Romax Designer DT 2023.1 Romax 23.1

What’s new in Romax DT 2023.1

Hexagon is proud to announce the availability of Romax DT 2023.1, released as part of the full Romax software suite.

This article contains some overview information about the new features in Romax DT.

Customers can get more information on these features by logging in with their SimCompanion support account here.

An on-demand webinar is available below, where Dr. Michael Platten, Senior Product Manager – Romax, explains some of the highlights from the 2023.1 release of the Romax software suite.

Key Highlights of Romax DT 2023.1 include:

Modeling and Usability

• 2D Worksheet – support for bearings with 1D ring flexibility

The 2D Worksheet now shows which bearings have 1D raceway connections.

This allows users to quickly check all the bearings in a model to see which are configured to have 1D raceway flexibility and which do not.

(Note, a similar visual check if bearings have 3D (FE) raceway flexibility is enabled.)

• 2D Worksheet – planetary shaft modeling

The modeling of planetary gear sets has been overhauled in Romax 2023.1.

It is now exceedingly quick and simple to model epicyclic (planetary) gear trains in Romax, including multi-stage and compound sets.

This has been achieved with new features in the drag-and-drop 2D Worksheet and the Romax planetary components

The following components are now editable in the 2D Worksheet:

• Planetary shafts
• Planetary shaft carriers (a.k.a. carrier discs)
• Planetary gears

• Planetary shaft assemblies are proxied by default.
• Planetary shafts now support loading gears – enabling rough sizing of non-standard planetary arrangements
• Gear geometry is re-calculated automatically upon changing planetary shaft positions/geometry
• FE Planetary shafts are supported in the 2D Worksheet.

• 2D Worksheet – support for all load components

The Dynamic Unbalance Load, the Belt Load, and the Wheel Load can now be seen and edited in the 2D Worksheet. With this, all types of loading components can be modeled in the 2D Worksheet.

  

• 2D Worksheet – ‘Merge Shafts’ tool highlights the selected shaft section

The Merge Shafts/Sections tool now highlights the shaft section the user has selected for merging instead of highlighting the whole shaft.

2022.1

2023.1

• 2D Worksheet – improvements to display of FE shafts and housings

Modeling with FE shafts and FE housings in the 2D Worksheet has been improved in a number of ways:

1. FE housings are no longer displayed while the Define Aligned Section tool is activated.
   • This removes FE cross-section loading times while defining a custom user-defined section view for large models.
2. FE components now have a border around their outline for improved 2D visualization.
   • This makes it clearer to see FE components, especially if the FE has a custom color defined.
3. Mounting of components on locked FE components with free mounting nodes is now supported.
   • This makes it easier to add a new component onto an FE shaft when its node connections are locked (to avoid re-condensation).

 

2022.1

2023.1

• Creation and management of proxy assemblies

Users can now create ‘synchronized copies’ of an assembly that will inherit the same components and loading parameters.

Any changes to the original assembly will automatically be applied to these ‘proxy’ assemblies.
This makes modeling less repetitive, less error-prone, and much faster for Romax models that have multiple instances of the same assembly. Examples include planetary gearboxes, bolts, mounts, and more.

• Planetary carrier connection usability improvements

The detailed planetary shaft carrier interface, used to position and manage planetary shafts, has been vastly improved.

Detailed planetaries use a non-physical object called a planetary shaft carrier (or a carrier disc) to manage the connections between planetary shafts and non-planetary (carrier) shafts.

The new interface brings a series of new features:

• A grid-based positioning tool for planetary shafts
  • Values can be copy-and-pasted for easy data entry
  • Grid data can be copied in and out of Romax (e.g. to or from Excel)
• Multiple planetary shafts can be connected at one time
• 3D view has checkboxes to toggle various components on/off
• Planetary shafts connected to multiple carrier discs can switch which carrier they are positioned from
• A visual aid has been added to help with positioning planetary components

Additionally, converting a planetary gear set from a concept carrier to a detailed carrier has been improved to embed planetary modeling best practices.

• Two planetary shaft carriers are added on either side of the gear set
• Default tree structure of a detailed planetary assembly has been enhanced to simplify model management

Gears

• Cylindrical Gears – advanced LTCA (General Availability Release)

The Advanced tooth bending stiffness model for loaded tooth contact analysis (LTCA) was first released in the 2022.1 version and labeled as Beta. In this release, the model has transitioned from its Beta phase to General Availability, resulting in the removal of the Beta label and related warnings. This is the criteria we set and met in order to justify this:

• Completed ‘basic model’ internal tests, which serve as sanity checks for physical phenomena in gear contact which the Advanced model should be able to capture
• Collected feedback from users and where possible further validate the model. We have customer permission to share 2 of the validation studies we received – one against a physical test and one against a customer’s internal FEA-based code – and we have made various enhancements as a result of user feedback
• Made improvements and addressed important issues raised from Beta testing.

• Cylindrical Gears – lead slope error compensation in Dontyne form grinding

Due to manufacturing constraints, typically there are differences between the designed and manufactured tooth profile. The cylindrical gear grinding simulation functionality (powered by software from Dontyne Systems embedded in Romax software) allows designers to simulate the gear finishing process and therefore analyze the manufactured tooth profile. This gives increased confidence in achieving the intended design.

When the finishing process is profile/form grinding, the lead slope modifications are typically achieved through different movements of the tool, such as radial plunging of the grinding wheel towards and away from the workpiece. However, this radial movement results in unwanted micro-geometry modifications because the tool profile is shifted up and down with respect to the gear. This changes the involute slope or pressure angle slightly at different positions along the gear face width. This is sometimes observed as bias or twist of the flank profile.

It is possible to consider lead slope modifications as small changes to the gear helix angle. If the directions of the lead slope modifications of both flanks are such that they allow this, it is possible to apply the lead slope by adjusting the grinding tool path and profile such that it effectively cuts a gear with a slightly different helix angle. This eliminates some of the radial movement, and in turn, reduces the amount of unwanted micro-geometry modifications.

It is now possible to account for this approach when using the cylindrical gear grinding simulation in Romax Enduro, Romax Spectrum, and Romax Energy to form ground gears.

Bearings

• Journal Bearings – User-defined operating temperature

The operating temperature of the journal bearing lubricant film can now be directly specified. In previous versions, the journal bearing operating temperature was determined as the mean temperature of its shaft and housing. This can now be overridden with a custom value, for example, obtained outside of Romax software, and this temperature will affect the lubricant viscosity used in the journal bearing component calculations.

• Rolling Element Bearings – Multi-lobe ovalization and custom bearing ring distortion

Rolling bearings may be radially deformed by design from a circular shape to a bi-lobe, tri-lobe, or other geometry in order to limit skidding. Previously it was already possible to define ovalization (i.e. bi-lobe shape) in Romax software. Now, this has been extended to allow multiple lobes and custom shapes, primarily to enable the modeling of tri-lobe raceways, but more lobes or an entirely custom shape are also enabled. This allows parametric investigation of the applied raceway distortion and its impact on load and stress distribution and ring deformation.

Note: This feature was also released in 2022.1 Update 230106. There is no difference in the functionality compared to that Update

No lobes	Tri-lobe