Gear engineers have long recognized the importance of considering system factors when analyzing a single
pair of gears in mesh. These factors include important considerations such as load sharing in multi-mesh
geartrains and bearing clearances, in addition to the effects of flexible components, such as housings, gear
blanks, shafts, and carriers for planetary geartrains. However, in recent years transmission systems have
become increasingly complex, with higher numbers of gears and components, while the quality requirements
and expectations in terms of durability, gear whine, rattle and efficiency have increased accordingly. With
increased complexity and quality requirements, a gear engineer must use advanced system design tools to
ensure a robust geartrain is delivered on time, meeting all attribute, cost and weight requirements. As a
standard practice, finite element models have traditionally been used for analyzing transmission system
deflections, but this modeling environment does not always include provisions for analysis of rattle, efficiency,
nor considerations for attribute variation, which often require many runs to be completed in a short timeframe.
An advanced software tool is available for the analysis of transmission system durabilit, whine, rattle and
efficiency, all within a single programming environment, including the effects of flexible components such as
housings, gear blanks, and shating, while also allowing manufacturing variation studies to be performed. An
example transaxle case study is examined in detail.