Lecture Slides

Gears –
Spur Force Analysis

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 Spur Gear- Force Analysis-Notations
 Input gear will be 2
 All successive gears will be notified as 3, 4,5 until the last gear
 Shafts involved will be designated as using lowercase letters as a,
b, c etc.
 E.g. F23 will be force exerted by gear 2 on gear 3

 F2a will be fore exerted by gear 2 against shaft a

 Fa2 will be fore exerted by shaft a against gear 2
 x,y,z will be the coordinate directions
 r,t will be the radial and tangential direction
 Ft43 will be the tangential component of force of gear 4 acting
against gear 3

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 Force Analysis – Spur Gearing

1. Figure shows a pinion gear 2

mounted on shaft a rotating
CW at n2 rpm
2. It is driving a gear 3 on shaft b
at n3 rpm, CCW
3. The reactions between their
mating teeth happen occur
along the pressure line

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 Force Analysis – Spur Gearing

1. Free-body diagram is shown

2. Pinion has been separated from
the gear and shaft
3. Their effects have been
replaced with forces and torque
4. Fa2 and Ta2 are the force and
torque exerted by the shaft a
against pinion 2

5. F32 is the force exerted by gear

3 against pinion 2
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 Force Analysis – Spur Gearing
 FBD of pinion is shown
 Forces resolved into tangential and
radial components

 Transmitted load Wt is the tangential

load

 Radial load is Fr32

 Only tangential load is useful for
power transmission compared to
radial load.
 Tangential load is the useful
component of force, transmitting the
torque Fig. 13–33
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 Power in Spur Gearing
 Transmitted power H though a rotating gear can be found using
torque and angular velocity

 Pitch-line velocity is the linear velocity of a point on the gear at

the radius of the pitch circle. It is a common term in tabulating
gear data.
 V = (d/2) 

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 Power in Spur Gearing
 Useful power relation in customary units,

 In SI units,

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 Idler Gear
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67uDjMz6EpA

Idler is required to change the direction

of motion
Driver Idler
If you want both driver and driven to
rotate in same direction use idler in
between

For e.g.

Driver rotate CW, then Idler will rotate

CCW Driven
Then Idler will cause Driven gear to
rotate in CW
So, input driver and output driven gear
will rotate in same direction that is CW
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Shigley’s Mechanical Engineering Design
Example 13–7

Fig. 13–34 Shigley’s Mechanical Engineering Design

Example 13–7

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Example 13–7

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Force analysis

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Shaft a in the figure has power input of 75kW at a speed of 1800 rpm in the CCW. The
gears have a module of 5mm and a 20 deg pressure angle. Gear 3 is an idler
a.) Find the force F3b that gear 3 exerts against shaft b
b.) Find the torque T4c

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Shigley’s Mechanical Engineering Design
25hp. Gears 4, 5, 6 have 24, 36, and 144 teeth respectively.

What torque can arm 3 deliver to its output shaft?

Draw free body diagram of the arm and of each gear and show all forces that act up on them.

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What torque can arm 3 deliver to its output shaft?

1 foot = 12 inch Shigley’s Mechanical Engineering Design

Draw free body diagram of the arm and of each gear and show all forces that act up

on them.

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Shigley’s Mechanical Engineering Design
The gears shown in the figure have a module of 12mm and 20
deg pressure angle. The pinion rotates at 1800 rpm CW and
transmits 150 kW through the idler pair to gear 5 on shaft c

What forces do gears 3 and 4 transmit to the idler shaft ?

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Spur force

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The figure shows a pair of shaft mounted spur gears having a
diametrical pitch of 5tooth/in with an 18 tooth , 20 deg pinion
driving a 45-tooth gear. The power input is 32 maximum at 1800
rpm.

Find the direction and magnitude of forces acting on bearings A, B,

C and D

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 Spur Force

For Gear 2

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Shigley’s Mechanical Engineering Design
13.24
A gearbox is to be designed with a compound reverted gear
train that transmits 25HP with an input speed of 2500rpm. The
output should deliver the power at a rotational speed in the
range of 280 to 300 rpm. Spur gears with 20  pressure angle are
to be used. Determine suitable numbers of teeth for each gear to
minimize the gearbox size while providing an output speed
within the specified range. Be sure to avoid an interference
problem in the teeth.

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Continue prob 13-24 by finding the following information
assuming a diametral pitch of 6 teeth/in

a.) Determine pitch diameter for each of the gears

b.) Determine the pitch line velocities (in ft/min) for each set of
gears

c.) Determine the magnitudes of the tangential, radial, and total

forces transmitted between each set of gears.
d.) Determine the input torque
e.) Determine the output torque, neglecting frictional losses

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Spur Force

Determine pitch diameter for

each of the gears

Determine the pitch line velocities

(in ft/min) for each set of gears

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 Determine the
magnitudes of the
tangential, radial, and
total forces transmitted
between each set of
gears.

Determine the input torque

Determine the output torque,

neglecting frictional losses
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