Method for designing and machining a gear wheel, and corresponding machine tool and software

An apparatus comprising:

• a machine tool including or connectable to a computer or a computer network and configured to execute the following steps:
• designing and machining a gear wheel including the following steps:
• a) generating function-oriented geometry of the gear wheel using software-based, computer-assisted design,
• b) generating theoretically producible geometry of said gear wheel corresponding to or approximating said function-oriented geometry using at least one software-based, computer-assisted tool,
• c) generating production data representing the theoretically producible geometry,
• d) machining the gear wheel using the production data with a CNC-controlled machine tool,
• e) measuring said gear wheel and generating therefrom a data set of geometry of the machined gear wheel,
• f) comparing the data set to the production data and determining therefrom at least one correction variable, and
• g) one or more of
• generating corrected production data from the production data using the at least one correction variable and machining at least one additional gear wheel using the corrected production data or
• adjusting the machine tool using the at least one correction variable and finish machining said gear wheel with said adjusted machine tool,
• wherein the apparatus is further configured to iteratively execute the following steps:
• h) selecting a machining tool,
• i) performing step b), wherein the step of generating theoretically producible geometry of the gear wheel includes using tool data of said selected tool,
• j) determining suitability of said the theoretically producible geometry, and
• (k) when said theoretically producible geometry is not suitable, selecting another machining tool and repeating steps (i), (j), and (k).

A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon configured to be installed in or operatively connected to a computer or a computer network, which is connectable to a manufacturing environment comprising at least one machine tool configured for chip-producing machining of a gear wheel and a precision measuring device, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by a computer or computer network, causes execution of the steps of:

• designing and machining a gear wheel including the following steps:
• a) generating function-oriented geometry of the gear wheel using software-based, computer-assisted design,
• b) generating theoretically producible geometry of said gear wheel corresponding to or approximating said function-oriented geometry using at least one software-based, computer-assisted tool,
• c) generating production data representing the theoretically producible geometry,
• d) machining the gear wheel using the production data with a CNC-controlled machine tool,
• e) measuring said gear wheel and generating therefrom a data set of geometry of the machined gear wheel,
• f) comparing the data set to the production data and determining therefrom at least one correction variable, and
• g) one or more of
• generating corrected production data from the production data using the at least one correction variable and machining at least one additional gear wheel using the corrected production data or
• adjusting the machine tool using the at least one correction variable and finish machining said gear wheel with said adjusted machine tool,
• wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by a computer or computer network, causes iterative execution of the following steps:
• h) selecting a machining tool,
• i) performing step b), wherein the step of generating theoretically producible geometry of the gear wheel includes using tool data of said selected tool,
• j) determining suitability of said the theoretically producible geometry, and
• k) when said theoretically producible geometry is not suitable, selecting another machining tool and repeating steps (i), (j), and (k).