Static and Dynamic Behavior of Planetary Gears With Diametrically Opposite Planet Gears

Abstract The majority of planetary gears in the industry have equally spaced planets, it’s very rare to find designs with unequally spaced planets unless there are assembly limitations or specific application needs. The literature on unequally spaced and diametrically opposite planet gear configurations is also quite sparse. Therefore, the current study presents a theoretical investigation into the impact of planet gear spacing on the performance of Epicyclic gear sets, with a design exploratory intention to understand if there are some benefits associated with diametrically opposite planet designs. To achieve these objectives the three-dimensional planetary load distribution model of Ryali and Talbot [1] is employed to investigate the quasi-static and dynamic behavior of diametrically opposite 4 planet gear sets. Various key planetary gear outputs such as planet load sharing, natural modes, overall transmission error, radial vibrations, and gear mesh force will be monitored and summarized in this paper.