As a big part of the gear design software adaptation we’ve completed so far, we build a database of the thermoplastic material we are going to use for wheels of the Smart Gearbox, including mechanical, physical and triblogical properties, that had all been tested. These properties are not usually known for thermoplastic compounds, but they are essential for the gear design software to be reliable.
The database has been included in the preliminary version of the software adapted for thermoplastic and it was also used by the software house (one of the project subcontractor) to evaluate all the risk related to teeth wear and fracture, using as guide the exiting VDI 2736-3.
Using this preliminary version together with FEM simulations we identified a new gears design dedicated for thermoplastic, and we produced the first wheels prototypes by injection molding. The Worm-shafts will still be made of steel, so the prototypes were made by cutting. The testing of this prototypes has already started.
We’ have completed all the work for the identification of a cooling system and we’ve identified a reliable solution by modifying both the worm-shaft and case design. At the beginning of this project we had the idea to study a new design for the gearbox’s case to fulfill this goal, but then by running the first preliminary fluid-dynamic simulations we saw that working on the shaft design adaptations too could give us better results.
All the test that we run on the cooling system prototypes confirmed this, and the new cooling system was implemented on the Smart Gearbox prototypes with the new designed wheel that we are now testing.
All this experimental work required from us also making substantial improvement on our test rig, all the modification were identified and fulfilled in order to start running the test on time.
Together with the all the work related to overcome technical issues, we developed a Smart Gearbox dedicated website that has been updated constantly with all the project progress and news. We officially launched it to all our customers and distributors. Also in September 2016 in order to further disseminate our idea we attend an international conference in Lubjana dedicated to thermoplastic material tribology, where the audience was composed both by academic expert in the field, both by possible future customers.
The test results on the new designd wheel were not completely satisfying because the wheel’s wear was too destructive, and the temperature on the reducer case reached too high value. This results didn’t allow us to gain the experimental data to validate the software for plastic gear as planned, but we’ve already developed new solutions in order to further improve the wheel and cooling system performances.
Despite this the work necessary to achieve the technical and commercial validation of Smart gearbox regularly started. All the components necessary for the Smart gearbox wheel integration in the industrial prototypes were designed and built. The assembly procedure was validated, and the validation campaign of the components regularly started.
The dissemination activity remained important and during 2017 we carried on the work related to it. We attended two trade fair, Hannover Messe in April 2017 and Europack-Euromanut-CFIA in November 2017, where the project dissemination was done through dedicated flyers and the Smart Gearbox official video.
