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400 COMMONWEALTH DRIVE WARRENDALE, PA 1S096

IE
so u
J %iJki

841605

Vem Cunningham
Northrop Corp.
Aircraft Div.

Reprinted from SP-598-

Starting Systems Technology

Aerospace Congress
& Exposition
Long Beach, California
October 1 5 - 1 8 , 1 9 8 4
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ISSN 0148-7191
Copyright 1984 Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc.

This paper is subject to revision. Statements and opinions ad- Persons wishing to submit papers to be considered for pre-
vanced in papers or discussion are the author's and axe his sentation or publication through SAE should send the manu-
responsibility, not SAE's; however, the paper has been edited script or a 300 word abstract of a proposed manuscript to:
by SAE for uniform styling and format. Discussion will be Secretary, Engineering Activity Board, SAE.
printed with the paper .if it is published in SAE Transactions.
For permission to publish this paper in full or in part, contact Printed in U.S.A.
the SAE Publications Division.
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841605

Airplane Mounted Accessory Gearbox Design

Vern Cunningham
Northrop Corp.
Aircraft Div.

of specialized engineering experience and

ABSTRACT program guidance that when followed will
Since the advent of lightweight, high result in timely and successful AMAD/AMAG
thrust jet engines developed for modern com- projects.
bat aircraft, the trend has been to delete PURPOSE - This paper is intended to define
accessory drive pads from engines and to and establish, where applicable, the charac-
furnish engines with provisions only for teristics required for the definition,
driving a power takeoff shaft or PTO. development and acquisition of a satisfactory
This has created the requirement for a Airframe Mounted Accessory Gearbox (AMAG).
new accessory to provide drive pads for such DISCUSSION - A satisfactory AMAG is de-
items as jet fuel starters, air turbine fined as a gearbox that will accommodate the
starters, hydraulic pumps, fuel putaps, AC usual accessories, i.e., engine starter,
generators and provisions for a PTO shaft for generator, hydraulic purap(s), power trans-
connection to the engine. mission shaft and other accessories as
This new accessory is an airframe mounted required. It should have low weight, high
accessory drive or gearbox (AMAD or AMAG). reliability and lowest possible heat rejection
While involving no new principles of design, for a given load. Reasonable cost and long
it has suffered a plethora of costly and time life between overhaul are further objectives.
consuming design and development problems. Consideration should be given to designing
These problems are mainly due to the transfer the gearbox such that it could be overhauled
of gearbox design and performance responsi- on condition and not on a time replacement
bility from the engine manufacturer to the basis.
airframe and gearbox manufacturers, who often REQUIREMENTS - The gearbox should meet
lack the indepth design and system expertise the general requirements of MIL-G-6641 (ASG),
to conceive and direct a timely and trouble- however, exceptions to this specification
free AMAD/AMAG program. should be considered where beneficial to the
This is especially true where input design. One example is paragraph 3.14,
shaft speeds and drive pad speeds are now Flight Attitude Conditions, where the engine
reaching 17,000 and 25,000 RPM, respectively specification attitude limitation conditions
and where gear and bearing loads are in- should be given preference.
creasing at the same time due to higher (The MIL specification places a more
accessory loads and speeds. severe limitation on climb attitudes and time
Further, acceleration and deceleration than does the engine specification, thus
input speeds of 3600 and 5000 RPH/second are limiting the airplanes climb and maneuvering
typical thus presenting potential bearing performance.)
skid problems. Gearbox Housing - Preferable materials
In these cases not only are bearing and for land based aircraft gearbox housings are
gearing designs demanding but their inte- magnesium alloy castings AZ91 and AZ92 and
gration into the gearbox design as a whole for Navy or seaborne aircraft, aluminum alloy
and particularly with regard to lubrication casting 356T6 is preferred due to its greater
and control of increased heat rejection, is resistance to corrosion. Casting wall thick-
a task not to be underestimated. ness of .187 is considered a good standard.
This paper gives broad coverage to the Gearbox support points should be three
many areas of gearbox design and provides to in number to prevent airframe and thermal
the engineer and his management a compilation

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deflections from imposing undue loads on the Meetings with accessory vendors should
housing. Also for this reason, only one be held to determine how accessory failure
support point should resist transverse (including shear groove) may affect the in-
loading. tegrity of the AMAG. This is particularily
Effort should be made to avoid "dishpan" Important should the AMAG design involve an
designs and access covers larger than oil system shared with other components.
necessary. Internal access should preferably Conduct a separate review of the se-
be through drive flange openings only, to quence of engagement of pad splines, nipples,
preserve maximum stiffness in the housing pilots, etc. to verify that accessories and
assembly. interface hardware engage properly. At this
If possible the bottom of the gearbox time, verify that rotation and rotation
housing should be sloped toward the point markings of accessories with their respective
selected for scavenge pump oil pickup. mounting pads are correct. (An error in
A dry sump housing design with the oil correct rotation of an accessory with the
stored in an integral (or separate) reser- AMAG could be extremely costly and embarras-
voir is recommended over a wet sump design sing to the engineer.) Finally, verify that
where the oil is stored in the bottom of the gear shaft female spline depths are suffi-
gear case and subjected to high windage and cient to accommodate an accessory driveshaft,
churning losses by the gears. failed in shear at a 45° angle.
For dry sump designs, effort should be Gearbox Driveshaft/Housing Stiffness -
made to dedicate space within the gearbox Stiffness of the driveshaft, bearings and
housing for an integral oil tank if possible. gearbox housing must be such that the con-
The oil tank should allow space for 10% necting shaft (PTO shaft) between the engine
areat ion and 10% expansion due to heat, for and gearbox will be free of critical speed
the gross volume of oil in the tank, lines vibrations up to 125% of maximum engine
and oil cooler. speeds, including transient overspeeds de-
Housing width (front to back) should be fined by the engine specification.
ample (approximately 4 inches outside) to This element of the gearbox design
allow oil from bearings and gear oil jets to should receive prompt attention and be co-
escape readily and return to sumping area ordinated (jointly if possible) with the
for pickup by the scavenge pump. Crowded shaft, engine and gearbox manufacturers in
gears, shaft and bearings result in oil the earliest phase of gearbox design. A
"gulping" or blockage due to high windage critical speed survey of an installed PTO
and high velocity oil particles. Housing shaft should be conducted as early in the
design must provide good oil drainage for program as possible. Failure to do this may
all bearings. result in costly redesign or undesirable
Dimensions and tolerances of finished "add on" fixes.
bearing liner bores in the housing must be Mounting pad values for accessory
analyzed to assure that bearing lockup will weights and overhung moments should have
not occur due to metal contraction during significant margins to accommodate accesso-
cold weather (-40° and -65°F) start-up. In ries that exceed their design requirements
this analysis, include bearing internal in these areas. Experience has shown that
clearances as well as housing bore and shaft this is a frequent occurrence.
fits and tolerances, corrected for tempera- Consideration should be given to de-
ture . signing the gearbox housing with sufficient
Mounting Pads - Accessory mounting pads extra strength to accommodate and support a
should be serially numbered with the same larger generator, should the electrical
number as the gearbox housing and should be loads grow in magnitude after the airplane is
position marked as to rotation. This pre- in service. Examples: growth from a 40 KVA
vents mismatch if two or more gearboxes to a 60 KVA alternator. Gear strength and
are assembled or overhauled at the same time generator mounting pad configuration and
in the same area. It also assures pad covers strength can be changed at a later date with
will be in the same position as they were in little difficulty. This recommendation is
during line boring. V-band pad covers should made since electrical load growth occurs
be made from 356T6 aluminum alloy to with- during the service life of most aircraft
stand scuffing by V-band clamps and resul- whether they are commercial or military.
ting possible corrosion. If they were made Oil passages should be cored into the
from magnesium, corrosion protection would castings where possible and separate lines
be required. should be avoided to reduce probability of
Where a mounting pad is provided to leaks and fatigue failures caused by lines
drive a fuel pump, review carefully the fuel installed under stress due to mismatch.
pump seal, the AMAG oil seal and pad cavity In the layout design of the oil dis-
drainage provisions to assure they are tribution system careful attention should
adequate to drain any escaping fuel and pre- be given to assure that oil flow from regu-
vent a fuel pressure build-up that could lating and relief valves and from scavenge
cause fuel to enter the AMAG case. pumps is discharged into the oil reservoir

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or oil tank and not into the gear case cavity Gear Widths - Where two gears mesh to-
where it would aggravate oil churning and gether, one of the gears teeth width should
cause unwarranted heat rejection. In the be slightly wider than the mating gears teeth,
case of wet sump designs the oil should be to assure 100% width contact for the narrower
discharged in a manner to avoid moving parts gear. All axial clearances and tolerances
and to the lower portion of the gearbox such must be considered when sizing the mating
that it will generate as little turbulence gear teeth width.
as possible. Gear Class - Quality class 12 gears in
A case deflection analysis should be accordance with American Gear Manufacturers
made to assure that deflections due to in- Standards (AMGA) are recommended for high
ternal air pressure will not result in speed gearbox applications.
bearing outer race misalignment beyond that Gear Teeth Backlash - Gear teeth back-
stipulated by bearing manufacturers. The ex- lash should be held to a practical minimum
tent of case deflection will be governed by in the gear train between the starter and the
the type of venting system selected by the power takeoff shaft (or gearbox driveshaft).
designer. Internal case pressure should be This is to keep starter backlash and impact
controlled by suction and pressure relief torque during starter engagement as low as
valves. possible. The gear train between the starter
Gearbox Driveshaft - The shaft should be and the PTO shaft should contain the smallest
splined to permit adequate fore and aft dis- possible number of gears.
placement to accommodate airframe/engine Gear Scoring - Gear design should in-
tolerances and deflections. clude a gear tooth scoring analysis to assure
Harden the mating surfaces of the that scoring will not occur at any speed,
coupling shaft and input shaft to inhibit loading and oil temperature condition.
fretting and wear resulting in shaft loose- Should a high flash temperature index number
ness and consequential lowering of PTO shaft be unavoidable, consideration should be given
critical speed. to increasing gear teeth width at the cost of
Gearing - Gears should be located as a small weight increase. The flash tempera-
high in the housing as feasible to reduce ture index results from adding the tempera-
oil churning. This is especially important ture rise occurring through the gear mesh to
for gearboxes designed with wet sumps. the temperature of the oil entering the
Thin gears such as oil pump drive gears mesh. Well designed gears should have a
should be given lower priority regarding flash temperature rise below 50 F.
location and if they extend towards the Gearing should be verified by computer
lower area of the housing, may require analysis and reviewed to assure that im-
shrouding to reduce oil churning. Oil portant parameters have not been overlooked.
shrouds are not a panacea to prevent chur- Design factors should be expressed in
ning since they often result in oil/air accordance with American Gear Manufacturers
shear between shroud and gear with resultant Association (AMGA) standards.
heat rejection. As a minimum the following design fac-
Gears with integral shafts are recom- tors should be applied: a) Overload 1.1;
mended over separate parts. Gears made of b) Dynamic 0.80; and c) Load Distribution
consumable electrode vacuum melted steel, 1.1.
carburized and ground represent a good Gear Teeth Diametral Pitch - Gear teeth
standard for AMAG applications. SAE 9310 in the starter gear train between the starter
steel is recommended. Gear tooth surface pad and the PTO shaft are generally coarser
finish should be in the 10/20 micro inch (diametral pitch 12) than those selected for
range. higher speed functions such as generator
Do not co-mingle gears which are made drive trains where a diametral pitch of 16
from SAE 4340 (core hardened) with gears should be considered.
made from SAE 9310 (carburized). Despite Bearings - ABEC Class 5 bearings con-
calculations, experience has shown that 4340 structed from SAE 52100 CEVM steel are a
gears have insufficient margins and will good standard for most aircraft gearboxes.
limit gearbox life. Retainers of iron-silicon bronze are suitable.
Gear Resonance - During early develop- In selecting bearing class, the speed rating
ment, gears should be tested to assure that of each bearing should be carefully consi-
9310 gears will not be in resonance with dered ,
other gears. If excessive oil temperatures are anti-
Gear Balance - During early development, cipated or ability to operate without oil
large high speed gears should be checked for for several hours is required, M-50 tool
balance. steel bearings with SAE 3430, machined, sil-
Simultaneous Gear Meshing - During de- ver plated steel retainers should be consi-
sign it should be ascertained that simul- dered. M-50 bearings should be considered
taneous meshing of gear teeth does not occur for single engine AMAG applications because
and thus raise the possibility of gear of their resistance to heat and oil star-
vibration. vation.

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Bearing Types - Conrad -type bearings freedom is needed. Cylindical rollers,

(deep groove bearings Chat will accommodate slightly crowned to avoid high end stress
both radial and thrust loads) are preferred concentration and skewing are usually speci-
over low shoulder and angular contact fied. Roller lengths are usually slightly
bearings except where thrust loads greater greater than roller diameters.
than radial loads exist. Where extremely Roller and Ball Bearings: Review all
high acceleration or high speeds exist, con- installed internal bearing clearances for
sideration should be given to axial spring all operating conditions.
loading to prevent ball skidding. Speeds in In a cautionary note, where radial loads
this instance would be those greater than are light and speeds are high, roller
1,000,000 Dn. bearings are more prone to rolling element
Caution is suggested in the use of an- skidding than are ball bearings. This is
gular contact bearings since they impart a also true where high acceleration exists.
spinning mode to the balls, in addition to Bearing Sizes - Bearing sizes should be
the rotating mode and therefore generate more as small as practicable, particularly where
heat, especially those with high contact speeds are high, in order to keep centri-
angles. fugal forces and heat rejection to a minimum.
Should the design include angular con- If at all possible bearing sizes and types
tact bearings and they be BF mounted (with should be common throughout the design. If
the lines of angular contact converging) be this is not possible, identical sizes of
aware that the effective bearing spacing is different type bearings should be avoided
not the distance between bearing centers, and the number of sizes should be minimized
but the lesser distance between lines of con- to prevent errors in assembly and to keep
tact where they intersect the centerline of costs to a minimum.
the shaft. Where a high class bearing (Class 5 or
Angular contact bearings are also sus- 7) is required for a high speed shaft and a
ceptible to being installed the wrong (back- lower class bearing (Class 1 or 3) would
ward) position with resultant failure and are suffice for a lower speed shaft, should they
susceptible to inadvertent disassembly with both be of the same type and series, then
resultant damage. the higher class bearing should be selected
Conrad bearings are the most tolerant for both applications to avoid inadvertent
as regards misalignment. The next most tole- use of the lower class bearing on the high
rant are counterbored and angular contact speed shaft.
types and the least tolerant are duplex types Bearing Types - Use of 1900 (extremely
and roller bearings. Maximum misalignment light) series bearings is not generally
is 15 minutes for Conrads, 2 minutes for recommended due to their sensitivity toward
counterbored and angular contacts and 0 inner and outer race deflections caused by
minutes for duplex ball bearings and roller housing bore distortion and shaft irregu-
bearings, larities. The minimal space between races
Ball bearing retainers for most sizes also results in somewhat frail retainers.
used in gearbox designs (106, 108 and 110 Further, the narrow inner and particularly,
sizes) should have ball pocket clearance of outer races are more prone to misalignment
.023 to .030 to accommodate ball speed varia- than are the other series bearings, for
tion should it occur due to misalignment be- example, the 100 series which are 25% wider.
tween the inner and outer races. (Ball Bearing selection should be verified
speed variation results in severe retainer by computer analysis and reviewed to assure
wear and failure.) that important parameters have not been
Recommended ball 'bearing inner race and overlooked. The review should ascertain
outer race curvatures should be 52% and 53%, that bearings with outer race rotation have
respectively to keep the probability of ball their speed multiplied by 1.6 since all
speed variation to a minimum. bearing speeds are based on inner race ro-
These last two recommendations have been tation. Failure to observe this vital rule
proven valuable in the prevention of, or in on bearings has caused a number of design
reducing the severity of cage distress and problems, some of which required major re-
failure due to misalignment. design.
Retainers for both ball and roller Shared Versus Non-shared Oil System -
bearings where used in oil jet applications Unless it is found to be impractical for
in high speed gearboxes should be of outer other compelling reasons, a non-shared oil
race guided design. This is to permit the system is recommended. Reasons are: a)
oil flow from the jet to be directed toward In a shared system, mechanical failure or
the annulus between the inner and outer races. an oil leak in any component can cause the
Otherwise there is no certainty that the oil failure or contamination of all other com-
can reach the interior of the bearing. ponents; and b) Non-shared oil systems per-
Roller Bearings - Roller bearings are mit greater flexibility in designing or
often selected where radial loads and/or making growth changes in the secondary
high stiffness is required and where axial power system.
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Lubricating/Cooling - In high speed exchanger damage and to minimize adverse

AMAG's, emphasis should be placed on the use effect on heat transfer in the heat ex-
of a dry sump gearbox configuration instead changer. Verification that aeration is less
of a wet sump. Oil churning does not occur than 10% should be done during testing by
severely in dry sump gearboxes, where sca- isolating a column of oil from the system in
venge pumpCs) prevent excessive fluid accumu- a calibrated transparent section of oil line
lation in the gear cavity, thus resulting in and allowing the air time to separate from
low heat rejection. Observations through the oil.
transparent windows in a high speed production Oil pump altitude performance should be
gearbox test have proven that assumed dynamic specified to meet the airplane's maximum
oil levels in wet sumps are highly inaccurate altitude with a margin included for pump
(due to windage) and excessive oil churning wear. Absolute pressure of the pump inlet
occurs with resultant excessive heat rejec- during the test should be 5 PEIA.
tion. Churning also results in high aeration Oil System Schematic - The oil system
and in turn, reduced effectiveness in heat schematic, should provide for the following
transfer in the oil cooler. Figures 1 features:
through 4 show sketches of a wet sump gear- Dry gearbox cavity
box under operating conditions, viewed Integral or separate oil reservoir
through scanning windows to better under- Scavenge pump(s) (discharge to oil reservoir)
stand windage and churning. Scavenge pump suction port (locate to bottom,
Figures 5, 6 and 7 show a dry sump gear- center, aft location in gearbox)
box under static and dynamic' oil level con- Pressure pump (discharge to oil out port),
ditions . thence to oil cooler
Oil Pumps - Several types of oil pumps Overpressure relief valve (discharge op-
are available for the engineers selection, tional)
including vane, gear and gerotor. Based on System pressure regulating valve (bypass
many years experience the writer considers flow to reservoir)
the gerotor pump to be an excellent choice. Filter bypass valve*
Further, it is extremely compact this re- Filter bypass valve indicator (with thermal
quiring a minimum of space for installation. lockout)*
Scavenge/Pressure Pump Ratio - The Oil filter (locate to prevent loss of oil
scavenge/pressure pump ratio should be a when filter removed)
minimum of 3 to 1. Larger scavenge pump dis- Oil sight gauge, preferably vertical sight
placement ratio results in only minor in- glass type
crease in horsepower since the pressure head Oil system routing
is negligible and the extra scavenge capacity Oil jets to gears, bearings, seals and sp-
may prevent a required design change during line shafts (filtered oil)
the development testing program, Magnetic drain plug (type that can be re-
Oil pressure pumps, together with inlet moved without loss of oil)*
and outlet lines should be development tested Sump drain plug*
under altitude conditions prior to finali- Pressure oil fill fitting*
aation of the gearbox housing design to assure Manual oil fill fitting (optional)*
that the selected configuration will, in Oil sample fitting*
fact, meet the altitude requirements and pre- Oil pressure tap*
clude costly gearbox casting changes. Tests Oil temperature tap*
should be made to prove that the pressure Case pressure tap*
and scavenge pumps will reprime after tem- Oil overfill port*
porary oil starvation due to extreme Case pressure/suction relief valves*
attitudes or turbulence in flight. Provisions for air/oil separation (if found
It is advisable to mount pumps with the necessary during development testing)
discharge ports in the "up" position to Shaft seal oil drains*
facilitate the removal of air during re- -'Denotes termination at MS boss on housing.
priming. Repriming should be demonstrated Oil Filter - A replaceable oil filter
with the inlet pressure at 5 PS1A and the element, not exceeding 40 micron should be
discharge head pressure at the system maximum provided. Use of 20 and 10 micron filters
pressure (or at 150 PSIA if system pressure should be evaluated since recent testing in-
is not known). dicates greatly reduced bearing wear with
Consultation with pump manufacturers finer filtration.
during the gearbox design and the oil system Oil Filter Bypass Valve - An oil filter
schematic design is strongly recommended. bypass valve should be provided to protect
Oil pump pressure pulsations should not the oil filter element from collapse and rup-
exceed 20/= of line pressure to preclude pump ture during low temperature start-up.
and/or heat exchanger damage. Oil Filter Element Collapse - Minus 4 0
Aeration of the oil at the outlet port or -65 F tests should be conducted to verify
should not exceed 10% by volume to reduce the filter element will not collapse at low
probability of surging with possible heat temperature and 100% speed.
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APP0X.SIZE=!2X30X3

Fig. 2

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Fig. 3 WET SUMP AM AG

100%SPEED

Pig. 4 WIT SUMP AMAG

m
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APPOX SIZE 30"X 12 "X4"

u|_ir-

Fig. 5 STATIC OIL LEVEL

DRY SUMP AM AG

LEVEL

UB£ PUMP
SUCTION

Pig. 6 DYNAMIC OIL LEVEL 100% SPEED

DRY SUMP AM AG
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SCAVENGE PUMP ^ -i3°n

N
—BCfiVENGE PUMP SUCTION

DYNAMIC OIL LEVEL 100% SPEED

DRY SUMP AMAG

Fig. 7

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An oil filter bypass indicator should Heat Rejection - Several modern fighter
be provided with a low temperature lockout aircraft experience high heat rejection due
feature to prevent nuisance tripping at low to oil churning as a result of wet sump de-
temperature. sign. Since more oil is present in the wet
Case Pressure/Suction Relief Valves - sump, oil churning is prevalent and over-
The case pressure relief valve tor the open filling severely aggravates the churning
end o£ its sensing line) is best located problem with resultant overheating to an
inside of a rotating shaft which acts as a estimated oil temperature of 350 F plus.
centrifugal oil/air separator. This feature A comparison o£ six installed AMAG's
will prevent loss of oil overboard regard- similar in size, number of gear shafts,
less of attitude and altitude. Case pressure accessory drives, speeds and loads show the
relief valve passage should terminate in a following heat rejections for both dry and
MS threaded boss on the gear case. wet sump designs:
The suction relief valve is less cri- Wet Sump - Heat rejection for these
tical and has a wide option of location. gearboxes range from 270 to 900 BTU's/min.
Overpressure Relief Valve — An over- Dry Sump - Heat rejection for these
pressure relief valve should be provided in gearboxes range from 140 to 170 BTU's/min.
the downstream passage of the oil pressure Drive speeds and loads for both examples
pump. This valve is required to relieve are approximately 13,000 to 17,000 RPM, 40
excessive pressure during cold weather KVA electrical loads and 11 horsepower
start-up and until increasing oil tempera- hydraulic loads.
ture reduces oil viscosity. A relief Wet sump gearbox designs are best suited
pressure of 250-300 PSI is recommended. where shaft speeds, gear peripheral speeds
Pressure in this range will expedite decon- and gear teeth widths can be held to low
gealing of the oil lines and oil cooler. values (not to exceed 10,000 RPM and pre-
Oil Sight Glass Levels - The oil sight ferably much lower, thereby keeping windage
glass levels should have sufficient span to and churning to a minimum).
monitor low and high levels equal in volume Since oil churning losses vary with
to the maximum shaft oil seal leakage to 2cc each design and cannot be accurately cal-
per hour X number of seals for 100 hours culated there is a need to determine heat
duration. rejection by test.
Oil Levels - Wet sump gearbox oil levels A recommended test is as follows:
should be determined by test with the gear- Load, Attitude, Speed and Heat Rejection
box in the same position as installed in the Testing - Provisions should be made for these
airplane before finalizing level indicators tests to be run concurrently, with heat
on the gearbox housing. Reasons for this rejection being measured during the entire
are that wet sump gearboxes are particularly test. This is especially important for
prone to oil churning (and resultant heating) fighter and other highly maneuverable air-
and are therefore quite sensitive to in- craft. During extreme attitudes, wet sump
stalled oil levels. gearboxes (and dry sump gearboxes with in-
Oil Seals - Face type oil seals should terrupted scavenge due to extreme attitudes)
have separate face seal rings (not made in- will show rapid rises in heat rejection.
tegral with gear shaft). This will facili- Altitude and Attitude Testing of Vent
tate seals with better flatness and lapped System - Altitude and attitude testing of
surface finish. Being separate eliminates the vent system may be integrated with the
seal face damage to gear shafts during above test by introducing a continuous flow
handling, manufacture and overhaul. Further, of air under sufficient pressure and volume
this permits use of widely available pro- to cause the case pressure relief valve to
prietary seal components. Seal spring force open during the test. This will demonstrate
should be the minimum required to prevent whether or not the vent system will vent air
leakage, thus reducing wear and heat rejec- or oil under various attitudes, altitudes
tion. Oil seals should be replaceable with- and speed conditions.
out removing the AMAG from the airplane. Oil Flow Rate - Based on 1 gallon total
Oil Screen - Consideration should be oil system volume, an oil flow rate of 4
given to providing replaceable screens in the gallons per minute has been found suitable
oil passages that supply the oil jets, for the AMAG's under discussion. This flow
bearings and gears. Screens should have a rate prevents excessive oil-out temperatures
mesh opening sufficiently small to protect and provides a dwell time which is considered
the oil jets which are generally .030 inches ample for satisfactory de-aeration.
in diameter. A screen should also be pro- Oil Flow to Gears and Bearings - Oil
vided in the oil-out passage to protect the flow to gears, bearings and oil seal mating
oil cooler. (Oil coolers are generally non- rings is generally controlled by .030 dia-
cleanable and are a high cost accessory.) meter jets supplied by a normal system pres-
Wash type screens, where the oil flow keeps sure of 40 PSI, With oil temperatures at
the screens clean are recommended. 180~200°F this will result in a flow of
approximately .125 GPH. (Recent development

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testing indicates that oil Indicates that

oil flows can and should be reduced signifi-
cantly, thus reducing heat rejection.)
SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS
1) High speed gearboxes should be of dry
sump design.
2) Low speed gearboxes with crowded gears
should also be of dry sump design.
3) M-50 bearings with 4340 machined re-
tainers are recommended where maximum
life, reliability and operation with
loss of oil must be considered.
4) Oil pressure/scavenge pump ratio should
not be less than 3 to 1.
5) Carbon faced oil seals should have
minimum spring force to keep heating
and wear to a minimum.
6) Design gears to high American Gear
Manufacturers Association standards-
7) Make gears from SAE 9310 steel, car-
burised and ground.
CONCLUSIONS
An airplane mounted accessory gearbox, de-
signed in conformance with the content of
this paper can be expected to be efficient,
cool running and reliable. Its long life
characteristics should justify deletion of
time related overhaul.
ADDENDUM
Finally, an airplane mounted accessory
gearbox, designed in conformance with the
above has satisfactorily demonstrated ten
hours of operation under flight load and
speed conditions after having lost its oil
in a test simulating a broken oil line.

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This paper is subject to revision. Statements and opinions ad- Persons wishing to submit papers to be considered for pre-
vanced in papers or discussion are the author's and are his sentation or publication through SAE should send the manu-
responsibility, not SAE's; however, the paper has been edited script or a 300 word abstract of a proposed manuscript to:
by SAE for uniform styling and format. Discussion will be Secretary, Engineering Activity Board, SAE.
printed with the paper if it is published in SAE Transactions.
For permission to publish this paper in full or in part, contact 16 page booklet. Printed in U.S.A.
the SAE Publications Division,