Active peening of gear teeth in an assembled gearbox

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10717154-B2
Application number	US-201615752820-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 29, 2016
Priority date	Aug 31, 2015
Publication date	Jul 21, 2020
Grant date	Jul 21, 2020

Abstract

A gearbox is provided having a housing, a gear having a plurality of teeth operationally configured within the housing, and a laser peening device located within the housing and configured to perform active laser peening on a predetermined surface of the gear while the gear is rotated within the housing. A method of maintaining compressive residual stresses in a gear is provided, the method including operating a gearbox to rotate a gear within the gearbox and laser peening a predetermined surface of the gear with a laser peening device located within the gearbox.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A gearbox comprising:
a housing;
a gear having a plurality of teeth operationally configured within the housing; and a laser peening device located within the housing and configured to perform active laser peening on a predetermined surface of the gear while the gear is rotated within the housing.

2. The gearbox of claim 1 , wherein the laser peening device comprises:
a laser head configured to provide a laser pulse therefrom; and
a sensor configured to determine that the predetermined surface of the gear is in front of the laser head.

3. The gearbox of claim 2 , wherein the sensor is an optical sensor configured to detect a distance between the laser head and the predetermined surface of the gear.

4. The gearbox claim 1 , further comprising a power source electrically connected to the laser peening device.

5. The gearbox of claim 4 , wherein the power source is located within the housing.

6. The gearbox of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined surface is at least one of a bottom land and a tooth flank of the gear.

7. The gearbox of claim 1 , wherein the gearbox contains water.

8. The gearbox of claim 1 , wherein the gear is a first gear and the laser peening device is a first laser peening device, the gearbox further comprising: a second gear located within the housing and configured to operationally engage with the first gear; and
a second laser peening device configured to perform active laser peening on a predetermined surface of the second gear while the second gear is rotated within the housing.

9. The gearbox of claim 8 , wherein the first laser peening device and the second laser peening device are subparts of a single laser peening device.

10. A method of maintaining compressive residual stresses in a gear, the method comprising:
operating a gearbox to rotate a gear within the gearbox; and
laser peening a predetermined surface of the gear with a laser peening device located within the gearbox.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising determining when the predetermined surface is in front of a laser head of the laser peening device.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the predetermined surface is at least one of a bottom land and a tooth flank of the gear.

13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising filling the gearbox with water prior to performing the laser peening.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein laser peening the predetermined surface comprises:
determining the predetermined surface is in front of a laser head of the laser peening device;
activating the laser head to apply a laser pulse to the predetermined surface;
determining the predetermined surface is not located in front of the laser head; and
deactivating the laser head.

15. The method of claim 10 , further comprising performing the laser peening at a predetermined frequency related to the operation of the gearbox.

16. A method of manufacturing a gearbox comprising:
installing a gear having a plurality of teeth within a housing; and
installing a laser peening device within the housing proximal to the gear and configured to perform active laser peening on a predetermined surface of the gear while the gear is rotated within the housing.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising configuring a sensor within the gearbox to determine that the predetermined surface of the gear is in front of the laser head.

18. The method of claim 16 , further comprising electrically connecting a power source to the laser peening device.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein the gear is a first gear and the laser peening device is a first laser peening device, the method further comprising:
installing a second gear within the housing;
configuring the second gear to operationally engage with the first gear;
installing a second laser peening device within the housing; and
configuring the second laser peening device to perform active laser peening on a predetermined surface of the second gear while the second gear is rotated within the housing.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the first laser peening device and the second laser peening device are subparts of a single laser peening device.

Assignees

• Sikorsky Aircraft Corp

Inventors

• Hansen Bruce D

Classifications

• B23K26/356 Primary

  by shock processing · CPC title

• F16H57/038

  Gearboxes for accommodating bevel gears (F16H57/037 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B64C27/12

  Rotor drives · CPC title

• C21D9/32

  for gear wheels, worm wheels, or the like · CPC title

• B23P9/00

  Treating or finishing surfaces mechanically, with or without calibrating, primarily to resist wear or impact, e.g. smoothing or roughening turbine blades or bearings (treatment covered by a single other subclass, see the relevant subclass, e.g. B24C, C21D7/00, C22F1/00); Features of such surfaces not otherwise provided for, their treatment being unspecified · CPC title