• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.92-99
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• 2021

An automatic transmission, which consists of several decks of planetary gear sets, provides multiple speed and torque ratios by actuating brakes and clutches (mechanical friction components) for connecting central members of the planetary gear sets. The gear set consists of the sun gear, the ring gear, and the carrier supporting multiple planet gears with pin shafts. In designing a new automatic transmission, there are many steps to design and analyze: gears, brakes and clutches, shafts, and other mechanical components. Among them, selecting thrust bearings that not only allow the relative rotation of the central members and other mechanical components but also support axial forces coming from them is important; doing so yields superior driving performance and better fuel efficiency. In selecting thrust bearings, the magnitude of axial forces on them is a critical factor that affects their bearing size and performance; its results are systematically related to the direction of the helical angle of each planetary gear set (a geometric design profile). This research presents the effects of the helical angle direction on the axial forces acting on thrust bearings in an automatic transmission consisting of planetary gear sets. A model transmission was built by analyzing kinematics and power flows and by designing planetary gear sets. The results of the axial forces on thrust bearings were analyzed for all combinations of helix angle directions of the planetary gear sets.