churning [2]. Windage power loss (WPL) is defined as the
power loss due to the fluid drag experienced by the gear when it is running in air or an
air-oil mist. Churning power loss (CHPL) is defined as the power loss when a gear is
running in an oil bath or is dipping into oil “slugs.” During the meshing of high-speed
spur or helical gears, the mixture of air and lubricant is successively compressed and
expanded in the intertooth spaces giving rise to significant heating and power loss
named as air-oil pocketing power losses.
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Windage Power Losses. Estimates on the percentage effect of windage vary as the
value is dependent on a number of different parameters. One of the critical parameters is
the pitch line velocity; obviously, high velocities ([3] suggests 51 m/ s, and [4] suggests
tangential speeds greater than 90–120 m/ s) produce greater stirred motion, so large
gears rotated at high rotational rates are particularly vulnerable. Additionally, the lubri-
cation flow rate and scavenge design are critical as these directly affect the properties of
the fluid surrounding the gear [3], [5]. So, in a case where you have a high level of lubri-
cant suspended around a gear with high pitch velocity, as is the case of an aero-engine,
windage becomes a significant contributor to the power loss. It may only account for a
few percent, but this can be critical. Traditionally, there have been two approaches to
reducing WPL; the first is to use a shroud or baffle to enclose gears and the second is to
positively pump the oil and air from the gearbox casing. Pumping from the gearbox cas-
ing is known as evacuating the gearbox [1], and allows a reduction of fluid density with-
in the casing. This can result in up to 1% improvement in efficiency but can only be
used in a limited number of situations.
Published gear windage power losses experiments, which have been few and far,
can be grouped based on their primary focus. One group of studies focused on the
measurement of air windage losses [6] by measuring the deceleration of a single gear
or disk rotating in air, and then applying the kinetic energy theorem to obtain power
loss from air drag. [7] used the tool of dimensional analysis to define an empirical
windage moment coefficient in terms of speed, oil properties, Reynolds number, gear
size, tooth parameters, and the geometry of nearby fluid flow obstructions such as
close-fitting gear case walls. While applicable to a single disk or gear rotating in air,
these models did not consider the effects of a meshing gear or impinging oil jet, and so
cannot be validated using geared transmissions.
As an alternative, [8] and [9], [10] developed empirical models for meshed spur
gears based on pitch radius, face width, rotational speed, and viscosity of the ambient
fluid. Likewise, [11], based on measurements of high-speed, long addendum spur
gears, reported that windage power loss was proportional to the 2.8th power of the
rotational speed and also that the inertial losses resulting from the impinging oil jet
were linearly proportional to the rotational speed. Here, the inertial losses from the
impinging oil jet were shown to increase with oil jet pressure, and composed a signifi-
cant portion of load-independent power loss.
Table 1 is divided into experimental and modeling studies into WPL for spur, hel-
ical, and bevel gears.
Oil churning power losses. Most of experimental studies considered a single gear,
disk, or bladed rotor immersed in oil [12], [13], [14]. These oil churning studies were
also devoted to developing empirical equations to obtain a dimensionless churning mo-
ment coefficient. [12] proposed four different flow regimes around a rotating disk fully
submerged in fluid and correlated these flow regimes to Reynolds number and enclosure
effects based on experimental results. Mann and Marston [13] studied friction drag of
bladed and unbladed disks and related experimental results to a moment coefficient
based on Reynolds number and axial clearance with the chamber, etc.
However, in the case of gears, there are fewer empirical models and, because of
experimental difficulties, measurements of thermal performance and power losses
have been limited. The first in situ temperature measurements date back to the classic
works by [15], [16], while the specific studies on churning losses comprise those of
[17], [18] and, more recently, [19] and [20].
 ISSN 03702197 Problems of friction and wear, 2017, 4 (77) 109
Table 1
Experimental studies of windage power loss
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[17] developed empirical relations for a dimensionless moment coefficient from nu-
merous experiments on gears rotating partially submerged in a fluid and identified separate
power loss equations for meshed gears rotating upward or downward in an oil bath. [19]
conducted friction torque tests with a simple bench setup using smooth disks of various
diameters and face widths, which were partially submerged in high-viscosity oil, and
compared these results to experimental observations with a gear (See table 2).
More recent efforts using similar methods include that by [21], [22], and [20].
[22] performed a number of experiments to determine churning loss in single and
meshed spur gear pairs. They compared their experimental observations on spin power loss-
es with the empirical formulations of [19] and [17] and found that contrary to what Bones
had predicted, the spin power losses were not strongly affected by the viscosity of the lubri-
cant. Furthermore, their observations called into question the attempt used to characterize
spin power loss based on a Reynolds number dependent on lubricant viscosity.
[8] measured losses from jet-lubricated spur gear systems experimentally. They pro-
posed an analysis of the power required to pump the oil trapped between mating gears.
[5], [23] analyzed the effect of rotationally induced windage on the lubricating oil dis-
tribution in the space between adjacent gear teeth in spur gears. The purpose of their study
was to provide formulations to study lubricant fling-off cooling. They proposed that im-
pingement depth of the oil into the space between adjacent gear teeth and the point of ini-
tial contact was an important aspect in determining cooling effectiveness.
[24] analyzed fluid flow in the meshing zone between spur gear pairs to assess the mag-
nitude of the fluid velocity, temperature, and pressures that result from meshing gear teeth.
A more recent study by [20] investigated the influence of meshing gear on oil
churning power losses by performing a number of gear oil churning experiments to
come up with empirical formula for power losses. Parameters included were gear
module, diameter and face width, speed, and lubricant viscosity. Their empirical for-
mula (See table 2) suggested that the influence of viscosity on oil churning loses is
insignificant with regard to viscosity at high speeds of rotation for single gears, cor-
roborating similar findings from the experimental observations of [22].
Another relevant work by [21] also stresses this apparent lack of dependence of
oil type on load-independent losses. In their experiments, measured gear and bearing
power losses, and forged a balance between generated heat in the gearbox due to gears
and bearings and the dissipated heat in the form of free and forced convection and
through radiation as well, from housing and rotating parts, to calculate mean lubricant
temperature.
Conclusions. This review describes a number of studies that have investigated
gear windage and churning power loss. While it is clear from all of these investiga-
tions that the rotational speed, gear geometrical parameters, degree of confinement,
and density of the fluid surrounding the gear are important, the degree of effect and
general solutions for reducing power loss are less clear. The majority of the modeling
methodologies are experimental correlations derived from specific experiments that
have unique elements, making a general conclusion regarding the best methodology
difficult. The methodologies do allow a general assessment of the expected levels of
gear windage and churning present in a specific design and possible routes to reducing
gear windage and churning power loss. It is clear from this review that a modeling
methodology capable of being used for all gear types and configurations is required,
which allows analysis of the fluid dynamics phenomena.
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Nomenclature
d = pitch diameter (m) β = helix angle (deg)
b = face width (m) r = pitch radius (m)
m = tooth module z = number of teeth
N = rotational speed (rpm) ω = speed (rad/s)
Re = Reynolds number Fr = Froude number
h = immersion depth of a pinion (m) Sm = immersed surface area
of the pinion (m2)
ρ = density V0 = oil volume (m3)
i = current (amps) v = voltage (volts)
μ = dynamic fluid viscosity υ = kinematic viscosity (m2/s)
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The paper was received by the editorial office on the 15.11.2017

В. СТАВИЦЬКИЙ, О. БАШТА, П. НОСКО, Г. БОЙКО, А. ГОЛОВИН,

Н. СТЕБЕЛЕЦЬКА
ВТРАТИ ПОТУЖНОСТІ В СИСТЕМАХ ЗУБЧАСТИХ КОЛІС
У статті наведено огляд експериментальних досліджень та наявних моделей втрат поту-
жності (вентиляційні втрати, втрати на вихороутворення, втрати потужності при стис-
канні повітряно-мастильної суміші) для циліндричних, косозубих та конічних передач.
Метою огляду є надання всебічної компіляції опублікованої інформації про втрати по-
тужності незалежно від навантаження, щоб допомогти розробникам редукторів визначи-
ти відповідну експериментальну та модельну інформацію. Хоча з огляду опублікованої
роботи зрозуміло, що важливі швидкість обертання, геометричні параметри передач,
ступінь ущільнення та щільність рідини, що оточує передачу, ступінь ефекту та загальні
рішення для зменшення втрат потужності менш зрозумілі. Сенс полягає в тому, що для
деяких варіантів використання ця втрата потужності може бути важливою складовою,
особливо для легко завантажених високошвидкісних механізмів.
Ключові слова: передачі, зубчасті колеса, вентиляційні втрати, втрати на вихороутво-
рення, втрати потужності при стисканні повітряно-мастильної суміші, коефіцієнт корис-
ної дії редуктора, емпіричні моделі
116 ISSN 03702197 Проблеми тертя та зношування, 2017, 4 (77)

Valeriy Stavytskyy, PhD Engineering, associated professor (East Ukrainian National Univer-
sity named after Vladimir Dal
Oleksandr Bashta, PhD Engineering, associated professor (National Aviation University,
Ukraine), [email protected]
Pavlo Nosko, Dr.of Tech.Sci, professor (National Aviation University, Ukraine)
Boyko Grygory - PhD Engineering, associated professor (East Ukrainian National University
named after Volodimir Dal)
Andry Golovin, senior lecturer (Berezhany agrotechnical institute, Ukraine)
Natalia Stebeletska, PhD Engineering, associated professor (National Aviation University,
Ukraine)

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