INVESTIGATION OF AN OPTICAL NONCONTACT GEAR GEOMETRY MEASUREMENT SYSTEM - MEASUREMENT OF PITCH ERRORS AND TOOTH PROFILES

This article presents a new noncontact system for measuring pitch errors and tooth profiles. The pitch error measuring system has two optical probes that are equivalent to the fixed probe and measuring probe, respectively, of the pitch variation measuring machine based on the measuring of straight distance. Because there is no mechanical interference between the probes and the test gear, high-speed measurements are possible with this system. In this system, a measuring time of 3 to 4 seconds was required to measure the pitch errors of a spur gear with a module of 0.8 and 48 teeth. In the system for tooth profile measurement, the optical probe, which corresponds to the measuring probe, moves in the radial direction of the test gear and detects the surface displacement for each tooth. ft took 42 seconds to measure the profiles of all 48 teeth of the gear. At each tooth surface, 60 sampling points are taken.