Carl A.

Nelson
e-mail: carln@purdue.edu

Raymond J. Cipra
e-mail: cipra@ecn.purdue.edu School of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University, 585 Purdue Mall, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2088

Simplified Kinematic Analysis of Bevel Epicyclic Gear Trains With Application to Power-Flow and Efficiency Analyses
A kinematic analysis technique is introduced to nd the angular velocities of all links in bevel epicyclic gear trains. The method relies on previous work in graph theory. It improves on existing techniques used for analysis of planar geared mechanisms in its ability to accurately solve the kinematics of spatial geared mechanisms, particularly bevel gear trains, in a simpler manner. Usefulness of the method is demonstrated through its application to power-ow and efciency analyses as well as its implementation in computer software. This discussion is limited to gear trains whose input and output axes are collinear, such as automotive automatic transmissions. DOI: 10.1115/1.814392 Keywords: Bevel Gear Trains, Kinematic Analysis, Graph Notation, Spatial Kinematics, Epicyclic Gear Trains, Planetary Gear Trains

Introduction
Epicyclic gear trains are used in a multitude of applications and can take either a planar form the standard planetary set or a three-dimensional 3D form bevel epicyclic gear sets . Kinematic analysis is an important step in the design of any system that utilizes these trains. Not only is velocity analysis important for the study of the life cycle of the train components, but it is also a precursory step in power-ow and train-efciency analysis, which are, themselves, key steps in the design process. There are many methods of kinematic analysis for these gear trains, including the tabular, vector analysis, train value, and graph theory methods 1 . Each method has its benets and disadvantages. The tabular method 2 is commonly used in textbooks because of its straightforward nature. However, it can involve a great deal of manual calculation for complex trains, and, because it represents velocities as scalar quantities, it is unable to accurately give the velocities of links whose rotation axis is not parallel to the input/ output rotation axis, such as is the case with bevel epicyclic gear sets. Gupta 3 has demonstrated a method for analyzing geared robotic wrist mechanisms in which he uses the tabular method to obtain the position solution and then applies a Jacobian transformation to move into the velocity domain as is common in robotics. The vector analysis method using dual algebra is perhaps the most conceptually complex and is prone to human error due to the difculty and amount of calculations necessary, although it does provide accurate results for bevel gear sets 4 . The train value method 5 is relatively simple, but its simplicity is also its weakness in that it only allows for the overall angular velocity ratio to be determined, and, thus, this method fails to solve for velocities of intermediate links and completely bypasses the issue of intermediate bevel planets. These methods generally require inspection of the gear train beyond its basic geometry and numbers of teeth. The graph theory method seems to be the best because this method is easily computerized without substantial inspection of the gear train , can account for the velocities of all elements of the gear train, and can be adapted to deal with bevel gear trains.
Contributed by the Mechanisms and Robotics Committee for publication in the JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL DESIGN. Manuscript received April 9, 2003; revised April 6, 2004. Associate Editor: S. G. K. Anathasuresh.

Background
When dealing with gear trains, it is important to have a reliable, quick method of kinematic analysis. It is also imperative that the method be able to deal with all types of mechanisms typically encountered. The problem of bevel gear sets appears, in this regard, to be a sizable one. Even other analysis methods not mentioned here, which are adapted and incorporate features from more than one of the above-mentioned approaches, fail to successfully tackle this problem 2,6 . Some researchers have established atlases of mechanisms, either in conjunction with or separate from kinematic analysis techniques, and bevel gears are often ignored in these cases 7,8 . Of the methods mentioned above, only the graph theory approach seems well equipped to satisfy all the demands a design engineer might place on a kinematic analysis technique. Day et al. 9 presented a method based on graph theory for nding kinematic and static-force solutions for bevel gear trains, although their results were incomplete in that the spatial nature of the planet velocities were not correctly expressed. Tsai 10 presented a successful graph-based technique for kinematic analysis of general bevel gear trains. It is based on applying DenavitHartenberg transformations to an equivalent open-loop chain and then differentiating the results to obtain a velocity solution. The drawback of Tsais method compared to the technique presented in this paper is that while it is more general, it is also more involved computationally. The technique presented here takes advantage of the usefulness of the graph theory approach while greatly simplifying the computation involved and providing complete, spatial velocity solutions for all links.

Graph Representation
Buchsbaum and Freudenstein 11 and Freudenstein 12 are generally credited with establishing the standard graph representation method for analysis of geared mechanisms. The representation denotes links by vertices, turning pairs revolute joints by light edges and gear pairs by darkened edges. In their research, a set of rules was outlined which govern the construction of graphs representing mechanisms. These read more or less as follows 11 : 1. A graph of an epicyclic geared mechanism having N elements has N vertices, N 1 turning-pair edges J T , and N 2 gear-pair edges J G if it has a single degree of freedom . Transactions of the ASME

278 Vol. 127, MARCH 2005

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Fig. 2 Typical adjacency matrix Fig. 1 Example of an epicyclic gear train and its associated graph representation

2. The subgraph obtained by deleting all gear-pair edges is a spanning tree. 3. A fundamental circuit f-circuit is formed by adding a gearpair edge to the tree. 4. The number of f-circuits is equal to the number of gear pairs. 5. Each turning-pair edge can be characterized by its level, which identies its axis location in space. 6. In each f-circuit there is one vertex, called the transfer vertex, such that all edges on one side of the transfer vertex are at the same level and edges on the opposite side of the transfer vertex are at a different level. 7. Turning-pair edges sharing a common level must intersect at a common vertex. 8. Any vertex of degree 2, which is only incident on turningpair edges, is a transfer vertex. While not all of these rules are important for kinematic analysis purposes, rules 1, 3, and 4 are the most critical. As a corollary of rule number 1 13 , for mechanisms with any number of degrees of freedom F, JT N 1 and JG N F 1 (2) (1)

adjacency matrix is a valuable tool in understanding the mechanism that it represents. It can be used to determine all the f-circuits in a mechanism 1 , exhaustively produce all possible mechanism graphs having certain characteristics 14 , or check for isomorphism. Two linkages or mechanisms having equivalent kinematic behavior are said to be isomorphic. The check for isomorphism can be performed by comparing codes made up of the actual entries in the adjacency matrices 15 or by comparing characteristic polynomials, which are essentially specialized determinants of the adjacency matrices 16,17 . Much of the research in the area of graph representation of mechanisms has focused on the exhaustive generation of all possible mechanisms or graphs , including checking for isomorphism. Another substantial set of work, however, addresses the issue of a kinematic analysis method to apply to given mechanism graphs. It is accepted throughout this body of work that since an f-circuit corresponds to a gear pair, the governing equation for each f-circuit in an epicyclic gear train is the rolling-contact equation
i j

N j /N i

N j /N i 1

(3)

Hsu and Lam 1 have presented a modication of this method which offers a more simplied approach. In their notation, gear pairs are shown as light or dashed lines, turning pairs are shown as heavy or solid lines, and multiple turning pairs are denoted by shaded polygons, obviating the need for turning axis labels representing different levels. An example of this is shown in Fig. 1. They conclude that each f-circuit is a three-vertex loop made up of one gear-pair edge and two turning-pair edges. Any two vertices incident on a shaded polygon can be considered connected by a turning-pair edge. The vertex not incident on the gear-pair edge is the transfer vertex or carrier link . The graph of a mechanism can also be represented as a matrix called its adjacency matrix. Although various researchers have developed slightly different versions of the adjacency matrix, the basics of each technique are the same. The method presented here is largely based on that of Hsu and Lam 1 because it corresponds to their graph representation as described above. The kinematic analysis technique described below will be based on this representation. The adjacency matrix M for an N-vertex graph is a symmetric N N matrix. Its diagonal entries are all equal to 0, m i j 1 if vertex i is adjacent to vertex j with a gear-pair edge, and m i j 2 if vertex i is adjacent to vertex j with a single turning-pair edge. Entry m i j e if vertex i is adjacent to vertex j with a solid polygon having e incident vertices. Thus, any number greater than 1 in the adjacency matrix represents one or more turning pairs on a common level. All other entries in the adjacency matrix are 0. The Journal of Mechanical Design

where i and j represent the geared links, k represents the transfer carrier link, N i is the number of teeth on link i, and i is the angular velocity of link i, etc. Thus for an N-vertex graph having g f -circuits, a set of g equations can be written, and a solution is found once (N g) inputs are specied. The adjacency matrix, as mentioned above, can be used to identify the f-circuits of a graph. Since each circuit consists of three vertices, two turning-pair edges and one gear-pair edge, adjacency matrix entries m i j , m jk , and m ki must all be nonzero, and only one of them must be equal to 1. Given m i j 1, i and j are the meshing links in the f-circuit, and the transfer or carrier link k is given by noting the column in which row i and row j both have an entry greater than 1. Once the carrier link is identied, it can be determined which of links i and j are planets links whose vertices do not lie on the polygon representing the input/output axis . According to this denition, it is possible for one or both to be planets, but at least one of them must be a planet. The vertex corresponding to link k must always lie on a polygon, indicating that link k is on a multiple-turning-pair axis, about which the planet s generally rotate. If this were not so, the mechanism would not be functional. So in row k or column k of the adjacency matrix, there is an entry having value e (e 1), which occurs e 1 times in that row and column. Due to the physical structure of epicyclic gear sets, there is normally only one common axis one polygon in the graph and, thus, one such repeated entry in the matrix. So if entry m ki is not greater than 2 vertex i is not on the polygon , entry m ki must be equal to 2, and link i is a planet on transfer link k. Similarly if entry m jk 2, link j is a planet on transfer link k. Generally, one of links i and j has entry 2, and the other has entry e indicating a shared axis with the transfer link . These general rules are useful in automatically identifying the f-circuits and writing their corresponding Eq. 3 . This is shown graphically in Fig. 2, where the adjacency matrix shown corresponds to the gear train in Fig. 1. MARCH 2005, Vol. 127 279

Fig. 3 Fundamental circuit with the principal directions shown

Kinematic Analysis Method

The following method draws on the strengths of previous methods to produce a kinematic analysis technique suited to the complete solution of bevel gear sets as well as planar epicyclic sets, for any number of links. In the steps to be enumerated, a subscript or index p represents a planet link, and a subscript or index c represents its carrier or transfer link. As shown in Fig. 3, the common input/output axis is called the z-direction, and the r direction is perpendicular to the z-axis, pointing outward along the carrier toward the planet. An N with a subscript represents the number of teeth of a geared member, and g indicates the number of fundamental circuits in a given graph. All velocities discussed here are angular. The rst step is to generate a graph of the mechanism. From this graph, an adjacency matrix is generated. Using the g fundamental circuits from the graph, a set of g equations is then written using the form of Eq. 3 . Here the velocities are expressed as scalar quantities. In spatial mechanisms, such as bevel gear trains, rotations are 3D and cannot be represented as scalars. This difculty is resolved by a series of matrix operations as described below. Equation 3 can be otherwise expressed as
i j

Fig. 4 Simple bevel planet with its inclination angle

both direction and magnitude are needed to describe the motion of bevel planets. However, Eq. 6 provides a stepping stone to reach such a vector solution. In order to obtain a vector solution for link velocities, Eq. 6 must be rearranged and referenced to the r-z reference frame. This is where the new kinematic analysis approach begins to differ from the existing solution in Eq. 6 . The velocity results of this scalar solution are, in fact, correct in magnitude for all links which rotate uniquely about the z-axis. In addition, relative velocities obtained by subtracting the carrier speeds from the planet speeds are correct in magnitude since Eq. 4 is essentially a rolling-contact equation. The conversion of the scalar solution in Eq. 6 to a correct vector solution is accomplished by the following steps: 1. Subtract carrier speeds from planet speeds to obtain relative planet velocities. 2. Project the relative velocities onto the r- and z-axes using geometric information. 3. Convert the velocity vectors back to absolute velocity by adding carrier speeds. These three steps are accomplished by a series of matrix operations in the following manner. Three new (g g) matrices are dened as follows: A B C I 0 I (7) (8) (9)

sN j /N i

sN j /N i 1

(4)

where s 1. The value of s is positive if a positive rotation of link i produces a positive rotation of link j with the carrier held xed, and negative otherwise. For internal gear pairs, s 1, and for external gear pairs, s 1. For bevel planets, whose rotation axis is not aligned with the common input/output axis, the value of s depends on the chosen sense or direction of the planet/carrier turning axis. As long as one is consistent, this choice does not affect the outcome. Once the f-circuit information is gleaned from the adjacency matrix or graph and Eq. 4 is written for each f-circuit, the resulting equations are in the form F
1

followed by two (g N g) matrices: A C 0 0 (10) (11)

...

(5a)

where F is a (g N coefcient matrix. After identifying which of the links are to be considered inputs, the equations are rewritten in matrix form, separating the inputs from the unknowns in the form X
unknowns T

inputs

(5b)

or after matrix inversion and multiplication,

unknowns T

The sizes (g g) and (g N g) are the same as the sizes of matrix X in Eq. 5b and matrix R in Eq. 6 , respectively. The planet/carrier combinations are then identied as described above. For simple planets with two gear pairs, as shown in Fig. 4, the bevel angle p as measured from the axis of rotation of the input and output z is given by
p

inputs

(6)

cos

N u N v / 2N p

(12)

where R is the coefcient matrix resulting from manipulation of the set of g equations. Equation 6 is the kinematic solution for planar gear trains, as used in previous research 1,9,12,15 . In the planar case, the axes of rotation of all the links are parallel this direction is known , so Eq. 6 is a scalar equation. When the gear train contains bevel planets, this solution is no longer valid, as 280 Vol. 127, MARCH 2005

where the planets two gear meshes are with links u and v and the vector from member u to member v along the common rotation axis points in the positive z direction. The positive result of the inverse cosine function should be used in Eq. 12 . In general, however, p must be specied for each planet, because it is an arbitrary or freely chosen design criterion. Transactions of the ASME

The effect of matrix A or A is to convert the planet velocities from absolute velocities to relative velocities with respect to their carriers. This is a simple line subtraction operation, since the fundamental circuit equations are derived from the point of view of a planar mechanism i.e., according to the fundamental circuit equations, the planet velocity is the sum of the carrier velocity and the relative velocity of the planet on the carrier . So for the planar case, the velocity solution with planet velocities expressed relative to their respective carriers is
unknowns-rel T

AR A

inputs

(19)

Matrix C essentially adds back in the component of the planets relative velocity which is indeed parallel to the z-axis using the cosine term . Matrix C or C if the carrier velocity is known also performs the line addition to restore the output to an absolute velocity using the off-diagonal 1 term . Matrix B separates out the radial perpendicular to the z-axis component of the planet velocities so that they can be expressed as such in the solution. Thus the overall solution is given by
unknowns T

C AR A
inputs T

inputs

z B AR A (20a)

When all carrier velocities are unknown, Eq. 20a simplies to

Fig. 5 Steps in formulating the processing matrices for kinematic analysis
unknowns T

CAR

inputs

BAR

inputs

r (20b)

and when all carrier velocities are known, Eq. 20a simplies to Now using either the formula or a specied value of B and C for all planets by b p p sin c p p cos
p p p

, adjust (13) (14)

unknowns

C R A

inputs

z B R A

inputs

T r (20c)

This accomplishes the dot product or projection onto the r- and z-axes. Matrices A and C are formulated to convert from absolute to relative and back to absolute velocities, respectively. Because the speed relationships have been written as shown in Eq. 6 , obtaining relative planet velocities must be approached in one of two ways, depending on whether the carrier velocities are known or unknown. The rst of these is as follows. Planets are not suited as inputs in the cases being considered, since planet vertices are not incident on the lled polygon s of the representative graph. Thus the planet velocities will occur on the left-hand side of Eq. 6 . If the carrier velocity is also unknown, the velocity of the planet relative to the carrier can be found by a row subtraction in the coefcient matrix R. So for all planet/carrier combinations in which the carrier velocity is unknown, adjust A and C by a pc 1 (15) (16)

Equation 20a is the most general form of the solution for the unknown link angular velocity vectors, where the z-direction is along the common input/output axis, and the r-direction is perpendicular to the z-axis, pointing outward along the carrier toward the planet. The following is a summary of the important matrix method steps: 1. Use graph notation and/or adjacency matrix to generate Eq. 4 for each fundamental circuit 2. Write the equations in matrix form, separating the inputs and unknowns as in Eq. 6 3. Dene the new operation matrices given by Eqs. 7 11 4. For all planets, determine or specify p 5. For all planets, alter B and C as in Eqs. 13 and 14 6. For all planets/carriers with unknown carrier velocity, change A and C as in Eqs. 15 and 16 7. For all planets/carriers with known carrier velocity, change A and C as in Eqs. 17 and 18 8. Calculate the vector solution for link angular velocities as given in Eq. 20

c pc 1

Here the index p indicates the position of the unknown planet velocity in the vector unknowns T , and similarly the index c indicates the position of the unknown carrier velocity in that same vector. When the carrier velocity is known, the relative planet velocity can be found by subtracting 1 from the appropriate entry of the coefcient matrix R. So for all planet/carrier combinations in which the carrier velocity is known input , adjust A and C by a pc 1 (17) (18)

Examples
The following two examples illustrate the kinematic analysis procedure. Although they are relatively simple, and, therefore, do not fully demonstrate the benets of this method when dealing with more complex trains, they are intended to familiarize the reader with the analysis technique. Example 1. Consider the simple gear train of Fig. 4. Let link v be the output, and let link u and the carrier be the inputs. Let N u 15, N v 25, and N p 10. Equation 12 can be used to give the planets inclination angle;
p

c pc 1

Here the index p indicates the position of the unknown planet T velocity in the vector unknowns , and the index c indicates the position of the known carrier velocity in the vector inputs T . The procedure is outlined for both these cases in Fig. 5. Journal of Mechanical Design

cos

15 25 / 2 10

cos

0.5

120 deg (21)

The adjacency matrix is MARCH 2005, Vol. 127 281

0 1 M 3 3

1 0 2 1

3 2 0 3

3 1 3 0 (22)

where the links are represented in the order u, p, c, v . Applying Eq. 4 to circuits puc and p v c gives
p p
v

15/10 25/10

c c

15/10 1 25/10 1

0 0

(23) (24)

Rearranging and letting links u and c be the inputs, the intermediate equation becomes 1 1 0 2.5
p
v

1.5 0

0.5 3.5

u c

(25)

Using the rules outlined above, 0 A 0 0.866 B 0 0.5 C 0 0 C A By Eq. 20 , the solution is
p
v

1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 I
1

(26)
Fig. 6 Humpage reduction gear and its graphical representation

(27)

(28) Rearranging and setting links 1 and 4 to be the inputs gives 35 1 24 56 1 20 76 1 56 35 24

2

(29) (30)

1 56 20 1

0 1 0
3 5

0 0 76 56
1 4

0.5 0 0 0 1 1 1 0

0 1

1 1
u c

0 2.5

1.5 0 0 0 0 0

0.5 3.5

0 0

1 0

0 0

(37)

0.866 z 1.5 0 0 0.5 3.5

0 2.5

1 0

u c

(31)

Simplifying this operation gives

p
v

0.75 0.6

1.75 1.6

u c

1.299 z 0

1.299 0

u c

Since link 3 is the transfer carrier link for each of the three f-circuit equations, the adjacency matrix shows that link 2 is the only planet. From the geometry of the mechanism, it is clear that 2 60 deg. This can also be obtained from Eq. 12 . Thus, using the rules outlined above, 1 A 0 0 0.866 B 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 C 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 (41) (40) (39) (38)

r (32)

Typically, either u or c would be set equal to zero. Thus, as an example, if u 0, v 1.6 c . Example 2. Next consider the Humpage reduction gear shown in Fig. 6. Numbers of teeth are given in parentheses next to the link numbers in the gure. The adjacency matrix is 0 1 M 4 4 4 1 0 2 1 1 4 2 0 4 4 4 1 4 0 4 4 1 4 4 0 (33)

0.5 C 0 0 A The solution is

The three f-circuits as determined from the graph yield the equations
2 1 2 2 4 5

35/24 56/20 76/56

3 3 3

35/24 1 56/20 1 76/56 1

0 0 0

(34) (35) (36)

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2 3 5

0.5 0 0 1
56 20

1 1 0

0 0 1
35 24 56 20 76 56

1 0 0 1 1 1

1 1 0
35 24

0 0 1
1

0 1 0

0 0
76 56

0 0

1 4

1 0.866 0 0 1
56 20

0 0 0
35 24 56 20 76 56

0 0 0 1 1 1

1 0 0
35 24

1 1 0
1

0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0
76 56

0 0

1 4

Fig. 7 Bevel planet meshing with sun; applied and reaction torques

(42) Simplifying this operation gives

2 3 5

In each fundamental circuit q of the mechanism, containing links i, j, and k, partial powers ( P qi , P q j , and P qk ) ow, such that P qi P q j P qk 0 (45)

0.067 0.208 0.014

0.933 0.792 0.986

1 4

0.245 z 0 0

0.245 0 0
1 4

r (43)

It can be observed that when 1 4 , the mechanism revolves as one unit about the z-axis. Thus the two mutually negating coefcients for 2 and the fact that only 2 has a nonzero velocity in the r-direction make sense. The input-output relationship with link 4 xed ( 5 0.014 1 ) is veried in several standard textbooks. The solution in Eq. 43 is in partial agreement with that given by Day et al. 9 in their analysis of this mechanism. Their solution is shown in Eq. 44 . The sign difference in the last term is probably a typographical error, but the difference in the planet velocity 2 is signicant. Whereas the velocities of the other links are absolute velocities, the value of 2 given by Eq. 44 is the magnitude of the relative velocity of link 2 with respect to the carrier link 3. This is a less explicit solution. Equation 43 correctly gives the absolute angular velocity of the planet link 2 as a spatial vector. Note that the relative velocity of link 2 with respect to the carrier link 3 can be computed from Eq. 43 by subtracting vector 3 from vector 2 , yielding a magnitude 0.283 with link 4 xed. 2/3
2 3 5

where the subscript q represents the circuit, i and j are its geared members, and k is its carrier link. This sum of partial powers represents the total power owing through gear mesh q. Additionally, for constant-velocity situations, the sum of torques applied to each circuit about a given rotation axis is zero. Here it is important to note the direction of applied torques for the nonplanar case as shown in Fig. 7 where the planet reaction torque T j acts along the axis of rotation of the planet, link j. The sum of torques can be written in terms of power, given that P T , where the s represent the magnitudes of the angular velocity vectors. However, for bevel planets, in order to carry out the dot product to compute power, it is necessary to know the angle between the absolute angular velocity vector of a planet and its applied torque. This is expressed as
j

tan

j,r

j,z

(46)

where j is the angle of the planet axis measured from the z-axis. Recall that j,r and j,z are the r- and z-components of the angular velocity of link j as obtained from the kinematic analysis technique discussed above. Now the sum of torques acting at gear mesh q in the z-direction can be written in terms of the partial powers as P qi /
i

0.283 0.208 0.014

0.283 0.792 0.986

1 4

P q j cos

cos

P qk /

(47)

(44)

Application to Power-Flow and Efciency Analyses

Once the angular velocity vectors of all the links in a gear train are known, these can be used to perform power-ow and overall efciency analyses for the mechanism. Nelson and Cipra 18 , ` using previous work by Pennestr and Freudenstein 19,20 and Saggere and Olson 21 for planar planetary gear trains, have developed the following method for the 3D case of bevel epicyclic trains. The power-ow and efciency analysis method relies on several premises: power is neither created nor destroyed, power losses occur primarily in the gear meshes, power can be thought of as owing through the f-circuits previously mentioned, and power ow though a circuit can be expressed as an inner product of torque and angular velocity. Using these principles, one can write equations representing conservation of power and torque or force balance that are sufcient to solve the system. Journal of Mechanical Design

Here link j is the planet link by convention, and represents the magnitudes of the angular velocity vectors. In the case of a planar train, j and j are both zero, and the partial torque for link j is simply P q j / j . Note that Eq. 47 does not apply if any of the links in a circuit are xed. The additional equations necessary to solve for the power-ow stem from the fact that none of the internal train members can be absorbing or generating power. Thus, summing over the set of circuits q containing link n when n is neither the input nor the output link , P qn 0 (48)

and, for the input link, assuming input power to be unity, P q,input 1 (49)

Equations 45 , and 47 49 give a full-rank set of linear equations solvable for the unknown partial powers assuming a lossless mechanism. Note that since stationary links have no power owMARCH 2005, Vol. 127 283

ing through them, no partial power having a subscript that denotes a xed link will appear in Eqs. 45 , 48 , or 49 . To account for losses in the gear pairs, Eq. 45 is modied for each circuit in the form 1
q

P out

overall

(52)

or the efciency of the gear train is

P q,in

P q,out 0

(50)
overall

where those partial powers having positive signs in the lossless solution are considered input powers and vice versa, and the loss factor for the gear pair according to Tuplin 22 is
q

P out

(53)

0.2 1/N i 1/N j

(51)

With only these equations changed, the set of power ow equations can be solved once more to obtain the overall efciency of the gear train. For the ideal case, power into the train equals power out of the train, and with input power set to unity, P out equals 1. With losses applied,

For example, for the Humpage train of Fig. 6 whose velocity solution has been given above, assuming link 4 is xed, link 1 is the input, and link 5 is the output, there are three fundamental circuits. Thus the technique just described yields three equations from Eq. 45 , two equations from Eq. 47 , two equations from Eq. 48 for links 2 and 3, and one equation from Eq. 49 for the input link 1, all of which are written respectively as

1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1

1 0 0 cos 60 1 cos 134.7 0.254 0 1 0 0

1 0 0 1 0.208 0 0 1 0

0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0

0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0

0 0 1 0 cos 60 1 cos 134.7 0.254 1 0 0

0 0 1 0 1 0.208 0 1 0

0 0 1 0 1 0.014 0 0 0 P 11 P 12 P 13 P 22 P 23 P 32 P 33 P 35 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

(54)

with the solution

P 11 P 12 P 13 P 22 P 23 P 32 P 33 P 35

1 0.501 0.499 9.259 9.259 8.759 9.759 1

(55)

for the ideal case. Modifying these equations to include losses gives

0.9864 0 0 1 0 0 0 1

1 0 0 cos 60 1 cos 134.7 0.254 0 1 0 0

1 0 0 1 0.208 0 0 1 0

0 0.9938 0 0 0 1 0 0

0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0

0 0 1 0 cos 60 1 cos 134.7 0.254 1 0 0

0 0 0.9859 0 1 0.208 0 1 0

0 0 1 0 1 0.014 0 0 0 P 11 P 12 P 13 P 22 P 23 P 32 P 33 P 35 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

(56)

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the user-input parameters, the effects of changing the mechanism are readily apparent, making this a useful design tool. The program is also scalable to analyze complex planetary gear trains with many links, whether they be planar spur gear trains or bevel gear trains.

Conclusions
The kinematic analysis method shown is an improvement on existing methods. It is a technique that draws on the strengths of other methods in common use, and its simplicity and usefulness have been demonstrated by computer implementation in a spreadsheet program 18 . Its greatest advantage and its novelty compared to most of the previous work is twofold. First, it is relatively simple and easy to automate. Second, it is able to accurately solve for the angular velocities of links whose axes of rotation are not parallel to that of the input or output link. These intermediatelink angular velocities are crucial in power-ow analysis and determination of efciency for bevel gear trains 18 as well as in other areas, such as inertial force analysis and bearing life studies. Because the method is able to handle bevel gear trains, it can also be used as a tool for size and space optimization with the orientations of rotation axes ( p ) as the parameters. The power-ow and efciency analysis procedures presented are also novel in the way that they extend existing techniques derived for planar mechanisms to the domain of bevel gear trains. These analysis methods provide a stepping stone to other advances in gear-train design and analysis.

Fig. 8 Planetary train for comparison with other efciency analysis results

which is solved to yield P 11 P 12 P 13 P 22 P 23 P 32 P 33 P 35 1 0.492 0.494 7.645 7.598 7.153 8.092 0.825

(57)

Acknowledgments
While the content of this paper reects uniquely the views of the authors, they wish to thank the National Science Foundation and the TRW Foundation for supporting this research.

Since link 5 is the output link, P 35 P out , and the efciency of the mechanism in this conguration is 82.5%.

References Remarks on the Accuracy of the Efciency Analysis Method

The following example is presented to show that the efciency analysis technique described here gives results that are comparable to those achieved through other methods. The planetary train in Fig. 8 was analyzed by Nelson and Cipra 18 with link 1 xed, N 1 34, N 3 ( 1 ) 16, N 3 ( 4 ) 15, N 4 32, and link 2 the input. The result of this analysis indicated an overall efciency of 35.0%. For ` this same train, Pennestr and Freudenstein 20 found the efciency to be 27.7%, and Tuplin 22 found it to be 24%. Of the three, the value of 27.7% is the most accurate, since it has been calculated using effective circuit efciencies based on planar epicyclic inversions 20,23 . This approach would become much more complicated for the case involving bevel planets. The discrepancy of 7.3% arises from high sensitivity to circuit efciency values, which is due to the high circulating power in the train. At any rate, the technique presented here is intended to obtain a rough estimate, which it does with a reasonable degree of accuracy.
1 Hsu, C. H., and Lam, K. T., 1992, A New Graph Representation for the Automatic Kinematic Analysis of Planetary Spur-Gear Trains, ASME J. Mech. Des., 114, pp. 196 200. 2 Cleghorn, W. L., and Tyc, G., 1987, Kinematic Analysis of Planetary Gear Trains Using a Microcomputer, Int. J. Mech. Eng. Educa., 15, pp. 57 69. 3 Gupta, K. C., 1997, Mechanics and Control of Robots, Springer-Verlag, New York. 4 Yang, A. T., and Freudenstein, F., 1973, Mechanics of Epicyclic Bevel-Gear Trains, ASME J. Eng. Ind., 95, pp. 497502. 5 Bagci, C., 1987, Efcient Method for the Synthesis of Compound Planetary Differential Gear Trains for Multiple Speed Ratio Generation, and Constant Direction Chariots, Presented at the 10th Applied Mechanisms Conference, New Orleans, LA, pp. 12. 6 Fogarasy, A. A., and Smith, M. R., 1995, A New Simplied Approach to the Kinematic Analysis and Design of Epicyclic Gearboxes, Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng., Part C: J. Mech. Eng. Sci., 209, pp. 4953. 7 Levai, Z., 1968, Structure and Analysis of Planetary Gear Trains, J. Mech., 3, pp. 131148. 8 Gibson, D., and Kramer, S., 1984, Symbolic Notation and Kinematic Equations of Motion of the Twenty-Two Basic Spur Planetary Gear Trains, ASME J. Mech., Transm., Autom. Des., 106, pp. 333340. 9 Day, C. P., Akeel, H. A., and Gutkowski, L. J., 1983, Kinematic Design and Analysis of Coupled Planetary Bevel-Gear Trains, ASME J. Mech., Transm., Autom. Des., 105, pp. 441 444. 10 Tsai, L. W., 1988, The Kinematics of Spatial Robotic Bevel-Gear Trains, IEEE Trans. Rob. Autom., 4, pp. 150156. 11 Buchsbaum, F., and Freudenstein, F., 1970, Synthesis of Kinematic Structure of Geared Kinematic Chains and Other Mechanisms, J. Mech., 5, pp. 357 392. 12 Freudenstein, F., 1971, An Application of Boolean Algebra to the Motion of Epicyclic Drives, ASME J. Eng. Ind., 93B, pp. 176 182. 13 Ravisankar, R., and Mruthyunjaya, T. S., 1985, Computerized Synthesis of the Structure of Geared Kinematic Chains, Mech. Mach. Theory, 20, pp. 367387. 14 Liu, C. P., and Chen, D. Z., 2000, On the Embedded Kinematic Fractionation of Epicyclic Gear Trains, J. Mech. Des., 122, pp. 479 483. 15 Hsu, C. H., 1992, A Graph Notation for the Kinematic Analysis of Differential Gear Trains, J. Franklin Inst., 329, pp. 859 867. 16 Tsai, L. W., 1987, An Application of the Linkage Characteristic Polynomial to the Topological Synthesis of Epicyclic Gear Trains, ASME J. Mech., Transm., Autom. Des., 109, pp. 329336. 17 Yan, H. S., and Hall, A. S., 1982, Linkage Characteristic Polynomials: As-

Implementation
The kinematic analysis technique described here has, along with the associated power-ow and efciency techniques, been implemented in a spreadsheet program 18,24 . Because all of the mathematics involved are linear operations, typical spreadsheet applications are able to handle them effectively. The only inputs needed from the user are a topological representation of the mechanism being analyzed in the form of an adjacency matrix , the geometric properties of the mechanism , and a choice of input and output links. The benets of this interface are several. The vast majority of computer users are familiar with spreadsheet programs, so there is virtually no learning curve involved. Because the spreadsheet updates its calculations with any change to Journal of Mechanical Design

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sembly Theorems, Uniqueness, ASME J. Mech. Des. Trans, 104, pp. 1120. 18 Nelson, C. A., and Cipra, R. J., 2002, An Integrated Method of Kinematic, Force, Power Flow, and Efciency Analyses for 3-D Epicyclic Gear Trains, 27th Biennial ASME Mechanisms and Robotics Conference, ASME, New York, ASME Paper No. DETC2002/MECH-34315. ` 19 Pennestr, E., and Freudenstein, F., 1993, A Systematic Approach to PowerFlow and Static-Force Analysis in Epicyclic Spur-Gear Trains, ASME J. Mech. Des., 115, pp. 639 644. ` 20 Pennestr, E., and Freudenstein, F., 1993, The Mechanical Efciency of Epicyclic Gear Trains, ASME J. Mech. Des., 115, pp. 645 651. 21 Saggere, L., and Olson, D. G., 1992, A Simplied Approach for Force and

Power-Flow Analysis of Compound Epicyclic Spur-Gear Trains, Proc. the 18th Annual ASME Design Automation Conference, ASME, New York, DEVol. 44-2, pp. 83-89. 22 Tuplin, W. A., 1957, Designing Compound Epicyclic Gear Trains for Maximum Efciency at High Velocity Ratios, Mach. Des., April, pp. 100104. ` 23 Pennestr, E., and Valentini, P. P., 2003, A Review of Formulas for the Mechanical Efciency Analysis of Two Degrees-of-Freedom Epicyclic Gear Trains, ASME J. Mech. Des., 125, pp. 602 608. 24 Nelson, C. A., 2002, Analysis of a Novel Nutating Speed Reducer Using Improved Gear-Train Analysis Techniques, MS Thesis, Purdue University.

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