Efficiency of high speed spur gears with an isotropic superfinishing

<ai:p>Gear friction is decisive for the efficiency and power density of cylindrical gears. One method to realise the highest possible efficiency is to carry out a isotropic superfinishing. In this paper, a measuring method for evaluating the gear power losses in the regime of high pitch line velocity is presented. Using this measuring method, efficiency analyses of gears with conventional profile grinding and of variants with additional isotropic superfinishing were carried out. The experimental investigations showed a significant potential in gear friction and thus efficiency due to isotropic superfinishing. The potential was confirmed independent of the gear geometry and over the entire range of pitch line velocities investigated.</ai:p>