Design of Machine Elements-II

(MEPC-306)

 Prepared by:
Dr Saurabh Kango
Assistant Professor
NIT Jalandhar
Helical Gears: Terminology, Forces analysis, formative/virtual number of teeth, Beam strength of helical gear tooth. Lewis
Equation and form factor, Design for strength, Dynamic Load and wear load.
Spur Gear Helical Gear
Teeth are parallel to the axis of the gear. Teeth are inclined with the gear axis in the form of a helix. This angle of
inclination is known as helix angle (15° – 25°).
Contact between teeth of two meshing gears occurs suddenly. Contact between teeth of meshing gears occurs gradually.
Contact between two meshing teeth is always a line of same Contact starts with a point, gradually becomes a line and leaves as a point.
length.
Sudden engagement of teeth results in impact loading. So Due to gradual teeth engagement, load on the tooth builds up gradually. So
teeth are subjected to impact loading. teeth are subjected to gradual loading.
Impact loading caused by sudden engagement of teeth results Gradual loading provides a smooth and quite operation.
vibration and noise.
Load carrying capacity of spur gear is comparatively low. For same size and same number of teeth, load carrying capacity of helical gear
is comparatively high as larger number of teeth remains in contact at any
instance.
Life of the spur gears is usually shorter. Helical gears have longer life.
Two mating spur gears must have same module only. Two mating helical gears must have same module, and same but opposite hand
helix angle.
Suitable for low to moderate speed applications. Utilized at high speed also.
It produces only radial force. As the teeth are parallel to axis, Due to presence of helix angle, helical gear drive produces radial as well as
the thrust force is zero. thrust force. So the bearing must be capable of sustaining such thrust force.

It is suitable for the velocity ratio of 1:1 to 1:3. It is suitable for the velocity ratio of 1:1 to 1:5.

http://www.difference.minaprem.com/solid/difference-between-spur-gear-and-helical-gear/
 Helical Gearboxes are used in the following Industries:
•Fertilizer industries, printing industries, and earth-moving industries.
•Steel, rolling mills, power and port industries.
•Textile industries, plastic industries, food industries, conveyors, elevators, blowers, compressors, oil industries & cutters.

http://www.difference.minaprem.com/solid/difference-between-spur-gear-and-helical-gear/
TERMINOLOGY OF HELICAL GEARS

Conventional Representation

Tooth Relationships
A portion of the top view of a parallel helical gear
A1B1 and A2B2 are Centre lines of the adjacent teeth taken on the pitch
plane. The angle A1B2A2 is the helix angle ψ. It is defined as the angle
between the axis of the shaft and the centre line of the tooth taken on the
pitch plane.

XX is the plane of rotation, while YY is a plane perpendicular to the tooth

elements. The distance A1A2 is called the transverse circular pitch (p), which
is measured in the plane of rotation. The distance A1C is called the normal
circular pitch (pn), which is measured in a plane perpendicular to the tooth
elements.
 The speed ratio i for helical gears is determined in the same manner
as for the spur gears, i.e.,

Normal pressure angle is usually 20°. The pitch

circle diameter d of the helical gear is given by,

VIRTUAL NUMBER OF TEETH

It is defined as the number of teeth that can be generated on the

surface of a cylinder having a radius equal to the radius of
Centre to centre distance a between the two helical curvature at a point at the tip of the minor axis of an ellipse obtained
gears having zl and z2 as the number of teeth is given by taking a section of the gear in the normal plane.
by,
Pitch cylinder of the helical gear is cut by the plane A–A, which is
normal to the tooth elements as shown in Fig. The intersection of the
plane A–A and the pitch cylinder (extended) produces an ellipse. This
ellipse is shown by a dotted line. The semi-major and semi-minor axes
of this ellipse:

It can be proved from analytical geometry that the radius of curvature r’

at the point B is given by,

where a and b are semi-major and semi-minor axes respectively.

In the design of helical gears, an imaginary spur gear is considered in

the plane A–A with centre at O’ having a pitch circle radius of r’ and
module mn. It is called a ‘formative’ or ‘virtual’ spur gear. The pitch
circle diameter d’ of the virtual gear is given by,
The number of teeth z’ on this imaginary spur TOOTH PROPORTIONS
gear is called the virtual number of teeth. It is In helical gears, the normal module mn should be selected from standard
given by values. The first preference values of the normal module are

where z is the actual number of teeth

The normal pressure angle α is always 20°. The helix angle varies from 15 to
25°
 Face Width
Gear rotates from left to right as indicated by the arrow.
For this rotation, the point A1 will be the first point to come in contact
with its meshing tooth on the other gear. It is called the ‘leading’ edge of
the tooth.
Point A2 will be the last point to come in contact with its meshing tooth on
the other gear. It is called the ‘trailing’ edge of the tooth.
In order that the contact on the face of the tooth shall always contain at
least one point, the leading edge of the tooth should be advanced ahead of
the trailing end by a distance greater than the circular pitch. Or, A portion of the top view of a helical gear

pi

This is the minimum face width

A pair of parallel helical gears consists of a 20 teeth pinion meshing with a 40 teeth gear. The helix angle is 25° and the normal
pressure angle is 20°. The normal module is 3 mm. Calculate (i) the transverse module; (ii) the transverse pressure angle; (iii)
the axial pitch; (iv) the pitch circle diameters of the pinion and the gear; (v) the centre distance; and (vi) the addendum and
dedendum circle diameters of the pinion.
FORCE ANALYSIS

The resultant force P acting on the tooth of a helical gear is resolved into three
components, Pt, Pr and Pa as shown in Fig, where, Pt = tangential component (N)
Pr = radial component (N); Pa = axial or thrust component (N)

The following information is

required in order to decide the
direction of the three components:
(i) Which is the driving element?
Which is the driven element?
(ii) Is the pinion rotating in
clockwise or anticlockwise
direction?
(iii) What is the hand of the helix? Is
it right handed or left handed?
Components of Tooth Force
(i) Tangential Component (Pt)
(a) The direction of tangential component for a driving gear is opposite to the direction of rotation.
(b) The direction of tangential component for a driven gear is same as the direction of rotation.
(ii) Radial Component (Pr )
(a) The radial component on the pinion acts towards the centre of the pinion.
(b) The radial component on the gear acts towards the centre of the gear.
(iii) Thrust Component (Pa) The following guidelines can be used to determine the direction of the thrust component:
(a) Select the driving gear from the pair.
(b) Use right hand for RH-helix and left hand for LH-helix.
(c) Keep the fingers in the direction of rotation of the gear and the thumb will indicate the direction of the thrust component for the driving gear.
(d) The direction of the thrust component for the driven gear will be opposite to that for the driving gear.
BEAM STRENGTH OF HELICAL GEARS

In order to determine beam strength, the helical gear is considered to

be equivalent to a formative spur gear. The formative gear is an
imaginary spur gear in a plane perpendicular to the tooth element.
The pitch circle diameter of this gear is d ￠ , the number of teeth is
z’ and the module mn
Beam strength of the spur gear is given by,

This equation is also applicable to the formative spur gear.

Y = Lewis form factor based on virtual number of teeth z’.
Sb is the component of (Sb)n in the plane of rotation. Thus,
This equation is known as Lewis Equation for helical gears. In this
equation, the form factor Y is based on the virtual number of teeth.
Equation gives beam strength in the plane of rotation. Therefore,
beam strength (Sb) indicates the maximum value of tangential force
that the tooth can transmit without bending failure. It should be
always more than the effective force between the meshing teeth.
EFFECTIVE LOAD ON GEAR TOOTH

In the preliminary stages, the effective load Peff between two

meshing teeth is given by,

The velocity factor for helical gears is given by

In the final stages of gear design, when gear dimensions are

known, errors specified and the quality of gears determined, the
dynamic load is calculated by equation derived by Earle
Buckingham
WEAR STRENGTH OF HELICAL GEARS
The wear strength equation of the spur gear is modified to suit
helical gears. For this purpose, a pair of helical gears is
considered to be equivalent to a formative pinion and a
formative gear in a plane perpendicular to the tooth element
wear strength of the spur gear

This equation is known as Buckingham’s equation of wear

strength & gives wear strength in the plane of rotation.
Therefore, wear strength (Sw) indicates the maximum tangential
force that the tooth can transmit without pitting failure. It
should be always more than the effective force between the
meshing teeth.
 A pair of parallel helical gears consists of a 20 teeth pinion meshing with
a 100 teeth gear. The pinion rotates at 720 rpm. The normal pressure
angle is 20°, while the helix angle is 25°. The face width is 40 mm and
Ratio factor Q for external helical gears
the normal module is 4 mm. The pinion as well as the gear is made of
steel 4OC8 (Sut = 600 N/mm2) and heat treated to a surface hardness of
300 BHN. The service factor and the factor of safety are 1.5 and 2
respectively. Assume that the velocity factor accounts for the dynamic
load and calculate the power transmitting capacity of gears.

From equation 18.10

From Table 17.15

From equation 18.18 From equation 18.19

From equation 18.3

Since wear strength is lower than beam strength, pitting is the

criterion of failure.
Step II Wear strength
Step III Tangential force due to rated torque
From equation 18.20

From equation 18.28

From equation 18.6

From equation 18.23

Design of Helical Gear
A pair of parallel helical gears consists of 24 teeth pinion rotating at 5000 rpm and supplying 2.5 kW power to a gear. The
speed reduction is 4 : 1. The normal pressure angle and helix angle are 20° and 23° respectively.
Both gears are made of hardened steel (Sut = 750 N/mm2). The service factor and the factor of safety are 1.5 and 2
respectively. The gears are finished to meet the accuracy of Grade 4.
(i) In the initial stages of gear design, assume that the velocity factor accounts for the dynamic load and that the face width is
ten times the normal module. Assuming the pitch line velocity to be 10 m/s, estimate the normal module.
(ii) Select the first preference value of the normal module and calculate the main dimensions of the gears.
(iii) Determine the dynamic load using Buckingham’s equation and find out the effective load for the above dimensions. What
is the correct factor of safety for bending?
(iv) Specify surface hardness for the gears, assuming a factor of safety of 2 for wear consideration.
The first preference value of the module is taken as 1.5 mm.
Step II Main dimensions of gears

Step III Effective load based on dynamic load by Buckingham’s

equation