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  • Wei WANG, Ruiliang ZHANG, Huaizhe XU, Yuxin WANG
    Journal of Mechanical Transmission. 2026, 50(1): 119-125. doi:10.16578/j.issn.1004.2539.2026.01.015
    Objective

    The wave generator, as the driving component, has its profile curve directly affecting the deformation and stress distribution of the flexible wheel. To reduce the stress on the flexible wheel and improve its fatigue performance, a design method for a three-term cosine cam wave generator was proposed.

    Methods

    The profile curve of the three-term cosine wave generator was composed of a constant term, represented by the base circle radius, and three cosine terms superimposed. By using the curvature variation coefficient at the major axis, the correction factor at the minor axis, and the clearance of the flexible bearing as variable parameters, the influence of these parameters on the performance of the wave generator was analyzed, and the optimization of a specific harmonic reducer model was validated. Finite element analysis was performed on the flexible wheel structure after incorporating the new cam structure under expansion, no-load, and loading conditions, and comparisons were made with the pre-optimized structure to analyze the stress distribution on the flexible wheel.

    Results

    The finite element results indicate that, compared to the traditional cosine wave generator, the flexible wheel under the three-term cosine wave generator exhibits superior stress performance under various working conditions and achieves longer fatigue life.

  • Xinhao ZHAO, Jizhan WU, Guoliang LIU, Jiawei LI, Zehua LU
    Journal of Mechanical Transmission. 2026, 50(1): 142-154. doi:10.16578/j.issn.1004.2539.2026.01.018
    Objective

    Contact fatigue failure is the primary failure mode for gears operating under extreme conditions such as high speed, heavy duty, and high temperature. It has become a significant technical bottleneck limiting the development of aviation equipment toward higher reliability, longer life, and higher power density. Predicting contact fatigue life is now a critical focus of both engineering and academic research. The quantitative prediction research of gear contact fatigue life was carried out.

    Methods

    Firstly, over 400 rolling contact fatigue specimens made from 9310 aviation gear steel were prepared and subjected to more than 5 000 hours of fatigue testing. The investigation examined the effects of service conditions, such as contact stress and slip rate, as well as surface integrity states created by over ten processes including carburizing grinding, shot peening, fine particle peening, and rolling finishing, on rolling contact fatigue life. Secondly, the Lundberg-Palmgren (LP) theory was modified using multiple linear regression methods, resulting in an LP rolling contact fatigue life prediction formula based on service conditions and surface integrity parameters.

    Results

    It is found that increasing the slip rate from 10% to 30% reduces the fatigue life at a contact stress of 3 000 MPa by 52.6%, from 2.28×106 r to 1.08×106 r. Additionally, when the contact stress is 3 000 MPa and the slip rate is 20%, dual shot peening significantly improves fatigue life, increasing it by 113.8% from 1.52×106 r in the carburizing grinding state to 3.25×106 r. The derived LP contact fatigue life prediction formula, considering service conditions and surface integrity, demonstrates an error margin within twice dispersion band, thus meeting engineering application requirements.

  • Wangwang WANG, Rulong TAN, Weiqing ZHANG, Xiaodong GUO
    Journal of Mechanical Transmission. 2026, 50(1): 112-118. doi:10.16578/j.issn.1004.2539.2026.01.014
    Objective

    To address the problem that pure rolling bevel gears are prone to angular velocity mutation, vibration, and noise excitation under the influence of mounting errors, a tooth surface design method with low sensitivity to mounting errors was proposed.

    Methods

    Firstly, based on the influence of installation errors on angular velocity, the transmission error curve was preset as a parabolic type. Secondly, the theoretical tooth surface of the pinion was modified using the preset transmission error curve to establish a mathematical model of the target tooth surface. Finally, a 3D solid model of the modified bevel gear was constructed, and tooth contact analysis was performed.

    Results

    The results show that the derived transmission error curve is consistent with the preset curve, validating the effectiveness of the modification. The actual meshing points of the optimized tooth surface deviate from the edges, and the overall contact area centers on the tooth surface, effectively avoiding edge contact and stress concentration.

  • Hengdi WANG, Peng CHEN, Haokui WANG, Shengde WU, Yingfeng MA
    Journal of Mechanical Transmission. 2026, 50(1): 184-191. doi:10.16578/j.issn.1004.2539.2026.01.022
    Objective

    A health state assessment method combining deep residual shrinkage network (DRSN) and adversarial domain adaptation (ADA) was proposed to address the problems of vibration signal noise interference and inconsistent data distribution under different working conditions in the remaining useful life (RUL) prediction of rolling bearings, so as to improve the accuracy and generalization ability of RUL prediction.

    Methods

    Firstly, a health state assessment model combining deep residual shrinkage network and adversarial domain adaptation was constructed. The performance of DRSN in avoiding noise in vibration signals and adaptively extracting bearing degradation features was utilized to build the health indicator curve. Then, ADA was used to align the distribution of health indicators between the test set and the training set, so as to eliminate the difference in data distribution under different working conditions. Finally, the health indicators output by the DRSN-ADA model were input into the convolutional long short-term memory (ConvLSTM) network model, and the accurate RUL prediction of rolling bearings was realized.

    Results

    In the XJTU-SY dataset and engineering tests, the health indicators constructed by DRSN-ADA are superior to the comparison methods in monotonicity, robustness and correlation, with their mean values reaching 0.61, 0.97 and 0.98 respectively. The mean values of mean squared error (MSE) and mean absolute error (MAE) of the RUL prediction results are 2.52% and 2.19% respectively, and the average score is 0.86, which is significantly better than the DRN, principal component analysis and root mean square (RMS) methods. These results verify the effectiveness of the proposed method in noise suppression and cross-working condition prediction.

  • Wenqiang ZHANG, Guangfu BIN, Guangping XU, Wenming YANG
    Journal of Mechanical Transmission. 2026, 50(1): 50-55. doi:10.16578/j.issn.1004.2539.2026.01.007
    Objective

    To address the core problems of traditional magnetic tile-type magnetic wheels in the application of boiler wall-climbing robots, such as unclear magnetic field distribution, redundant safety factors of empirical formulas, low magnet utilization rate, and excessive weight, a magnetic tile arrangement scheme was identified with better magnetic attraction in the N-S alternating arrangement under the same volume and mass constraints. The differences in magnetic field distribution and magnetic attraction force magnitude when the magnetic wheel pressed against three versus two boiler water-cooled wall tubes were also clarified.

    Methods

    Taking a water-cooled wall inspection robot for thermal power plant boilers as an example, four magnetic wheel models with the same external dimensions but different magnet arrangement modes were established. Using Maxwell software, simulation analysis of the magnetic attraction force of these four magnetic wheels with different structures was conducted at a distance of 2 mm from the water-cooled wall tubes.

    Results

    The results show that the adsorption force of the magnetic wheel on the water-cooled wall tube is 5%-20% greater when adsorbed at the joint of the magnetic tiles than at the middle of the magnetic tiles. When adsorbed at the middle of the magnetic tiles, regardless of whether the magnetic wheel presses against three or two wall tubes, the magnetic wheel with the 4-magnetic-tile arrangement exhibits the maximum attraction. Additionally, the adsorption force when pressing against three water-cooled wall tubes is approximately 10%-20% greater than that when pressing against two tubes.

  • Yi ZHU, Hui SONG, Qi CHEN, Liangjian WANG
    Journal of Mechanical Transmission. 2026, 50(1): 32-39. doi:10.16578/j.issn.1004.2539.2026.01.005
    Objective

    To solve the problem of no direct mechanical or hydraulic connection between the brake actuator and the brake pedal in an electronic mechanical braking system, leading to no feedback of road feel, a brake pedal feeling simulator was proposed based on magnetorheological dampers.

    Methods

    Ansys/Maxwell and Matlab/Simulink were used as the platform. The structural design of the sinking brake pedal feeling simulator, the structural design of magnetorheological damper, magnetic circuit analysis and electromagnetic simulation were carried out respectively, and the simulation analysis of traditional proportional-integral-derivative (PID) and fuzzy adaptive PID control under different working conditions of the whole system was compared.

    Results

    The simulation results show that the brake pedal feeling simulator can track the characteristic curve of the traditional pedal well under different working conditions and has wide applicability. Compared with the traditional PID control effect, the fuzzy adaptive PID control has higher control precision and smaller control error, and has good application prospects.

  • Kun DANG, Liang ZHEN
    Journal of Mechanical Transmission. 2026, 50(1): 56-66. doi:10.16578/j.issn.1004.2539.2026.01.008
    Objective

    To solve the problems of fixed damping force and poor pseudo-humanity of traditional lower limb prosthetic knee joints, a magnetorheological damper was designed to meet the vibration reduction requirements of the lower limb prosthetic knee joint.

    Methods

    Through theoretical calculation, the maximum damping forces required for the knee joint swing phase during flat walking and flat running were obtained, which were 179.6 N and 1 377 N respectively. In order to adapt to the motion state of the lower limb prosthesis, a vibration absorber was designed to meet the damping force required by the knee joint swing phase. Through numerical simulation and test research, the influence of external disturbed magnetic field and temperature rise effect on the dynamics characteristics of magnetorheological damper were analyzed. The test of influence of external disturbance magnetic field and temperature rise effect on the dynamics characteristic of the lower limb prosthetic knee joint was conducted by using the lower limb prosthetic knee joint simulator.

    Results

    The results show that the output damping force of the magnetorheological damper increases with the increasing magnetic flux density of the external disturbed magnetic field. Under the same conditions, the output damping force of the magnetorheological damper decreases with the rising temperature of the magnetorheological fluid. In the early stage of knee joint swing and the first half of its middle stage, with the increase of the magnetic flux density of external disturbed magnetic field, the hysteresis of knee joint movement increases, and the angle error increases. When the magnetic flux density of external disturbed magnetic field is 10, 20 and 30 mT respectively, the maximum bending angle of the lower limb prosthetic knee joint is 59.0°, 57.8° and 55.7° respectively, and the maximum angle error reaches 3.0°, 6.8° and 11.9° respectively. As the rise of the temperature of the magnetorheological fluid, the hysteresis of knee joint movement increases, and the angle error increases. When the temperature of the damper rises to 30, 35 and 40 ℃ respectively, the maximum bending angle of the lower limb prosthetic knee joint is 57.1°, 54.0° and 49.8° respectively, and the maximum angle error reaches 1.9°, 5.1° and 9.8° respectively. These conclusions provide a basis for the design and optimization of the lower limb prosthetic knee joint based on the magnetorheological damper.

  • Lifeng CHEN, Junbo ZHANG, Zhao XIAO
    Journal of Mechanical Transmission. 2026, 50(1): 87-91. doi:10.16578/j.issn.1004.2539.2026.01.011
    Objective

    To address the issues of crawling and poor motion stability in low-speed and heavy-duty conveyor chain transmissions, a dynamic model of the above conveyor chain transmissions was established based on multi-body dynamic theory, and the research on dynamic characteristics was carried out, aiming to provide guidance for enhancing the stability of such conveyor chain transmission systems.

    Methods

    By considering the structural characteristics of low-speed and heavy-duty conveyor chain transmission systems and the effects of conveying loads, the mechanical properties of the conveyor chain nodes were simulated using Hooke’s law, and a dynamic model with 107 degrees of freedom of the conveyor chain was constructed. The modal superposition method was adopted to solve the dynamic model, the dynamic characteristics of the low-speed and heavy-load conveyor chain were obtained, and the influence laws of the slack side sag and the tight side friction force of the conveyor chain on the transmission speed variation were studied.

    Results

    The results show that reducing the slack side sag and decreasing the friction coefficient between the conveyor and the guide rail can effectively reduce the occurrence of the crawling phenomenon in conveyor chain transmission and improve the motion stability of the conveyor chain transmission systems.

  • Yuan YUAN, Junxiong KOU, Lidong ZHOU
    Journal of Mechanical Transmission. 2026, 50(1): 155-162. doi:10.16578/j.issn.1004.2539.2026.01.019
    Objective

    To address the longitudinal vibration of long-distance belt conveyors during starting, the dynamic equations of the belt conveyor were established based on the analysis of the viscoelastic properties of the conveyor belt. Taking a practical long-distance belt conveyor as an example, a dynamic simulation model was constructed using AMESim software to study the starting acceleration curve and loading time.

    Methods

    The effects of common starting curves on the dynamic tension of the conveyor belt were analyzed, and a new combined starting curve (sine+parabolic) was proposed. The curve was optimized by introducing a creep phase and adjusting the pre-starting speed. The tension variations under different loading times were then analyzed.

    Results

    The results show that the optimized sine and parabolic starting curve reduces the maximum tension of the conveyor belt by 5.8% compared with the commonly used sine acceleration curve. Furthermore, loading materials after stable operation effectively reduces the tension impact and extends the service life of the conveyor belt.

  • Jieying HU
    Journal of Mechanical Transmission. 2026, 50(1): 19-26. doi:10.16578/j.issn.1004.2539.2026.01.003
    Objective

    In order to improve the torque to volume ratio of magnetorheological (MR) brakes, a MR brake with internal and external fluid flow channels was developed.

    Methods

    Firstly, the structure and working principle of the MR brake with internal and external fluid flow channels were introduced, and the mathematical model of the braking torque was established based on Bingham constitutive model. Secondly, in order to obtain the optimal structure size of the MR brake, structural optimization design was carried out based on the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-Ⅱ). Finally, the prototype of MR brake was fabricated, the torque performance test system was built, and the braking performance test was conducted for the MR brake.

    Results

    There are both internal and external fluid flow channels in the MR brake. Six effective damping gaps are obtained by reasonable setting of magnetic conductive and magnetic isolating materials in the MR brake, so that it can produce excellent torque performance under the premise of the same size. The theoretical calculation results show that the braking torque and the adjustable range after optimization are increased by 30.23% and 16.58% respectively compared with those before optimization. Test results show that at the applied current of 2.0 A, the maximum braking torque is 44.28 N·m, and the dynamic adjustable range is 17.8. The relative errors of the braking torque and the dynamic adjustable range between the test values and the theoretical calculation values are 6.5% and 16.1% respectively, which verifies the rationality of the design.