6. Conclusion

The analysis, design, and fabrication for this gear box with a sliding transmission system provided many insights. They are summarized as accomplishments and lessons learned.

Accomplishments
- Demonstrated that design of gear sizes can be used to control output speed/torque.
- Implemented a sliding transmission system which allowed for multiple speed settings in one gear box.
Lessons Learned
- Friction in the system has two significant consequences:
  - Sticky points between gears leads to power losses, preventing smooth operation with a motor input.
  - Interference in the sliding transmission hurts gear shifting.

In the future, the following recommendations should be followed in order to improve performance.

Friction throughout the system should be considered and minimized. A few options are as follows.
- Ensure gear teeth surfaces are smooth with thorough sanding.
- Use ball bearings for the input and output shaft interfaces with the gear box housing.
Ensure all shafts are as concentric as possible with their intended axes of rotation. Attention should be paid to the distance between shafts.
Ensure motor axis of rotation is as concentric as possible with the input shaft.
Consider a motor with higher power output in order to overcome friction challenges.

Matlab Files

The Matlab files for this project can be found in the following folder ("RMD.zip"). The relevant files are "RMD_Project.m" and "\gears_v02\gears_v02\testSaad.m". The visualization code borrows from an online gear visualization code from Mathworks file exchange which is found in the references below. Questions about the Matlab can be sent to yousaf@utexas.edu.

RMD.zip

References