Application

Analysis
William. A. Bradlev
lOon McV,ittie

Question: I have beard the terms buyer, and user must all have a clear
"saf;ety faeter," "service factor;' and understanding of the meaning and im-
"application fador" used in discuss- plications of'these terms when compar-
ing gear design. Wbat .are these fac- ing gear capacity using different stan-
torsand how dn they di:fter from.one dards. The following definitions are
another? Why are they important? given to explain the difference between
Bil! Bradley & Don McVittie reply: the e terms as applied to gearing.
In any gear design, it is critical to Factor of Sa~ety
make allowances for unknown vari- The term" factor of safety" or "safety
able in materi als, rnachinmg tolerances. factor" has historically been used by
loading, etc. Various terms (factor of designers and engineers to describe a
afety, ervice factor, and application genera] derating factor for limiting
factor) are used In the gear industry to the design stress in proportion to the
describe thi important concept. These material strength. A factor of safety Addressyolur ge'alri:ng ques-
terms are among the many formula vari- accounts for uncertainties ill de ign tions to our panel Df experts.
ables (influence factors) which are used analysis accuracy. material character- 'Writ,e to. them care of ShDP
for determining the calculated load ca- istics, and manufacturing quality. F;IDDr. Gear Tecihnology,. P..0 ..
pacity of gears produced for various When using a factor of safety, one Box 11426, Elk Grov,eVilla,gle,
1

designs. manufacturing method. and must also consider the risk to human
IL 60009" Dr caU our le,d'ito,r,ia!1
uses. Many of these factors have been safety and the economic consequences
staff at (108) 431~6604.
empirically developed from accumu- of failure or machine "down-time."
latedexperience. Therefore, it iscriti- The greater the uncertainties or conse-
cal that they be used inthe manner quences of these considerations. the
originally intended. The influence fac- higher the factor of safety hould be.
'tors are normally used as modifiers to As these items become known with
either a calculated stress from part con- more certainty. the value of the influ- Wililiiam A.IBr,adl,ev
figuration and applied load, or to an ence factors can be more accurately is the Manager, Technical
Di vision, of A GMA and the
allowable stress number based on ma- determined, For example, an automo- technical editor of the
terial properties. The gear designer can bile transmission which is subjected AGMA Nt'n's Dire,I'l,
then compare the modifiedcalculated to full-size. full-load prototype re t-
D'on IMIcVittiie
stress to the modified allowable stress illgand rigorous quality control of is the principal of Gear
number for a specific design ..to deter- dimensions, materials, and proce ses Engineers, lnc., Seattle,
WA. and one of.fJ.£JH
mine suirabilityfor a given application. durrng manufacture, could have a Technolofr·,I' tcchnicot
The gear designer, manufacturer. more precise factor of safety than a editors,

JANUARYIFEeFlUARY 1993 111

hoist made in small quantitiesunder Iished, In addition, the term "service anidentical design is known.
normal commercial practices. factor" has been used when including TlzermalRatillg. The thermal power
Gear testing, field experience.and human safely or economic risk, which rating of a gear sy tern is defined as the
material analysis BJ'eamong the ways has developed confusion between the power that the unit win transmit can-
one can obtain more knowledge for term factor of safety, application fac- tinuously without exceeding estab-
design, As your design practices be- tor, and service factor. lished temperature limits. This impor-
come more comprehensive, some in- To avoid confusion, it is recorn- tant consideration is necessary to main-
fluence factors can lbe removed from mended thai. r:he application facror be tain proper lubrication ..Excessive tem-
theunknown area of "factor M afety" used as defined - for external variabil- perarures are detrimental to the lubri-
and introduced as predictable por- ity in applied loadi ng. A factor of safety cation of gear teeth and toelastomeric
bans of tile de ign method. The shouldbe applied where there is human seal , such that the system may not be
A'GMA materia] reliability factor, CR, risk, economic ri k, or remaining UIl- able to transmit the rated power with-
is an example. certainties due to design, material, or out excessive wear and failure.
Factor of safety hasalso been used manufacturing quality variation. Non-Gear Components. Every corn-
to account for uncertainties in "applied When 3:11 application factor i used ponent of a gear unit mustallow for the
loading" or unknown overloads. In gear in place of a ervice factor and a long proper transmission of power, consid-
design, however. service factors orap- service life is desired, give consider- ering both internal and any external
plication factors have been used to cover ation to the allowable stress levels, In loading. Components, such as housing
this uncertainty. the absence of pecific knowledge, a supports. shafting. keys, splinea.bear-
Application Factor life factor of 0.85 (multiplier for ser- ings, and fasteners (bolts, nuts, etc.),
An appl ieation factor is used to make vice capacity) for pitting resistance must be designed and manufactured to
allowance for .any externallyapplied and 01.801 for bending strength should maintain the gear in proper po ition as
overloads (loads in excess ofthe norni- be considered. well as transmit the required power,
nal transmitted load). Application fac- Apply a service factor ONLY to a Gear Quality. The term "quality"
tors are established only with con id- gear assembly, typically 10 .3 catalog can have a number of meanings .. In
erable field experience with a specific drive rating, and then only in the ab- reference to gear manufacture. it. i
design. In determining the application sence of more specific application generally used to classify the toler-
factor. consider the fact that systems load data. Furthermore a service fac- ance applied to the gear tom.1lgeom-
develop momentary peak torques ap- tor should be used only with the cal-
preciably greater than these determined
by the nominal ratings of the prime
culation method used at the time this
experience factor was developed. [t
SHOP FLOOR
mover or dri ven equipment. Many pos- should not be used with other gear-
sible sources of overloads, such as calculation methods, unless sufficient
system vibrations, acceleration tor- knowledge and experience exists to
ques. over-speeds, variations ill sys- make a atisfactory conversion.
tem operation, split-path load sharing Other Considerations
When using a
among multiple prime movers,. and Important considerations for your
safety factor, also
changes in process load conditions, design analysis of gear-drive systems
also must be considered. which are related to factor of safety, consider risk to
Service Factor applicetinn factor, aile! service factor
A service factor is traditionally ap- selection include: human saftey and
plied as a multiplier of the nominal Test and field experience. The
application load to determine catalog proper selection of application factors the economic
selections of pre-de ignedgear units. and factors of afety for power rran -
hI AGMA gear rating. the service fac- mission sy tern often are not given
consequences of
tor has been used to include the com- enough attention. Without complete
failure or machine
bined effects of the requ ired life cycle , testing and field experience on each
material reliability, and application fac- pecific design, the application of gears "down-time",
tors in 311 empirically determined single has many unknowns. Therefore, con-
influence factor. The specific math- servative selection of aU gearcapac:ity
ematical contribution of each of '!.he e calculation influence factors is recom-
items has not been satisfactorilye tab- mended unle s operating experience of
12 GEAI\ TEetH,OlOGY
 --
------ ~- -------=--~---------------------

etry and the quality of gear materials

- --

and heat treatment. Unless the appro-

priate gear quality level is used to calcu-
Bour. & Koch CB,NForm Gri.der
late the power rating of a gear system
and that qua.lity level is, in fact, dupli-
cated or exceeded in manufacturing,
the unit produced may not have the
desired life.
Variation of Manufacture. In addi-
tion to gears, the metallurgical quality
of all stressed parts and the geometrical
accuracy of all other components of the
drive must exceed the values assumed
in the design calculations and test units.
Some standards do not mention these
topics or do not cover them thoroughly. c..... • PoI)mermncrete ~
It is important to know that factors ....... • And·frldlon way system
contained within AGMA standards, • Gearless table drive
such as service factor, should not be • Unique mrironmental control
• IndustrIes IDOIt powerful convenadonal JH'OII'IPD""n
abstracted and applied to other standard
• DesIgn for accuracy, perfOl'lD8llCe ad the ........
methods of calculating gear capacity.
Mixing factors from different standards For all your gear manu/actunng
can result in an inadequate design. requirements. whether it be new or
remanufactured. retrofitted or macHII"1II TCJCII. CD.
Summary rebuilt Baroer-Col1TllJTl
gear ~tJI .. ...".,~ ...... TGOIDIWIIIarI
When designing and rating gearing, equipment. Bourn & Koch can offer 2500 Ki8hwaukee Sl.
you the "Best Fit Solution." Rockford. tL 81104
there is a need to Lisefactors of safety. 8151985-4013 Fax 8151985-0018

service factors, and apphcation factors. CIRCLE A·09 on RE,4:0ER: REPLY CARD

There must be a thorough knowledge of

these terms I'm proper design. As the
variables in design. materials, manu-
facturing, and loading become better
controlled. the factor of safety can be
reduced; the application factors win
represent actual loading or be replaced
by a load spectrum analysis, . uch as
Miner's Rule; and service factors may
be replaced with. factors of safety, ap-
plication factors. life factors, and reli-
ability factors.
One must dearly understand that
the gear design or analysis must ac-
count for these uncertainties, based on
experience, That is the primary respon- '
sibility of the gear engineer. •

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Editor's Note: This information is based and return it to us.
on a presentation made o.t the Interna-
tional Federation for the Theory of Ma-
chines and Mechanisms gear meeting in Your opinions matter to us ..
I!
Hiroshima. Japan, in November, 1991. It
also appeared in the AGMA News Digest, 1 .... 1 1

Nov/Dec, 1992. Reprintedwith permission.

JANUARVIFESRUARVrgg3 1!3·