An improved calculation method for the time-varying mesh stiffness of helical gear was proposed based on the potential energy method and the slice integration principle

taking into account the transition curve equation of tooth root. This method considered the parameter equation of the transition curve of the real tooth root

corrected the integral interval of the involute tooth profile

and compared with the finite element method to verify the validity of the algorithm and reduce the calculation error of the time-varying mesh stiffness. The influence of tooth width

helix angle

tooth number and modulus on the time-varying mesh stiffness was analyzed based on this method. The results show that the average time-varying mesh stiffness is greatly affected by the tooth width

exhibiting an approximate linear relation. In contrast

it is less influenced by the helix angle and number of teeth. As the helix angle increases

the average value fluctuates in a small range. When the center distance is fixed

as the number of teeth increases

the time-varying mesh stiffness slowly increases. Moreover

changes in gear parameters affect the contact ratio. Notably .when the axial contact ratio is an integer

the fluctuation of time-varying mesh stiffness is relatively small.