Figure 3.10.

Spur Gear Geometry

FUNDAMENTAL LAW OF GEARING

"The fundamental law of gearing" can be expressed as follows:
"The common normal at the point of contact between two gear teeth must always pass through a fixed
point on the line of centers of the gears."
This principle is crucial in the design and manufacturing of gears to ensure that they mesh correctly and
transmit motion efficiently. The common normal is an imaginary line that is perpendicular to the line of
action (the line along which the force is transmitted) at the point where two gear teeth come into
contact. The fixed point on the line of centers ensures a consistent and predictable relationship between
the gears, contributing to smooth and accurate motion transmission.
This law is essential in maintaining proper gear engagement, minimizing wear, reducing noise, and
ensuring the overall effectiveness of the gear system. Engineers and designers consider this principle
when creating gear profiles to meet specific requirements for various applications.
A constant velocity or speed ratio is one of the main purposes of gears, and this law specifies the
requirements that the gear tooth profiles must meet in order to do so.
In gearing, the "fundamental law" or "law of gearing" often involves the concept of the "common
normal" at the point of contact between two gear teeth. Let's break down the components of your
description:
Pitch Point (or Pitch Circle): This is a point on the line of centers of the gears where the tooth profiles
are designed to have a common tangent.
Line ST and Line VW: These lines are tangent to the curves of the teeth at the point of contact.
Point a: This is the point where the teeth are in contact.
The fundamental law states that the line drawn from the pitch point to the point of contact (point a)
must be perpendicular to the line (line ST and line VW) drawn through the point of contact tangent to
the curves of the teeth. In other words, the common normal to the tooth curves at all points of contact
must pass through the pitch point.
This condition is crucial for ensuring proper meshing of gears, as it helps distribute the forces evenly,
reduce wear, and maintain a smooth transmission of motion. Engineers use these principles when
designing gear profiles to meet specific functional requirements in various mechanical systems.

TOOTH SYSTEMS (Standard Gears)

Tooth systems - is a standard that outlines the relationships between the addendum, dedendum,
working depth, tooth thickness, and pressure angle in order to achieve the interchangeability of gears
with the same pitch and pressure angle but different tooth counts.
Table 3.1 and table 3.2 list the commonly used standard values of pitch and metric module, respectively,
and table 3.3 illustrates the standard gear profiles.
Table 3.1. Commonly Used Values of Diametral Pitch
Diametral Pitches Values
Coarse Pitch 1, 1 ¼, 1 ½, 1 ¾, 2, 2 ¼, 2 ½, 2 ¾, 3, 3 ½, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14 16, 18

Fine Pitch 20, 22, 24, 26, 32, 40, 48, 64, 72, 80, 96, 120

Table 3.2. Standard Values for Metric Module

Modules Values

Preferred 0.3, 0.5, 1, 1.25, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5 ,6 , 8, 10, 12, 16, 20, 25, 32, 40, 50

Next Choice 1.125, 1.375, 1.75, 2.25, 2.75, 3.5, 4.5, 5.5, 7, 9, 11, 14, 18, 22, 28, 36

Table 3.3. Standard Gear Profile:

System Dedendum Clearance Whole Tooth

Addendum Depth Thickness

14 ½° Full-depth involute 1/Pd 1.157/Pd 0.157/Pd 1.5708/Pd

2.157/Pd

14 ½° Composite 1/Pd 1.157/Pd 0.157/Pd 1.5708/Pd

2.157/Pd

20° Full-depth involute (coarse pitch) 1/Pd 1.25/Pd 0.25/Pd 2.25/Pd 1.5708/Pd

20° Full-depth involute (fine pitch) 1/Pd 1.2/Pd + 0.2/Pd + 2.2/Pd + 1.5708/Pd
0.02 0.02 0.02

20° Stub-tooth involute 0.8/Pd 1/Pd 0.2/Pd 1.8/Pd 1.5708/Pd

20° Full-depth involute 1/Pd 1.25/Pd 0.25/Pd 2.25/Pd 1.5708/Pd

GEAR TOOTH PROFILE

The gear tooth profiles could be: 1. Conjugate; 2. Involute; 3. Cycloid; and 4. Combination of Involute and
Cycloid
REQUIREMENTS OF GEAR TOOTH PROFILE
The standard forms and proportions of gear teeth have been influenced by a number of requirements, in
addition to the need that their working faces adhere to the fundamental law of gearing. Which are as
follows:
• The teeth need to be inexpensive and able to be produced accurately.
• The tooth form needs to be well-suited for wear. It is best to approach the surface close to
contact and at low rubbing speeds.
• A good "beam strength" must be produced by the tooth form. Forces acting on the tooth side
during service tend it like a beam.
• There cannot be continuous contact between gears unless the arc of contact is at least equal to
the circular pitch. It is generally accepted that a design is good if the arc of action is larger than
1.4 times the circular pitch.
• The gears are likely to make noise below this threshold unless they are extremely precisely cut.
While many special purpose gears do not require it, interchangeability of a set of gears with the
same pitch is generally preferred.
Conjugate Curves
When two curves can be used to form the outlines of two gear teeth that will cooperate and satisfy the
fundamental law of gearing, they are said to be conjugate.
Cycloid Curves
A curve that rolls either internally or externally on another circle is known as a cycloid curve. The rolling
circle, also referred to as the describing circle, is rolled either internally or externally on the pitch circle
to create the outline of a gear or tooth. The tooth's external rolling forms the face, while internal rolling
forms the flank.
Involute Curves
When a chord is unwrapped from a cylinder known as the base cylinder, a tracing point on the chord
creates a path known as an involute curve. The requirement that the common normal at all points of
contact pass through the pitch point must be met if the mating tooth profiles have the shape of involute
curves.

Figure 3.12. Involute Curve of a Circle

Ex.) From a circle shown below, draw the involute curve

APPLICATION OF INVOLUTE CURVE TO GEARS

The following points are noted when applying the involute curve in the gear-tooth profile, and the
fundamental law of gearing should always be satisfied:
• The diameter of its base circle determines the involute entirely.
 • A contacting involute receives rotative motion from an involute rotating around the center of its base circle in
precisely the same ratio as the diameters of their respective base circles.
• Until an involute comes into close contact with a rack or another involute, it has no pressure
angle.
• The base-circle diameters and center distance are used to calculate the pressure angle. For a
fixed center distance, the pressure angle remains constant once it is established.
• Until an involute comes into close contact with a rack or another involute, it has no pitch
diameter.
• The center distance and the ratio are used to calculate the pitch diameter of an involute that is
in contact with another involute.
• A base-circle center moved toward or away from a rack does not change the pressure angle of an
involute contacting it.
• The intersection of the line of action and a line that passes through the center of the base circle
and is perpendicular to the direction of rack travel determines the pitch-line position of an
engaging involute and rack.
PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES OF USING INVOLUTE CURVES
The following are some benefits of utilizing an involute curve in gear tooth profiles:
• The center-to-center distance of incorporated gears may be installed with slight initial errors, or
it may vary due to bearing wear, but the tooth contact will always adhere to the basic law of
gearing.
• Applications where the center-to-center distance fluctuates frequently, like driving rolls in steel
mills, can benefit from the use of involute gears.
• The involute rack's working surface is a plane in the most basic form imaginable.
• In cases where formed milling cutters are used to cut the teeth, fewer cutters are required to
convert the range from the smallest pinion to rack than what would be required for cycloidal
profiles. This is because as the number of teeth increases, the curvature of the teeth changes
slowly.
The primary drawback of involute teeth is interference with small tooth numbers in the pinions;
however, this can be avoided by altering the heights of the dedendum and addendum of the mating
teeth.

Example Problem:
A standard spur gear.
Given:
Pd = 6 T = 18 teeth
Pressure angle, = 20° Tooth Profile System, Full depth Involute System
Required:
Construct the gear-tooth profile and draw, at least, 5 teeth of gear
To construct the gear-tooth profile of a standard spur gear with the given parameters (Pitch diameter Pd
= 6, Number of teeth T = 18, Pressure angle φ = 20°, Tooth Profile System = Full depth Involute System),
we can follow these steps:
Calculate the module (m) using the formula:
m = Pd/T
m = 6/18
m = 1/3
Calculate the base circle diameter (D_b) using the formula:
Db = Pd/cos(ϕ)
Db = 6/cos(20)
Db = 6.28
Calculate the addendum (a) using the formula:
a=1×m
a = 1 × 1/3
a = 1/3
Calculate the dedendum (b) using the formula:
b = 1.25 × m
b = 1.25 × 1/3
b = 5/12
Calculate the outside diameter (D_o) using the formula:
Do = Db + 2a
Do = 6.28 + 2(1/3)
Do = 6.94