Effects of PTO gear face width on safety factors

Gears are components of transmission which transmit the power of an engine to a machine and offer numerous speed ratios, a compact structure, and high efficiency of power transmission. Gear train design in the automotive industry uses simulation software. However, PTO (Power Take-Off) gear design for agricultural applications uses the empirical method because of the wide range of load fluctuations in agricultural fields. The PTO is an important part of agricultural tractors which transmits the power to various tractor implements. Therefore, a simulation was essential to the optimal design of the PTO. When the PTO gear is optimally designed, there are many advantages such as low cost, reduced size, and light weight. In this study, we conducted the bending and contact safety factor simulation for the PTO gear of an agricultural tractor. The bending and contact safety factors were calculated on ISO 6336 : 2006 by decreasing the face widths of the PTO pinion and wheel gear from 18 mm at an interval of 1 mm. The safety factor of the PTO gear decreased as the face width decreased. The contact safety factors of the pinion and wheel gear were 1.45 and 1.53, respectively, when the face width was 18 mm. The simulation results showed that the face width of the PTO gear should be greater than 9 mm to maintain the bending and contact safety factors higher than 1. It would be possible to reduce the weight of the PTO gear for different uses and working conditions. This study suggests that the possibility of designing an optimal PTO gear decreases as its face width decreases.