Abstract: In order to improve the strength and endurance of hypoid gear, and extend the lifetime of hypoid gear, the modified pitch cone method is firstly introduced. On the condition of the invariant mean working tooth depth, invariant outer diameter of gear and the gear addendum coefficient ≤0, the new pitch cone parameters are derived. The new pitch cone is coincident to face cone or out of the gear solid. The meshing behavior, the tooth surface contact stress, the maximum tensile bending stress and the maximum compressive bending stress are researched by using tooth contact analysis (TCA), loaded tooth contact analysis (LTCA) and finite element method (FEM). The computer simulation results show that the tooth surface contact stress, the maximum tensile bending stress and the maximum compressive bending stress of the pinion to hypoid gear pair designed by new method are markedly reduced. The results of the experiment show that the new type hypoid gear can be processed by the general cutter, and doesn’t need other special tools.

Key words: Finite element method, Hypoid gear, Meshing behavior, Modified pitch cone method, Strength, Tooth contact analysis