Analysis And Research On Axial Clearance With The Circumferential Clearance Of Rzeppa Constant Velocity Universal Joint

Rzeppa constant velocity joint is an important part of front-wheel drivecars, it can achieve angular velocity between the input shaft and outputshaft where there is a angle existed in them. However, due to the design,manufacture, assembly and other reasons, there are clearances in each partof rzeppa constant velocity universal joint. Axial clearance andcircumferential clearance is an important reason to cause traverse andimpact on the internal parts of the joint, and reduce the life of the joint. Atpresent, there is still a little research on clearance of the rzeppa constantvelocity universal joint and those reserch focus on separate study onvarious types of clearance of the the joint. Therefore,it is very meaningfulto put the axial clearance together with circumferential clearance of therzeppa constant velocity universal joint as a whole to study and analysistheir mutual influence.Based on principles of analytic geometry, structure and motion of therzeppa constant velocity universal joint, conditions of the uniformtransmission of Rzeppa universal joint is obtained and isokinetic of therzeppa joint has benn demonstrated using this conclusion.On the basis ofstudying a large number of domestic and foreign theoretical literature, themechanism on how axial clearance formated the circumferential clearancehas been founded and the conditions on axial clearance formed thecircumferential clearance has been ressearched. On this basis, it revealedtwo different sources on the formation of of the circumference clearance of the rzeppa constant velocity universal joint and analyzed and calculated thecircumference clearance formed by the ball and the channel clearance andaxial clearance. The changing law of circumferential clearance angle withswing angle and rotating angle was obtained by using Matlab software andit discussed the main factors affecting the circumferential clearance. themeasures of reducing the circumference clearance were proposed. Finally,considering the two effects of the axial clearance and the ball and thechannel clearance,it researched the effect of axial clearance on thecircumference clearance and the effect of the ball and the channelclearance on the axial clearance. Effective way to reduce or to eliminatethe axial gap and circumferential gap were proposed,the circumferentialclearance angle and axial clearance was measured on the test bed,whichwas developed by Shanghai Jiao Tong University.The results show that the six fluctuations of axial clearance andcircumferential clearance cause traverse and impact on the internal parts ofthe joint, and reduce the life of the joint. The total axial clearanceδof theuniversal joint was affected by the radial clearanceεand ball and thechannel clearanceΔof the universal joint. When the swing angle exceed17°the axial movement of the parts of the universal joint would make thecircumference clearance of the universal joint larger than when the joint'internal parts are in the ideal location,therefore, the axial movement of theparts of the universal joint can reduce the vibration and noise during thetravelling.