On the impact of transmission error on the dynamic behavior of geared-linkages

Geared-linkages have been extensively studied for their capability to generate prescribed output motions. The combination of linkages with higher-pairs, in fact, enables the achievement of complex kinematic requirements, linked to function, path or motion generation tasks. At high operational velocities, the dynamic behavior of such mechanisms can be significantly different from the kinematic one. One of the sources of unwanted dynamics is represented by the Dynamic Transmission Error (DTE) between meshing gear pairs in the mechanism. In this paper, a Multi-Body simulation approach is proposed to model and analyze the dynamic behavior of a geared five-bar linkage, subject to the internal excitation due to the DTE. It is shown that unwanted vibrations, which are negligible at low speeds, become more and more significant while the gear velocity increases, which may cause an unacceptable behavior of the motion generating mechanism.