Design for reliability based methodology for automotive gearbox load capacity identification

Abstract

Robust and Axiomatic design, a property-based approach in design, is applied and integrated into a new methodology for developing Functional Requirements (FR) or Design Parameters (DP). The reliability of the design structure and the elementary reliability of the design components are used as a functional requirement of the automotive gearbox, in relation to the service life and operation conditions, and also as a design constraint in analytical relationships. For this purpose, elementary reliability and allowable stress are defined in a specific way. The automotive gearbox, operating under varying and random operation conditions, is used as a case study. The same design structure has to operate under different operation conditions. In these circumstances, the carrying capacity as a functional requirement is related to the operation conditions and operation regime. The model presented in this paper, as well as a computer program, enable identification of this carrying capacity. This paper discusses an interdisciplinary and multi-methodological integrated approach to the presented task. Experimental data regarding the failure probability of gearbox components and the probability of operation conditions processing, the decomposition of gearbox structure, and the elementary reliability treatment as a component of design property are only some of the methods applied. © 2013 Journal of Mechanical Engineering. All rights reserved.