Mesh stiffness calculation of cycloid-pin gear pair with tooth profile modification and eccentricity error

Cycloid speed reducers are widely used in many industrial areas due to the advantages of compact size, high reduction ratio and high stiffness. However, currently, there are not many analytical models for the mesh stiffness calculation, which is a crucial parameter for the high-fidelity gear dynamic model. This is partially due to the difficulty of backlash determination and the complexity of multi-tooth contact deformation during the meshing process. In this paper, a new method to calculate the mesh stiffness is proposed including the effects of tooth profile modification and eccentricity error. The time-varying mesh parameters and load distribution of cycloid-pin gear pair are determined based on the unloaded tooth contact analysis (TCA) and the nonlinear Hertzian contact theory, allowing accurate calculations of the contact stiffness of single tooth pair and the torsional stiffness of multi-tooth pairs. A detailed parametric study is presented to demonstrate the influences of tooth profile modification, applied torque and eccentricity error on the torsional mesh stiffness, loaded transmission error, Hertzian contact stiffness and load sharing factor. This model can be applied to further study the lost motion and dynamic characteristics of cycloid speed reducer and assist the optimization of its precision, vibration and noise levels.