Curved bevel gear (also known as spiral bevel gear) is the basic component to realize the motion transmission of intersecting axis and staggered axis. Curved bevel gear has the advantages of good meshing performance, stable transmission, high bearing capacity and low noise. It is widely used in various machines and equipment. Curved bevel gear is the most complex and widely used key power transmission device in the field of mechanical transmission. Its tooth surface machining theory and manufacturing technology are typical and highly exemplary for the machining of other complex curved surface parts.
There are two tooth systems for curved bevel gears: circular arc tapered teeth (Gleason system) and extended epicycloid equal height teeth (Oerlikon system). Gleason of the United States, Oerlikon of Switzerland and klingoleberg of Germany are the most representative manufacturers of curved bevel gear processing machine tools.
Since the 1970s, Gleason’s spiral bevel gear technology and machine tools began to enter the Chinese market. From mechanical rocking machine tools to the latest Phoenix II CNC machine tools, Gleason company has continuously imported advanced spiral bevel gear design and manufacturing technology to China. In China’s automobile industry, aerospace and power equipment manufacturing enterprises are equipped with a large number of bevel gear processing equipment using Gleason technology.
This paper mainly studies the NC machining technology of involute spiral bevel gears, including spiral bevel gears with intersecting axes and hypoid gears with staggered axes, which are collectively referred to as spiral bevel gears.