Effect of powder material on vibration reduction of gear system in centrifugal field

• Energy dissipation model under centrifugal load is established, and the damping performance of powder material is studied.
• The powder density affects the contact force, and the coefficient of restitution affects the collision frequency.
• For different parameters, a proper material of powder damper can result in an optimal effect on vibration reduction.

The vibration and noise of gear transmission have much potential damage for mechanical equipments and operators. As a passive vibration reduction technology, the powder damping dissipates kinetic energy through inelastic collisions and friction between powders. At present, the powder damping technology is mainly used in vertical or horizontal steady field, but it is less applied to centrifugal field. In this paper, the gear with damping powder filled in via holes has been investigated, and an energy dissipation model of powder system has been established by discrete element method (DEM). The damping effects of different powder material in gear transmission have been tested. The comparative analysis of the simulation and experiment results shows that the powder material has an important effect on energy dissipation under centrifugal loads. The powder density affects the contact force, and the coefficient of restitution affects the collision frequency. In this research, the damping effect of tungsten alloy powder is the best. The alloy steel and lead alloy powder are much better than that of magnesium alloy and aluminum alloy powder. Though the density of alloy lead and alloy steel are greatly different, the total energy loss of lead alloy powder and alloy steel powder has no much difference. The results can provide guidelines for the application of powder damping in centrifugal field.

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