Gears and System of Gears

Dr. Yi Jia
Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez
Fall 2004

UPRM - Fall 2004

INME 4012 - Lecture 13-14

Uses and Characteristics of Gears

Gears are toothed, cylindrical wheels used for

transmitting motion and power from one
rotating shaft to another.
Often gears are employed to produce a
change in the speed of rotation of the driven
gear relative to the driving gear.
Gear are the oldest devices and inventions of
man.
Spur gears are the simplest and most common
type of gears.
UPRM - Fall 2004

INME 4012 - Lecture 13-14

Uses and Characteristics of Gears

UPRM - Fall 2004

INME 4012 - Lecture 13-14

Uses and Characteristics of Gears

UPRM - Fall 2004

INME 4012 - Lecture 13-14

Uses and Characteristics of Gears

UPRM - Fall 2004

INME 4012 - Lecture 13-14

Uses and Characteristics of Gears

The teeth must be carefully shaped so they do
not interfere with each other as the gears
rotate, and so that the angular velocity ratio
between the driving pinion and the driven gear
neither increases nor decrease at any instant
as successive teeth pass through the mesh.

1
r2
=
2
r1
UPRM - Fall 2004

INME 4012 - Lecture 13-14

Factors in Selection
Geometric arrangement proposed for the
machine
Reduction ratio required.
Power to be transmitted.
Speeds of rotation.
Efficiency goals.
Noise level limitation
Cost constraints.
UPRM - Fall 2004

INME 4012 - Lecture 13-14

Types of Gears
Three shafting arrangements are:
Shaft axes are parallel.
Shaft axes intersect.
Shaft axes are neither parallel nor do they interesct.

The major types of gears are:

Spur gears.
Helical gears.
Bevel gears (spiral bevel gears and face gears)
Hypoid gears (spiroid gears and crossed helical
gears))
Worm/wormgear sets.
UPRM - Fall 2004

INME 4012 - Lecture 13-14

Types of Gears

Helical Gear with parallel shafts

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Crossed helical gears

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Types of Gears

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Types of Gears

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Types of Gears

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Types of Gears

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Gear Trains

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Epicyclic (Planetary) Gear Train with Ring Gear

An epicyclic gear train is
arranged so that one or
more gears are carried
on a rotating arm, which
itself rotates about a
fixed center. Thus the
planet gear not only
rotates about its own
center, but at the same
time it center rotates
about another center
(that of arm). It is very
difficult
to
correctly
visualized the behavior
of a planetary gear train.
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Reduction ratios
The train reduction ratio for a gear train in
which all gears have space-fixed axes of
rotation:
out nout
product of number of teeth on driver gear
=
=
in nin
product of number of teeth on driven gear

The algebraic sign: (-) for external mesh ratios and (+)
for internal mesh ratios
The train ratio will be less than 1 for speed reducers
The train ratio will be greater than 1 for speed
increaser
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Reduction ratios
A planetary gear train has two degrees of freedom,
making determination of the train reduction ratio more
complicated. The basic kinematic condition is utilized
for determining planetary gear ratio.

gear = arm + gear / arm

L arm
product of number of teeth on driver gear
=
F arm
product of number of teeth on driven gear

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Potential Failure Modes - Surface Fatigue

Bending fatigue failure due to high cycle
bending stress and root fillet stress
concentration.
Contact fatigue failure due to cyclic Hertz
contact stress.
Adhesive wear and abrasive wear failure.
Force-induced elastic deformation failure.
Cracking failure.
Fracture failure.
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Gear Materials

Good fatigue strength

High stiffness
Good wear resistance
High resistance to surface fatigue
High resilience
Good damping ability
Good machinability
Reasonable cost
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Example Gear Materials

Steel alloy 4620, 4320, 4140, and 4340
high strength, good resilience and
moderate cost.
Cast-iron gear inexpensive and high
hysteretic damping capacity.
Bronze alloy - bronze alloys.
Polymeric gear.
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Spur Gears Tooth Profile and Mesh Geometry

The basic requirement of gear tooth

geometry is the provision of angular
velocity ratios that are exactly constant.
Accepted tooth profiles are based on
theoretical curves that meet this criterion.
The only profile of importance in current
gearing practices is the involute of a circle.

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Law of Gearing (Conjugate Action)

The law of gearing
states that as the
gears rotate, the
common normal to
the surfaces at the
point of contact must
always intersect the
line of centers at the
same point P called
the pitch point.
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Involute Profiles

Generation of involute curve

The stylus attached to the
string traces the curve A1A2-A3-A4 as a taut string
unwraps.
Corresponding
tangents to the base circle
(A1B1, A2B2, A3B3, A4B4)
represent
instantaneous
radii of curvature of the
involute

UPRM - Fall 2004

Involute curve

B4

A4
B3
B2
A3
A2

B1
A1

Basic Circle

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Gearing Nomenclature

Circular pitch
Base pitch
Circular tooth thickness
Tooth space
Addendum circles
Dedendum circles
Base circle
Pitch circle
Line of Action
Pressure Angle
Center distance
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Gearing Nomenclature

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Gearing Nomenclature
Center distance
Np

C = r p + rg =

2 Pd

Ng
2 Pd

(N p + N g )
2 Pd

Circular pitch
p =

d
N

d
N

d
N

g
g

Diameter of basic circle and base pitch

d b = d cos
UPRM - Fall 2004

rb = r cos

pb = p cos

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Pressure Angle

The pressure angle is the angle between the tangent to the pitch
circles and the line drawn normal (perpendicular) to the surface of
the gear teeth.
The normal line is sometimes referred to as the line of action.
When two gear teeth are in mesh and are transmitting power, the
force transferred from the driver to the driven gear tooth acts in a
direction along the line of action.

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Tooth Shape and Size

Diametrical pitch (used only with U.S. specification gears)
defined as the number of teeth divided by pitch diameter
in inches.
P

N
d

Module (used only with SI or metric specifications)

defined as pitch diameter in milimeter divided by number
of teeth.
m

d
N

Relation between Module and Diametral Pitch

m
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25 . 4
Pd

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Gear Tooth System

Comparison of gear tooth shape as a function of pressure angle

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Size of Gear Teeth

Approximate actual sizes of gear teeth with various standard diametral pitches
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Backlash
If the tooth thickness were made identical in
value to the tooth space, as it theoretically is, the
tooth geometry would have to beabsolutely
precise for the gears to operate, and there would
be no space available for lubrication of the tooth
surfaces.
To alleviate these problems, practical gears are
made with the tooth space slightly larger than
the tooth thickness, the difference being called
the backlash.
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Mesh Interactions

Interference between mating spur gear teeth

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Interference

For certain combinations of numbers of teeth in a gear pair, there is

interference between the tip of the teeth on the pinion and the fillet
or root of the teeth on the gear.

Interference will occur if either of the addendum circles extends

beyond points a and b. the gears will not operate without
modification. The preferred correction is to remove the interfering
tooth tips, alternatively, the tooth flanks of the mating gear can be
undercut in order to clear the offending tips

Undercutting takes place with standard 20pinions with fewer than

18 teeth and with standard 25pinions having fewer 12 teeth.

The surest way to prevent this is to control the minimum number of

teeth in the pinion to the limiting values shown on the next slide.

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Contact Ratio
To maintain smooth operation and constant
angular velocity ratio, it is necessary that at least
one pair of teeth remain in contact at all times.
This will be assured if the profile contact ratio
exceeds a value of unity.
The contact ratio, mp, is defined as the ratio of
the length of the length of action to the base
pitch for the gear.
The length of action is the straight-line path of a
tooth from where it encounters the outside
diameter of the mating gear to the point where it
leaves engagement.
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Contact Ratio
The term contact ratio is used to indicate the
average number of teeth in contact during the
transmission of power.
A recommended minimum contact ratio is 1.2
and typical spur gear combinations often have
values of 1.5 or higher.
2
2
2
2
Pd (rp + a p ) (rp cos ) + (rg + a g ) (rg cos ) C sin
Z

mp =
=
Pb
cos

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Gear Manufacturing - Gear Cutter

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Cutter Path Simulation

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