Design and analysis of harmonic drive gear system

This work incorporates sections on academic research, design, and numerical analysis of the Flex Spline, which is a component of the Harmonic Drive gear. The objective of this research is to minimize the Flex Spline component's both values of stress and weight while increasing the value of torque capacity by using an anisotropic composite material. Firstly, steel analysis was carried out for validation, and sample data from a reference work was used to validate the analysis results. Following that, the hybrid Flex Spline design was initiated, with composite material and adhesive resin utilized for bonding purposes. The composite materials were chosen to be carbon fiber and glass fiber, and the analytical findings were compared. Also, the adhesive bonding thickness was changed to evaluate the effects and the stress values were compared. Finally, the composite material was added while maintaining the steel rim thickness constant, and the results were compared to pure steel flex spline. The studies were carried out in two-dimensional static mode, using first and second order reduced integration. The values of the von Mises stress, plastic deformation, reaction force, contact stress, delamination, and natural frequency were examined. As a consequence of this working torque capacity increased by 20 % while stress values, contact force, and weight have decreased by 13.7 %, 11.3 %, and 38,5 % respectively thanks to the Hybrid Flex Spline.