Mechanism and Machine Theory 37 (2002) 757767

www.elsevier.com/locate/mechmt

Geometry design of an elementary planetary gear train

with cylindrical tooth-proles
Hong-Sen Yan

a,*

, Ta-Shi Lai

b,1

Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan, ROC
Department of Vehicle Engineering, National Huwei Institute of Technology, Huwei, Yuenlin 63208, Taiwan, ROC
Received 9 October 1999; received in revised form 7 January 2002

Abstract
This work presents a concept of elementary gear trains such that the tooth-proles of the pinion are
cylindrical. The pitch radius is replaced by the distance between the gear center and the tooth center as the
radius of gears. Based on coordinate transformation, triple vector product of dierential geometry, and
theory of conjugate surfaces, equation of meshing is derived. A program is developed to solve the conjugate
surface equations, and to show the solid modeling of the proposed elementary planetary gear trains.
2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Planetary gear trains; Geometry design; Cylindrical tooth-proles

1. Introduction
Speed reducers are used widely in various applications for speed and torque conversion purposes. A mechanism is termed a planetary mechanism if it contains at least one rigid member that is
required to rotate about another axis [1]. For examples, planetary gear trains, Ferguson Hi-Range
speed reducers, and cycloid drives are planetary mechanisms. Planetary gear trains are compact,
light-weight devices capable of producing high speed reduction as well as high mechanical advantage in a single stage. They are widely used in speed reduction or transmission devices. The
cycloid drive is more compact, light-weight devices capable of producing high speed reduction
than planetary gear trains as well as high mechanical advantage in a single stage [2]. Above, it has
high precision pointing, so that it is an attractive candidate for many applications today.
*

Corresponding author. Tel.: +886-6-208-2703; fax: +886-6-208-4972.

E-mail addresses: hsyan@mail.ncku.edu.tw (H.-S. Yan), tslai@sunws.nhit.edu.tw (T.-S. Lai).
1
Fax: +886-5-632-1571.
0094-114X/02/$ - see front matter 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 0 9 4 - 1 1 4 X ( 0 2 ) 0 0 0 0 9 - 5

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Nomenclature
e
Mi;j 
r2
r3
t
Z2
Z3
Ri
Rij
Ro
u; h
xyz2
xyz3
xyzf
xyzg
xyzpi
bi
/2
/3
R2
Rpi
q

distance between the centers of ring gear and pinion

coordinate transformation matrix from system j to system i
radius of ring gear
radius of pinion
thickness of the tooth of pinion
the tooth numbers of the ring gear
the tooth numbers of the pinion
surface equation in coordinate system i
the ith surface equation in coordinate j
outside radius of ring gear
curvilinear coordinates on the surface of the meshing pinion
moving coordinate system rigidly connected to the ring gear
moving coordinate system rigidly connected to the pinion
xed coordinate system rigidly connected to the frame at point f
xed coordinate system rigidly connected to the frame at point p
the ith moving coordinate system rigidly connected to the ith cylindrical tooth
angle between the rst cylindrical tooth and the ith cylindrical tooth
angular displacement of ring gear
angular displacement of pinion
the ring gear surface
the ith cylindrical tooth surface
radius of cylindrical tooth

Spur and bevel gears are often used in elementary planetary gear trains. This work provides a
concept of elementary planetary gear trains such that the tooth-proles of the pinion are cylindrical, Fig. 1. Member 2 is a ring gear and its tooth-prole is generated by the pinion tooth.
Members 3, including member 3a (pinion) and member 3b (cylindrical tooth) has one redundant
degree-of-freedom. Member 4 is a crank. Member 5b (disc pin) is oating connection with members 3a and 5a (disc plate). Since member 5b has one redundant degree-of-freedom, members 5a
and 5b are treated as member 5. The purpose here is to present the geometric design of this proposed elementary planetary gear train.
The geometry of conjugate surfaces is of major concern in designing the gears and generating
the conjugate meshing elements. Litvin [3] studied the meshing of spatial gears and the generation
of conjugate surfaces. Chen [4] and Litvin [5] successfully investigated the surface geometry of
spatial conjugate gear pairs. Fong and Tsay [6] proposed a mathematical model for the tooth
geometry of circular-arc spiral bevel gears. Litvin and Kin [7] studied the single-enveloping worm
gear drives. Yan and Liu [8] proposed the geometric design and machining of variable pitch lead
screws with cylindrical meshing elements. Later, Yan and Chen [9] derived equations for the
surface geometry of roller gear cams with cylindrical meshing elements. Hanson and Churchill [10]
applied the theory of envelope for one-parameter of curves to determine the curvatures of planar

H.-S. Yan, T.-S. Lai / Mechanism and Machine Theory 37 (2002) 757767

759

Fig. 1. An elementary planetary gear train with cylindrical tooth-proles.

cams. Goetz [11] derived the theory of envelope for a two-parameter family of surfaces. Tsay and
Hwang [12] applied the theory of envelope for a family of surfaces with two independent parameters to determine the proles of camoids with translating spherical followers. Colbourne [13]
proposed a geometry method to nd the envelopes of trochoids that performs a planetary motion.
Lin and Tsai [14] studied the geometry of trajectories generated by a point on the planet of bevel
planetary gear trains. Some applications of the cycloid in machine design are studied by Pollitt
[15]. Blanche and Yang [16] investigated the machining tolerances of the cycloid drives. Ishida
et al. [17] studied the tooth load of thin rim cycloidal gear. Recently, Litvin and Feng [18] used
dierential geometry to generate the conjugate surfaces of cycloidal gearing.
This paper applies the theory of envelope for a family of surfaces with parameter form to derive
the surface geometry of the proposed elementary planetary gear trains in which the pinion is with
cylindrical tooth. In what follows, we present the topological structure of this elementary planetary gear train rst. Then, coordinate systems and coordinate transformation matrices are determined. And, equation of meshing is derived based on the fundamental gearing kinematics,
coordinate transformation, triple vector product of dierential geometry, and theory of conjugate
surfaces. Finally, design examples are presented to demonstrate the feasibility of this approach.
2. Topological structure
Fig. 1 shows an elementary planetary gear train with a ring gear. This planetary mechanism,
operating on a unique principle, employs a crank (member 4) to deect the pinion (member 3) that
orbits about the center of the input shaft due to the eccentricity of the shaft. At the same time, the
pinion rotates about its own center, in the opposite direction of the input shaft, due to the

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H.-S. Yan, T.-S. Lai / Mechanism and Machine Theory 37 (2002) 757767

Fig. 2. Skeletons of the elementary planetary gear train with cylindrical tooth-proles: (a) topological structure; (b)
kinematic structure.

engagement with the ring gear (member 2). The resulting motion of the pinion is a compound
motion. This wobble motion is converted to pure rotary motion of the output shaft by a constant
velocity joint (disc pin, member 5b). In order for the elementary planetary gear train to transmit a
constant angular velocity ratio, it adopts a disc plate (member 5a) mechanism as the output shaft.
The disc pins (member 5b) are oating connection with the pinion and the disc plate. The disc
plate, rotating in the same direction as the pinion, is the output. From the operating viewpoint,
the relative motion between the cylindrical teeth of the pinion and the teeth of the ring gear can be
represented by the rotation of the pitch curve of the pinion on the pitch curve of the ring gear. The
dierence in pitch circumference between the ring gear and the pinion results in a tangential
motion with a magnitude of one or more circular pitches.
Fig. 2(a) is the topological structure of the elementary planetary gear train shown in Fig. 1. It
consists of ve members: the frame (member 1), the ring gear (member 2), the pinion (planet gear,
member 3), the crank (carrier, member 4), and the disc plate (member 5). The joints between the
frame and the ring gear, the frame and the crank, the frame and the disc plate, and the pinion and
the crank are revolute pairs. The ring gear and the pinion are incident to a gear pair; the pinion
and the disc plate are incident to a cam pair. In case the motion of the planet gear is the required
output, the shaft of the planet gear can, for example, be coupled to another shaft (output shaft) by
universal joints. Here, the disc plate is the output member.
In order to design the conjugate surfaces of the elementary planetary gear train, this ve-link
and six-joint mechanism is modeled kinematically into a three-link and three-joint mechanism as
shown in Fig. 2(b). Only links 1, 2, and 3 are considered because the other links do not aect the
geometry analysis of this elementary planetary gear train.

3. Coordinate systems
Before deriving the surface equation of the ring gear of the proposed elementary planetary gear
train, coordinate systems corresponding to the planetary mechanism should be dened.

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761

Fig. 3. Coordinate systems.

Fig. 3 shows the coordinate systems based on the relative motion and the arrangement of the
planetary mechanism. Fig. 4 shows the coordinate system of the cylindrical tooth. The movable
links perform rotation about parallel axes with a constant angular velocity ratio. The xed coordinate system xyzf is rigidly connected to the frame. For convenience of the coordinate
transformation, the xed coordinate system xyzg is connected to the frame, too. Moving coordinate systems xyz2 , xyz3 , and xyzpi are rigidly connected to the ring gear, the pinion, and
the ith cylindrical tooth, respectively. The ring gear rotates about the z2 -axis with a constant
angular velocity. The pinion rotates about the z3 -axis. For convenience of the coordinate transformation between the cylindrical teeth of the pinion, a moving coordinate system xyzpi attached
to the ith cylindrical tooth is set up and angle bi is comprised between yp1 and ypi axes. Origins of
and o2 are coincident and located at the center of the ring gear. Origins og and o3 are coincident
and located at the center of the pinion. Origin opi is coincident and located at the center of the ith

Fig. 4. Cylindrical tooth.

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H.-S. Yan, T.-S. Lai / Mechanism and Machine Theory 37 (2002) 757767

cylindrical tooth base surface. Axis xf is parallel with axis xg . The directions of axes zf , zg , z2 , z3 ,
and zpi are all perpendicular to the paper. Angles /2 and /3 are the angular displacements of the
ring gear and the pinion, respectively. Positive /2 and /3 are measured clockwise with respect to
axis z2 and axis z3 , respectively. The distance between the axes of rotation of the ring gear and the
pinion is e. The distance between the center of the ring gear and the center of the ring-gear-tooth is
r2 . The distance between the center of the pinion and the center of the cylindrical tooth is r3 . The
thickness of the cylindrical tooth is t. And, the cylindrical tooth is a circle of radius q.

4. Coordinate transformation matrices

Coordinate transformation is a well-known and powerful technique for studying the motion of
a rigid body associated with dierent coordinate systems. According to the denition of all parameters and coordinate systems, we have the following transformation matrices of the coordinate
systems by applying homogeneous coordinates and 4  4 matrices for coordinate transformation
[19,20]:
2
3
cos /2
sin /2 0 0


 6  sin /2 cos /2 0 0 7
7;
M2;f 6
1
4
0
0
1 05
0
0
0 1
3
2
1 0 0 0


 60 1 0 e7
7
2
Mf ;g 6
4 0 0 1 0 5;
0 0 0 1
3
2
cos /3  sin /3 0 0


 6 sin /3
cos /3 0 0 7
7;
3
Mg;3 6
4 0
0
1 05
0
0
0 1
2
3
1 0 0 0


 6 0 1 0 r3 7
7
M3;p1 6
4
4 0 0 1 0 5;
0 0 0 1
3
2
cos bi  sin bi 0
r3 sin bi


 6 sin bi
cos bi 0 q r3 cos bi 7
7;
5
Mp1;pi 6
5
4 0
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
where matrix Mi;j  represents the transformation matrix from system j to system i. By transforming the coordinate systems from xyzpi to xyz2 , the transformation matrix can be expressed
as

H.-S. Yan, T.-S. Lai / Mechanism and Machine Theory 37 (2002) 757767

cos/2  /3  bi sin/2  /3  bi


 6  sin/2  /3  bi cos/2  /3  bi
M2;pi 6
4
0
0
0
0

0
0
1
0

763

r3 sin/2  /3  bi e sin /2
r3 cos/2  /3  bi e cos /2 7
7:
5
0
1
6

In homogeneous coordinates, the position vector P can be represented by a column as

P px

py

pz

1 T ;

where px , py , and pz are the components of position vector P in x, y, and z, respectively. Superscript T means that PT is the transpose P.
In coordinate system xyzpi , for the pinion with cylindrical tooth-prole, the homogeneous
coordinates position vector of the ith cylindrical teeth can be expressed as
Rpi q cos h

q sin h

1 ;

where 0 6 h 6 2p, 0 6 u 6 t, and Ri denotes the surface equation in coordinate system i. By

transforming the equation of the cylindrical teeth coordinate systems from xyzpi to xyz2 , the
surface equation of the cylindrical teeth can be expressed as
Rpi2 M2;pi Rpi A
where

Rij

1 T ;

denotes the ith surface equation in coordinate system j, and

A q cos/2  /3  bi  h r3 sin/2  /3  bi e sin /2 ;

B q sin/2  /3  bi  h r3 cos/2  /3  bi e cos /2 :
Let / /3 and m /2 =/3 , then Eq. (9) becomes
Rpi2 C

D u

1 T ;

10

where / is the generated parameter of motion, and

C q cosm  1/  bi  h r3 sinm  1/  bi  e sinm/;
D q sinm  1/  bi  h r3 cosm  1/  bi  e cosm/:
Here, / and bi are the parameters of the family, and h and u are parameters on the particular
surface of the family.

5. Equation of meshing
In planetary gear trains, the meshing between the teeth of the ring gear and pinion can be
identied as a conjugate contact pair. Therefore, the geometry design of the planetary mechanism
requires to determine the conjugate surface that satises specic conjugate relations, and the
theory of dierential geometry is applied to nd the equation of meshing [2022].
Consider coordinate systems xyz2 , xyz3 , xyzpi , and xyzf that are connected to the ring
gear, the pinion, the ith cylindrical tooth, and the frame, respectively. When u and h are the

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H.-S. Yan, T.-S. Lai / Mechanism and Machine Theory 37 (2002) 757767

parameters of the tooth-prole, the ith cylindrical tooth is provided with a regular surface Rpi that
is represented in coordinate system xyz2 as follows:
Rpi u; h;

oRpi oRpi

6 0:
ou
oh

11

The gears must transform prescribed motions being in line contact at every instant. The location
and orientation of gear axes and function /2 /3 are given. Here, /2 and /3 are the angles of
rotation of the ring gear and pinion, respectively. The required type of contact of pinion tooth
surfaces (at a line at every instant) can be provided if the tooth surface of the ring gear is determined as the envelope to the family of surfaces, R/ , that is generated in coordinate system
xyz2 by surface Rpi . Henceforth, we consider the necessary and sucient conditions of existence
of surface R2 . The necessary conditions of existence of surface R2 provide that surface R2 (if it
exists) is in tangency with surface Rpi . The sucient conditions of existence of surface R2 provide
that surface R2 is indeed in tangency with surface Rpi and surface R2 is a regular surface.
From the necessary conditions of existence of surfaces viewpoint, the pinion is with the cylindrical tooth that is a ruled developable surface. Therefore, the triple vector product of dierential geometry can be applied to deal with the equation of meshing [18,20]. From the theory of
envelope for a one-parameter family of surfaces [11], the equation of meshing is obtained as
follows:

oRpi2 oRpi2

ou
oh

oRpi2
0:
o/

12

Eq. (12) relates the curvilinear coordinates u; h of surface Rpi with the generalized parameter of
motion, /. This equation is called equation of meshing.
By dierentiating Eq. (10) with respect to the u, h, and /, respectively, we obtain:
oRpi2
0 0 1 0 T ;
ou
3
2
q sinm  1/  bi  h
6 q cosm  1/  bi  h 7
oRpi2
7;
6
5
4
0
oh
0
oRpi2
E
o/

0 T ;

13

14

15

where
E qm  1 sinm  1/  bi  h r3 m  1 cosm  1/  bi  em cosm/;
F qm  1 cosm  1/  bi  h  r3 m  1 sinm  1/  bi   em sinm/:
Substituting Eqs. (13)(15) into Eq. (12), we have
r3 m  1 cos h em cos/ bi h 0:

16

H.-S. Yan, T.-S. Lai / Mechanism and Machine Theory 37 (2002) 757767

765

It is easy to verify that equation of meshing provides two solutions for considering as given /.
Using Eq. (16), we have
tan h

r3 m  1 em cos/ bi
:
em sin/ bi

17

Eq. (17) provides two solutions for h that dier from each other by 180. This means that two
envelopes exist at any instant.

6. Design examples
When two gears are in mesh at every instant in a certain interval, their tooth surfaces may touch
each other either at a point or along a curve. Roughly speaking, two tooth surfaces moving with
linear contact are said to be conjugate. For avoiding interference in gear driving, the equation of
meshing must be considered so that the envelope of surface R2 to the family of cylindrical toothprole is determined with Eqs. (10) and (16) considered simultaneously. The envelops are called
the conjugate surfaces of the pinion tooth. A computer program is developed to solve the
equation of meshing and the surface equations.
Figs. 5 and 6 show the solid modeling of the ring gear and the pinion. The ring gear is generated
by the pinion-teeth. And, the pinion is with cylindrical teeth. Fig. 5 shows the solid modeling for
speed ratio equal to 10, Ro 28 mm, Z2 11, Z3 10, e 1:6 mm, r3 20 mm, q 4 mm,
t 15 mm, bi 0, and 0 6 / 6 2p, where Z2 , Z3 , and Ro denoted the tooth numbers of the ring
gear, the tooth numbers of the pinion, and the outside radius of the ring gear, respectively. Fig. 6
shows the solid modeling for speed ratio equal to 15, Ro 36 mm, Z2 16, Z3 15, e 1:6 mm,
r3 28 mm, q 4 mm, t 15 mm, bi 0, and 0 6 / 6 2p. The conjugate surfaces of the ring
gear can be generated by the pinion-teeth if we change the speed ratio, eccentric distance e, the
pinion and ring gear dimensions, and the tooth numbers of pinion and ring gear. Therefore, we
can design required speed ratios of internal elementary planetary gear trains in which the planet
gear is with cylindrical tooth. And, the gear trains are very compact.

Fig. 5. Design example 1.

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H.-S. Yan, T.-S. Lai / Mechanism and Machine Theory 37 (2002) 757767

Fig. 6. Design example 2.

7. Conclusions
This work derives the surface equation of a proposed novel elementary planetary gear trains
with cylindrical tooth-proles. We use the triple vector product of dierential geometry to deal
with the equation of meshing. When the cross-section of the tooth is round, for convenience of
geometric analysis, the pitch radius is replaced by gear radius that is the distance between the gear
center and the tooth center. The mathematical expressions of the envelope equations are applied
to design the internal elementary planetary gear trains in which the pinion is with cylindrical
tooth-proles. We further develop a program to solve the envelope equations that can design
required speed ratios of the internal elementary planetary gear trains. Two solid modeling examples are presented for demonstrating the procedures of surface generating of the proposed
elementary planetary gear trains.

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