Strength of Spur Gears

Spur Gear: Force Analysis

Resolution of Gear Forces
Define Wt as the transmitted
load. As this is the only useful
component
 Tangential load: Relation to
transmitted power

Applied torque

Power transmitted
Tangential load
Why Gears Fail
Bending Stress
Bending stress on Tooth

Point of
maximum
stress
 Location of highest load on tooth
profile
• Original Lewis form factor implies that the teeth do not share the load and
the greatest force is exerted at the tip of the tooth.
• But, contact ratio is designed to be somewhat greater than unity, say
about 1.5.
• So the tip load condition cannot be the worst, because another pair of
teeth will be in contact when this condition occurs.
• So the heaviest loads occur near the middle of the tooth while a single
pair of teeth is carrying the full load, at a point where another pair of
teeth is just on the verge of coming into contact
 Dynamic Effects
• Dynamic effects, i.e. impacted loading can be caused by
inaccuracies and load vibrations.
• Dynamic effects intensify the tangential load.
• At high speeds, presence of noise indicate that dynamic
effects are present.
• High accuracy gears may not have dynamic effects,
however, it depends on the driving and driven machinery.
• If gears are between a motor and a fan, no dynamic load
will be developed.
• A considerable dynamic load is developed if the gears are
between one-cylinder engine and the blade of a chain saw.
 Dynamic load
• Wd, the dynamic load is the actual tangential
load on the gear tooth.
• It increases with speed of gear.
• For satisfactory design, this load should be
less than either wear endurance limit, or
strength endurance limit.
Dynamic Load
Tooth error factor
 Allowable bending stress
Lewis equation Wt   bmY  W s
F= b= face width
m= module
Y= Lewis form factor ( distance between load
and critical point, depends on the tooth form)
σ= maximum allowable stress (strength)
Ws= Load corresponding to strength
 Design Stress
• Usually chosen to be the endurance limit Se.

Design load for strength W s  S e .b .m .Y

Use strength reduction factor W s  n f .W d

So that strength of gear is greater than dynamic load
 Gear Failure due to Wear

• Types/Degrees of wear:
• Polishing
• Abrasive wear
• Pitting
• Spalling
• Scoring This type of damage is often connected to :
•Insufficient hardness
•Pollution of the lubricant
•A bad choice of lubricant
Polishing
• Moderate local pitting
doesn’t impair the
functioning of the gear.
But the crumbled-out
particles of metal dirty
the oil, and has to be
filtered out.
Spalling = advanced stage pitting
• The possibility of spalling may be excluded by choosing a
thicker hardened layer and more durable core material.
• A thicker case is undesirable for two reasons:
1.The tip of the tooth becomes through-carburized and brittle.
2.The core hardness can be as high as 35-45 HRC. Higher
hardness can make the tooth fragile.
 Case Hardening
• Case hardened steel is usually formed by diffusing carbon
(carburizing) into the outer layer of the steel at high
temperature.
• The carbon combines with the steel to make it hard. The core
of the metal stays soft.
• Case hardening is usually done after the part has been formed
into its final shape
 Scoring
• Scoring occurs when, under high load,
microasperities break through the oil film,
contact metal to metal, weld to each other and
then tear off.
• This damage shows up as slight scratches that
usually appear in the area of the higher sliding
velocity, near the tip or the root of the tooth.
• Increasing the hardness and smoothness of the
contacting surfaces improves their resistance to
scoring.
 Surface Stress
• Pitting is likely to be more damaging in the
long run than bending.
• Hardening the tooth faces increases the
allowable contact stress and can help contact
life approach bending fatigue life.
• Larger gears have greater radii of curvature
and therefore lower contact stress.
 Wear Strength
• Wear strength, or max load that will cause
wear is
Ww  d p bQk
• To assure satisfactory life, the gears must be
designed so that the dynamic surface stresses
are within the surface-endurance limit of the
material.
 Designing for wear
Wear strength of tooth:
Ww  Dp.b.Q.K
2N g 2m g
Where Q  
Ng  NP mg 1

S ce2 Sin   1 1 
Material combination factor K  
1 .4 E E 
 P g 
 Estimating gear size: Face width
• Choice of face width is within 3p>b>5p
• Gears having face width greater than 5p are likely
to have a nonuniform distribution of the load
across the face of the tooth because of the
torsional deflection of the gear and the shaft.
• For b<3p, a larger gear is needed to carry the
larger load per unit face width. Large gears
require more space in gear enclosure and make
the finished machine bigger and more expensive.
 Estimating gear size
• The given information is usually:
– Power H
– Speed n
– Lewis form factor, for the gear to be sized
– Permissible bending stress (endurance strength)
• When the gear and pinion are of the same
material, the pinion is always the weaker of
the two because the teeth of the smallest
gears have more undercutting.
 Design principle
• Cast iron gear, has better surface harness and
wear resistance, so design is based on strength,
then checked for wear failure.
• For steel gear design on wear, but check for
strength also.
• Choose m, N
• Find b by using nf.Wd=Ws or Wd=Ww
• Where Wd is the dynamic load for various
conditions.
• Design ok if 3 m  b  5 m
 Lubrication of Gears
• The system of lubrication is intended to provide the
rubbing surfaces with an oil film and take away the
heat.
• Low-speed gears, are often greased.
• Because the grease is not able to take off the heat from
the teeth, this type of lubrication is used only for light-
duty applications. The recommended speed limit for
grease lubricated open gears is up to 4 m/s.
• At a higher speed, the periodic manual greasing
becomes too laborious and is replaced by dipping one
of the gears into an oil filled pan.
• The main function of the lubricant is to create
an oil film between the contacting teeth.
• The greater the oil viscosity , the harder it is to
squeeze it out of the contact area, the ticker
the oil firm and lesser the damage to the
teeth surfaces.
• The thicker oil better damps the impacts in
the gearing and vibration of tears.
• Gears with hermetically sealed housing are
lubricated with oil.
• Oil is more heat resistant, lasting, and easily
replacable.
• It washes away the wear debris from the
surfaces and by filtering the oil, the
mechanism can be kept clean during long
term usage.
 Cooling of Gears
• Almost the entire power wasted in
mechanisms turns into heat.
• Larger gears require cooling arrangement due
to large power transfer capacities and losses.