Explore the Calculation Functions
Integrated strength and lifetime calculations ensure balanced design and maximum reliability of all machine elements simultaneously. The specific calculation tabs precisely determine kinematics, overall efficiency, and thermal rating while accounting for power losses. Strict adherence to international standards such as ISO, DIN, and AGMA ensure compliance with certification requirements.
Functions like modal analysis, characteristic frequencies, and forced response are available for advanced NVH analysis.
Housing stiffness can be taken into account through FEM import, ensuring realistic shaft misalignments and resulting in more precise loaded tooth contact analysis.
Integrated Strength and Lifetime Calculations
Below you will find an overview of the calculation functions within the KISSsoft System Module, highlighting its key functions and capabilities.
Components Strength
The integrated component strength rating is the core value proposition of the system module, addressing the needs of both expert groups. Component experts receive precise load data from the overall system, while system architects obtain immediate system-wide safety factors. The module links all machine elements, including gears, shafts, bearings, and shaft-hub connections, and performs the strength and lifetime analysis for all elements.
The calculation uses established KISSsoft routines and strictly adheres to international standards such as ISO, DIN, and AGMA. This approach leads to a more balanced starting design, since the mutual dependencies between components such as the influence of bearing forces on gear meshing conditions, are taken into account from the outset.
Load Spectrum
The load spectrum calculation at system level enables experts to perform the strength ratings for all machine elements in the gearbox model under realistic operating and varying load conditions. Generated system load spectra that vary a user defined number of parameters over the entire operating life are automatically transferred to the submodules and considered in the calculations.
This capability is critical for applications such as wind turbine gearboxes or vehicle transmissions with dynamic loads, temperatures and speeds. The calculation tab supports both simple kinematic analysis of the load spectrum and complete strength analysis, including the calculation of partial damages according to Miner's rule.
Efficiency
The efficiency calculation is a key feature for evaluating the performance of the entire gearbox. It goes beyond the isolated analysis of individual components by accurately calculating the overall power and system efficiency of the gearbox or transmission. This feature is essential for system architects seeking to minimize energy losses and achieve high power density.
The calculation process identifies all power losses from various sources within the system. Actual torques and speeds are determined using an iterative method until torque balance is achieved in the system, known as torque iteration. The calculation can be applied to both single load levels and complete load spectra.
Thermal Rating
Thermal rating extends efficiency analysis by determining the thermal balance of the gearbox according to industry standards. This enables experts to calculate the thermal equilibrium, size the necessary cooler power, and thus control the maximum operating temperature of the oil, which is critical for bearing and lubricant life.
The thermal analysis is based on the determined power losses and the calculation of heat dissipation through the housing and external coolers. The calculation adheres to the detailed specifications of ISO/TS 14179 Part 2.
Maps
The calculation approach enables the generation of a broad range of output results by systematically varying selected input parameters. By varying at least two primary parameters, typically torque and rotational speed, it becomes possible to visualize system responses in a structured, map-like format. These representations provide a clear and comprehensive overview of system behavior across different operating conditions, making them particularly valuable for performance evaluation, optimization, and comparative analysis.
A typical use case is efficiency calculation, where an efficiency map is generated based on the variations in input speed and input torque. This map offers a clear overview of system performance under different operating conditions.
GEMS Interface
The Gleason GEMS®/GAMA® interface is a specialized integration tool for experts designing and manufacturing bevel and hypoid gears. Once the loads are defined in the system module, the interface ensures seamless and efficient data exchange between the KISSsoft bevel gear submodule calculation and the Gleason software GEMS® (Gear Engineering and Manufacturing System) and GAMA® (Gleason Automated Measurement and Analysis).
The analysis at system level provides crucial data on the actual gearbox deformation under load, which has a significant impact on gear meshing misalignment. This information is essential for the precise optimization of flank modifications.
Housing Deformation
The consideration of housing deformation is a special analysis tool for gear design experts, used to precisely capture the influence of gearbox loads on shaft misalignment and, consequently, on gear meshing. Because modern, lightweight gearboxes often exhibit lower housing stiffness, the resulting bearing offsets are critical for accurate loaded tooth contact analysis.
The system module integrates housing stiffness by importing the reduced stiffness matrix from external FEM software. This enables a static calculation that accounts for housing deformation under operating load.
Characteristic Frequencies
The characteristic frequencies calculation is an important NVH tool, supporting both the design phase to avoid resonances and the predictive maintenance for fault detection. The calculation collects and analyzes frequency relevant data for all rotating components in the drive train.
Characteristic frequencies are speed dependent and are calculated over a defined speed range, considering the relevant harmonics and sidebands. Results are presented in clear diagrams, which help to identify critical overlaps and intersections.
Modal Analysis
Modal analysis calculates the eigenfrequencies and eigenmodes of a complete shaft system, including the couplings through gear meshing. It is a fundamental tool for dynamic analysis experts in order to identify critical operating conditions where resonances might occur at an early stage.
The calculation is based on the transfer matrix method and can consider various modeling approaches to couple bending, torsional, and axial vibrations. Results are visualized in a Campbell diagram, which plots the eigenfrequencies as a function of shaft speed.
Forced Response
Forced response analysis is a powerful and user friendly tool for the dynamic analysis of drive trains under periodic excitations, used to assess the NVH behavior of the system. It is designed for experts in vibration characterization and applies frequency response analysis based on Fourier series to deliver fast and efficient results.
The analysis accounts for nonlinearities arising from the periodic time variation of meshing stiffness and transmission error. Time dependent bearing forces, dynamic factor and dynamic gear meshing forces are calculated.
