Theoretical and Experimental Fatigue Strength Calculations of Lips Compensating Circumferential Backlash in Gear Pumps

This article presents theoretical and experimental calculations of the minimum thickness of a compensation lip used in external gear pumps. Pumps of this type are innovative technical solutions in which circumferential backlash (clearance) compensation is used to improve their volumetric and overall efficiency. However, constructing a prototype of such a pump requires long-lasting research, and the compensation lip is its key object, due to the fact that it is an element influenced by a notch and that it operates in unfavorable conditions of strong fatigue stresses. The theoretical calculations presented in this article are based on identifying maximum stress values in a fatigue cycle and on implementing the stress failure condition and the conditions related to the required value of the fatigue safety factor. The experimental research focuses on static bending tests of the lips as well as on the fatigue loading of the lips in series of tests at increasing stress values until lip failure due to fatigue. The tests allowed the minimum lip thickness to be found for the assumed number of fatigue cycles, which is 2.5 times the number of cycles used in wear margin tests.