In this work, a new design procedure to optimise lightweight gears is presented. Lightweight gears find application in all industrial fields where the weight of the structure is a key factor. Thanks to the new additive manufacturing techniques, it is possible to better distribute the wheel material and therefore increase gear performance. The proposed procedure acts on the material distribution in order to enhance wheel dynamic performance and reduce weight. The new design procedure has been applied to a real airplane gear in order to evaluate if the optimisation procedure can be useful to improve wheel performance. Results show improved performance of the optimised wheel respect to the reference wheel. The optimised wheel geometry is supposed to be manufactured by additive manufacturing techniques.
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