Fundamental design equations for space curve meshing skew gear mechanism

• A Space curve meshing skew gear mechanism (SCMSGM) was proposed.
• SCMSGM can transmit a rotation at an arbitrary alternate angle within 0°–180°.
• The fundamental design equations for SCMSGM were deduced.
• An experiment was carried out to verify its kinematic performance.

In this paper, a new type of skew gear mechanism named as space curve meshing skew gear mechanism (SCMSGM) is proposed. Fundamental design equations are deduced for SCMSGM with an arbitrary alternate angle within 0°–180°. Space curve meshing equations of SCMSGM are established firstly. Then the equations of the driving contact curve and driven contact curve are deduced. And the equations of the driving tine center curve and driven tine center curve are subsequently derived. According to these fundamental design equations, an example is illustrated in detail and simulated in Pro/E software. The prototype samples with a 135° alternate angle were fabricated of 316L stainless steel by selective laser melting technology and an experiment was carried out to test their kinematic performance. The experimental result shows that the SCMSGM designed by the deduced fundamental equations in this paper is capable of committing a transmission with a precise transmission ratio between two skew axes at an arbitrary alternate angle.