Chapter 13

Uses of Gears
 Typically used to condition rotational motion/energy
o Increase speed, decrease torque
o Decrease speed, increase toque
 Can be used to transmit power without changing it (set of gears with a ratio of 1)
 Gear teeth can be used in assembly sequences to turn a part a certain amount [Slide 1-5]

 Can be used to change rotational axis (bevel gears, worm gears)

Worm gear Bevel gears

 Can be used to convert rotational to linear motion (rack and pinion)

Rack and Pinion

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Gear Design Considerations
 Structural Failure
o Bending
o Pitting
o Tooth Deformation
 Corrosion
 Noise
 Vibration
 Backlash (Essentially Allowable Backlash) Backlash is the gap between mating teeth
measured along the circumference of the pitch circle. “Dead-spot” when changing directions.
Leads to impact and potential vibrations [Slide 6]
 Temperature Dependent Phenomenon
o Thermal Expansion
o Material Property Changes
 Packaging Envelope for Gear Train
 Material Selection (related to above issues)
 Required lubrication

Gear Train Design Considerations

What design considerations might we consider when laying out gear trains?
 Allowable product envelope (length  width  height)
 Input/output shaft location and orientation
 Allowable change of direction of rotation [Slides 7-8]

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Involute tooth profile:

This is one of the dominant tooth profiles for spur gears. Benefit, center distance errors do not
affect the velocity ratio (but they change the pressure angle and backlash).
 Increase in center distance increases pressure angle.
 Increase in center distance increases backlash.

out r d
Angular velocity ratio, m v    in   in
in rout d out
1  r d
Torque ratio or mechanical advantage, m a   in   out   out
m v out rin d in
N
Diameter pitch, Pd 
d
 r d N
Angular velocity ratio, m v  out   in   in   in
in rout d out N out

Gear ratio by convention is greater than one and positive.

N gear
Gear ratio, m G  m v or m a (Which ever is greater than one), so Gear ratio, m G 
N pinion

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Looking at tooth size, circular pitch is the is the arc length between the same point of two
consecutive tooth, with respect to the reference circle.

Pc

d
Circular pitch (unit of length), Pc  , N = Number of teeth
N
Base pitch (unit of length): uses base circle as reference, Pb  Pc Cos
Sometimes it is easier to relate to the pitch diameter.
N
Diametral pitch (unit of inverse of length), Pd 
d

In U.S. gears specification is defined by Pd.

1
SI gears specification is defined by module, m 
Pd

Depending on the interacting gears, there may be load sharing between the gear teeth,

Z
Contact ratio, m p 
Pb
Length of action, Z  r
p  a p   rp Cos 
2 2
r
g  a g   rg Cos  CSin  [a = addendum]
2 2

C is the center distance and  is the pressure angle.

m p  1 .2

A contact ratio of 1 means one tooth disengages; the next tooth engages the load is applied to the
tip of the gear tooth, where the bending moment is the largest. Any imperfection in the tooth
spacing can lead to increased vibration, increased noise and vibration in the velocity.

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1. A 39-tooth spur gear is in mesh with an 18-tooth pinion. The pd = 8 and  = 25°. Find the
contact ratio.

Sol. Np = 18, Ng = 39, pd = 8 in–1, pressure angle  = 25°

 
Circular pitch, p c    0.393 in
pd 8
Base pitch, p b  p c Cos  0.393  Cos25  0.356 in
Np 18
Pinion: Pitch diameter, d p    2.25 in , Pitch radius, rp = ½dp = 1.125 in
pd 8
Ng 39
Gear: Pitch diameter, d g    4.875 in , Pitch radius, rg = ½dg = 2.438 in
pd 8
1 1
Addendum, a    0.125 in
pd 8
Center distance, C = rp + rg = 1.125 + 2.438 = 3.563 in

Length of action,

Z r
p  a   rp Cos 
2 2
r g  a   rg Cos  CSin 
2 2

 1.125  0.1252  1.125  Cos252  2.438  0.1252  2.438  Cos252

 3.563  Sin 25
 0.516 in
Z 0.516
Contact ratio, m p    1.45
Pb 0.356

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