MENG550-Mechanical Systems II

Chapter 9
Gear Trains
 2.0 Introduction
• A gear is a component within a transmission device that transmits
rotational force to another gear or device.

• A gear is a round wheel that has linkages ("teeth" or "cogs")that

mesh with other gear teeth, allowing force to be fully transferred
without slippage.

• Depending on their construction and arrangement, geared devices

can transmit forces at different speeds, torques, or in a different
direction from the power source.

• A gear train is a set or system of gears arranged to transfer

rotational torque from one part of amechanical system to another.
 9.1 Rolling cylinders
• Gear analysis is based on rolling cylinders
• External gears rotate in opposite directions
• Internal gears rotate in same direction
9.2 The fundamental law of gearing

• Gearset

When two gears are placed in

mesh to form a
gearset.
The small gear is called pinion
and the big one is called gear
9.2 The fundamental law of gearing
The law of gearing provide that:
The angular velocity ratio between 2 meshing gears remains
constant throughout the mesh
• Angular velocity ratio (mV)
• Torque ratio (mT) is mechanical advantage (mA)
Input
ωout rin d in
v  ωr mV   
ωin rout d out
ωin rin  ωout rout
ωin rout d out
mT   
ωout rin d in
Output
 9.2 The fundamental law of gearing
• Involute form
• Shape of the gear tooth
is the involute curve.
• Shape you get by
unwrapping a string
from around a circle
• Allows the
fundamental law of
gearing to be followed
even if center distance
is not maintained
9.2 The fundamental law of gearing
• Contact geometry
Pitch diameters are at the contact of teeth (at pitch point)
9.2 The fundamental law of gearing
• The mesh of pinion and gear is defining by points of beginning and leaving.
• The distance along the line of action ( defining by addendum circles and the line
of action
• The arc of action is the distance along the pitch circle within the mesh
• There are angle of approach and angle of recess ( same for pinion and gear)
• The arc of action must be the same for pinion and gear ( if no friction)
9.2 The fundamental law of gearing
Pressure angle
• The angle between the axis of transmission ( line of action) and the
direction of the velocity at the pitch point
• Pressure angles are standardized ( 14.5 deg, 25 deg less common) ,
the most commonly used is 20deg
• Gears to run together must have same pressure angle
• Increasing the pressure angle increases the width of the base of
the tooth, leading to greater Strength and load capacity
• Decreasing the pressure angle (smoother operations, lower back
lash, less sensitivity to error)
9.2 The fundamental law of gearing
• Meshing action
9.2 The fundamental law of gearing
Changing the center distance
• The teeth is cut with respect to a base circle, the pitch circle only comes when we
mate the gears

• Limitations of manufacturing process give a

low probability to have the desired pitch diameter

• The advantage of an involute form that

changing CD does not affect velocity ratio,
the fundamental law of gearing still hold

• The pressure angle will be affected

( as CD increase pressure angle increase)

• The pitch point changes

• Increase in the backlash

9.2 The fundamental law of gearing
• Backlash
• The backlash is also affected by changing the CD
• It is defined as the clearance between mating teeth measured the
pitch circle
• The gears rotate in one direction no problem, but if we change sense
of rotation, the gears will impact with noise
• Antibakclash gears ( two gears back to back, half width , one fixed to
the shaft other free, with coiled spring
9.2 The fundamental law of gearing
• Increase in angular backlash
Back lash tolerance is 0.0001 to 0.0007 in
9.2 The fundamental law of gearing
• FACE WIDTH is the length of the teeth in the axial direction.
• OUTSIDE DIAMETER (O.D.) is the diameter of a circle
around the outer surface, or tops of the gear teeth.
• PITCH DIAMETER is the diameter of the pitch circle.
• PITCH CIRCLE When gear sets are visualized as a pair of
smooth contacting discs, the pitch circles of the gears
correspond to the diameters of the discs.
• Pitch circles of mating gears are tangent to each other, and
have identical linear velocities. For that reason, pitch
circles, rather than base circles, arc used in many gear
calculations.
• The operating pitch circles will respond to any variations in
center distance of the pair by enlarging or contracting.
 9.3 Gear Tooth Nomenclature
• The circular pitch:

• The base pitch:

• The diametral pitch:

9.3 Gear Tooth Nomenclature
9.3 Gear Tooth Nomenclature
 9.3 Gear Tooth Nomenclature
• The velocity ratio mV and the torque ratio mT
of the gearset can be put into a more
convenient form by substituting equation 9.4c
into equations 9.1 (p. 474), noting that the
diametral pitch of meshing gears must be the
same.
 9.3 Gear Tooth Nomenclature
• AGMA STANDARDS
 9.4 Interference and undercutting
• Interference – If there are too few pinion
teeth, then the gear cannot turn
• Undercutting – part of the pinion tooth is
removed in the manufacturing process
 9.4 Interference and undercutting
• Some case the dedendum will be large to extend below the base circle.
• The portion of teeth below the base circle will interfere with tip of the other gear.
• Also sometimes there is a problem in the cutting (undercutting) the interfering
material (weak tooth)
• High nb of teeth(small teeth comaring to diameter, interefernce and undercutting
are prevented
• There is a minimum teeth required to avoid undercutting and interference as a
function of pressure angle.
 9.4 Interference and undercutting
Unequal –addendum tooth form
• To avoid interference on small pinion the tooth form can be changed
• Longer addendum pinion, shorter for gear called profile-shifted gears
• This eliminate the adendum circle below the base circle to eliminate the
non involute form
• The pinion teeth become thicker and thus stronger, the gear teeth
weakenbut not so high, close to pinion
• The disadvantage that
it increase the velocity
of slip at the tooth
comparing to equal addendum
 9.5 Contact ratio
• The contact ratio mp defines the average number of teeth in contact at any one
time as:

• where Z is the length of action from equation and pb is the base pitch from
equation
• mp in terms of pd:

• If the contact ratio is 1, then one tooth is leaving contact just as the next is
beginning contact. This is undesirable because slight errors in the tooth spacing
will cause oscillations in the velocity, vibration, and noise. In addition, the load will
be applied at the tip of the tooth, creating the largest possible bending moment.
At larger contact ratios than 1, there is the possibility of load sharing
among the teeth. For contact ratios between 1 and 2, which are common
for spur gears, there will still be times during the mesh when one pair of teeth will
be taking the entire load. However, these will occur toward the center of the mesh
region where the load is applied at a lower position on the tooth, rather than at its
tip.
1.4<mp<2