An Experimental Investigation of Spin Power Losses of a Turbofan Gearbox
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Date
2017-05
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
Planetary gear sets are commonly used in automotive, industrial and aerospace gearbox and transmission applications as they provide certain advantages over their counter-shaft alternatives. Any planetary gear set design must meet multiple requirements of size, weight, noise, load carrying capacity, fatigue life, noise, and efficiency. Planetary gear set efficiency is dictated by two classes of power losses. One class includes load dependent power losses that are induced by friction of contact interfaces and they can be predicted using physics-based models. The other class includes load independent losses that are due to interactions of the fluid with rotating gear components. These spin losses are transmission specific and become significant at elevated speeds as in aerospace applications. This experimental study aims at measurement of spin losses of a jet engine turbofan gearbox under realistic speed and temperature and lubricant flowrate conditions. A dynamometer set-up that can operate a turbofan gearbox at speeds up to 10,000 rpm will be developed. The set-up will be incorporated with a forced lubrication system for delivery of lubricant to desired locations at specified flowrates. Torque provided to the gearbox will be measured as a function of rotational speed to determine the spin losses of the gearbox. Additional tests will be performed with subsets of the gearbox to quantify the contributions of spin power loss components such as drag and gear mesh pocketing.
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Keywords
Gear, Power Loss, Turbofan, Planetary Gearset, Spin Power Loss