HELICAL, BEVEL, AND WORM GEARS Cycle and Epicycle, Orb in Orb... JoHN MILTON, PaRabisE Lost 42.0 INTRODUCTION Chapter 11 explored the topic of straight-toothed or spur gears in some detail, Gears are available in many other tooth configurations for particular applications. This chapter Will present a brief introduction to designing with helical, bevel, and worm gears. The ‘vomplexity of the design problem increases significantly when these mote complicated gear tooth shapes are used. ‘The American Gear Manufacrurérs Association (AGMA) presents detailed data and algorithms for their calculation, "We will base this presenta- tion on the AGMA recommendations, but cannot give a complete treatment of this com- plex subject in the space available here. The reader is encouraged to consult the AGMA standards for more information when faced with a seal design problem involving gear- 12. Table 12-0 lists the variables used in this chapter and:indicates the section or equia- {ion in which they appear. A summary and list of important equations appears at the end of the chapter. 12.1 HELICAL GEARS Helical gears are very similar to spur gears. Their teeth are inyolutes.. The difference is that their teeth are angled with respect to the axis of rotation at a hellx angle y, as shown in Figure 17-1. The helix angle may typically range from.about 10 to 45°. If, the gear were long cnough axially, any one tooth would wrap around the circumference 360°. The teeth form a helix, which may be either right- or left-handed. A pair of op- posite-hand helical gears mesh with their axes parallel as shown in Figure 12-1a. Same- hand helical gears can be meshed with their axes skewed and are then called crossed-axis or just crossed helical gears as shown in Figure 12-15, 701702 Title page photograph courtesy of ‘The Fale Corporation, Milwaukee, wi MACHINE DESIGN - An Integrated Approach Table 12-0 Variables Used in This Chapter Part 1 of 2 Pa ‘addendum dedendum center distance surface finish factor hardness factor mounting factor elastic coefficient reliability factor materials factor temperature factor crowning factor pitch diameter (with vanous subscripts) efficiency face width ‘AGMA surface geometry factor AGMA bending geometry factor application factor rim bending factor idler factor load distnbution factor size factor dynamic factor, velocity factor curvature factor length, lead module axial contact ratio sear ratio load sharing ratio transverse contact ratio bet uf Leet (with various substipts) factors of safety—bending and contact circular pitch diametra pitch transverse pitch axial pitch corrected bending-endurance strength comrected surface-endutance strength Uncorrected surface-endurance strength torque (with various subscripts) pitch-line velocity total force on gear teeth axial force on gear teeth ips units none none ‘none none none in none none none none ‘none ‘none ‘none not used none none none Vin none none none none none none none ‘none none none none none mm none none none not used m Pa 9.128 9.1218 9.1216 4.1210 fa. 1211 ty 1241 fq. 12.19 fq 1241 fg. 1224 4.1211 fg. 1240 vanous fq. 1230 q. 129 4, 12.6, 129) &q. 129 Fg. 125 Eq. 12.15, Fg, 126 fq. 126 various fq. 12.4c Fg. 12.46 fq. 12.14 Eq. 12.46 Ex. 12-2 Fy 19-0 €q. 12.11 various Eq. 12.27 &q. 12.3 Eq. 123Chapter 12 HELICAL, BEVEL, AND WORM GEARS en RN Table 12-0 Variables Used in This Chapter an of 2 Symbol Variable ipsunits Slunits See Wy friction force on gear teeth 'b N bg, 12.28 W, radial force on gear teeth Ib N Fq. 123 w, tangential force on gear teeth 'b N Fq. 123 @ pitch cone angle deg. deg. Fg. 127 6 pressure angle deg, deg. various v helix angle or spiral angle deg deg various a lead angle deg, deg, By. 12.12 u coefficient of friction none none Eq, 12.28 o angular velocity rad/sec —rad/sec Ex. 12-2 p radius of curvature in m fq. 126 ® power hp w Eq. 12.20 % bending stress psi Pa Fy. 129 oe surface stress si Pa Eq. 12.10 PARALLEL HELICAL GEARS (Figure 12-1a) mesh with a combination of rolling and sliding with contact starting at one end of the tooth and “wiping” across its face width. This is quite different than spur gear tooth contact, which occurs all at once along a line aor0ss the tooth face at the instant of tooth contact. One result of this difference is that helical gears run quieter and with less vibration than spur gears because of the gradual tooth contact. Automotive transmissions use helical gears almost exclusively in order to obtain quiet operation. One common exception is in the reverse-gear mesh of a non- automatic transmission, which often uses spur gears to enable shifting them in and out ofengagement. In such a transmission, a noticeable “gear whine” can be heard when backing up the vehicle, due to the resonances of the spur gear teeth being exited by the sudden impacts of tooth-tooth line contact. The helical forward-gear meshes are essen- tially silent. Parallel helical gears are also capable of transmitting high power levels. Crossep HELICAL GEARS (Figure 12-Ib) mesh differently than parallel helical {eurs; their teeth slide without rolling and are in theoretical point contact rather than the line contact of parallel gears. ‘This severely reduces their load-carrying capacity. Crossed helical gears are not recommended for applications that must transmit large torque or power. They are nevertheless frequently used in light-load applications, such asdistributor and speedometer drives of automobiles. Helical Gear Geometry Figure 19-9 shows the geometry of a hacic helical rack ‘The teeth form the helix angle with the “axis” of the rack. The tecth are cut at this angle and the tooth form is then in the normal plane, The normal piteh p,, and the normal pressure angle , are measured in this plane. The transverse pitch p, and the transverse pressure angle 6, are measured in the transverse plane. These dimensions are related to one another by the helix angle, The transverse pitch is the hypotenuse of the right triangle ABC. Py = Pp [cosy (12.14) 703 (a) Opposite-hand pair mezhed on parallel (©) Same-hand pair ‘meshed on crossed axes FIGURE 12-4 Helical Gears. Courtesy of Boston Gear, Division of IMO Industries, Quincy, MA704 transverse plane FIGURE 12-2 Basic Helical Rack Showing Normal and Transverse Planes and Resolution of Forces MACHINE DESIGN - An Integrated Approach An axial pitch p, can also be defined as the hypotenuse of the right triangle Px = Pn/Sin ‘p, corresponds to circular pitch p,, measured in the pitch plane of a circular Diametral pitch is more commonly used to define tooth size and is related to cit pitch by ad Po Pe Pa= al= where N is number of teeth and d is pitch diameter. ‘The diametral pitch in the normal plane is Prd = Pa/oosy ‘The pressure angles in the two planes are related by tang, = tang = tang, cosy Helical-Gear Forces A set of forces acting on a tooth is shown schematically in Figure 12-2. The re force W is at a compound angle defined by the pressure angle and the helix angle combination. The tangential force component W, at the mesh can be found from torque applied either to gear or pinion, as defined in equation 11.132 for the pinion, normal plane Section X-X.Chapter 12 HELICAL, BEVEL, AND WORM GEARS Zy 2%, _ 24, WP P= Pale (11.132) tp 4p Np In addition to the radial component W, due to the pressure angle, there is now also component of force W,, which tends to separate the gears axially. Bearings with axial thrust capability must be used with helical gears to resist this force component, unless helical gears are mounted in opposite-hand pairs on the same shaft to cancel the axial force component. Sometimes for this purpose, both left- and right-hand sets of teeth are cut side by side on the same gear blank with a groove between them to clear the cutter, These are called double helical gears. If the clearance groove is eliminated and the ‘opposite-hand teeth cut to run into one another, it is called a herringbone gear. ‘The components of force in a helical gearmesh are W, = W, tang (123) W, = W, tany (12.3b) — a (12.3e) cosy C00, Virtual Number of Teeth Another advantage of helical gears over spur gears besides quiet operation is their rela- tively stronger teeth for a gear with the same normal pitch, pitch diameter, and number ofteeth. The reason for this can be seen in Figure 12-2, The component of force that transmits the torque is W,, which lies in the transverse plane. The tooth size (normal pitch) is defined in the normal plane. The thickness of the tooth in the transverse plane is] / cosy times that of a spur gear of equal normal pitch. Another way to visualize this {sto consider the fact that the intersection of the normal plane and the pitch cylinder of, diameter d is an ellipse whose radius is r,~ (4/2) / cos? y. We can then define a vir- tual number of teeth N, as the quotient of the circumference of a virtual pitch circle of radius r, and the normal pitch pe: (12.4a) Substitute equation 12.la for py: (12.46) and substitute p, = my/ N from equation 12.1c to get n,=—% (12.40) cos’ y This defines a virtual gear that is equivalent to a spur gear with N teeth thus giv- ing a stronger tooth in both bending and surface fatigue than a spur gear with the same physical number of teeth as the helical gear. The larger number of virtual teeth also reduces undercutting in small pinions, allowing a lower minimum number of teeth for helical gears than for spur gears. 705706 + Extracted from AGAMA 908-889, Geometry Factors for Determining the Ptting Resistance and Bending ‘Strength of Spur, Helical, and Herringbone Gear Teeth, with the permission ofthe American Gear Manufacturers Ascacation. 7500 King St, Suite 201, Alexandria, VA 234, + A second additonal term is required for LACR helical gears but these will nt be addressed here as previously noted MACHINE DESIGN - An Integrated Approach Contact Ratios The transverse contact ratio mp way defined for spur gears in eyuation 11.7 (p. and 1s the same tor helical gears. ‘The helix angle introduces another ratio called axial contact ratio mz, which is defined as the quotient of face width F and axial Px F_ Fpgtan tip == THO ft Ps © This ratio should be at least 1.15 and indicates the degree of helical overlap in the Just as a larger transverse contact ratio allows multiple teeth to share the k wider face width for a given helix angle will increase the overlapping of teeth and promote load sharing. However, effective load sharing will still be limited by the curacy with which the gears are made (see Figure 11-19 on p. 660). Note that iclia angles will invicase the axial contact 1ativ, allowing naruwer-width geais fo used, but this will be at the expense of larger axial force components, If mp is kept above | as desired, the gears are considered conventional helical, ‘mp <1, then they are called low axial contact ratio (LACR) gears and their c tion involves additional steps. Consult the AGMA standards!) (2. (31 for more mation on LACR gears. We will consider only conventional helical gears here, Stresses in Helical Gears ‘The AGMA equations for bending stress and surface stress in spur gears are also for helical gears. These equations were presented in Chapter 11 with extensive e nation and definition of terms that will not be repeated here. The equations from chapter are, for bending stress: Wt Pa KaKm ) Tita Kako KK pK, 1a Soy K, Asko (11.15) W_ KK, at Sake KKK, Uh Fini K, KK pK; (LASSI) and for surface stress: Ww, GG, = C,H en 6.6 11.21) Sea ed Ge oe a. The only significant differences in their application to helical gears involves the ge- ometry factors / and J. The values of J for various combinations of helix angle (10, 15, 20, 25, 30°), pressure angle (14.5, 20, 25°), and addendum ratio (0, 0.25, 0.5) are pre sented in reference 3. A few examples are reproduced here as Tables 12-1 to 12-6." Con- sult the AGMA standard for more complete information. The calculation of J for conventional helical gear pairs requires the inclusion of one additional term in equation 11.22a (p. 673), which becomes:'Chapter 12. HELICAL, BEVEL, AND WORM GEARS (12.6a) Pp and py are the radii of curvature of the pinion and gear teeth, respectively, 6 the pressure angle, und d, is the pitch diameter of the pinion. The + sign accounts external and internal gearsets. Use the upper sign for external gearsets in all related pressions. ‘The term my is « load-sharing ratio defined as P m= 26h) ‘where F is the face width, Calculation of the minimum length of the lines of contact mip Tequires several steps. First, two factors must be formed from the residuals of the transverse contact ratio m,, and the axial contact ratio mp: fractional part ot my = fractional part of mp (12.6¢) MpF —NatyPx ifn S1—n, then yyig = 2" Ps (12.6d) cosW ifm >In, then Lyin = (126e) All the factors in these equations are defined either in this section or in Chapter 11 except for yp, the base helix angle, which is ve =e" (owy 2s) (12.6f) cos Also, the radius of curvature of a helical pinion for equation 12.6a is calculated with different formula than that used for spur gears. Instead of equation 11.22b, use a -(epe0s0) P= {{05[l nap) #(e=% Py =Csing Fp, (12.68) where (Fp, dp) and (rp, dg) are the (pitch radius, addendum) of the pinion and gear, re- spectively, and C is the actual (operating) center distance. ‘The hending and surface stresses can be calculated from the above equations us- ing the data in Tables 12-1 to 12-6. The material strengths can be found in Chapter 11 and safety factors calculated in the same manner as described there for spur gears. 707708 Table 12-1 MACHINE DESIGN An Integrated Approach AGMA Bending Geometry Factor J for 9 = 20°, y = 10° Full-Depth Teeth Pinion teeth coarteeit 22 4 7 2 26 % 38 1 en an Es Sc 2 uu “ uu Bie 7 uu ou ouiouioo a uo ou U UU U 046 0.46 26 uu UU UU 047 0.49 0.49 0.49 35 uu UU UU 048 052 050 053 054 054 55 uu U UV UU 049 055 052 056 055 057 059 059 35 UU UU UU 050 060 053 061 057 062 060 063 065 RN RNESTESESESSSEGTSIST Table 12-2 AGMA Bending Geometry Factor J for 6 = 20°, y = 20° Full-Depth Teeth with Tip Loading Pinion teeth Gear teeth 12 4 7 24 26 35 55 ce rs Eto *¢ Eeemes Fs [reo fc oa 2 uu j “4 uo ou uUioU j 7 UU FURS ona 044 1 mM UU UU 045 046 0.47 0.47 | 2 UYU U UY U 045 049 048 049 050 0.50 1 3 «UU UU 046 051 049 052 051 053 054 054 55 «UU CUO? 054 050 055 052 0.56 055 057 058 058 135° UU UU 048 058 051 059 054 060 057 061 060 062 064 06 Table 12-3 AGMA Bending Geometry Factor J for 4 = 20°, y= 30° Full-Depth Teeth with Tip Loading Pinion teeth ceartecth 2 14 7 2 26 35 55 135 * ¢ Bee ? ¢ Beeec F ¢ feeec * c | oem au 14 UU 039 039 17 UU 039 Oat 0.10.84 2 UU ba 04s AZ 043 044 0.48 26 «UU sOOAT 0.44 0.43 045 045 0.46 0.46 0.46 35 «UUs 046 043 047 0.45 0.48 047 0.48 0.49 0.49 55 UU 042 049 0.44 049 046 050 048 050 050 051 052 052 135 «UU 048051 0.45 052 0.47 053 049 053 051 054 053 055 056 056