Name : Pratik Walimbe

ME3058 : DESIGN OF MACHINE ELEMENTS

Roll No. : 161206 GR No. : 161206

DESIGN OF CHAIN DRIVES Class : T.Y.B.Tech Division : S

Date : 28 January 2019

 Introduction :-

Belt and rope drives are prone to slipping. In order to avoid slipping, steel chains are used. The chains
are made up of number of rigid links which are hinged together by pin joints in order to provide the necessary
flexibility for wrapping round the driving and driven wheels. These wheels have projecting teeth of special profile
and fit into the corresponding recesses in the links of the chain as shown in Figure 1. The toothed wheels are known
as sprocket wheels or simply sprockets. The sprockets and the chain are thus constrained to move together without
slipping and ensures perfect velocity ratio.

Figure 1 : Sprockets and chain

The chains are mostly used to transmit motion and power from one shaft to another, when the centre distance
between their shafts is short such as in bicycles, motor cycles, agricultural machinery, conveyors, rolling mills,
road rollers etc. The chains may also be used for long centre distance of up to 8 metres. The chains are used for
velocities up to 25 m/s and for power up to 110 kW. In some cases, higher power transmission is also possible.

 Advantages and Disadvantages of Chain Drives over Belt and Rope Drives :-

Sr.No. Advantages Disadvantages

1) As no slip takes place during chain drive, hence The production cost of chains is relatively high.
perfect velocity ratio is obtained.

2) Since the chains are made of metal, therefore they The chain drive needs accurate mounting and
occupy less space in width than a belt or rope drive. careful maintenance, particularly lubrication
and slack adjustment.

Design of Machine Elements Design of Chain Drives

 3) It may be used for both long as well as short The chain drive has velocity fluctuations
distances. especially when unduly stretched.

4) It gives a high transmission efficiency (up to 98

percent).

5) It gives less load on the shafts.

6) It has the ability to transmit motion to several shafts

by one chain only.

7) It transmits more power than belts.

8) It permits high speed ratio of 8 to 10 in one step.

9) It can be operated under adverse temperature and

atmospheric conditions.

 Terminologies used in Chain Drives :

The following terms are frequently used in chain drive.

a) Pitch of chain : It is the distance between the hinge centre of a

link and the corresponding hinge centre of the adjacent link, as
shown in Figure 2. It is usually denoted by p.

b) Pitch circle diameter of chain sprocket : It is the diameter of

the circle on which the hinge centres of the chain lie, when the
chain is wrapped round a sprocket as shown in Figure 2. The
points A, B, C, and D are the hinge centres of the chain and the
circle drawn through these centres is called pitch circle and its
diameter (D) is known as pitch circle diameter.
Figure 2 : Terms used in the chain drive

Figure 3 : Construction of Roller Chain

Design of Machine Elements Design of Chain Drives

 Chain Drives - Potential Failure Modes :

a) Figure 4 illustrates some of the more commonly used power transmission chain configurations.

Figure 4 : Common types of power and motion-transfer chain configurations.

b) All precision power transmission chains are manufactured by pin-connecting a continuous series of links
which sequentially mesh with sprocket teeth as the chain loops around two or more sprockets.
c) Each pin-and-bushing joint articulates as the chain passes around the sprockets; hence each joint act as a
journal and sleeve bearing.
d) Just as for any other journal-and-sleeve bearing application, proper lubrication of the sliding pin-and bushing
interface is crucial to achieving the potential wear life of the chain.
e) Ironically, periodic maintenance schedules, which are intended to clean and re-lubricate chains to enhance
wear life, may sometimes actually reduce wear life because of local lubricant starvation unless a conscientious
effort is made to properly reintroduce lubricant to the relatively inaccessible pin-and-bushing interfaces.
f) Three different options for lubrication are : Type I — manual or drip lubrication
Type II — oil bath or slinger-disk lubrication
Type III — directed oil stream or pressure spray lubrication.
g) Chain manufacturers often recommend Type I for applications in which linear chain velocity is between about
170 and 650 ft/min, Type II for applications in which linear chain velocity is between about 650 and 1500
ft/min, and Type III if linear chain velocity exceeds about 1500 ft/min.
h) Oil flow rates required for effective lubrication range from about gal/min for a chain drive transmitting 50
horsepower to about 10 gal/min for drives transmitting 2000 horsepower.

Design of Machine Elements Design of Chain Drives

 The tight side chain tension forces are transferred to the sprocket
teeth through rollers or through toothed link plates.
 As the moving chain passes around the sprockets, the tensile
force in the chain fluctuates from the tight side tension to the
slack side tension, and back, for each chain pass.
 At chain pass speeds above about 3000 ft/min, centrifugal forces
may also add significantly to the tensile forces in the chain.
 In addition, superposed higher frequency fluctuations in chain
tension may be caused by a kinematic consequence of Figure 5 : Tent-shaped design-acceptable region
engagement between the chain links and the sprocket teeth. This bounded by limiting failure curves for precision
kinematic behavior is known as ‘chordal action’. roller chain.
 Fatigue, therefore, becomes a primary failure mode candidate for
power transmission chains. Fatigue failures may be generated in the roller-bushing link plates, toothed link plates,
roller bushings, or tooth surfaces (surface fatigue).
 In addition, abrasive wear, adhesive wear, fretting wear, or galling between the bushing and pin may be potential
failure modes in some circumstances.
 When wear between pins and bushings or rollers and teeth produces enough dimensional change to cause rollers
to climb too high on the sprocket teeth, the chain may skip from one tooth to the next. For wear-based chain
elongations of more than about 3 percent, chain replacement is usually necessary.
A sketch showing the probable failure regions as a function of power and speed is shown in Figure 5.

 Chain Drives – Materials :

a) Based on previous failure mode discussion, candidate materials for power transmission chains should have good
strength (especially good fatigue strength), high stiffness, good wear resistance, good resistance to surface
fatigue, good resilience, and in some applications good corrosion resistance, as well as reasonable cost.
b) Materials meeting these criteria64 include steels and steel alloys, cast iron, malleable iron, stainless steel alloys,
and, for special applications, alloys of brass, bronze and certain polymeric materials.
c) Chain components may be pressed, cast, forged, machined, or welded to obtain the desired geometry. Chain parts
may be heat treated or not heat treated, as required for strength.
d) Carburizing and case hardening, through hardening, induction hardening, or plating may be used to enhance wear
resistance or provide corrosion protection. In a standard commercially available roller chain the link plates are
typically carbon steel, heat treated if the application is demanding, and edges may be induction hardened to
improve sliding wear resistance.
e) Bushings usually are carbon steel or alloy steel, case hardened or through hardened. In certain applications,
however, bushings may be made of heat-treated stainless steel, bronze, graphite, or other materials.
f) Pins are usually made of carbon steel or alloy steel carburized and case hardened, or through hardened.
g) Rollers are generally made of carbon or alloy steels, carburized and surface hardened or through hardened, as the
application requires. Sprocket teethm usually steel, are often surface hardened to about Rockwell C 59-63.

Design of Machine Elements Design of Chain Drives

 Table 1 : Dimensions of American Standard Roller Chains — Single Strand Source : Compiled from ANSI B29.1-1975.

Design of Machine Elements Design of Chain Drives

Design of Machine Elements Design of Chain Drives
 Table 2 : Rated Horsepower Capacity of Single-Strand Single-Pitch Roller Chain for a 17-Tooth Sprocket

Table 3 : Single-Strand Sprocket Tooth Counts Available from Morse Chain Company, Ithaca, NY, Type B hub sprockets

Design of Machine Elements Design of Chain Drives

 Table 4 : Tooth correction factors

Table 5 : Multiple-strand factors

REFERENCES

[1] Richard Budynas, Shigley's Mechanical Engineering Design, Tata McGraw Hill Education, 2014.

[2] Jack A. Collins, Henry R. Busby, George H. Staab, Mechanical Design of Machine Elements and Machines : A
Failure Prevention Perspective, John Wiley and Sons, 2010.

[3] Robert C. Juvinall, Kurt M. Marshek, Fundamentals of Machine Component Design, 5th Edition, John Wiley
and Sons, 2011.

Design of Machine Elements Design of Chain Drives