Torsional Vibrations and Dynamic Loads in a Basic Planetary Gear System

An interative method has been developed for analyzing dynamic loads in a light weight basic planetary gear system. The effects of fixed, semi-floating, and fully-floating sun gear conditions have been emphasized. The load dependent variable gear mesh stiffnesses were incorporated into a practical torsional dynamic model of a planetary gear system. The dynamic model consists of input and output units, shafts, and a planetary train. In this model, the sun gear has three degrees of freedom; two transverse and one rotational. The planets, ring gear, and the input and output units have one degree of freedom, (rotation) thus giving a total of nine degrees of freedoms for the basic system. The ring gear has a continuous radial support. The results indicate that the fixed sun gear arrangement with accurate or errorless gearing offers in general better performance than the floating sun gear system.