Mechanisms & Machine

Design
Gears
Introduction
• Power transmission is the movement of energy
from its place of generation to a location
where it is applied to performing useful work
• A gear is a component within a transmission
device that transmits rotational force to
another gear or device
Friction Gearing
A simple means of transmitting rotational
motion and power from one shaft to another is
pair of friction gears, as shown in Figure 5.1(a).
Here, transmission relies on the friction force
between the cylinders in contact.

The free body diagram of each cylinder is shown

in Figure5.1(b). Tangent to both cylinders is a
force of magnitude.
F F (5.2-1)
In the arrangement shown, gear 2 is
the driver gear. and gear 3 is the driven
gear. Power is supplied to the system
through the shaft connected to gear 2,
and power is removed from the system
through the shaft attached to gear 3.
The torque of driving gear 2 is in the
same direction as its rotational speed.
Figure 5.1 Friction gears: (a) friction
T2 Fr2 (5.2-2) gear set, (b) free body diagrams.
Friction Gearing
The torque applied to driving gear 3 is in the opposite direction to its
rotation.
T3  Fr3 (5.2-3)
Combining Eq. (5.2-2) and (5.2-3)
T2 Fr r
 2  2 (5.2-4)
T3 Fr3 r3

If no slip, r2  2 r3 3 (5.2-5)

3 r2
  (5.2-6)
 2 r3

Combining Eq. (5.2-4) and (5.2-6)

T2 2  T33 (5.2-7)

However, multiplication of a torque by a rotational speed yields power.

Therefore, Equation (5.2-7) states that assuming no slippage between the
friction gears, no power is lost in the transmission.
Friction Gearing
One definite advantage of using friction
gearing is the ease of generating a continuous
range of speed ratios. Consider the system
shown in Figure 5.2. Changes in speed ratio
are accomplished by altering the orientation of
the idler wheel, link 3, and thereby varying the
radii of contact between links 2 and 4. In the
illustration, three positions of the idler wheel
are shown that produce three distinct speed
ratios. If the input cone 2 rotates at a constant
rate, then the output of cone 4 may have a
varying rotational speed.

Figure 5.2 Continuously variable traction drive.

 Friction Gearing
Figure 5.3 shows an alternative system that can produce a continuous
range of speed ratios. This system employs a variation of the open loop
friction drive.

Figure 5.3 Continuously variable belt drive: (a) high speed ratio, (b) low speed ratio.
Gear Assembly
For two gears to mesh properly and
work together smoothly, they must
have the same:
1.Diametral Pitch
2.Circular Pitch
3.Module
Type of Gears
According to the position of axes of the
shafts.
a. Parallel
1. Spur Gear
2. Helical Gear
3. Rack and Pinion
b. Intersecting
Bevel Gear
c. Non-intersecting and Non-parallel
Worm and worm gears
Spur Gear
• Teeth is parallel to axis of
rotation
• Transmit power from one shaft
to another parallel shaft
• Used in Electric screwdriver,
oscillating sprinkler, windup
alarm clock, washing machine
and clothes dryer.
External and Internal Spur
Gear
Helical Gear
• The teeth on helical gears are
cut at an angle to the face of
the gear
• This gradual engagement
makes helical gears operate
much more smoothly and
quietly than spur gears
• One interesting thing about
helical gears is that if the
angles of the gear teeth are
correct, they can be mounted
on perpendicular shafts,
adjusting the rotation angle by
90 degrees
Herringbone Gears
• To avoid axial thrust, two
helical gears of opposite
hand can be mounted side
by side, to cancel resulting
thrust forces

• Herringbone gears are

mostly used on heavy
machinery.
Rack and Pinion
• Rack and pinion gears are
used to convert rotation (From
the pinion) into linear motion
(of the rack)

• A perfect example of this is the

steering system on many cars
Bevel Gears
• Bevel gears are useful when the direction of a
shaft's rotation needs to be changed
• They are usually mounted on shafts that are 90
degrees apart, but can be designed to work at
other angles as well
• The teeth on bevel gears can be straight,
spiral or hypoid
• locomotives, marine applications, automobiles,
printing presses, cooling towers, power plants,
steel plants, railway track inspection machines,
etc.
Straight and Spiral Bevel
Gears
Worm and Worm Gear
• Worm gears are used when
large gear reductions are
needed. It is common for worm
gears to have reductions of
20:1, and even up to 300:1 or
greater
• Many worm gears have an
interesting property that no
other gear set has: the worm
can easily turn the gear, but
the gear cannot turn the worm
• Worm gears are used widely in
material handling and
transportation machinery,
machine tools, automobiles etc
Nomenclature of Spur Gears

Figure 5.28 Spur gear terminology: (a) external gear, (b) rack, (c) internal gear.
Nomenclature of Spur Gears
• Pitch surface: The surface of the imaginary rolling
cylinder (cone, etc.) that the toothed gear may be
considered to replace.
• Pitch circle: A right section of the pitch surface.
• Addendum circle: A circle bounding the ends of the
teeth, in a right section of the gear.
• Root (or dedendum) circle: The circle bounding the
spaces between the teeth, in a right section of the
gear.
• Addendum: The radial distance between the pitch
circle and the addendum circle.
• Dedendum: The radial distance between the pitch
circle and the root circle.
• Clearance: The difference between the dedendum of
one gear and the addendum of the mating gear.
Nomenclature of Spur Gears
• Face of a tooth: That part of the tooth surface
lying outside the pitch surface.
• Flank of a tooth: The part of the tooth surface
lying inside the pitch surface.
• Circular thickness (also called the tooth
thickness): The thickness of the tooth measured
on the pitch circle. It is the length of an arc and
not the length of a straight line.
• Tooth space: The distance between adjacent
teeth measured on the pitch circle.
• Backlash: The difference between the tooth
thickness of one gear and the tooth space of the
mating gear.
• Circular pitch (Pc) : The width of a tooth and a
space, measured on the pitch circle.
 D 2r
Pc  
N N
Nomenclature of Spur Gears
• Diametral pitch (Pd): The number of teeth of a gear unit
pitch diameter. The diametral pitch is, by definition, the
number of teeth divided by the pitch diameter. That is,
N N
Pd  
D 2r

where, Pd = diametral pitch; N = number of teeth; D =

pitch Diameter
Pc Pd 
• Module (m): Pitch diameter divided by number of teeth.
The pitch diameter is usually specified in inches or
millimeters; in the former case the module is the inverse of
diametral pitch.
D 2r
m   D 2r mN
N N
Standard Proportions of Gear Teeth
as a Function of Diametral Pitch
Examples
Examples
Contact Ratio
In the transmission of rotational motion through two meshing gears, it is
essential that at any time one or more pairs of teeth be in contact.
Otherwise, there would be instances when there is no smooth
Driver transfer of
motion.
For a pair of meshing gears turning at a
constant rate, Contact ratio is the average
number of pairs of gear teeth in contact over Driven
time. Theoretically, the value of contact ratio
must be greater than 1.00. However, 1.40 is Driver
generally accepted as the practical
minimum value.
Initial contact, labeled as point A in Figure
5.34(a), occurs when the outer tip of the driven
Driven
gear tooth touches the driver gear. Final
contact, labeled as point B in Figure 5.34(c), Driver
occurs when the outer tip of the driver gear
tooth contacts the driven gear. For both of
these configurations there is a second pair of Driven
teeth in contact. Thus, prior to and after the
noted teeth come into and out of mesh, there is Figure 5.34 Two spur gears in mesh:
(a) initial ontact, (b) contact at pitch
another pair of teeth in mesh, which ensures point, (c) final contact.
continuous and uniform transmission of motion.
Contact Ratio
At any instant in time, there is an integer
number of pairs of gear teeth in mesh. For
the gears shown in Figure 5.34, during a
portion of the cycle, one pair of gear teeth
is in mesh, where as at other times there
are two pairs. Figure 5.35 shows the
function of the number of pairs of gear
teeth in mesh over time for the gear set
illustrated in Figure 5.34. The time average
of the curve, which is the contact ratio, is 0.53 0.47

10.47  2 0.53
mc  1.53 


Figure 5.35 Example of contact ratio.

Speed Ratio
The speed ratio of component with respect to component i in a gear
train is defined as,
rotational speed of component j
e j /i  (6.1-1)
rotational speed of component i
Positive ej/i values indicate that components j
and i both turn in the same direction. Negative
ej/i values signify an opposite direction of
rotation. Equation (6.1-1) may be applied to
the overall speed ratio of the gear train. In
that instance, j corresponds to the output
component of the gear train, and i
corresponds to the input component.
For the external-external meshing pair shown
in Figure 6.2(a), the gears rotate in opposite
directions, and the speed ratio is negative. For
the external-internal pair, Figure 6.2(b). the
gears rotate in the same direction. and the
speed ratio is positive. Figure 6.2 Meshing gears represented
by their pitch circles: (a) external-
external pair, (b) external-internal pair.
Speed Ratio
For cases where the axes of rotation are not parallel, such as with
worm and wheel, miter. and bevel gears, only the magnitude of the
speed ratio is defined by Equation (6.1-1), and the direction of
rotation may be determined using a suitably prepared sketch.

As the number of teeth on a gear is proportional to its pitch circle

diameter. Gears in mesh must be of the same pitch and the
magnitude of the speed ratio of a pair of meshing gears is inversely
proportional to the ratio of the radii. Thus, we conclude that the
magnitude of the speed ratio is inversely proportional to the ratio
the number of gear teeth. Figure 6.2(a), having N2 and N3 teeth on
gears 2 and 3, respectively,
 N
e3 / 2  3  2 (6.1-2)
2 N3
Figure 6.2(b), having N2 and N3 teeth on gears 2 and 3, respectively,

Output N Input 3 N
eOutput / Input   e3 / 2   2 (6.1-3)
 Input N Output 2 N3
 Classification of Gear Trains

Speed ratios for meshing gears 2 and

3 and gears 4 and 5 are

N2 N4
e3 / 2  e5 / 4 
N3 N5

The speed ratio for the gear train is, 2

1 4
 N 2  N 3  N 4 
e5 / 2         
Figure 6.3 Two simple 3
 N 3  N 4  N 5  the same speed ratio.
gear trains with
Classification of Gear Trains
In this instance, unlike the case of simple
gear trains, the numbers of teeth of the
idler gears influence the magnitude of the
speed ratio. Using a similar analysis, the
speed ratio for the compound gear train
in Figure 6.6(b) is
N2 N4 N
e3 / 2  e5 / 4  e6 / 5  4
N3 N5 N5
 N 2  N 4  N 5  N N
e6 / 2 e3 / 2 e5 / 4 e6 / 5         2 4 Figure 6.6 Compound gear
  
 N 3  N 5  N 6  N3 N6 trains

Idler gear 5 has no effect on the magnitude of the speed ratio;

although it affects the direction of output speed and the distance
between the input and output shafts.
Classification of Gear Trains
The compound gear train illustrated in
Figure 6.6(c) incorporates an external-
internal meshing pair. The numbers of
teeth are
N2 = 9; N3= 62; N4 = 20;
N5 = 51;  15;
N6 = N   NN7= 54
N 
e7 / 2 e3 / 2 e5 / 4 e7 / 6   2    4   6 
 N 3  N 5  N 7 
9 20 15 Figure 6.6 Compound gear
 0.0158 1:63.3 trains
62 5154
This arrangement of gears is employed in
the design of a winch. Figure 6.7 shows a
corresponding photograph of the system.
A compound gear train may be designed
to provide multiple speed ratios through
one output shaft by transmitting motion
through various pairs of gears.
Figure 6.7 Gear train used in a
winch
Example 6.1 Speed Ratios for Manual
Transmission
Figure 6.8 shows a schematic of a
manual transmission, which employs
a compound gear train. The Shifter
allows pairs of gears to be
disengaged and reengaged to obtain
three different speed ratios.
Determine the speed ratios of the
gear train. Figure 6.8 Compound gear
Solutio trains
n:
O/P Gears in Mesh Speed Ratio
Speed
1 1,2,7,8 N1 N 7
e8 /1 
N 2 N8
2 3,4,7,8 N3N7
e8 / 3 
N 4 N8
3 5,6,7,8 N5N7
e8 / 5 
N 6 N8
Example
Fig. shows a gear train mechanism. Determine the velocity
of Gear 8 if the input gear 2 rotates at 1200 rpm
counterclockwise.
Example 6.2 Design for the
Number of Teeth of a Reverted
Gear Train
Find the tooth numbers for the gear train shown in Figure 6.8, to generate
the speed ratios 1/4.00; 1/2.45 and 1/1.55. All gears are to have at least 12
teeth. The center-to-center distance between the idler and input/output
shafts is 72 mm, and all gears have a module of 4mm.
Solutio
n:
Because all gears are to have the same module, and meshing gears must
share a common center to center distance, then for a pair of meshing
gears,N1 N 7 N3N7 N5N7
e8 /1  e8 / 3  e8 / 5 
N 2 N8 N 4 N8 N 6 N8
di d j 1 m
Ci , j    d i  d j   N i  N j 
2 2 2 2
m 4
 Ci , j  N i  N j  72  N i  N j 
2 2
 N i  N j  36

 N1  N 2  N 3  N 4  N 5  N 6  N 7  N 8  36

Figure 6.8 Compound gear
trains
Example 6.2 Design for the
Number of Teeth of a Reverted
Gear Train
The first desired speed ratio,
e 1 / 4.00 can match exactly considering,
8 /1

N1 N 7 N 7 12; N 8 24;
e8 /1  As, 4=2x2 by factorization
N 2 N8 N1 12; N 2 24;

The second and third desired speed ratio,e8 / 3 1 / 2.45 e8 / 5 and

1 / 1.55 can
not match exactly considering, by trial & error
N N
e8 / 3  3 7 1 / 2.45 N 3  N 4  36
N 4 N8
N 3 N 7 16 12
N 3 16; N 4 20;  1 : 2.50
N 4 N 8 20 24

N5N7
e8 / 5 
N 6 N8
1 / 1.55 N 5  N 6  36

N 5 20; N 6 16; N 5 N 7 20 12

 1 : 1.60
N 6 N 8 16 24
Figure 6.8 Compound gear
trains
Example 6.2 Design for the
Number of Teeth of a Reverted
Gear Train
Values closest to the desired speed ratio, satisfying the constraints for the
minimum number of teeth on a gear,
N1 12; N 2 24; e8 /1 3.54
N 3 15; N 4 21; e8 / 3 2.48
N 7 19; N 8 17; e8 / 5 1.58

Figure 6.8 Compound gear

trains
Gear Trains Design
Constraints
1. For a particular gear train, all meshing gear must
have the same module or diametral pitch.
2. Maximum allowed train ratio is 10:1
3. If desired train ratio is greater than 10:1 then
factorize the train ratio by root or factorizing method
such that individual train ration is less than 10:1
4. The number of roots or factors represents the number
of pairs of gears i.e. number of stages in the desired
gear train.
5. The minimum number of teeth is 12- 17, but 14- 17 is
better.
Gear Trains Design Example
Design a compound gear train for an exact train ratio of 180:1. Find a
combination of gears which will give that ratio.
2 180
Solutio As desired gear ratio>10, thus number of
2 90
n: stages are,
180 13.41 not satisfied . 3 45
3
180 5.646 whis is less than 10, thus satisfied. 3 15
5
Therefore, number of stages are 3.
Possible Gear sets for 180:1 180 ( 3 2 )( 3 2 )( 5 ) 6 6 5
speed reduction of three
stages gear train Possible Gear sets for 180:1
speed reduction of three
Gears Pinion Gear
stages gear train
et Teeth Teeth
Ratio Gears Pinion Gear
et Teeth Teeth
5.646 x 12 67.7568
Ratio
5.646 x 13 73.3973
6 x 14 84
5.646 x 14 79.0479
6 x 14 84
5.646 x 15 84.6985
5 x 14 70
Gear Trains with Bavel Gear
Gear trains with bevel gears, hypoid gears and worm and gear sets
have nonparallel axes of rotation. The magnitude of the speed ratio
between any two bevel gears in mesh is inversely proportional to their
number of gear teeth.
3 N 2 4 N 3
e3 / 2   e4 / 3   (6.2-10)
2 N 3 3 N 4

The magnitude of the speed ratio of the gear train

is,
   I/P Gear
O/P Gear
e4 / 2  e4 / 3 e3 / 2  4 3  4 (6.2-11)
3  2  2
N3 N 2 N
e4 / 2  e4 / 3  e3 / 2   2 (6.2-12)
N 4 N3 N4
Idler
Gear

Figure 6.11 Gear train

incorporating bevel gears.
Example

Design a compound gear train

with a train ratio of 120:1. The
diameter of the pinion gear is 42
mm and the module is 3.