Tip Relief: Material removal to reduce wear and noise in gears

maggio 17, 2023

The most common problem we have often talked about in other articles is to improve the performance of the gears in the projects of the customers who rely on us. Today we talk about tip relief, a portion of material that is removed from the tip of the gear tooth to avoid interference with the tooth of the piece it is meshing with. This modification serves to ensure correct coupling of the gears and to reduce wear and noise during operation.

How and why to use tip relief

Tip relief is a gear design feature that refers to the removal of a small amount of material from the tip of the gear tooth. This extra tooth tip space helps prevent excessive interference between the gear teeth during meshing. This reduces premature wear, excessive noise and localized specific pressure beyond the pitch diameter of the gear. Additionally, tip relief ensures proper gear fit, improving power transmission efficiency and reducing stress on the gear drive system, increasing its overall life. The size and shape of the tip relief must be carefully calculated when designing the gear to ensure reliable and quiet operation of the gear.

Fields of application

Tip relief is used when it is necessary to ensure reliable and quiet operation of the gears.

Among the various are:

Automatic transmissions found in vehicles, tip relief is often used in automatic transmissions to ensure smooth and quiet operation of the gears.

Gearboxes, used in a wide range of industrial applications, where tip relief is often applied to reduce gear wear and noise.

Actuators, devices used to control motion in many applications, such as valve control systems. In these applications, tip relief is often used to ensure precise and quiet operation of the gears.

In machine tools, such as lathes and milling machines, tip relief is used to ensure precise and reliable gear operation, which is essential for achieving high quality machining.

Tip relief and its processing

Tip relief is typically achieved during the gear manufacturing process. There are several methods of creating tip relief, including:

Hobbing, a machining process that is used to generate teeth starting from a turned piece, using a properly designed tool it is possible to obtain the desired shape of the tip relief.

Grinding is a process of finishing the gear surfaces, which can be used to create tip relief. In this process, an abrasive is used to remove material from the tip of the gear tooth, creating the desired shape.

In general, the choice of tip relief manufacturing method depends on the gear specifications and the needs of the application. The size and shape must be carefully calculated during the design of the gear and verified during the manufacturing process to ensure reliable and quiet operation of the gears.

The main factors involved in calculating tip relief are modulus, pressure angle, gear width and pitch diameter. In any case, the specific fields of application of the gear to be manufactured must also be taken into consideration, which determine some coefficients necessary for its dimensioning.

Tip Relief: Material removal to reduce wear and noise in gears

How and why to use tip relief

Fields of application

Tip relief and its processing

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