Student

Gears and Transmission

How can transmissions be designed

so that they provide the force, speed
and direction required and how efficient
will the design be?
Contents
Initial Problem Statement 2

Narrative 3-18

Notes 19-22

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Simple Gears and

Transmission
Appendices 23-25

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wrong way or the rotating shaft may be at a right

are driven by a motor of some sort. In early

angle to the desired direction.

technologies this motor could be as simple

In order to produce an appropriate speed and

as a hand-crank, a water wheel or a windmill.

torque from a motor, gears are often employed.

Modern technologies use electric motors or

A series of gears connecting a motor to the part

a combustion engine. The motor produces a

of a machine that requires moving is called a

circular motion. The motor generally spins at

transmission.

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Many devices with moving components

a given speed and provides a given amount

of turning force, or torque. In many situations
though, the motor speed or torque is not
appropriate for the machine it is driving. In some
case the direction of rotation may even be the

How can transmissions be designed

so that they provide the force, speed
and direction required and how
efficient will the design be?

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Initial Problem Statement

Gears and Transmission

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Simple Gears and

Transmission

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Narrative
Introduction
Discussion

Why would a motor spinning at 10 revolutions per minute (rpm) be inappropriate

for direct connection to the second hand of a clock?

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Figure 1.

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A common gear design is the spur gear. Two inter-meshed spur gears are shown in the diagram
below. From this point forward in this activity the word gear will be used to mean spur gear.

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Figure 2.

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Activity 1

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Gears and Transmission

What physical characteristics of these two gears are important?

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Zooming in on the point of contact

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Figure 3.

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There are three important numbers that characterise a gear

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Pitch radius, r:
The pitch radius is the radius of the circle that passes through the points where two gears mesh.
This circle is called the pitch circle and the pitch circles of two connected gears meet at a single
point.
Pitch, p:
The pitch is the distance around the pitch circle between the same two points on two adjacent teeth.

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Number of teeth, n:
This is self-explanatory!

Discussion

In the above diagram the pitch radius of the large gear is r1 while that of the
small gear is r2. How far apart should you place the axles on which the gears are
mounted?

Activity 2

The pitch of two gears must be the same regardless of the gear size for them to
mesh correctly. Write an expression relating the pitch radius, r, the pitch, p, and the
number of teeth, n.

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The following diagram shows the same two gears.

Gears and Transmission

2. Characterising gears

Student

3. Connecting gears
The circumference of the pitch circle of a gear of radius r is given by:

c = 2r

If the pitch of the gears used is p then the number of teeth is given by

2r
p

For a gear set using a fixed

pitch, p, can the gears
have any radius?

Activity 3

Discussion

Can a gear have any number

of teeth?

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Gears and Transmission

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The two gears below have pitch radii of r1 = 30 mm and r2 = 15 mm. The larger
gear has 20 teeth and the smaller gear has 10 teeth. Verify that these gears have the
same pitch.

Figure 4.

Activity 4

The larger gear turns clockwise through one full turn. How many times will the small
gear turn and in which direction? First relate the answer to the radii of the gears, then
the number of teeth.

Multimedia

The resource Gears and Transmission Interactive is available to demonstrate the coupling
of connected gears.
See appendix 1.

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Discussion

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n=

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Recall the problem of driving the second hand of a clock using a motor that turns at
10 rpm. Using the same pitch as calculated above and noting a minimum number of
teeth of 10, how many teeth would you select for the gear on the motor and the gear
on the second hand? What radius would these gears have? Draw a scale diagram of
your result.

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Activity 5

Discussion

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Do you think that there will be:

(a) a small gear on the motor and a large gear on the second hand
(b) equal sized gears on both motor and second hand
(c) a large gear on the motor and a small gear on the second hand

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Recall, the ratio of the turns gear 1 will make, N1, relative to the number gear 2 will make, N2, is
related to the ratio of the number of teeth through

N
n
1

N2

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4. Connecting three gears

2

n1

If the number of turns is measured per unit time (i.e. you are measuring the rpm), then this
expression gives you the ratio of the speeds of the two gears.

Activity 6

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Discussion

Figure 5.

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What do you notice about

the result?

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Consider the following set of gears. The largest gear turns clockwise through one full
turn. How many times will the smallest gear turn and in which direction?

Discussion

What is the relationship

between the direction of the
final gear and the number of
gears?

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Discussion

Gears and Transmission

Figure 6.

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Can you find a shortcut when there are many connected gears?

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Consider the following set of gears. The largest gear turns clockwise through one
full turn. How many times will gear 3 turn and in which direction? How does this
compare with the previous result?

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Activity 7

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5. Using two gears on the same axle

Activity 8

Discussion

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When determining gear direction is it the number of gears that matters or the
number of gear axles?

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Figure 7.

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Look at the following gears. Gear 1 has 10 teeth and turns clockwise. Gear 2 has
20 teeth and is connected to gear 3, which has 10 teeth, by an axle. Gear 4 has 20
teeth. How many times will gear 4 turn for each turn of gear 1?

In the last activity you saw that connecting two gears with a different number of teeth leads to an
increase or decrease in the speed with which one rotates relative to the other. The ratio of the turns
gear 1 will make, N1, relative to the number gear 2 will make, N2, is related to the ratio of the number
of teeth through
N1 n2

=

N2

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6. Torque transmission

n1

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Figure 8.

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Case 2, large motor wheel, small application wheel:

Figure 9.

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It was seen that a large gear will always turn more slowly than a small gear so that:
Case 1, small motor wheel, large application wheel:

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Figure 10.

The torque, T, is given by the force F acting a perpendicular distance d from the point of rotation is
given by:
T = Fd

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Activity 9

Write an expression for the torque supplied by the axle of the large gear and the
torque supplied by the axle of the small gear. Find the ratio of the torques and relate
this to the number of teeth on each gear. Next relate the ratio of the speed of rotation
to the ratio of the torques.

Discussion

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What does the result mean?

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See "Torque" on
page 19

Gears and Transmission

However, gears change more than just the speed one turns with respect to another. Because they
change the distance from the axle about which the force is applied they change the torque that is
applied.

Whenever torque is transferred from one shaft to another using gears there is a loss of available
torque due to friction between the gears and in the bearings that hold the axles. For the spur gears
used in this example each gear pair will transmit 90% of the torque applied on the driven side. This is
the gear efficiency.

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7. Transmission efficiency
Activity 10

Figure 11.

Activity 11

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Look at the diagram below. Gear 1 supplies a torque of 15 Nm. If the gears are 90%
efficient what torque will be available on the shaft of gear 3?

Discussion

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First perform the calculation without losses.

Activity 12

Write an expression for the total efficiency of a gear set of g gears with an efficiency
of f per gear pair.

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Look at the diagram below. Gear 1 supplies a torque of 10 Nm. If the gears are 90%
efficient what torque will be available on the shaft of gear 2?

A gear set has 10 gears with each pair having 90% efficiency. The number of teeth
on both the first and last gear is 30. A torque of 10 Nm is applied to the shaft of the
first gear, what torque will be available on the shaft of the last gear?

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Activity 13

Discussion

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Figure 12.

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Do you think this is an efficient transmission?

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The previous activities have shown that gears of different size change not only the speed of rotation
but also the torque applied. For two connected gears with n1 and n2 teeth the following have been
found

N
n
Ratio of rotation speed: 1 = 2

N2

T1 n1
=
T2 n2

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Notice how torque increases as speed decreases. This characteristic is exploited in the design
of the gearbox for a car. A high torque produces a high acceleration but high torques can only
be produced at lower rotational speeds. This is why 1st gear of a car is used for pulling away as it
produces the most torque. However, the limit of the engines speed is reached while the car is still
moving at a reasonably low speed. To avoid this, the drivers changes into a higher gear. Higher
gears do not provide as much torque but high accelerations are not usually required once the car is
in motion. In this way the gearing is selected to produce the appropriate torque and rotation speed
for the cars speed.

Gear

Transmission ratio
3.77

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The following table gives a list of typical gear box transmission ratios for the different gears of a car
as would be quoted in a sales brochure

2.05

rd

1.32

th

0.95

th

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2nd

The transmission ratio gives the ratio of engine speed into the gear box to transmission speed out of
the gear box. The above shows that for this car in 1st gear, the engine turns through 3.77 revolutions
for every turn of the transmission shaft out of the gear box.

Activity 14

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The tyre on the car has an outer diameter of 0.62 m. If the engine revs to 6,000 rpm
at what speed would the car be travelling in 5th gear? Give your answer in ms-1 and
mph and discuss the result.

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Ratio of torque supplied:

n1

Gears and Transmission

Student

8. Gear boxes

The last activity showed that the transmission ratios published for cars cannot be the ratio of the
engine speed to the wheel speed. In fact they are not as the transmission shaft does not drive the
wheels directly. Instead it feeds another gearbox called the differential gearbox before connecting to
the wheels.

Student

9. Gear boxes - part 2

See Differential
gear box page 20

For the car considered here the differential gear box will reduce the speed by a factor 4.4. This
means that the gear box characteristics are

2.05

rd

1.32

th

0.95

th

0.77

4
5

16.588
9.02

5.808

4.18

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nd

To wheel ratio

Activity 15

Gear
st

2nd

Speed (ms-1)

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The tyre on the car has an out diameter of 0.62 m. If the engine revs to 6,000 rpm
what is the maximum speed the car could travel in each gear? Give your answer in
ms-1 and mph to 1 d.p.
Speed (mph)

4th
5th

Discussion

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Relate the results to how a

car is driven

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Discussion

How would you make a

reverse gear?

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3.77

Gears and Transmission

Transmission ratio

1st

on

Gear

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10. Do all gears turn the same way?

You have previously concluded that if there is an even number of gears the output rotation is
reversed and if there is an odd number the output rotation is not reversed.

Discussion

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Figure 13.

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Look at the following capstan winch. If the crank were connected directly to the
winch body with the rope wrapped around it which way would it turn?

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Figure 15.

Discussion

If the inner gear, which is connected to the crank turns clockwise which way will
the outer gear turn?

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Seen from above the gears look like this:

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Internal gears are used to connect the crank to the winch body

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Notes
Torque
A torque is the turning moment of a force about a point of rotation.
Rigid body

F
O

Figure 16.

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F = 100 N , d = 3 cm T = 100 3 = 300 Ncm

F = 10 N , d = 30 cm T = 10 30 = 300 Ncm

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Case 1:
Case 2:

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This is useful when, for example, a lid is stuck on a jar. If you cannot twist it off by hand (gripping the
lid at it edge so the distance is the radius of the jar) you can use a device than gives you a longer
lever it lets you increase d, beyond the radius of the jar lid so that you can apply a higher torque
and open the jar.

Figure 17.

For a spinning object a high torque will lead to a high angular acceleration if applied in the direction
of rotation or a high angular deceleration if applied against the direction of rotation. (A torque is a
vector, like a linear force, and has both magnitude and direction. In the case of a torque the direction
states whether it acts to turn clockwise or anticlockwise.)

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Gears and Transmission

T = Fd

The same torque can be achieved by two different sets of forces and differences. For example you
can apply a large force at a short distance from the point of rotation or a small force at a larger
distance. Two torques will be the same if the product T = Fd is the same:

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The torque, T, of the force F acting a perpendicular distance d from the point of rotation, O, is given
by:

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Notes
Differential gear box

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Figure 18.

The wheels on the outside will have to travel further than those on the inside and so must spin faster.
This would be impossible if both the wheels were connected to a single axle so instead there are
separate axles for each wheel. This causes a problem for driving the axles though; how can you
make two axles spin at different speeds from a single drive shaft?

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This problem is solved by using a differential gear box to connect the drive shaft to the wheels.

Figure 19.

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Consider a car driving in a curved path.

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When a corner is turned the inside wheel slows down and the outside wheel speeds up. This causes
the green gear to rotate. The blue driving gear continues to rotate at the given speed but its speed
relative to the red drive gears in now modified by the speed of the green gear thus allowing the
driving of both wheels at different speeds.

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The green gear is free to rotate and the red gears connect to the wheels. When the blue gear is
driven in the direction shown by the engine the red and green gears lock which turns the red gears
in the same direction as the blue gear.

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The inside can be shown schematically as below.

Student

Notes
Converting speeds
To convert a speed in ms-1 to mph the following steps are taken.
Converting ms-1 to metres per hour:

1 ms 1 = 1 60 = 60 metres per minute = 1 60 60 = 3600 metres per hour

Convert metres per hour to kilometres per hour (kph)

Convert kph to mph.

1 kph = 0.6214mph, so

3.6 kph = 3.6 0.6214 = 2.24 mph ( 2 d.p.)

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Gears and Transmission

So to convert ms-1 to mph multiply the speed in ms-1 by 2.24.

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3600 metres per hour = 3.6 kph

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Appendix 1
using the interactives
Gears and Transmission Interactive

Figure 22.

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The display shows a 20 tooth gear connected to a 10 tooth gear. The red, green and yellow dots
on the gears provide a point of reference as the gears turn. When first started the gears rotate at
a speed determined by the position of the red slider at the top of the screen. Moving the slider to
the right increases speed while moving it to the left decreases the speed so that the motion can be
observed more carefully. The motion can be paused at any point by clicking on the pause button at
the bottom right of the screen. A second click of this button resumes motion.
You can use the display to observe the relationship between the number of rotations made by
the small gear in relation to the number made by the large gear. Pause the display in the following
position

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This resource is available to demonstrate the coupling of connected gears.

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Now allow the motion to resume. Notice that when the yellow dot has returned to its original position
(i.e. the small gear has made one complete revolution) the red dot is on the opposite side of the
large gear; the yellow dot now touches the green dot. The large gear has therefore only made half a
revolution.

Figure 24.

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Gears and Transmission

Figure 23.

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You can use the display to observe the relationship between the number of rotations made by
the small gear in relation to the number made by the large gear. Pause the display in the following
position

Student

Appendix 2
mathematical coverage
Use trigonometry and coordinate geometry to solve engineering problems
Solve problems involving angular motion, converting between units of revolution speed

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Use algebra to solve engineering problems

Evaluate expressions
Work with fractions
Solve problems involving ration and proportion
Understand and work with percentages
Use scale drawings
Simplify and evaluate expressions involving the use of indices
Change the subject of a formula

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