Technical field of the present invention:
The present invention generally discloses a method for shaving more than one gear
work pieces simultaneously using single shaving cutter. The present invention mainly
relates to simultaneous shaving of multiple work-pieces of preferably single type of
gear on state of the art high speed automated dry shaving machines, being used in
gear shaving industries. Maximum number of gear work pieces to be shaved
simultaneously by the present method herein, preferably depends on the thickness
of single work piece and the length of the shaving cutter in operation therein. The
present invention preferably proposes to shave multiple gear work pieces
simultaneously on the same platform of the automatic dry shaving machines. The
process proposed herein significantly increases the quantity of gears manufactured
at modern shaving machines.
Background and object of the present invention:
Gear shaving is basically a finishing operation. This takes place after the operations
of roughing with a hob or cutting with a shaper cutter is over. The Shaving process
consists of the removal of tiny particles of metal from a gear teeth's working surface.
Gear shaving produces fine hairlike chips. The cutter comes in the form of helical
gear. It has special serrations in the flank area of gear teeth. These serrations act as
the cutting edges.
Gear Shaving gives the gear the following advantages:
. Improves tooth surface finish. . Eliminates, the problem of tooth end load concentrations.
Effective reduction in the noise of gears with modification in the tooth profile.
Increase the gear's load capacity Improved safety and service life.
There is a wide range of available shaving cutter types:
Transverse Shaving Cutters: The gear that is shaved reciprocates in the direction
of its own axis. The tool and the gear are in mesh. With each step of reciprocation,
there is an occurrence of small quantity of radial feeding of the shaving cutter. For a
clean shaving of the edges it would be useful to calculate one extra stroke per
module. However, this method is not suited to shaving shoulder gears.
Diagonal Shaving Cutters: Here the gear selected for shaving reciprocates
obliquely in direction to its own axis. The gear and the tool are made to stay in a
mesh. The diagonal angle can be got by positioning of the workpiece table in an
oblique manner or by the process of interpolating of the two machine axes. As with
each reciprocation, there is a radial feeding of the shaving cutter.
Plunge Shaving Cutters: In this method there is no worktable translation. Instead
there takes place a radial feed of the workpiece against the tool that is used as
shaving cutter. Plunge shaving is particularly good for shaving of shoulder gear.
Underpass Shaving Cutters: Underpass shaving is primarily identical to diagonal
shaving with a small variation in the form of a diagonal angle of 90 degrees. In
underpass shaving no axial table reciprocation takes place. In its place, the
workpiece reciprocates at right angles to its own axis.
As gears are very important component for power transmission and especially
in auto industry, huge numbers of gears are being manufactures in gear making
industries. Apart from maintaining the desired quality and high abrasion resistance
properties of the gears, quick manufacturing of a gear in least possible time,
involving minimum resources is the most important aspect in cost effective
manufacturing of teethed gears.
Due to this reason, in modern practice highly automated software guided gear
shaving machines are being used to perform gear shaving operations on gear work
pieces.
In conventional practice the gear shaving machine is so customized for shaving gear
work pieces one by one. Such shaving operations are conventionally automated by
certain software or logic mechanism and one cycle of gear shaving operation gets
completed within few seconds or within few minutes, depending on the diameter of
the gear work piece.
The purpose of the present invention is to propose a novel mechanism for
performing gear shaving operation on more than one gear work pieces
simultaneously by operating single shaving cutter on them and while performing
such simultaneous multi-shaving task, the time involved for one gear shaving cycle
therein is preferably same or approximately same as the gear shaving cycle for
single gear work piece undergoing shaving operation on the same machine therein.
Thus the present invention significantly reduces the gear shaving cycle time for each
of the work piece shaved by the proposed method herein simultaneously. At the
same time the present invention substantially reduces the other resources involved
in the gear shaving operation and helps in increasing the production of gears many
times.
Main object of the present invention is to propose a method for performing gear
shaving operation on more than one gear work pieces simultaneously by operating
single gear shaving cutter on them, preferably on an automatic dry gear shaving
machine.
Other main object of the present invention is to propose an optional module towards
loadinglmounting, preferably as vertical or horizontal stacking as the case may be, of
more than one gear work pieces on the work-arbor simultaneously, preferably the
automatic loading of a set of pre-determined number of gear work-pieces on a
suitable work-arbor, which is capable of holding and handling said set of multiple
gear work-pieces during the simultaneous shaving operation using single shaving
cutter on them.
Another object of the present invention is to propose a virtual gear work piece, which
is actually created on the work-arbor of the gear shaving machine therein involved,
by stackinglmounting of multiple gear work pieces therein, wherein the diameter of
the said virtual gear work piece is similar to each individual gear work piece mounted
thereof and the thickness of said virtual gear work piece is equal to or more than the
total sum of the thicknesses of all gear work pieces, simultaneously mounted on the
work arbor for simultaneous hobbing.
Another object of the present invention is to propose the application of certain type of
spacer elements, which are optionally applied in creating the said virtual gear work
pieces on the work-arbor, wherein such spacer elements and gear work pieces are
simultaneously loadedlmounted on the work arbor one after another alternatively,
and therefore the total thickness of said virtual gear element made of alternate
arrangement of gear work pieces and spacer elements is more than the sum total of
the thicknesses of the gear work pieces mounted therein to be shaved
simultaneously.
Another object of the present invention is to propose an optional module towards
automatic unloading of simultaneously shaved multiple gears from the work arbor of
the multi gear shaving machine.
Another object of the present invention is to propose an effective fume control
module including an effective exhaust fan therein as compared to conventionally
being used in the industry, which is required in the automatic dry gear shaving
machines.
Statement of the invention:
The present invention is intended to propose:
A method for performing gear shaving operation on more than one gear workpieces
simultaneously by operating single gear shaving cutter on them,
preferably on an automatic dry gear shaving machine;
An optional module towards loadinglmounting, preferably as vertical or
horizontal stacking as the case may be, of more than one gear work-pieces
on the work-arbor simultaneously, preferably the automatic loading of a set of
pre-determined number of gear work-pieces on a suitable work-arbor;
A virtual gear work-piece, as a virtual cylindrical teethed gear work-piece,
which is actually created on the work-arbor of the gear shaving machine
therein involved, by stackinglmounting of multiple gear work-pieces therein,
wherein the diameter of the said virtual gear work-piece is similar to each
individual gear work-piece mounted thereof and the thickness of said virtual
gear work-piece is equal to or more than the total sum of the thicknesses of all
gear work-pieces, simultaneously mounted on the work-arbor for
simultaneous shaving;
The application of certain type of spacer elements, which are optionally
applied in creating the said virtual gear work-pieces on the work-arbor,
wherein such spacer elements and gear work-pieces are simultaneously
loadedlmounted on the work arbor one after another alternatively, and
therefore the total thickness of said virtual gear element, made of alternately
arranged gear work-pieces and spacer elements, is more than the sum total
of the thicknesses of the gear work-pieces mounted therein to be shaved
simultaneously;
A work-arbor, which is capable of holding and handling said virtual cylindrical
teethed gear work-piece, comprising of multiple gear work-pieces and
optionally multiple spacer elements therein, preferably during the
simultaneous gear shaving operation using single gear shaving cutter on
them; wherein it is capable of performing its pre-defined mechanical functions
and movements to support the proposed hobbing operation herein, in coordination
with the functional gear shaving cutter therein;
A gear shaving cutter, wherein said single gear shaving cutter is capable of
shaving and refining of teeth on the cylindrical round surface of the virtual
cylindrical teethed gear work-piece, comprising of multiple gear work-pieces
and optionally multiple spacer elements therein, mounted on the work-arbor;
wherein it is capable of performing its pre-defined mechanical gear shaving
functions and movements thereto to support the proposed multi-gear shaving
operation herein, in co-ordination with the functional work-arbor therein;
An optional module towards automatic unloading of simultaneously shaved
multiple gears from the work-arbor of the gear shaving machine; and
An effective fume control module including an effective exhaust fan therein,
that is required in the automatic dry multi-gear shaving machines.
Description of the present invention:
The present invention generally relates to a novel automatic multi-gear shaving
operation on a gear shaving machine wherein more than one gear work pieces are
simultaneously mounted on a suitably designed and structured work-arbor. The
work-arbor is so designed, that it can effectively hold plurality of gear work-pieces
and can carry out its pre-defined mechanical functions and movements towards
performing simultaneous gear shaving operation on multiple gear work-pieces
therein. Such simultaneous shaving operation on multiple gears is applicable for
several types of gears, viz. spur and helical gears, crowned and tapered gears,
worm gears, pinions etc.; wherein already existing teeth profile of individual gears
are to be shaved, smoothened and refined simultaneously by mounting multiple such
gears as a virtual cylindrical teethed gear work piece on the work-arbor of the multigear
shaving machine. Once the gear work pieces, preferably in a particular number
according to the dimension and functional abilities of the work-arbor and the shaving
cutter thereof, are mounted on the work-arbor of the automated software guided gear
shaving machine, a virtual cylindrical teethed gear work-piece gets created there,
wherein the complete teeth profile of said virtual cylindrical teethed gear work piece
is subjected to a single gear shaving cutter. Said gear shaving cutter is of such a
dimension, preferably of its teeth profile and its overall diameter therein, that its teeth
get almost completely engaged with the teeth profile of the gear work pieces,
mounted together as the said virtual cylindrical teethed gear work-piece.
Consequently during its provisioned rotational and translational motion throughout
the complete teeth profile of the virtual cylindrical gear, the gear shaving cutter
suitably removes the bur from complete teeth profile of said virtual cylindrical teethed
gear work-piece and refines and smoothens it there. Such simultaneous gear
shaving operation on said virtual cylindrical teethed gear work piece, that is on

Step I: Receiving and mounting of teethed gear work-pieces on the work-arbor,
simultaneously for forming the said virtual cylindrical teethed gear work-piece for
shaving operation, preferably in vertical position on the work-arbor and creating a
virtual cylindrical teethed gear work-piece therein, more preferably by automatic
means. Number of individual teethed gear work pieces, which are mounted
simultaneously on single work-arbor, depends on the thickness of said individual
teethed gear work-piece, and on the overall size of the work-arbor for holding and
operating the multiple gear work-pieces therein. A successful gear shaving
operation, being performed on multiple teethed gear work-pieces does not allow any
defects to be created and any deterioration in the structural and functional features in
any of said individual gears, being shaved. Rather the proposed simultaneous
shaving operation on multiple teethed gear work-pieces yields very smooth and
finished gears with all desired structural and functional features, and thus help in
reducing the shaving time for each individual gears to increase the production rate at
least resource involvement.
Step II: Preferably in automatic manner, subjecting the set of said particular number
of teethed gear work pieces, as the virtual cylindrical teethed gear work-piece therein
to a functional gear shaving cutter, preferably positioned in horizontal/vertical or
angular direction, towards simultaneous gear shaving operation on those gear work
pieces for shaving, refining and smoothening the corresponding teeth on the
complete cylindrical teethed surface of said virtual cylindrical teethed gear.
Step IV: After simultaneous shaving of multiple teethed gear work pieces, removal of
finished gears from the work-arbor and reloading of same number of gear work
pieces on the same work-arbor, preferably in automation.
As the contact area and time between the virtual cylindrical teethed gear work piece
and the gear shaving cutter is considerably increased in the present proposed
simultaneous shaving operation on multiple gear work pieces, therefore it is likely
that substantially large volume of fumes gets generated and considerably high heat
is evolved during the operation. Therefore optionally it is important to apply an
effective module for expelling said fumes and heat generated, preferably in a dry
manner. An effective exhaust fan and effective air circulation duct is provisioned
around the action area of the hob cutter in use.
Presently proposed method for simultaneous shaving of multiple teethed gear is
equally applicable to teethed gears made of various types of materials, namely steel,
any alloyed metallic material, plastic material, and any suitable polymer based
material. In case of plastic or polymer based teethed gears, the proposed
simultaneous gear shaving operation using single gear shaving cutter does not
produce fumes in considerably high volume and therefore no specific fume and heat
expulsion provision is required.
If gear shaving operation is performed in conventional manner on an automatic dry
gear shaving machine, such as the "Mitsubishi Gear Shaving Machine", only one
gear work piece would be shaved by consuming time of one shaving cycle. But as
per the proposed method of simultaneous shaving of multiple teethed gear work
pieces herein, the total time consumed in one complete gear shaving cycle for
shaving, refining and finishing the complete teeth profile of the said virtual cylindrical
teethed gear work piece herein, which comprises of multiple pre-decided individual
teethed gear work pieces, is also preferably same as the time consumed for shaving
single teethed gear therein. Therefore such proposed method substantially reduces
the gear shaving cycle time, by many fold.
Again, in another preferred exemplary instance of simultaneous gear shaving
operation, the gear work pieces are such that there are certain lugs provisioned on
one of their flat surfaces. As the surfaces of these gears work pieces are not smooth
and are not suitable for mutual stacking of multiple pieces of said gear pieces;
therefore certain spacer elements are sandwiched between two gear work pieces,
leading to a proper virtual cylindrical teethed gear work piece. Thus a preferred
exemplary embodiment of virtual cylindrical teethed gear work piece gets created
comprising of alternately arranged individual actual gear work pieces and spacer
elements, wherein the number of individual gear work-pieces are pre-determined.
Such virtual cylindrical teethed gear work piece, made up of multiple gear work
pieces and multiple spacer elements suitably undergoes simultaneous gear hobbing
operation using single gear shaving cutter, as herein proposed.
Scope of the present invention:
Although the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments,
this description is not meant to be construed in a limiting sense. Various
modifications of the disclosed embodiments, as well as alternate embodiments of the
invention, will become apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to the
description of the invention. It is therefore contemplated that such modifications can
be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention as
defined.

We claim:
A method for multi-gear shaving and its application thereof towards shaving
more than one gear work-pieces simultaneously using single gear shaving
cutter, preferably on an automatic dry gear shaving machine; wherein said
gear shaving operation mainly involves:
(i) a work-arbor loaded with a virtual gear work piece comprising of
preferably plurality of gear work-pieces, with or without plurality of
spacer elements therein, stacked together on the said work-arbor,
forming a virtual cylindrical teethed gear work-piece,
(ii) a gear shaving cutter, provisioned for shaving and refining on the
teethed surface of said virtual cylindrical teethed gear work-piece, and
(iii) an optional fume control module and air cooling system, as the part of
the automatic dry gear shaving machine;
wherein said method of multi-gear shaving is characterized by, at least one
operations among other things, optional module towards loadinglmounting of
more than one gear work-pieces on the work-arbor simultaneously;
stackinglmounting of said virtual gear work-piece on a suitable work-arbor;
simultaneous shaving of plurality of gear work pieces stackedlmounted on the
work-arbor as said virtual cylindrical teethed gear work piece; optional module
towards automatic unloading of shaved and refined multiple teethed gears
from said work-arbor of the gear shaving machine; and optionally functioning
of a module for fume control and air cooling system, preferably in an
automatic dry gear shaving machine.
A method for multi-gear shaving and its application thereof, as claimed in
claim 1, wherein the said shaving operation is characterized by simultaneous
shaving on more than one teethed gear work-pieces mountedlstacked on one
suitable work-arbor, by operating single gear shaving cutter on them,
preferably on an automatic dry gear shaving machine.
3. A method for multi-gear shaving and its application thereof, as claimed in
claim 1, wherein the gear shaving machine optionally comprises of a module
towards loading/mounting, preferably as vertical or horizontal stacking, as the
case may be, of more than one teethed gear work-pieces on the work-arbor
simultaneously, preferably the automatic loading of a set of pre-determined
number of teethed gear work-pieces on a suitable work-arbor therein.
4. A method for multi-gear shaving and its application thereof, as claimed in
claim 1, wherein the virtual gear work-piece, as a virtual cylindrical teethed
gear work-piece, is actually created on the work-arbor of the gear shaving
machine therein, by stackinglmounting of multiple gear work-pieces therein,
wherein said virtual cylindrical teethed gear work-piece is characterized by its
diameter being same as to each individual teethed gear work-piece mounted
therein and its thickness being equal to or more than the total sum of the
thicknesses of all individual gear work-pieces, simultaneously mounted on
said work-arbor for simultaneous gear shaving.
5. A method for multi-gear shaving and its application thereof, as claimed in
claim 1, wherein said spacer elements, preferably in plurality, are optionally
applied in creating the said virtual cylindrical teethed gear work-piece on the
said work-arbor, wherein such spacer elements and teethed gear work-pieces
are simultaneously stackedlmounted on the work-arbor one after another, and
therefore the total thickness of said virtual gear element, made of alternately
arranged/stacked/mounted gear work-pieces and spacer elements, is more
than the sum total of the thicknesses of individual gear work-pieces,
simultaneously mounted therein.
6. A method for multi-gear shaving and its application thereof, as claimed in
claim I , wherein the work-arbor of the gear shaving machine is characterized
by its capability of holding and handling said virtual cylindrical teethed gear
work-piece during the simultaneous gear shaving operation using single gear
shaving cutter; wherein said work-arbor is further characterized by is
capability of performing its pre-defined mechanical functions and movements
to support the proposed gear shaving operation herein, in co-ordination with
the functional single gear shaving cutter therein.
7. A method for multi-gear shaving and its application thereof, as claimed in
claim 1, wherein said single gear shaving cutter of the gear shaving machine
is characterized by its capability of shaving and refining teeth on the
cylindrical teethed surface of said virtual cylindrical teethed gear work-piece,
comprising of multiple individual gear work-pieces and optionally multiple
spacer elements therein, mounted on the work-arbor; wherein said gear
shaving cutter is further characterized by its capability of performing its predefined
mechanical gear shaving functions and movements thereto to support
the proposed simultaneous gear shaving operation herein, in co-ordination
with the functional work-arbor therein.
8. A method for multi-gear shaving and its application thereof, as claimed in
claim 1, wherein the gear shaving machine optionally comprises of an optional
module towards automatic unloading of simultaneously shaved and refined
multiple gears from the work-arbor of said gear shaving machine.
9. A method for multi-gear shaving and its application thereof, as claimed in
claim 1, wherein the gear shaving machine optionally comprises of a fume
control module and air cooling system, wherein it including an effective
exhaust fan and effective air circulation duct around the action area of the
gear shaving cutter in use therein.
10. A method for multi-gear shaving and its application thereof, as claimed in
claim 1 and as substantially described and illustrated hereinabove.
Date: 07.06.201 2 S.K. Bansal /
(Agent for the Applic t) i"