Review on Chinese Planar Double-enveloping Hourglass Worm Gear Drives

Compared with cylindrical worm gear drives, planar double-enveloping hourglass worm gear drives has the advantages of larger load capacity, higher transmission efficiency and longer service life. However, harder design of the parameters, higher cost of manufacturing and difficulty of accuracy assurance restrict the development of planar double-enveloping hourglass worm gear. This research and development status of the planar double-enveloping worm gear drive in China was reviewed in this paper, and the research achievements and key technologies from the aspects of design, manufacture and testing during the past more than four decades were summarized. The research areas and research contents in the future were proposed. A set of closed-loop manufacturing system with design, manufacturing and testing, with the aim of achieving its high-efficiency and high-precision manufacturing was built. The research contents contain modification theory, manufacturing error correction technology, worm gear pair assembly technology, manufacturing technology of the hob and it improves the technical standard system, develops the industrial software.