Gear Trains

Rolling Cylinders

Belt Drives

Advantages

Quiet
No lubrication
Inexpensive
Remote power transmission

Disadvantages
Relatively low torque capability
Possible slip (exact phasing is
impossible)

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Gear Trains
Four-bar Equivalents

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Gear Trains
Fundamental Law of Gearing
The angular velocity ratio between the gears of a gear set remains
constant throughout mesh
Angular Velocity Ratio

mv =

r
d
out
= in = in
in
rout
d out

Torque Ratio

mT =

1 int
r
d
=
= out = out
d in
mv out
rin

Mechanical Advantage

1
m A = mT =
mv
Tout in
=
Tin out
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Gear Trains

In order for the fundamental law of gearing to be true, the gear

tooth contours on mating teeth must be conjugates of one
another. There is an infinite numbers of possible conjugates
pairs that could be used, but only a few curves have been seen
in practical applications as gear teeth. The cycloid is still
used as a tooth form in watches and clocks, but most other
gears use the involute curve for their shapes.

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Involute Tooth Form

The string is always tangent to the cylinder

The center of curvature of the involute curve is always
at the point of tangency of the string with the cylinder
A tangent to the involute is then always normal to the
string, the length of which is the instantaneous radius
of curvature of the involute curve

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center of
curvature

Gear Terminology 1

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Gear Terminology 2

Og

B
P

D
E

Length of action: Z = ( rp + a p ) 2 (rp cos ) 2 + (rg + a g ) 2 (rg cos ) 2 C sin

Pressure angles (
) of gearsets are standardized at a few values by
the gear manufactures. These are 14.5, 20 (most common), and 25.

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Op

Geometry 101
BD = BP + PD

BP = BE PE
PD = AD AP

BE = (OP B OP E ) = {( rp + a p ) (rp cos )

2

1
2

PE = rp sin

AD = (Og D Og A ) = {(rg + a g ) (rg cos )

2

1
2

1
2

1
2

AP = rg sin

Z = BD = (rp + a p ) (rp cos )

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} + {(r
1
2

+ a g ) (rg cos )
2

} + (r
1
2

+ rg ) sin

Gear Terminology 3
Changing Center Distance (C=rp+rg) will change pressure angle but will not affect the velocity ratio.

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Gear Terminology 4
Backlash
Clearance between mating teeth measured along the circumference of the pitch circle.
- Impossible to have zero clearance
- Backlash is not a problem if gearset runs in the same direction
- Causes impact noise, position error, wear
- Typical backlash tolerance ranges 0.0001 ~ 0.0007 [in] for precision gears
- Angular backlash change due to center distance change can be approximated by

b = 43,200(C )

tan
minute where d = pitch circle dia.
d

- AGMA (American Gear Manufacturers Association) defines standards for gear design and
manufacture

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Gear Terminology 5

clearance = dedendum addendum

tooth space = tooth thickness + backlash
tooth thickness is measured at the pitch circle
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Gear Terminology 6

Circular pitch (pc) is the arc length along the pitch circle circumference
measured from a point on one tooth to the same point on the next tooth

d
pc =
N

Base pitch (pb)

pb =

d b
N

pd =

N
=
d
pc

Module (m) is used internationally

m=

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pb = pc cos

Diametral pitch (pd) is the number of teeth per inch, which is used in US gear
specifications

d = pitch circle dia.

N = # of teeth

d
1
= 25.4
N
pd

Gear Terminology 7

Velocity ratio (mv)

mv =

d
N
out
= in = in
in
d out
N oout

mT =

in
d
N
= out = out
out
d in
N in

Torque ratio (mT)

Gear ratio (mg) is always greater than 1

mg = If [| mv | 1, | mv |, | mT |=

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1
]
| mv |

Standard Gear Teeth

AGMA Standard, Full-Depth Gear Tooth Specs

AGMA Standard, Full-Depth gear profiles

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Standard Gear Teeth

Standard Diametral Pitches

1 in

Actual tooth sizes for

various diametral pitches (
=20)

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Standard Metric Modules

Interference and Undercutting

Caused by the dedendum extends below the base circle
Weakens gear teeth by removing material
Can be prevented by avoiding gears with too few teeth
Unavoidable? Use profile-shifted gears

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Interference and Undercutting

Profile-shifted teeth with long and short addenda

Disadvantage: may cause slipping

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Contact Ratio
The contact ratio (mp) is defined as the average numbers of teeth
in contact at any one time as:

mp =

p Z
Z
= d
pb cos

mp = 1 is no good causing noise and vibration if a slight errors in tooth spacing

present and also creating a large bending moment on one tooth
mp between 1 and 2 is common for spur gears
Minimum mp = 1.2 is required for smooth operation
mp = 1.4 is preferred and larger is better

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Gear Types
Spur gears
- simplest
- least expensive
- parallel axes
- efficient : 98~99%

Helical gears
- more expensive than spur
- smooth and more gradual contact (quiet)
- stronger due to than spur with the same
size
- efficient : 96~98%
- require thrust bearing
- crossed helical gearset
- auto T/M

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Gear Types
Herringbone gears
- much more expensive
- same advantages as a helical gear
- no need of thrust bearings
- high power applications such as ship T/M

Worms and worm gears

- teeth are not involute
- center distance must be maintained accurately
- high gear ratio in a small package
- carry very high loads
- single and double envelope forms
- efficiency : 40 ~ 85%
- impossible to back drive
- gear ratio

mG =

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N worm gear
N worm

N worm gear
1

Gear Types
Rack & Pinion
- possible to back drive
- motion changes
- auto steering system

Bevel gears
- Based on rolling cones
- 0 < 90
- spiral bevel gear if teeth are angled with respect to the axis
- advantages and disadvantages are similar to those of spur and helical gears
- tooth shape is based on octoid (must be replaced by pairs)

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Gear Types
Hypoid gears
- when axes of gears are neither parallel nor intersecting
- based on hyperboloids
- auto final drive

Noncircular gears

- based on rolling centroids of a Grashof double-crank four-bar link

- printing presses
- velocity ratio is not constant

mv =

O2 A sin
O4 B sin

O4

O2

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Belts and Chain Drives

Belts
- synthetic rubber reinforced with fiber or metallic cords
- slip is possible
- exact phasing is impossible

Timing Belts
- exact phasing
- quiet running
- cost less than gears or chains
- auto cam-shafts
- fairly good torque transmittability

Chain Drives
- applications require phasing and a large torque
- when input and output shafts are far apart
- silent chains are used for expensive auto cam-shaft drives
- chordal action causes jerky motion
- sprocket teeth are not involute

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Belts and Chain Drives

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Simple Gear Trains

Each shaft carries only one gear
Velocity ratio (or train ratio)
N N N N
N
mV = 2 3 4 5 = + 2
N6
N 3 N 4 N 5 N 6
mV =

N in
N out

Gears #3, #4, and #5 are called idlers

For even (odd) numbers of external gears,
the output direction is opposite (same) to the input
Simple gear trains with mv higher than 10 are not
recommended

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Simple Gear Train Design Example

A gear reducer is used on a concept for a small trolling motor for fishing boats. The gear
must transmit 5 hp from an electric motor at 900 rpm to the propeller at 320 rpm. Select a
set of gears to accomplish this task.
Suitable Diametral Pitchs for 20, Mild-Steel Gears with Standard Face Width

Power

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Pinion rpm

100

900

3600

0.75

10

16

20

5.0

10

12

7.5

Compound Gear Trains

At least one shaft carries more than one gear
mv 10
Velocity ratio
N N
mV = 2 4
N 3 N 5

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mV =

product of the number of teeth on driver gears

product of the number of teeth on driven gears

Compound Gear Trains

Reverted Compound Train: input and output shafts are coincident

if all gears have the same pd

N 2 + N3 = N 4 + N5
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Epicyclic Gear Trains

gear = arm + gear arm

Advantage: High train ratios in small package

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Epicyclic Gear Trains

Practical application with ring gear

It is very difficult to determine the behavior of a planetary train by observation.

We must do the necessary calculations to determine its behavior and may be
surprised !
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Epicyclic Gear Trains

arm = 200 rpm CW()

Tabular method

sun = 100 rpm CW()

Step1. Put down all known values, including velocity ratio

Find planet and ring

meshing
order

gear =

arm +

-100

-200

-200

-200

gear/arm

velocity ratio
N2
40
=
= 2
N3
20
N
20
3 =+
= +0.25
N4
80

Step2. Calculate unknowns

meshing
order

gear =

arm +

gear/arm

-100

-200

+100

-400

-200

-200

-250

-200

-50

velocity ratio
N2
40
=
= 2
N3
20
N
20
3 =+
= +0.25
N4
80

Note that the velocity ratio (or gear ratio) only applies to the velocity difference
not to the absolute velocity !
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Epicyclic Gear Trains

Fergusons compound epicyclic train

L arm
F arm
R = mV =
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L arm
=R
F arm

product of the number of teeth on driver gears

product of the number of teeth on driven gears

Epicyclic Gear Trains

arm = 100 rpm CCW(+ ) sun # 2 = 0 rpm (fixed to the frame) Find 3 and 4

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meshing
order

gear =

arm +

gear/arm

+100

-100

+600

+100

+500

-1.01

+100

-101.01

+600

+100

+500

+0.99

+100

-99.01

velocity ratio
N2
100
=
= 5
N5
20
N
20
5 =
N3
99

N5
20
=
N4
101

Manual T/M

reverse idler

Input and output shafts are directly coupled for top speed

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Automatic T/M

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Epicyclic Manual T/M (Ford model T)

For low, the gearset consists of 3, 4, 6, and 7 (locked by B2)

For high, clutch C locks such that the input shaft directly
engaged to the output shafts
For reverse, 3, 5, 6, and 8 (locked by B1)
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Differentials

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Differentials

Center Differential

Rear Differential
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Front Differential

Example 1
N2=40, N3=20, N4=45, N5=30, N6=35, 2=50, 6=0. Find arm

Note that

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L arm
F arm

L arm
= R works only with planetary gearsets !
F arm

Example 2
Gear A : 10 rpm CCW
Gear B : 25 rpm CW
Find the speed of gear D

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Example 3
The motor is driven CCW at 1750 rpm. Find the speeds of shafts 1 and 2.

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Example 4
Gear 2 is driven CCW at 800 rpm. Find the speeds and directions of gears 1 and 3.

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