In-operation structural modification of planetary gear sets using design optimization methods

Planetary gears are a crucial component in the drives of automation systems and robots. The vibrational behavior of these components can lead to detrimental structural-mechanical effects including fatigue, comfort and acoustics. As the system parameters can change during operation due to wear and damage, configuration changes need to be designed during the operation to avoid vibrational problems. Possible deviation of system parameters is especially true for the stiffness parameters of the gear mesh and bearings. Lumped-parameter models are efficient yet accurate and are used to ascertain eigenfrequencies as well as frequency responses of planetary gear sets. Using these models, the change in system parameters due to damage accumulation is modeled. Thereafter, in operation configuration changes are calculated with numerical optimization methods to reduce undesired vibrational behavior. As exact parameter values are not know, these are considered uncertain using interval methods. These methods will be shown with a generic benchmark example, yet can be used in a wide range of industrial applications.