Mechanical Power

Transmission
1
Dr Asim Khwaja
Power Transmission
• Power transmission is the movement of energy from its place of
generation to a location where it is applied to performing useful
work.

• .Three ways of transmitting mechanical power:

• Gears
• Belts & pulleys
• Chains & sprockets
Means of Power Transmission
• Gears
• A gear is a component within a
transmission device that transmits
rotational force to another gear or device.

• Gears are wheels with teeth.

• They mesh together and make things turn

Means of Power
Transmission
• Belts and Pulleys
• A belt is a looped strip of inextensible
band that runs over two pulleys,
mechanically linking rotating shafts.

• Chains and sprockets

• Series of chain links with a net of
toothed sprockets.
Belts & Pulleys - Advantages
• Cost-effective.
• High efficiency. For new belts – 95-98%.
• Simple to use.
• Do not require parallel or well-aligned shafts.
• Low maintenance cost.
• More economical for large distance b/w shafts.
• Damp out noise and vibration.
• Load fluctuations are shock absorbed increasing the machinery
life.
Belts & Pulleys - Disadvantages
• Not compact.
• Limited speed – around 35 m/s.
• Shorter life time – wear out easily.
• Operating temperatures restricted to -35 to 85o C.
• Angular velocity is not constant causing stretching, slipping, and wearing.
• Limited power transmission of up to 370 kW increasing heat build-up.
• Usually inflict a heavy load on shafts and bearings.
• The velocity ratio varies because of belt slip.
• May need an idler pulley for stretching compensation.
Chains & Sprockets - Advantages
• No slip.
• Unlike belt drives, angular velocity remains constant.
• High velocity ratio of up to 8:1.
• More power compared to belts.
• Low maintenance cost.
• High power transmission efficiency of up to 98%.
• Chain drives do not deteriorate due to sunlight or age.
• Lower load on shaft than belt drives.
Chains & Sprockets -
Disadvantages
• Higher initial installation cost than belt.
• Production cost is also higher.
• Need regular lubrication.
• Driving and driven shafts must be perfectly aligned and parallel.
• Noisy and can cause vibrations.
• Lower load capacity and service life compared to gear drives.
Gears - Advantages
• Non-slip drives.
• Large and constant velocity ratio of 60:1 can be obtained by
using gear trains with minimum space.
• Mechanically strong for lifting higher loads.
• Longer service life compared to other means.
• Transmit large power.
• High power transmission efficiency.
• Can transmit motion even b/w non-parallel intersecting shafts.
• Most compact compared to the other means.
Gears - Disadvantages
• Cannot be used for shafts with large center distances.
• Not ideal for large velocities.
• Require regular lubrication.
• Noise and vibrations are increased at higher speed.
• Less economical compared belt and chain drives.
• Multiple gears increase the machine’s overall weight.
• No flexibility.
• Not suitable for transmitting power over large distances.
Gears
• In the world of mechanical power transmission gear drives have
a very special and prominent place.

• The most preferred technology when you need to transmit:

• Considerable power
• Over short distance
• With constant velocity ratio
Gears - Applications
• To reverse the direction of rotation.

• To increase or decrease the speed of rotation.

• To increase or decrease the torque.

• To move rotational motion to a different axis.

• To keep the rotation of two axis synchronized.

Gears – Speed vs Torque
• Sports cars go fast (have
speed), but cannot pull any
weight.

• Big trucks can pull heavy loads

(have power), but cannot go
fast.

• Gears are one of the elements

that cause this.
Types of Gears
Types of Gears
• According to the position of axes of the shafts:
• Parallel
• Spur Gear
• Helical Gear
• Rack and Pinion

• Intersecting
• Bevel Gear

• Non-intersecting and Non-parallel

• Worm and Worm Gear
Spur Gears
• Teeth of the gear is parallel to the axis of
rotation (shaft).

• Gears are in the same plane.

• Driver and driven shafts are parallel to each

other.

• Used in electric screwdriver, oscillating

sprinkler, windup alarm clock, etc.

• Internal and external spur gears.

Spur Gears
Helical Gears
• The teeth are cut at an angle to the face of the gear.

• This makes the teeth engagement of two meshing gears gradual

rather than sudden (as in spur gear).

• Due to gradual engagement of teeth, the helical gears operate

much more smoothly and quietly than spur gears.

• If the angle of the gear teeth are correct, they can be mounted on
perpendicular shafts, adjusting the rotation angle by 90 degrees.

• Any gear’s teeth can be made helical.

Helical Gears
Herringbone
Gears
• To avoid axial thrush, two
helical gears of opposite
hand can be mounted side
by side, to cancel resulting
thrust forces.

• Herringbone gears are

mostly used on heavy
machinery.
Rack & Pinion
• Used to convert
rotation (from pinion)
into linear motion (of
the rack).

• A perfect example of
this is the steering
system on many cars.
Rack and Pinion
Bevel Gears
• Useful for changing the direction of a shaft’s
rotation.

• They are usually mounted on shafts that are 90o

apart but can be designed to work at other
angles as well.

• The teeth on bevel gears can be straight, spiral,

or hypoid.

• Locomotives, marine applications, automobiles,

printing presses, power plants, etc.
Bevel Gears
Bevel Gears
Worm and Worm Gears
• Used when large gear reductions are needed.

• It is common for worm gears to have reductions

of 20:1 and even up to 300:1 or greater.

• The worm can easily turn the gear, but the gear
cannot turn the worm.

• Used widely in material handling, transportation

machinery, machine tools, automobiles etc.
Gear Trains
• A gear train is two or more gears working together by meshing
their teeth and turning each other in a system to generate
power and speed.

• It reduces speed and increases torque by many fold.

• DC motors are almost always used with gear trains for this
purpose.
Types of Gear Trains
• Simple gear train.

• Compound gear train.

• Planetary gear train.

Simple Gear Train
• The most common type of gear
train.

• A gear pair connects parallel

shafts with teeth that are spur,
helical or herringbone.

• Only one gear may rotate about

a single axis.
Compound Gear Train
• For large velocities or torques.

• Two or more gears may rotate

about a single axis.
Planetary Gear Train (Epicyclic
Gear Train)
• Here, the blue gear has six times the diameter of the yellow
gear.

• The size of the red gear is not important because it is just

there to reverse the direction of rotation.

• Here, the yellow gear (sun) engages all three red gears
(planets) simultaneously.

• All three are attached to a plate (the planet carrier), and they
engage the inside of the blue gear (the ring) instead of the
outside.
Planetary Gear Train (Epicyclic
Gear Train)
• Because there are three red gears instead of one, this gear
train is extremely rugged.

• Planetary gear trains can produce different gear ratios

depending on which gear you use as the input, where gear you
use as the output, and which one you hold still.

• They have higher gear ratios.

Planetary Gear Train (Epicyclic
Gear Train)
• They are popular for automatic transmission in automobiles.

• They are also used in bicycles for controlling power of pedaling

automatically or manually.

• They are also used for power train between internal combustion
engine and an electric motor.