Computational Design and Optimization of Non-Circular Gears
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Date
2020
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The Eurographics Association and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Abstract
We study a general form of gears known as non-circular gears that can transfer periodic motion with variable speed through their irregular shapes and eccentric rotation centers. To design functional non-circular gears is nontrivial, since the gear pair must have compatible shape to keep in contact during motion, so the driver gear can push the follower to rotate via a bounded torque that the motor can exert. To address the challenge, we model the geometry, kinematics, and dynamics of non-circular gears, formulate the design problem as a shape optimization, and identify necessary independent variables in the optimization search. Taking a pair of 2D shapes as inputs, our method optimizes them into gears by locating the rotation center on each shape, minimally modifying each shape to form the gear's boundary, and constructing appropriate teeth for gear meshing. Our optimized gears not only resemble the inputs but can also drive the motion with relatively small torque. We demonstrate our method's usability by generating a rich variety of non-circular gears from various inputs and 3D printing several of them.
Description
@article{10.1111:cgf.13939,
journal = {Computer Graphics Forum},
title = {{Computational Design and Optimization of Non-Circular Gears}},
author = {Xu, Hao and Fu, Tianwen and Song, Peng and Zhou, Mingjun and Fu, Chi-Wing and Mitra, Niloy J.},
year = {2020},
publisher = {The Eurographics Association and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.},
ISSN = {1467-8659},
DOI = {10.1111/cgf.13939}
}