Proceedings of IDETC/CIE 2005

ASME 2005 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in
Proceedings of IDETC/CIE 2005
Engineering Conference
ASME 2005 International
Design
Engineering
Technical
Conferences
September 24-28, 2005, Long Beach,
California,
USA
& Computers and Information in Engineering Conference
September 24-28, 2005, Long Beach, California USA

DETC2005-84085

DETC2005-84085
COMPUTERIZED MODELING AND SIMULATION OF SPIRAL BEVEL AND HYPOID GEARS
MANUFACTURED BY GLEASON FACE HOBBING PROCESS

Qi Fan, Ph.D
The Gleason Works
1000 University Avenue
Rochester, NY 14607, USA
qfan@gleason.com

ABSTRACT
The Gleason face hobbing process has been widely applied
by the gear industry. But so far few papers have been found
regarding the mathematic models of the tooth surface
generations and tooth contact analysis (TCA). This paper
presents the generalized theory of the face hobbing generation
method, mathematic models of tooth surface generations and
the simulation of meshing of face hobbed spiral bevel and
hypoid gears. A generalized description of the cutting blades is
introduced by considering four segments of the blade edge
geometry. A kinematical model of a bevel gear generator is
developed by breaking down the machine tool settings and the
relative motions of the machine elemental units and applying
coordinate transformations of the elemental motions. A
generalized and enhanced TCA algorithm is proposed.
The face hobbing process has two categories of generation
methods applied to the gear tooth surface generations, which
are non-generated (Formate) and generated methods. In both
categories the pinions are always finished with the generated
method. The proposed tooth surface generation model covers
both categories with left-hand and right-hand members. Based
upon the developed theory, an advanced tooth surface
generation and TCA program is developed and integrated into
Gleason CAGE for Windows System. Two numerical
examples are provided to illustrate the implementation of the
developed mathematic models.

hypoid gears. The face hobbing process is implemented on the

CNC hypoid gear generating machines by using TRI-AC or
PENTAC face hobbing cutter systems [1, 2, 3].
Few papers have been found regarding the mathematic
models of the tooth surface generations and tooth contact
analysis (TCA) of face hobbed gear drives [4]. Most published
papers are related to the face milling process [5, 6, 7, 8].
Generalized modern theory of gearing has been developed and
can be applied to specific types of gear drives [9, 10,11, 12,
13].
The major differences between the face milling process
and face hobbing process are: (1) in face hobbing, a timed
continuous indexing is provided while in face milling, the
indexing is intermittently provided after cutting each tooth side
or slot, which is also called single indexing. Similar to face
milling, in face hobbing the pinion is cut with the generated
method and the gear can be cut with either the generated
method or the non-generated (Formate) method. The Formate
method offers higher productivity than the generated method
because the generating roll is not applied in the Formate
method. However, the generated method offers more freedoms
of controlling tooth surface geometries; (2) the lengthwise tooth
curve of face milled bevel gears is a circular arc with a
curvature radius equal to the cutter radius while the lengthwise
tooth curve of face hobbed gears is an extended epicycloid; and
(3) face hobbing gear designs use the uniform tooth depth
system while most face milling gear designs use tapered tooth
systems.
Theoretically, the face hobbing process is based on the
generalized concept of bevel gear generation in which the
mating gear and the pinion can be considered respectively
generated by the complementary generating crown gears as
shown in Fig. 1. The tooth surfaces of the generating crown
gears are kinematically formed by the traces of the cutting

Keywords: Face Hobbing, Tooth Surface Generation, Tooth

Contact Analysis (TCA), Spiral Bevel and Hypoid Gears
INTRODUCTION
Basically, there are two types of generation processes, face
milling and face hobbing, for manufacturing spiral bevel and

Downloaded From: http://proceedings.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/ on 05/07/2015 Terms of Use: http://asme.org/terms

Copyright 2005 by ASME

edges of the tool blades as shown in Fig. 2. The generating

crown gear can be considered as a special case of a bevel gear
with 90 pitch angle. Therefore, a generic term generating
gear is used. The concept of complementary generating crown
gear is considered when the generated mating tooth surfaces of
the pinion and the gear are conjugate. In practice, in order to
introduce mismatch of the mating tooth surfaces, the generating
gears for the pinion and the gear may not be complementarily
identical. The rotation of the generating gear is represented by
the rotation of the cradle on a hypoid gear generator (Fig. 3).

noise. The optimized face hobbed gear sets are not sensitive to
errors of alignment.
Generating gear

Cutter head

Blades

Work piece

Fig. 3: The Relationship of the Cutting Tool, Generating Gear

and the Work.
Fig.1: Basic Concept of Bevel Gear Generation.
RELATIVE MOTIONS OF FACE HOBBING PROCESS
As described previously, the face hobbing process has
non-generated and generated methods defined in terms of the
generation process for the gear. However, in both methods the
pinion is always cut in generated method.
In the generated method, two sets of related motions are
defined. The first set of related motion is the rotation of the tool
(cutter head) and rotation of the work (work piece), namely,
t
N
(1)
= w
w
Nt
here, t and w denote the angular velocities of the tool and
the work; N t and N w denote the number of the blade groups
and the tooth number of the work respectively. This related
motion provides the continuous indexing between the tool and
the work. The indexing relationship can also be represented by
the rotation of the tool and the generating gear as,
t Nc
(2)
=
c Nt
where c and N c denote the angular velocity of the
generating gear and the tooth number of the generating gear
respectively. Meanwhile, the indexing motion between the tool
and the generating gear kinematically forms the tooth surface of
the generating gear with an extended epicycloid lengthwise
tooth curve as shown in Fig. 2. The radii of the rolling circles of
the generating gear and the tool are determined respectively by
Nc
Rc =
s
(3)
Nt + Nc
and
Nt
Rt =
s
(4)
Nt + Nc
where s is the machine radial setting.

Fig. 2: Generation of Extended Epicycloids.

The advanced face hobbing system uses inverse
optimization design methodology to formulate the parameters
of the generating gears and parameters of the generating
motions for the generations of a pair of comprehensively
crowned gear and pinion. As a result, the face hobbed spiral
bevel and hypoid gear sets offer optimized and stabilized
bearing contact, bias direction and function of transmission
errors, which result in reduced working stresses, vibration and

Downloaded From: http://proceedings.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/ on 05/07/2015 Terms of Use: http://asme.org/terms

Copyright 2005 by ASME

The second set of related motion is the rotation of the

generating gear and rotation of the work. Such a related motion
is called rolling or generating motion and is represented as,
w Nc
=
= Ra
(5)
c N w

generating roll motion between the generating gear and the

generated work. In the non-generated process, the cradle is held
stationary.

where Ra is called the ratio of roll.

In the non-generated (Formate) face hobbing process,
only the first set of motion is provided for the gear tooth
surface generation. Therefore, the gear tooth surfaces are
actually the complementary copy of the generating tooth
surfaces.
FACE HOBBING GENERATION MODEL
Fig. 4 shows a kinematical model of monolithic column
design of Gleason CNC hypoid gear generators. The
application of sophisticated CNC machines does not complicate
the existing understanding on the bevel gear cutting theory and
technologies that were established based upon the traditional
mechanical cradle-style machines. Bevel gear engineers can
still use the conventional terminologies and design tools to
design the spiral bevel and hypoid gear drives, and to determine
the machine tool settings which are related to the mechanical
machines. Special computer codes have been developed to
translate the mechanical machine tool settings and
kinematical motions into the digitized instructions to control
the motions of the axes of a CNC machine. The axes of the
CNC machine move together in a numerically controlled
relationship with changes in displacements, velocities, and
accelerations to implement the prescribed motions and produce
the target tooth surface geometry.

Fig. 5:

Kinematical Model of a Mechanical Hypoid Gear

Generator.

Table 1: Machine Motion Elements and Axes of Rotation

No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

Names of elements and related motion

Machine frame, motion reference
Cradle, rotation/cradle angle
Eccentric, radial setting
Swivel, swivel setting
Tilt mechanism, tilt setting
Tool/cutter head, rotation
Work, rotation
Work support, offset setting
Work head setting
Root angle setting
Sliding base setting

a
b
c
d
e

Cradle axis
Eccentric axis
Cutter head/tool spindle axis
Work spindle axis
Swivel pivot axis for root angle setting

Fig. 4: Monolithic Column Model of Gleason CNC Hypoid

Generators.
Face hobbing machine settings are: ratio of roll Ra ,
sliding base X b , radial setting s , offset E m , work head

In this paper, a generalized face hobbing generation model

is developed. Based on a physical mechanical spiral bevel and
hypoid gear generator, a kinematical model is developed (Fig.
5), which consists of eleven motion elements listed in Table 1.
The cradle represents the generating gear, which provides

setting X p ,

root angle m ,

swivel j , and tool tilt i .

Although the kinematical model in Fig.5 is based on the

mechanical machine, considering the ability of the CNC

Downloaded From: http://proceedings.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/ on 05/07/2015 Terms of Use: http://asme.org/terms

Copyright 2005 by ASME

machines, we can generally represent the machine setting

elements as,
Ra = Ra 0 + Rac ( )
X b = X b0 + X bc ( )

(6)
(7)

s = s 0 + s c ( )

(8)

E m = E m0 + E mc ( )

(9)

X p = X p 0 + X pc ( )

(10)

m = m 0 + mc ( )

(11)

j = j0 + jc ( )

(12)

i = i0 + ic ( )

(13)

Fig. 7 shows a basic geometry of the inside and outside

blade edges which are represented in the coordinate system S b
that is fixed to the front face of the blade. The origin Ob
coincides with reference point M with reference height hb .
Generally, the blade geometry consists of four sections: (a)
blade tip, (b) Toprem, (c) profile, and (d) Flankrem. Sections
(a) and (d) are circular arcs with radii re and r f respectively.
Sections (b) and (c) can be straight lines, circular arcs, or other
kinds of curves. Section (c) generates the major working part of
a tooth surface. Toprem and Flankrem relieve tooth root and tip
surfaces in order to avoid root profile interference and tooth tip
edge contact. In order to obtain a continuous tooth surface, the
four sections of the blade curves should be in tangency at
connections. For a current cutting point P on the blade the
position vector and the unit tangent can be defined in the
coordinate system S b ,
rb = rb (u )
(14)
t b = t b (u )
(15)
where u is the parameter.

The first terms in Eqs. (6)-(13) represent the basic constant

machine settings and the second terms represent the dynamic
changes of machine setting elements which might be
kinematically dependent upon the motion parameter of the
cradle rotation angle . These motions can be translated and
implemented through computer codes on the CNC machines.
Eqs. (6)-(13) provide strong flexibility of generating all kinds
of comprehensively crowned and corrected gear tooth surfaces.

TOOL GEOMETRY
The face hobbing process uses TRI-AC or PENTAC
face hobbing cutters which are different from face milling
cutters. The cutter heads accommodate blades in groups.
Normally, each group of blades consists of an inside finishing
blade and an outside finishing blade with mean point M
located at a common reference circle (see Fig. 6). Basically, the
tool geometry can be defined by the major parameters of the
blades and their installation on the cutter heads. Since the face
hobbed tooth surfaces are kinematically generated by the
cutting edges of the blades, exact description of the cutting
edge geometry in space is important. The blade edge geometry
can be described in the coordinate system S t that is connected
to the cutter head with rotation parameter (Fig. 6a). The
major parameters that define the cutting edge geometry in the
cutter head are: nominal blade pressure angle , slot offset
angle , rake angle , and effective hook angle .

(a) Inside Blade

(b) Inside Blade

(a)

(b)

Fig. 7: Blade Geometry.

Fig. 6: Face Hobbing Tool and Blades.

Downloaded From: http://proceedings.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/ on 05/07/2015 Terms of Use: http://asme.org/terms

Copyright 2005 by ASME

Eqs. (14) and (15) can be represented in the cutter head

coordinate system S t , as
rt = M tb ( , , , Rb )rb (u )
(16)
t t = M tb ( , , , Rb )t b (u )
(17)
Here, matrix M tb denotes the coordinate transformation from
system S b to S t . Coordinate system S i is used to represent the
rotation of the cutter head with an angular displacement .
From Fig. 6, one can obtain the transformation matrix M it and
ri = M it ( )rt (u ) = ri (u , )
(18)
t i = M it ( )t t (u ) = t i (u, )
(19)

APPLIED COORDINATE SYSTEMS

In order to mathematically describe the generation process,
we breakdown the relative motion elements of the kinematical
model of a hypoid generator (Fig. 5). Coordinate system S m
(Fig. 8a), called machine coordinate system, is fixed to the
machine frame and considered as the reference of the related
motions. System S m defines the machine plane and the
machine center.

Fig. 8: Relationships of Coordinate Systems S m , S c , S s ,

and S r .

(a)

(b)

(c)
Fig. 9: Relationships of Coordinate Systems S r , S p , S o ,
and S w .

Downloaded From: http://proceedings.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/ on 05/07/2015 Terms of Use: http://asme.org/terms

Copyright 2005 by ASME

System S s is connected to the sliding base element 11 and

represents its translating motion. System S r (Fig.8b) is
connected to the machine element 10 and represents the
machine root angle setting. System S c (Fig.8c) is connected to
the cradle and represents the cradle rotation with
angle q = q 0 + , where q0 is the initial cradle angle and is
the cradle increment parameter.
System S p is connected to the machine element 9 and
represents the work head setting motion (Fig.9a). System S o is
connected to the machine element 8 and represents the work
head offset setting motion (Fig.9b). S w is connected to the
work 8 and represents the work rotation with angular
parameter (Fig.9c).

(c)
Fig.10: Relationships of Coordinate Systems S m , S e , S j and
Si .

System S e is connected to the eccentric setting element

and represents the radial setting (Fig.10a). System S j is
connected to the tilt wedge base element which performs
rotation relatively to the eccentric element to set the swivel
angle j (Fig.10b). System S i is connected to the cutter head
carrier which performs rotation relatively to the tilt wedge base
to set the tool tilt angle i (Fig.10c).
Through the coordinate transformation from S i to S w
shown above, the position vector and the unit tangent at the
current cutting blade point P can be represented in the
coordinate system S w , namely,
rw = M wi ri (u , )
(20)
t w = M wi t i (u , )
(21)
where M wi is a resultant coordinate transformation matrix and
is formulated by the multiplication of the following matrices
representing the sequential coordinate transformations from S i
to S w ,

M wi = M wo M op M pr M rs M sm M mc M ce M ej M ji

rw = rw (u, , )

(23)
t w = t w (u, , )
(24)
here subscript w denotes that the vectors are represented in
the coordinate system S w .

REPRESENTATION OF TOOTH SURFACE OF A NONGENERATED (FORMATE) MEMBER

As discussed above, the non-generated (Formate) gear
tooth surface is the complementary copy of the generating gear
tooth surface which is kinematically formed by sweeping the
cutting blade edge along an extended epicycloid lengthwise
curve. During the gear cutting process, the cradle is held
stationary. Therefore, parameter is assumed to be zero and
Eqs. (23) and (24) can be re-written as
rw = rw (u , )
(25)
t w = t w (u, )
(26)
which give the position vector and unit tangent of the gear tooth
surface. The unit normal of the gear tooth surface can be
derived as,
n w = k w t w = n w (u , )
(27)
where the unit vector
rw
k w =
(28)
rw

which represents the unit vector of hobbing speed. Eqs. (25)(28) provide position vector, unit tangent, and unit normal of a
non-generated gear tooth surface.

(22)

where matrices M wo ( ) , M op ( E m ) , M pr ( X p ) , M rs ( m ) ,
M sm ( X b ) , M mc ( ) , M ce (s ) , M ej ( j ) and M ji (i ) can be

obtained directly from Figs.(8)-(10). By considering the related

motions represented by Eqs. (1) and (5). Eqs. (20) and (21) can
be generally re-written as,

(a)

REPRESENTATION OF TOOTH SURFACE OF A

GENERATED MEMBER
In addition to the relative hobbing motion or the indexing
motion, for a generated member, either gear or pinion, the
generating roll motion is provided and the generated tooth
surface is the envelope of the family of the generating surface.
The generated tooth surface can be represented as,

(b)

Downloaded From: http://proceedings.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/ on 05/07/2015 Terms of Use: http://asme.org/terms

Copyright 2005 by ASME

rw = rw (u , , )

t w = t w (u, , )

n w = n w (u, , )
f w (u , , ) = n w v w = 0

TOOTH CONTACT ANALYSIS (TCA)

Tooth Contact Analysis (TCA) is a computational
approach for analyzing the nature and quality of the meshing
contact in a pair of gears. The concept of TCA was originally
introduced in early 1960s as a research tool and applied to
spiral bevel and hypoid gears [14, 15, 16]. Application of TCA
technology has resulted in significant improvement in the
development of bevel gear pairs under given contact conditions.
TCA involves iteration processes and must be implemented on
a digital computer. As the development and application of
modern high-speed computers, TCA theory has been
substantially enhanced. Tooth contact under load has been
investigated and the Loaded TCA (LTCA) has been developed
[17, 18, 19, 20]. Meanwhile, TCA has been not only used as a
tool of analysis, but also integrated as a part of synthesis
procedures [4, 5, 6, 9].

(29)

where n w is obtained from Eq. (27), and the relative

generating velocity v w is determined by
vw =

rw
c

(30)

Equation f w (u, , ) = n w v w = 0 is called the equation of

meshing [9, 10]. Eq. (29) defines the position vector, the unit
tangent, and the unit normal of a generated work tooth surface.
All these vectors are considered and represented in the
coordinate system S w that is connected to the work. A unit
cradle angular velocity, i.e., c = 1 might be considered. The
equation of meshing is applied for determination of generated
tooth surfaces.

(a)

(a) Pinion Tooth Surfaces

Meshing of a Hypoid Gear Drive

(b) Gear Tooth Surfaces

Fig. 11: Pinion and Gear Tooth Surfaces of a Face Hobbed

Hypoid Gear Drive.
The tooth surface generation models described above are
referred to the left hand work members. For the right hand
members, the initial cradle angle q0 in Fig. 10 should be
replaced by q 0 . Fig. 11 shows a pair of mating pinion and
gear tooth surfaces of a face hobbed hypoid gear drive (Fig.
12a), which is generated based on the described mathematic
models.

(b) TCA Coordinate Systems

Fig. 12: Face Hobbing Tooth Contact Analysis (TCA)

Model.

Downloaded From: http://proceedings.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/ on 05/07/2015 Terms of Use: http://asme.org/terms

Copyright 2005 by ASME

TCA is a process of simulation of meshing and contact of a

pair of gears under light load. Therefore, simulation of changes
of the assembly errors and misalignments are taken into
account. For this purpose, the adjusting parameters E, G,
P, and are incorporated into the TCA model (Fig. 12b).
The output of a TCA program are the scaled graphs of
transmission errors and tooth bearing contact patterns that
predict the results from a bevel gear testing machine.
By replacing the subscript w in the previous equations
with subscript 1 and subscript 2, respectively, a pair of
mating tooth surfaces of the pinion and the gear can be
represented in the coordinate systems S1 and S 2 that are
connected to the pinion and the gear respectively (Fig. 12b), as
follows,
r1 = r1 (u1 , 1 , 1 )

n 1 = n 1 (u1 , 1 , 1 )
for the pinion
(31)

t 1 = t 1 (u1 , 1 , 1 )
f 1 (u1 , 1 , 1 ) = 0

for generated gear

for non-generated gear

r2 = r2 (u 2 , 2 , 2 )

n 2 = n 2 (u 2 , 2 , 2 )

t 2 = t 2 (u 2 , 2 , 2 )
f 2 (u 2 , 2 , 2 ) = 0

(32)

r2 = r2 (u 2 , 2 )

n 2 = n 2 (u 2 , 2 )
t = t (u , )
2 2 2
2

(33)

for generated gear

for non-generated gear

r [f2] = r [f2] (u 2 , 2 , 2 )

[ 2]
[ 2]
n f = n f (u 2 , 2 , 2 )
[ 2]
[ 2]
t f = t f (u 2 , 2 , 2 )

(36)

r [f1] = r [f2]

[1]
[ 2]
n f = n f

(37)

However, it is difficult to computationally implement Eq.

(37) because of changing of the normal directions on the tooth
surfaces. Therefore, following equivalent equations are
proposed to replace Eq. (37),
r [f1] r [f2] = 0

[ 2] [ 2]
[1]
(n f t f ) n f = 0
[ 2] [1]
t f n f = 0

(38)

r [f1] r [f2] = 0

[1] [1]
[ 2]
(n f t f ) n f = 0
[1] [ 2]
t f n f = 0

(39)

or

gear drive and with origin O f located at the theoretical

crossing point of the gear axis. The relationship of coordinate
systems in Fig. 12b simulates the running meshing of the gear
pair shown in Fig.12a and incorporates the adjusting parameters
E, G, P, and . In case of spiral bevel gear drives E0 = 0
in Fig. 12b. The axes Z1 and Z 2 are coincide with the rotation
axes of the pinion and the gear respectively. The origins O1
and O2 of systems S1 and S 2 would be at the theoretical
crossing point if the adjusting parameters G=0 and P=0.
Denoting 1 and 2 as the rotational motion parameters of the
pinion and the gear respectively in Fig. 12b, we can obtain

for the pinion

(35)

The basic condition of two tooth surfaces 1 and 2 (Fig.

13) being in contact at a common point P is that the position
vectors of the pinion and the gear are equal and their normals
are co-linear. Mathematically, following equations are satisfied,

Further, the mating tooth surfaces are transformed into a

common coordinate system S f that is fixed to the frame of the

r [f1] = r [f1] (u1 , 1 , 1 , 1 )

n [1] = n [1] (u1 , 1 , 1 , 1 )

f
f

t [f1] = t [f1] (u1 , 1 , 1 , 1 )

f1 (u1 , 1 , 1 ) = 0

r [f2] = r [f2] (u 2 , 2 , 2 , 2 )

n [ 2] = n [ 2] (u 2 , 2 , 2 , 2 )
f
f

[ 2]
[ 2]
t f = t f (u 2 , 2 , 2 , 2 )

f 2 (u 2 , 2 , 2 ) = 0

Geometrically, vector n [fi ] t [fi ] and t [if ] (i=1, 2) are two

orthogonal vectors that lie in the tangent planes of the pinion
tooth surface 1 (i=1) and gear tooth surface 2 (i=2). When
the two surfaces contact at point P, the tangent planes coincide
and become a common tangent plane (Fig. 13). Considering the
equations of meshing, Eq. (38) or (39) generally yields five
independent equations. Given a motion parameter, say 1 ,
which physically means rotation of the driving member, Eq.
(38) or (39) can be solved for the rest of the parameters if the
related Jacobian differs from zero [9,10]. And, consequently, a
series of contact points and the corresponding transmission
errors can be obtained, which formulate the TCA output as the
bearing contact patterns and the graph of transmission errors.
The transmission error (TE) is defined as,

(34)

Downloaded From: http://proceedings.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/ on 05/07/2015 Terms of Use: http://asme.org/terms

Copyright 2005 by ASME

patterns might be obtained from the testing machine (Fig. 15

and 17).
The developed program is able to simulate both the single
meshing and the multiple meshing of a pair of gear set. TCA
results for the mean, toe, and heel positions are provided, which
is the Gleason convention of TCA outputs. The developed TCA
program accommodates all kinds of modified and corrected
tooth surfaces generated by the face hobbing process. Fig. 14
and 16 show the single meshing TCA results. The tip edge
contact and the Toprem contact are observed, which actually
can be avoided if the surface crowning is sufficient. Fig. 15 and
17 show the multiple meshing TCA results at mean, toe and
heel positions respectively. The adjusting parameters E and
P are computed in order to achieve the corresponding bearing
contact pattern positions. The program offers the abilities for
the users to simulate meshing contact under user defined
misalignments or user defined initial conjugate contact
positions. The single meshing and multiple meshing can be
simulated by selecting different roll pitch factors.
Table 2 shows the dimension data of two numerical
examples which are a non-generated (Formate) hypoid gear
drive (Design A, left-hand pinion) and a generated spiral bevel
gear drive (Design B, right-hand pinion). Fig. 14 and 16 show
the single meshing TCA results of Design A and B respectively
at the mean initial contact position. Fig. 15 and 17 show the
multiple meshing TCA results of Design A and B respectively
at mean, toe and heel contact positions.

Fig. 13: Tooth Surface Contact.

TE = ( 2 20 ) (1 10 )

N1
N2

(40)

where 10 and 20 are the initial angular displacement of the

pinion and the gear when the tooth surfaces are in contact at the
initial conjugate contact position where the TE equals zero; N 1
and N 2 are the tooth numbers of the pinion and the gear
respectively.

Table 2: Data of Design A and B

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TCA ALGORITHM

Based on the developed mathematic models for the face
hobbing generation of spiral bevel and hypoid gears and the
TCA algorithm, an advanced TCA program for the face
hobbing process has been developed for both non-generated
and generated spiral bevel and hypoid gear drives. The program
incorporates simulation of meshing of the whole tooth surface
contact including those surface parts that are generated by the
blade Toprem and Flankrem. Tooth edge contact simulation is
also developed and included in the program.
There are two cases of bearing contact patterns that are
identified as single meshing pattern and multiple meshing
pattern. In the multiple meshing patterns, the adjacent pairs of
meshing teeth are considered simultaneously. And, the path of
contact reflects about one pitch meshing because the following
pairs of teeth take over the meshing process. However, in single
meshing pattern, only one pair of tooth meshing is investigated
and the adjacent meshing is ignored. In this case, the contact
pattern covers larger area of the tooth surface. Meanwhile,
tooth tip edge contact or Toprem contact might be observed in
the single meshing case because no neighboring teeth interrupt
the meshing process. In both cases, three curves of the
transmission errors are shown in order to visualize the meshing
positions and the corresponding transmission errors.
In practice, when the surface crowning of the mating gears
is small or the two mating surfaces are close to conjugate, a
large contact pattern might be observed from the testing
machine, which may correspond to the single meshing contact
pattern of TCA (Fig.14 and 16). When the magnitude of tooth
surface crowning is significant, the multiple meshing contact

Number of Teeth

Design A

Design B

(Hypoid)

(Spiral Bevel)

(Formate Gear)

(Generated Gear)

Pinion

Gear

Pinion

Gear

(Left

(Right

(Right

(Left

Hand)

Hand)

Hand)

Hand)

11

39

14

29

Diametral Pitch
Face Width

5.015
1.611

3.175

1.325

1.835

1.835

Pinion Offset

1.5

0.0

Shaft Angle

90

90

Outer Cone

3.821

4.390

5.071

2.965

3.681

4.154

3.737

7.825

Distance
Mean Cone
Distance
Outside

4.894

9.288

Diameter
Cutter Radius

Downloaded From: http://proceedings.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/ on 05/07/2015 Terms of Use: http://asme.org/terms

88 mm

105 mm

Copyright 2005 by ASME

Fig. 14: Single Meshing (Design A) - Mean Contact.

(c) Multiple Meshing (Design A) - Heel Contact

Fig. 15: TCA Output of Design A.

(a) Multiple Meshing (Design A) - Mean Contact

Fig. 16: Single Meshing (Design B) - Mean Contact.

(b) Multiple Meshing (Design A) - Toe Contact

(a) Multiple Meshing (Design B) - Mean Contact

10

Downloaded From: http://proceedings.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/ on 05/07/2015 Terms of Use: http://asme.org/terms

Copyright 2005 by ASME

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This paper presents part of the work on the development of
the Gleason Advanced TCA System. The author would like to
acknowledge his colleagues, Ronald S. DaFoe, John Swanger,
Arthur Pastor, Theodore J. Krenzer, Qiming Lian, Lowell
Wilcox, Frank Peppers and Robert Middleton, for their
contributions in the development of the advanced TCA
technology and software which has been released by The
Gleason Works.

REFERENCES
1. Krenzer, T. J., 1990, Face-Milling or Face Hobbing,
AGMA, Technical Paper, 90 FTM 13.
2. Stadtfeld, H. J., 2000, Advanced Bevel Gear Technology,
The Gleason Works, Edition 2000.
3. Pitts, L. S. and Boch, M. J., 1997, Design and
Development of Bevel and Hypoid Gears using the Face
Hobbing Method, Cat. #4332, The Gleason Works.
4. Fan, Q., 2001, Computerized Design of New Type Spur,
Helical, Spiral Bevel and Hypoid Gear Drives, Ph.D.
Thesis, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA.
5. Litvin, F. L., Fan, Q., Fuentes, A. and Handschuh, R. F.,
2001, Computerized Design, Generation, Simulation of
Meshing and Contact of Face-Milled Formate-Cut Spiral
Bevel Gears, NASA Report, /CR-2001-210894, ARL-CR467.
6. Litvin, F. L. and Zhang, Y., 1991, Local Synthesis and
Tooth Contact Analysis of Face-Milled Spiral Bevel
Gears, NASA Contractor Report 4342.
7. Zhang, Y., Litvin, F. L., and Handschuh, R. F., 1995,
Computerized Design of Low-Noise Face Milled Spiral
Bevel Gears, Mechanism and Machine theory, 30 (8), pp.
1171-1178.
8. Lewicki, D. G., Handschuh, R. F., Henry, Z. S. and Litvin,
F. L., 1994, Low-Noise, High-Strength Spiral Bevel
Gears for Helicopter Transmissions, Journal of
Propulsion and Power, Vol. 10, No. 3.
9. Litvin, F. L., 1994, Gear Geometry and Applied Theory,
Prentice Hall.
10. Litvin, F. L., 1989, Theory of Gearing, NASA Reference
Publication 1212.
11. Dooner, D. B., 2002, On the Three Laws of Gearing,
ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, December 2002,
Vol. 124, pp.733-744.
12. Dooner, D. B., and Seireg, A. A., 1995, The Kinematic
Geometry of Gearing: A Concurrent Engineering
Approach, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York.
13. Honda, S., 1996, A Pair of Tooth Surfaces without
Variation of Bearing Loads, ASME Proceedings of the 7th
International Power Transmission and Gearing
Conference, San Diego, USA.
14. Tooth Contact Analysis Formulas and Calculation
Procedures, The Gleason Works Publication, SD 3115,
April 1964.
15. Basic Geometry and Tooth Contact of Hypoid Gears,
The Gleason Works Publication, SD 4050A, August 1971.

(b) Multiple Meshing (Design B) - Toe Contact

(c) Multiple Meshing (Design B) - Heel Contact

Fig. 17: TCA Output of Design B.

CONCLUSIONS
This paper presents the theory of the face hobbing process.
The kinematics of the face hobbing process is described in
comparison with the face milling process. A generalized spiral
bevel and hypoid gear tooth surface generation model for the
face hobbing process is developed. The related coordinate
systems are directly associated with the physical machine
setting and motion elements of a bevel gear generator. The
generation model covers both non-generated (Formate) and
generated methods of the face hobbing process. A new TCA
algorithm is developed for the face hobbed gear drives, which
can also be applied to other types of gearings. An advanced
TCA program has been developed and integrated into CAGE
for Windows System. Two TCA examples of Design A (a
hypoid gear drive) and B (a spiral bevel gear drive) are
illustrated with TCA outputs.

11

Downloaded From: http://proceedings.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/ on 05/07/2015 Terms of Use: http://asme.org/terms

Copyright 2005 by ASME

16. Krenzer, T. J., 1981, Understanding Tooth Contact

Analysis,
The
Gleason
Works
Publication,
SD3139B/381/GMD.
17. Krenzer, T. J., 1981, Tooth Contact Analysis of Spiral
Bevel and Hypoid Gears Under Load, The Gleason
Works, SD3458 (SAE 810688).
18. Vijayakar, S. M., and Houser, D. R., 1991, Contact
Analysis of Gears Using a Combined Finite Element and
Surface Integral Method, AGMA Paper 91FMT16.
19. Gosselin, C., Cloutier, L., and Nguyen, Q. D., 1992 The
Influence of the Kinematical Motion Error on the Load
Transmission Error of Spiral Bevel Gears, AGMA Paper
92FMT10.
20. Wilcox, L. E., Chimner, T. D. and Nowell, G. C., 1997,
Improved Finite Element Model for Calculating Stresses
in Bevel and Hypoid Gear Teeth, AGMA, 97FTM5.

12

Downloaded From: http://proceedings.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/ on 05/07/2015 Terms of Use: http://asme.org/terms

Copyright 2005 by ASME