Gear Pulse Electrochemical Finishing And Its Control System

Surface quality of parts has great influence on the operational performance such as wearing quality, figure strength, corrosion resistance and contact stiffness. Finishing is the way to improve the surface quality. In recent years, many new finishing techniques have been developed. Pulse Electrochemical Finishing(PECF), as a new technique, has demonstrated the great potential for development.Pulse Electrochemical Finishing removes the metal of the surface by electrochemical dissolution. Because of no cutting force, cutting heat, there are no cutting mark, plastic deformation layer on the surfaces of the parts. Smooth surface lows the chance of stress concentration, so fatigue strength is enhanced.Gear, as a main part in the mechanical transmission, has been applied in many fields such as aviation industry, chemical industry, metallurgy industry. How to reduce the noise and enhance the life of gear have been one of the most discussed subjects in the mechanical field. The present studies have revealed that the tooth surface produced by different finishing processes influences the noise and life of the gear in different ways. The lower surface roughness and smooth microform by electrochemical finishing not only enhance highly the life of gear, but reduce the noise.This paper studies the Pulse Electrochemical Finishing by experiments and theory, and concludes the electrochemical and technical characteristic of the techniques. In the paper, the technique of gear Pulse Electrochemical Finishing has been developed, and the device has been designed. And a computer-based PC control system base of upper and lower structure has been designed to remove equably the tooth surface, as a result, it improves the dimensional accuracy and surface quality. Finally, a fuzzy logic controller has been introduced in PECF .The experiments show that PECP might improve the lubricity, reduce the wearing , improve the fatigue strength of parts. The techniques can be extended to other polishing process to improve surface quality.