Modeling and dynamic analysis of the non-circular gear system of a bucket wheel stacker/reclaimer

Non-circular gear systems (NCGSs) are among the most widely used transmission mechanisms in bucket wheel stacker/reclaimers (BWSRs), the performance of which depends greatly on the NCGS dynamic characteristics such as the transmission efficiency, gear vibration, and gear-teeth failure. To improve the NCGS dynamical performance, a new non-circular gear transmission system is designed based on the transmission principle of non-circular gears while taking into account the special requirements of a BWSR. The newly designed NCGS comprises a sun gear, a fixed gear, and four planetary gears. By considering the time-varying meshing stiffness and the transmission error of the NCGS, a corresponding dynamical model of the NCGS is established using the Newton's second law. The dynamic characteristics of the NCGS under different working loads and speeds are then compared and analyzed. The results show that the NCGS can reduce the working speed of the sun gear as much as possible by meeting the performance requirement of the transmission mechanism. Finally, the newly designed NCGS is shown to be capable of improving the overall BWSR performance immensely.