Center-Slotted Wideband Hybrid 10 dB Coupler

In this paper, a wideband microstrip hybrid coupler designed, simulated, built and tested. These couplers have advantage of easy fabrication, lightweight and incorporation with other microwave devices and validated using 3D planar electromagnetic softwares like Sonnet Suites. The final design is composition of two parallel lines with symmetric slits and a center slot. Directional coupler is designed and simulated to operate in the frequency range from 1 GHz to 5 GHz with 2.4 Ghz coupling -10 dB return loss bandwidth between 1.6 - 4 GHz. The fabricated coupler shows good agreement between measured and simulated results with very low isolation characteristics. Four symmetric orthogonal U-Shaped structures at the center of the coupling region distinguishes the proposed design with other works. It makes significant improvement in calculation duration thereby achieving lower response latency and lowers the possible manufacturing errors compared with previously published similar works.

A Novel Approach to Calculating the Transmission Accuracy of a Cycloid-Pin Gear Pair Based on Error Tooth Surfaces

Transmission error (TE) and backlash are important parameters used to evaluate the transmission accuracy of cycloid-pin drives. Existing calculation methods are mostly based on two-dimensional tooth profile models, and these methods ignore the influence of some abnormal meshing phenomena caused by profile modifications (PMs), manufacturing errors (MEs), and assembly errors (AEs), such as the instantaneous mesh-apart of tooth pairs and the eccentric load on the tooth surface. To fill this gap, a novel approach to accurately calculating the TE and backlash of a cycloid-pin gear pair based on the error tooth surfaces is proposed, and its feasibility and effectiveness are validated by comparison with the theoretical analyses and the results from the literature. Based on this, the effects of the PMs, MEs, and AEs on the transmission accuracy are studied, which will be helpful in optimizing the tooth profile design of a cycloid gear and the tolerance allocation during the installation of a gear pair. The proposed method is also expected to provide accurate error excitation data for the dynamic analysis of cycloid-pin drives.

Mesh Force Modelling and Parametric Studies for Compound Oscillatory Roller Reducer

A compound oscillatory roller reducer (CORR) with a first-stage gear transmission and a second-stage oscillatory roller transmission is presented. The transmission principle of oscillatory roller transmission is introduced, and the tooth profile equation of the inner gear is derived. The analytical model of mesh force considering the installation errors and manufacturing errors is proposed. Then, parametric studies considering different errors on the mesh force are conducted. Results show that the design parameters are significant factors for mesh force. The mesh force is reduced by 17% as the eccentricity of disk cam increases from 2.5 mm to 4 mm. When the radius of the movable roller increases from 7 mm to 20 mm, the mesh force decreases by 8%. As the radius of disk cam increases from 125 mm to 170 mm, the mesh force is decreased by 26.5%. For the impacts of errors, the mesh force has a noticeable fluctuation when these errors exist including the manufacturing error of disk cam, the installation error of disk cam and the manufacturing error of movable roller change. The prototype of the reducer is manufactured and preliminary run-in test proved the feasibility of the transmission principle.

Influence of manufacturing errors of bearing components on rotational accuracy of cylindrical roller bearings

Understanding the influence of bearing component manufacturing errors and roller number on the rotational accuracy of rolling bearings is crucial in the design of high precision bearings. The rotational accuracy of an assembled bearing is dependent upon roller number and manufacturing error of the bearing components. We propose a model for calculating the rotational accuracy of a cylindrical roller bearing; we experimentally verified the effectiveness of the model in predicting the radial run-out of the inner ring proposed in the previous paper in this series. We sought to define the key contributing factors to the rotational accuracy by studying both the influence of the coupling effect of the roller number and the influence of the manufacturing errors in the inner raceway, outer raceway, and rollers on the motion error. The model and results will help engineers choose reasonable manufacturing tolerances for bearing components to achieve the required rotational accuracy.

Dual-robot stud welding system for membrane wall

Purpose The membrane wall is one of the most important components in the boiler industry and numerous studs are welded on its surface. The membrane wall welding still remains a sector intensive in the manual and arduous works. This paper aims to propose a dual-robot system to automatically weld studs on the membrane wall. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, the authors proposed a dual-robot stud welding system for membrane walls. First, the membrane wall is divided into several zones and the welding paths are planned. Then, the pose of the pipes is calculated based on the data measured by light section sensors. The planned paths are compensated by the pose. Finally, the robots weld studs based on the compensated paths. Findings The method effectively eliminates manufacturing errors and welding distortions. The system can weld straight type and L-type membrane walls with high efficiency, high quality and high accuracy. Originality/value The system can weld straight type and L-type membrane walls with high efficiency and high quality. Experiments were performed in a factory to demonstrate the practicability of the method. The dual-robot system with two welding machines has approximately twice the efficiency of the manual welder with only one welding machine. The quality and accuracy of robot welding systems are higher than that of manual welding.

Influence of Heavy Weight Drill Pipe Material and Drill Bit Manufacturing Errors on Stress State of Steel Blades

Drilling volumes should be increased in order to increase hydrocarbon production, but this is impossible without the usage of high-quality drilling tools made of modern structural materials. The study has to analyze the design, technological and operational methods to increase the performance of drilling tools made of various materials and has highlighted prospects of technological method applications. The scientific novelty of the study consists in the development of a new analytical model of PDC drill bit–well interaction. The developed model takes into account the drill bit manufacturing errors in the form of bit body–nipple axes misalignment on the drill bit strength. This result makes it possible to determine the permissible manufacturing errors to provide safe operation of the drill bit. It is established that there is an additional transverse force that presses the drill bit to the well wall in the rock due to manufacturing errors. It is determined that the magnitude of this clamping force can be significant. The material effect has been analyzed on additional clamping force. It is established that geometric imperfection of the drill bit causes the minimal effect for the elastic system of the pipe string, which includes a calibrator and is composed of drill pipes based on composite carbon fiber material, and the maximal effect—for steel drill pipes. Polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) drill bit and well wall contact interaction during operation in non-standard mode is considered. Non-standard stresses are determined, and the strength of the blades is estimated for different values of drilling bit manufacturing error.

Investigation of Dynamic Load Sharing Behavior for Herringbone Planetary Gears considering Multicoupling Manufacturing Errors

In this study, based on the lumped-parameter theory and the Lagrange approach, a novel and generalized bending-torsional-axial coupled dynamic model for analyzing the load sharing behavior in the herringbone planetary gear train (HPGT) is presented by taking into account the actual structure of herringbone gears, manufacturing errors, time-dependent meshing stiffness, bearing deflections, and gyroscopic effects. The model can be applied to the analysis of the vibration of the HPGT with any number of planets and different types of manufacturing errors in different floating forms. The HPGT equivalent meshing error is analyzed and derived for the tooth profile errors and manufacturing eccentric errors of all components in the HPGT system. By employing the variable-step Runge–Kutta approach to calculate the system dynamic response, in conjunction with the presented calculation approach of the HPGT load sharing coefficient, the relationships among manufacturing errors, component floating, and load sharing are numerically obtained. The effects of the combined errors and single error on the load sharing are, respectively, discussed. Meanwhile, the effects of the support stiffness of the main components in the HPGT system on load sharing behavior are analyzed. The results indicate that manufacturing errors, floating components, and system support stiffness largely influence the load sharing behavior of the HPGT system. The research has a vital guiding significance for the design of the HPGT system.