The Influence of Main Design Parameters on the Overall Cost of a Gearbox

Abstract

This study is aimed at determining optimum partial gear ratios to minimize the cost of a three-stage helical gearbox. In this work, eleven input parameters were investigated to find their influence on the optimum gear ratios of the second and the third stages ( u 2 and u 3 ). To reach the goal, a simulation experiment was designed and implemented by a cost optimization program. The results revealed that in addition to the input parameters, their interactions also have important effects in which the total ratio gearbox ratio ( u t ) and the cost of shaft ( C s ) have the most impact on u 2 and u 3 responses, respectively. Moreover, the proposed models of the two responses are highly consistent to the experimental results. The proposed regression equations can be applied to solve optimization cost problems.