Session No: 01

“To determine the Mechanical advantage, Velocity ratio and Mechanical efficiency
of a simple gear train”
Objective
 We are provided with an apparatus of simple gear train and we will have to find the
velocity ratio of gears by comparing their teeth.
 After finding the velocity ratio, we are required to find out mechanical advantage of this
apparatus by the formula which is given in the theory.
 Also, we have to find the efficiency of this gear train.

Apparatus

Fig: Simple gear train with two weight hangers

Theory
 Gears:
A toothed wheel that works with others to alter the relation between the speed of a driving
mechanism (such as the engine of a vehicle) and the speed of the driven parts (the wheels).

Types of Gears:
There are many types of gears such as spur gears, helical gears, bevel gears, gear rack, etc. These
can be broadly classified by looking at the positions of axes such as parallel shafts, intersecting
shafts and non-intersecting shafts.
1. Spur gear:
Gears having cylindrical pitch surfaces are called
cylindrical gears. Spur gears belong to the parallel
shaft gear group and are cylindrical gears with a
tooth line which is straight and parallel to the shaft.
Its applications are Gear pumps and motors,
Machining tools, Transmissions, Engines and
mechanical transportation systems.

2. Screw gears:
Screw gears are a pair of same hand helical gears with the twist angle of 45° on non-parallel,
non- intersecting shafts. Because the tooth contact is a point, their load carrying capacity is low
and they are not suitable for large power transmission.

3. Helical gear:
Helical gears are used with parallel shafts similar to spur gears and are cylindrical gears with
winding tooth lines. They have better teeth meshing than spur gears.
Its applications are Fertilizer industries, printing industries, and earth-moving industries, Steel,
rolling mills, power and port industries.
4. Worm gear:
A screw shape cut on a shaft is the worm, the mating gear is the worm wheel, and together on
non- intersecting shafts is called a worm gear. Worms and worm wheels are not limited to
cylindrical shapes.
Worm gears can be used to either greatly increase torque or greatly reduce speed. They are also
the smoothest and quietest of the gear systems, as long as they are properly mounted and
lubricated.

 Gear Train:
Gear train is a combination of gears (Type of Gears) and used for transmitting motion and
power from one shaft to another shaft. Gears trains are used to achieve large and different
velocity ratio in small area or space. Gear trains are used for increasing or reducing speed of
driven shaft. Examples of gear trains use in machines are lathe machine, milling machine, in
watch and many others.

Fig: Simple Gear Train

Applications
Some of the well-known application go gear Trains are:

1. Gear box in automobiles.

2. Differentials in automobiles.
3. The chain drive we use in bicycles Motor cycles is also a form of gear train except that
the gears are not directly engaging with each other.
4. It's used in lathe machines and heavy-duty press machines.
5. It's also used in many AWD (All Wheel Drive) off-roading vehicles where we need to
switch to RWD (Rear Wheel Drive) or FWD ( Front Wheel Drive) as a differential.
6. It is used to increase the torque by reducing the speed, or increasing the speed by
reducing the torque: for example in vehicle transmission system, at start the driver
needs to move from rest so he needs more torque with low speed so he increases the
gear ratio, after that he wants to increase the speed so he reduces the gear ratio and so
on.

 Velocity Ratio:
The velocity ratio or speed ratio of the gear train is defined as the ratio between speed of the
driver to speed of the driven. (Or) The ratio between number of teeth on driver gear to number of
teeth on driven.
speed of driver
Velocity ratio=
speed of driven shaft
Or

number of teeth on driver gear

velocity ratio= number of teeth on driven gear

 Mechanical Advantage:
Mechanical advantage is a measure of the force amplification achieved by using a tool,
mechanical device or machine system. The device preserves the input power and simply
trades off forces against movement to obtain a desired amplification in the output force.
Applied load ( F)
Mechanical advantage =
Effectiveload (E)
 Mechanical Efficiency:
Mechanical efficiency measures the effectiveness of a machine in transforming the energy and
power that is input to the device into an output force and movement. Efficiency is measured as
a ratio of the Mechanical advantage to the Velocity ratio:
 Mechanicaladvantage
Efficiency =
Velocity Ratio
Procedure
i. First of all, we have to clean the apparatus and check the accurate working.
ii. Now, find the velocity ratio by using the given relation to calculate the no. of teethes.
iii. Apply the load on hanger at one side of the apparatus.
iv. And find how much effort is required on the hanger which is at the opposite hand of
the apparatus.
v. Note the values in the given table.
vi. Calculate the mechanical advantage and mechanical efficiency by using given
formulas.
vii. Repeat this procedure at least 3 times and find the average of these values.

Observations and Calculations

Number of tooths in Driver gear = n1 = 40
Number of tooths in Gear 2 = n2 = 100
Number of tooths in Gear 3 = n3 = 80
Number of tooths in Driven gear = n4 = 75
number of teeth on driver gear 40
Velocity Ratio = =
number of teeth on driven gear 75

No. of Load Effort Mechanica Mechanical

l advantage
observation F E = F /E efficiency
s (lb) (lb) ƞm = M . A /V . R
1 0.5 0.3 1.67 89%
2 1 0.6 1.67 89%
3 1.5 0.77 1.55 82.5%