Effects of manufacturing errors of gear macro-geometry on gear performance.

In gear design, gear performance metrics such as safety factors for tooth root stress and surface durability, peak-to-peak static transmission error (PPSTE), efficiency, mass, and volume are considered. They are calculated by the geometric parameters of gear macro- and micro-geometry, and manufacturing errors related to gear geometry significantly affect gear performance. However, previous studies have only focused on the micro-geometry errors. In this study, Monte Carlo-type robustness analysis was performed considering the manufacturing errors for tooth thickness, tip diameter, and center distance. Gear performance metrics except PPSTE were calculated based on the international standards and geometric characteristics. PPSTE was evaluated analytically due to lack of standards. When the errors were considered, two gear pairs with the safety factors satisfying the design requirements and similar performance for PPSTE, efficiency, mass, and volume showed different gear performances. There were many samples in gear pair 1 that could not satisfy the design requirements of safety factors, and gear pair 2 had the robustness of PPSTE not only at the specific torque but also with wide torque range when compared to gear pair 1. These results imply that considering the gear macro-geometry errors and robustness of PPSTE is significantly important when designing gears.

Application of flexible pin for planetary gear set of wind turbine gearbox.

Wind turbines are eco-friendly energy sources that generate electricity from wind power. Among their various components, gearboxes constitute the most critical loss owing to their longest downtime. To guarantee their durability, a flexible pin was designed based on the original straddle-mounted pin for enhanced tooth load sharing and distribution in the planetary gear set (PGS) of a wind turbine gearbox (WTGB). The improved durability was evaluated by calculating the mesh load factor and face load factor for contact stress and comparing these values with those of the original straddle-mounted pin. The mesh load factor decreased from 1.37 to 1.08, whereas the maximum face load factor decreased slightly, moderating the overall safety factor variation. Furthermore, the structure of the proposed flexible pin model was analyzed and verified that no static failure or interference occurred. Additionally, microgeometry optimization was applied to improve the load distribution. Therefore, it was verified that a flexible pin applied to a single helical-geared PGS, thus far considered impossible, enhances the durability of WTGBs by improving the load sharing and distribution of a PGS. Consequently, the possibility of designing single helical-geared planetary gearboxes with flexible pins to take advantages of both helical gears and flexible pins was shown analytically.

Maize harvester gearbox design modification for improved fatigue life.

The gearbox has the advantage of being able to change the torque and rotational speed according to the gear ratio and has high power transmission efficiency by transmitting power through the contact of the gear pair. When evaluating the strength and fatigue life of a gearbox using a design load or an equivalent load, there is a possibility that the results will be very different from the actual ones. Therefore, in this study, the load duration distribution (LDD) constructed based on the actual workload was used to evaluate the strength and fatigue life of the gearbox reliably. As a result of evaluating the strength and fatigue life of the gearbox using LDD, it was confirmed that the existing gearbox did not satisfy the target lifespan in the operating environment. Therefore, the reasons for these results were analyzed, and design modification was performed based on the analyzed results. As a result of design modification, shaft deflection decreased by rearrangement of the bearings, from an overhung type to a straddle type, thereby improving the fatigue life of gears and bearings. Finally, the load distribution acting on the gear tooth surface was improved through micro-geometry modification of the gears.

A hybrid piezoelectric structure for wearable nanogenerators.

A hybrid-fiber nanogenerator comprising a ZnO nanowire array, PVDF polymer and two electrodes is presented. Depending on the bending or spreading action of the human arm, at an angle of ∼90°, the hybrid fiber reaches electrical outputs of ∼0.1 V and ∼10 nA cm(-2) . The unique structure of the hybrid fiber may inspire future research in wearable energy-harvesting technology.

Selective dispersion of high purity semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes with regioregular poly(3-alkylthiophene)s.

Conjugated polymers, such as polyfluorene and poly(phenylene vinylene), have been used to selectively disperse semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (sc-SWNTs), but these polymers have limited applications in transistors and solar cells. Regioregular poly(3-alkylthiophene)s (rr-P3ATs) are the most widely used materials for organic electronics and have been observed to wrap around SWNTs. However, no sorting of sc-SWNTs has been achieved before. Here we report the application of rr-P3ATs to sort sc-SWNTs. Through rational selection of polymers, solvent and temperature, we achieved highly selective dispersion of sc-SWNTs. Our approach enables direct film preparation after a simple centrifugation step. Using the sorted sc-SWNTs, we fabricate high-performance SWNT network transistors with observed charge-carrier mobility as high as 12 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) and on/off ratio of >10(6). Our method offers a facile and a scalable route for separating sc-SWNTs and fabrication of electronic devices.