Universidad de Los Andes

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Design of Mechanical Components
IMEC 3530 (Sections 3 and 4)
Quiz #4
December 10th, 2020

Problem #1 (50 %)

The figure shows an electrically assisted bicycle. In these bicycles, the torque exerted by the rider on the pedals
can be supplemented with additional torque from an electric motor. In most cases, these are DC motors, powered
by a rechargeable battery. The location where the additional torque is delivered can be at the front chain sprocket
(the sprocket that is connected to the pedals in conventional bicycles), or at the rear hub where the rear wheel is
mounted. Independent of that, a torque combining device is needed to take the torque from the pedals or from the
motor (or both) to add it and to deliver it at the chosen point in the bicycle transmission.
In this problem, you will show how a planetary gear system can be used to function as the torque combination
device mentioned above. The electric motor is a DC motor capable of delivering 500 W of power. The rated speed
of the motor is 900 rpm. You can assume that you have a suitable battery to power the motor and the maximum
speed of the bicycle is 30 km/h. Choose any existing conventional bicycle and add to it the electrical assistance
capability. To determine how much power is necessary to ride a bicycle under different conditions, use the calculator
found at https://www.omnicalculator.com/sports/cycling-wattage. Choose a reasonable range of conditions
under which your system will work and list them in your solution.

(i) Decide where are you going to deliver the combined power; at the front sprocket or at the rear wheel hub?
Somewhere else? Justify your decision.
(ii) Do a kinematic design of the planetary gear system. This should include: pitch diameter and number of teeth
of all the gears with the calculations used to obtain them, specification of what gears are the inputs (from
the pedals and the motor) and what gear is the output. Of course, the planetary system should be as small
as possible.
(iii) Calculations showing what are the speed and torque ratios between the output and the inputs. Assume that
the force that and adult person can exert perpendicular to a bicycle pedal is about 500 N.

1
Universidad de Los Andes Department of Mechanical Engineering

(iv) Graphically show the general details of how are the motor and the planetary system mounted in the bicycle.
You don’t have to do a detailed design of this. Just do sketches with enough details to show how the motor and
the planetary gear system are integrated in the bicycle. The sketch should show how and where the planetary
gear system is mounted in the bicycle frame and how is it mechanically connected to the inputs and to the
output.

(v) 25 % Bonus: Carry out a full design of the sun gear specifying the material, the thickness of the gear and
calculations showing that it will not fail neither statically nor by fatigue, with a safety factor of at least 1.50.

To verify the kinematics of your planetary gear box, you can use the the planetary gear simulator available at
http://www.thecatalystis.com/gears/ .

Problem #2 (50 %)

The figure shows a gearbox with three shafts. In this problem, you will do a critical speed analysis of the shaft
indicated with the arrow. You can assume that all the components are made of steel.

(a) Find a reliable value for the intrinsic first critical speed of the shaft, without the gears and bearings mounted
on it.
(b) Find a reliable value for the first critical speed of the shaft with the gears and bearings mounted on it.
(c) Find the deflection of the shaft at the positions were the gears are mounted.

The dimensions of the shaft are shown in the figure below.

Page 2
Universidad de Los Andes Department of Mechanical Engineering

The gears and bearings dimensions are shown in the figure below. The bearings are self-aligning ball bearings.

You can assume that the components are discs with the diameters and thicknesses shown in the figure.

Deadline
The quiz can be solved in teams of up to three students, and it must be turned in by Thursday, December
17th, at midnight thru a link that will be enabled in Sicua.

Page 3