A plastic gear assembly was being evaluated to better understand interactions between component parts. In addition to strain measurements, it was desirable to obtain deflection data in three dimensions.
Challenges
Assembled components typically have complex interactions with one another. Contact points can vary during operational cycles due to part movement. This means that the locations of peak strains can be hard to predict, and they are often not stationary. The movement of parts can also make it impractical to maintain electrical connections with gauges. Even when they are stationary and easy to locate, the highest strains can be concentrated in very small areas or have high gradients. Peak values may be lost to the averaging effect produced by gauges.
Solution
Correlated Solutions' Vic-3D 2009 provided a means for making strain measurements across the entire profile of the gear tooth. Because it provides full-field measurements, it was not necessary to choose a particular point at which measurements would be made. This allowed the peak strains to be clearly visualized and accurately measured at various stages of the operational cycle. Vic-3D 2009 also measured displacement in three dimensions. This feature allowed our customer to recognize and quantify twisting of the gear tooth under load.
Links
Click here to see an animation of the 2D plot shown above.
Click here to see an animation of the 3D plot shown above.
Click here to go to the Vic-3D 2009 product page for more information about this technology.