Elastic deformation error of the spherical gear output axis

The elastic deformation error of spherical gear output axis in the transmission process of spherical gears is studied in this paper. The analytic model of the elastic deformation error is established based on Castigliano second theorem and it was verified through finite element analysis. The results indicated that, the calculation error, between the analytical model and the finite element analysis, is less than 1%, so the analytic calculation model is effective; through decreasing the length of the output axis, increasing the outside circle radius, and increasing the inside circle radius, the elastic deformation error can be decreased. Based on the results above, the optimized design suggestions of spherical gear output axis are provided. The result above is important to design spherical gear output axis, and it is benefit for related researches.