The Need

The aviation industry is responsible for transporting over 4.5 billion people through 16 million flights in one year. Turbine engines contain a turbofan which has internal gears that are responsible for the internal vibrations an engine can experience. This harmonic excitation is responsible for the overall long-term health of the engine, noise levels passengers experience, and limitations of cargo allocation. There is a need to minimize these vibrations

The Technology

Researchers at The Ohio State University, led by Dr. Ahmet Kahraman, have developed novel phasing conditions for a PW gearbox for a turbine engine. Incorporating a double helix mesh between planetary gear sets. Placing the correct right-to-left stagger angle between meshes, it minimizes the harmonic component of the excitation and allowing a designer to adjust and optimize this parameter for a result of reducing the vibration excitations.

Commerical Applications

• Airplanes
• Ships
• Generators

Benefits/Advantages

• Reduce the vibrations the engine generates
• Increase long-term usability of the engine
• Decrease the sound the engine outputs