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Abstract: An approximate equation for accurate determination of the inner point of the involute
profile of undercut spur and helical gear teeth is presented. This point may have influence on the
effective path of contact and consequently on the contact ratio, the length of the path of contact and
the stress levels, which should be taken into account for calculation and standardization purposes.
Since the equation is valid for any tool proportions, it is very efficient for computer applications.
parameter for non-undercut teeth, and no numerical and the involute properties
information if an undercut exists. qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Nevertheless undercut profiles must be taken into db
rinv ¼ 1 þ x2
account at least for standardization purposes. The load 2
capacity of a gear pair, according to ISO 6336 [6] and Zinv ¼ x arctan x ð1Þ
AGMA 2001-C95 [7], depends on several parameters
whose values may be affected by the presence of where the involute parameter x has the physical meaning
undercut, as long as the length of action may be of the angle represented in Fig. 1.
reduced. For the revision of ISO 6336 which is actually Figure 2 represents the trochoid generation. From the
in progress, ISO Technical Committee 60 (Gears) properties of ellipses, the instantaneous generating tip
Working Group 6 (Gear Calculations) is studying the point (the point whose normal contains the generating
undercut area, and the start of the involute of under- pitch point) should obey
cut teeth, in order to redefine the effective contact
ratio. Some ISO/TC60/WG6 documents [8, 9] have tan j
tan l ¼
approached the problem, providing general equations cos b
for the involute and the trochoid for rack-type genera-
tion, considering the elliptical tip on the rack and the where l is the angle represented in Fig. 2 and the
tool protuberance [9]. However, the determination of physical meaning of the trochoid/tip parameter j has
the start of the involute is based on solving a highly non- been represented in Fig. 3. If d is the distance between
linear equation by the Newton–Raphson technique. the pitch point P and the instantaneous generating tip
Although it provides very accurate results, such an point T and
iterative method is not convenient for an international
standard, and an approximate but sufficiently accurate B ¼ mn ha0 x rf P þ rf P sin j
equation may be preferable. This paper presents this
approximate but sufficiently accurate equation, which from Fig. 2
has been obtained by linear regression of 954 points with
correlating factor 0.9998. It is valid for any tool B ¼ d sin l
proportions and considers tool elliptical tip. Because
of its accuracy and simplicity it may be efficient both for and also
standardized calculations and for computer applica- s
ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
tions. d 2 2 p
rtro ¼ þ d dd cos l
2 2
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
2
d B cos b 2
2 EQUATIONS OF THE INVOLUTE AND THE ¼ B þ ð2aÞ
2 tan j
TROCHOID
where rtro is the distance from the centre of the gear to
To express the equations of both involute and trochoid the generated trochoid point. The polar angle Ztro is
profiles, the polar coordinate system ðr, ZÞ represented in given by
Fig. 1 will be used. The parametric equations of the
involute may be immediately derived from this figure Ztro ¼ y þ e at ð2bÞ
d cos l d sin l
tan e ¼ ¼
d=2 d sin l ðd=2 d sin lÞ tan l
so that
B cos b
e ¼ arctan
ðd=2 BÞ tan j
d d mn rf P cos j
tan at ¼ y þ A þ d cos l
Fig. 1 Coordinate system 2 2 cos b
db þ db0 d0
x¼ tan awt b x0
db db
Note that the involute and trochoid may be tangents or The outer point of contact (indicated by the subscript
secants, but they always have at least one common OPC) is in mesh with the inner point of contact of the
(intersection or tangency) point. mating tooth; therefore
Tool protuberance means a rotation of
db þ db0 d0
xOPC ¼ tan awt b x0IPC ð4bÞ
2spr db db
DZtro ¼
d cos an cos b
xIPC and xOPC define the effective interval of contact,
of the trochoid with respect to the involute, in the sense which should be used for calculating the effective length
of greater values of Ztro . Since the involute and the of contact and the effective transverse contact ratio. The
trochoid have to be at least tangents, with that rotation latter may be derived from
they necessarily become secants, and an undercut exists,
z
as seen in Fig. 5. In this case, and only in this case, the ea ¼ ðx xIPC Þ
2p OPC
involute and trochoid may intersect at two points, if the
amount of protuberance is small.
The calculation of the inner and outer points of the
Summarizing the above, the undercut condition may
interval of single pair tooth contact should be also
be expressed as follows: an undercut exists if, and only
computed on the basis of the inner and outer limits of
if,
the effective path of contact, described by equations (4a)
and (4b).
spr =0 ð3aÞ Obviously, the value of the parameter of the start of
the involute, xSOI , is required for the determination of
or the limits of the effective interval of contact. As shown
below, its calculation is not complicated for non-
d undercut teeth, but there are some difficulties if an
sin2 at mn ha0 x rf P ð1 sin an Þ < 0 ð3bÞ
2 undercut occurs.
Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs Vol. 218 Part C: J. Mechanical Engineering
Downloaded Science
from pic.sagepub.com at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on May 17, 2016 C11003 # IMechE 2004
DETERMINATION OF THE EFFECTIVE PATH OF CONTACT OF UNDERCUT INVOLUTE GEAR TEETH 755
As stated above, if no undercut exists, the end of the trochoid and the start of the involute are coincident and generated by
point E of the tool profile (Fig. 4). As seen in Fig. 3, the tip parameter corresponding to point E is j ¼ an . Consequently,
the distance from the centre of the gear to the start of the involute, rSOI , will be given by equation (2a) for j ¼ an :
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
d
2 mn ha0 x rf P þ rf P sin an 2
rSOI ¼ mn ha0 x rf P þ rf P sin an þ ð5aÞ
2 tan at
function of j:
s
ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
d 2BðjÞ 2 2BðjÞ cos b 2
x ¼ xðjÞ ¼ þ 1 ð6Þ
db db tan j
equation, which is simple and sufficiently accurate, may (d) two values of the tool addendum coefficient ha0 ¼ 1
be convenient for both computer applications and and 1.25;
standardization purposes. (e) five values of the rack shift coefficient x ¼ 0:2,
0:15, 0:1, 0:05 and 0;
(f) three values of the number of teeth, z :¼ z0 , z0 1
and z0 2, where z0 is the integer part of z0:05 , z0:05
6 APPROXIMATE EQUATION being the limit value of z for an undercut with rack
shift coefficient x ¼ 0:05, which from equation (3) is
given by
As seen above, the start of the involute of undercut teeth
is described by the trochoid parameter j which obeys 2 cos b
equation (7) and will be denoted by jSOI . As the start of z0:05 ¼ 2
ha0 0:05 rf P ð1 sin an Þ
sin at
the involute is also a point of the involute, it may also be
described by the corresponding involute parameter xSOI .
xSOI and jSOI are related by equation (6). For each of these 960 cases, the following calculations
Many parameters take part in equation (7). Some of were made:
these may be grouped; however, either xSOI or jSOI will (a) the value of jSOI from equation (7);
always depend on six independent factors: (b) the value of xSOI from jSOI and equation (6);
(c) the value of z from equation (8).
spr
z, b, an , ðha0 xÞ, rf P ,
mn For six of these 960 studies values of z greater than 0.4
were obtained and these were neglected. In fact,
Clearly, it is almost impossible to find an approximate
undercut teeth with z > 0:4 should not be considered
equation describing the influence of six independent
in practice. For example, a spur pinion with an ¼
parameters and giving accurate results. A good correla-
25 , rf P ¼ 0:3, ha0 ¼ 1:25 and 18 teeth (the minimum
tion of more than two parameters is very difficult to
number of teeth to avoid an undercut if x ¼ 0) needs a
obtain. However, it is sometimes possible to find one or
rack shift coefficient x ¼ 1:75 for z ¼ 0:4, while the
two new parameters, expressible as a function of the
number of teeth should be less than 7 if x ¼ 0. Both
initial parameters, which are able to describe the
teeth are represented in Fig. 8. In the first case, the active
variations in the target parameter. Of course, this is
profile has been completely eliminated by the trochoid;
not always possible but, if possible, it is always
not such a large but nevertheless a very important
convenient. Fortunately, in this work it has been
undercut area may be observed in the second case.
possible for the case of no tool protuberance.
Representing the 954 considered pairs ðxSOI , zÞ the
The angle z in Fig. 7 represents the relative rotation
diagram shown in Fig. 9 was obtained. In this diagram it
between the involute and the trochoid required to avoid
may be observed that xSOI is accurately described by z;
an undercut, and its value may be derived from
therefore it may be concluded that the target parameter
d þ 2mn x ha0 þ rf P rf P sin an xSOI may be described by only one new parameter z,
cosðz þ at Þ ¼ ð8Þ which is a function of the initial independent para-
db
meters, as shown in equation (8). However, this is not
For any set of values of the geometric parameters of a the only interesting conclusion derived from Fig. 9; it is
gear tooth, the limit condition for undercutting may be also very clear that the relation between xSOI and z may
always expressed as z ¼ 0 and corresponds to rSOI ¼ rb be approximated by the linear equation xSOI ¼ a1 z.
and xSOI ¼ 0. From Fig. 7, small values of z correspond From a linear regression on the 954 considered points
to small values of xSOI , and xSOI increases as z increases the following equation was obtained:
too. Then, it may be convenient to represent xSOI as a
function of z and to observe whether it is possible to find xSOI ¼ 0:523 191z ð9Þ
an interval of xSOI for each value of z that is narrow
The R2 coefficient was 0.9996, corresponding to a
enough to allow good correlation.
correlation coefficient r ¼ 0:9998. The average percent-
To perform this analysis, 960 undercut teeth were
age error was 1.7 per cent, while the maximum error was
studied. The teeth were obtained from all the possible
smaller than 4 per cent.
combinations of the following geometric parameters:
These error levels are even smaller when computed in
(a) four values of the reference helix angle b ¼ 0, 10, 20 terms of the transverse contact ratio or the start of
and 308; involute radius. If ex is the relative error in the
(b) four values of the normal pressure angle an ¼ estimation of xSOI ,
10, 15, 20 and 258;
(c) two values of the tool tip radius coefficient rf P ¼ jxSOI xSOI, est j
ex ¼
0:25 and 0.3; xSOI
The estimated value xSOI, est will be given by this means very large undercut areas, as seen above.
Then, for an allowable amount of undercut,
xSOI, est ¼ xSOI ð1 + ex Þ
er < 0:03ex
The transverse contact ratio ea , assuming contact along
the entire involute profile, i.e. reaching the start of the In conclusion, both ee and er are very small for the
involute, may be expressed as obtained values of ex .
An example may be illustrative. The geometric
xa xSOI parameters of pinion teeth are as follows:
ea ¼
2p=z
Number of teeth, z ¼ 13
The relative error in the estimation of ea is Normal pressure angle an ¼ 20
jðxa xSOI Þ ðxa xSOI, est Þj Addendum coefficient a ¼ 1
ee ¼
xa xSOI Tool addendum coefficient ha0 ¼ 1:25
xSOI Tool tip radius coefficient rf P ¼ 0:3
¼ ex
xa xSOI Rack shift coefficient x ¼ 0:125
zx
¼ SOI ex Reference helix angle b ¼ 20
2pea
z
Tip diameter da ¼ 2mn þ a þx
The coefficient zxSOI =ð2pÞ for the 954 studied cases takes 2 cos b
values between 0.02 and 0.25 and, taking into account ¼ 15:584mn
that, for correct designs, ea should be greater than 1, it
may be concluded that ee is always smaller than 0:25ex . The trochoid parameter of the start of involute, jSOI ,
A similar conclusion is reached when considering the obtained by solving equation (7), is 0.3575. From
radius of the start of the involute. According to equation equation (6), the corresponding xSOI is 0.0538. From
(1), the relative error in the estimation of rSOI is equation (8), the angle z is 0.1043; therefore, according
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi to equation (9) the approximate value of the start of the
1 þ x2 1 þ x2 involute parameter is xSOI, est ¼ 0:0546. This means an
SOI SOI, est
er ¼ qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi error in the estimation of the SOI parameter of ex ¼ 1:43
1 þ x2SOI per cent, an error in the estimation of the contact ratio of
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ee ¼ 0:12 per cent and an error in the estimation of
x2SOI the start of involute radius of less than er ¼ 0:01 per cent.
¼ 1 1 þ e ðe
x x + 2Þ
1 þ x2SOI