Planetary Gear System in Motion

Ryan Tarr
Skyler Ferguson
Rose-Hulman Institute of
Technology

February 12, 2019

We will discover what output-input ratios
exist in a single planetary gear set.

Solid Model

Simulation

Validation
The planetary gear system consists of 4 main
components.
 A planetary gear system assigns a “job” to
each component.
Components Jobs

Sun Gear Input

Ring Gear Output

Planet Carrier Stationary

 We analyzed three of the six possible
combinations
1 2 3

Input: Sun Gear Input: Planet Carrier Input: Ring Gear

Output: Planet Carrier Output: Ring Gear Output: Sun Gear
Stationary: Ring Gear Stationary: Sun Gear Stationary: Planet Carrier
 Our simulations created motion plots for the
output angular velocity.

1 ωout,sim = 267 rpm (1600 deg/sec)

2 ωout,sim = 1200 rpm (7200 deg/sec)

3 ωout,sim = -1600 rpm (-9600 deg/sec)

*ωin = 800 rpm

We validated our simulation results by use of
kinematic equations.

1) vO = 0 ωout,theo = 267 rpm (1600 deg/sec)

2) vA = 0 ωout,theo = 1200 rpm (7200 deg/sec)

3) vP = 0 ωout,theo =-1600 rpm (-9600 deg/sec)

*ωin = 800 rpm

Our simulation results matched our
theoretical calculations.
Case Input Output Stationary ωout,sim ωout,theo ratio
(output/input)

Planet
1 Sun Gear Ring Gear 267 rpm 267 rpm 0.33
Carrier

Planet
2 Ring Gear Sun Gear 1200 rpm 1200 rpm 1.5
Carrier

Planet
3 Ring Gear Sun Gear -1600 rpm -1600 rpm -2.0
Carrier

*ωin = 800 rpm