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CHAPTER 13
GEARS-GENERAL

This chapter deals with the geometry and kinematic relations of gears, and forces
transmitted through various types of gears.

13-1 Gear Types

There are basically four types of gears: which are spur, helical, bevel and worm gears.

Spur Gears: These are the simplest gears used to transmit power between parallel
shafts. Assume that the shaft lies along the axial x-direction and the other two
directions perpendicular to the shaft axis are y and z. The spur gears only develop
radial forces along the y and z directions, but no axial (trust) force along the x-
direction. Their teeth are engaged along a line, which may generate noise for shafts of
high speed. See Figure 13-1 for an illustration of a pair of these gears in the textbook.

Helical Gears: These gears have their teeth inclined to the shaft axis of rotation and
can be used to transmit motion between parallel and non-parallel shafts. Unlike spur
gears, these gears generate trust forces in addition to radial forces. But, because of
inclination of the tooth geometry, they come into gradual contact with each other,
generating less noise. Hence, they are suitable for high speed applications. See Figure
13-2 for an illustration of these gears.

Bevel Gears: These gears have their teeth formed on conical surfaces and are used to
transmit motion between intersecting shafts. See Figure 13-3 in the textbook, which
illustrates these gears.

13-2 Nomenclature
Various terms related to gear geometry are shown in Figure 13-5 in the textbook. In a
mating gear set, the smaller gear is called pinion, the bigger one just gear.
Calculations for a gear are usually based on pitch circle diameter (or just pitch
diameter) d. The pitch circles of mating gears are tangent to each other. Circular
distance on the pitch circle from a point on one tooth to the corresponding point on
the adjacent tooth is called circular pitch (p). This is equal to tooth thickness plus
width of space between the two adjacent teeth. Furthermore,

Module = Pitch Diameter/Number of Teeth, Or, m = d/N (mm)

Circular Pitch = p = d/N =  m
Addendum = a and Dedendum = b  Depth of Tooth=ht=a+b and Clearance=c=ba
Backlash = Width of Space – Thickness of Mating Gear’s Tooth Thickness

13-3 Conjugate Action

Gears are like cam pairs. When the gear tooth profiles are designed as to produce
constant angular velocity ratio, they are said to have conjugate action. One of the
ways to achieve the conjugate action is for the gear teeth to have so-called involute
profile. In the case of the involute profile, all points of contact between gear teeth
occur on the same line of action, thus producing uniform rotary action.
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13-4 and 13-5 Involute Properties and Fundamentals

Review these sections in the textbook to learn about designing of an involute tooth
profile and other fundamentals.

Example:
Suppose that we want to design a pinion of NP = 18 teeth meshing with a gear of NG =
30 teeth. Take the module for the set to be m = d/N = 12 mm/teeth. Hence, the pitch
diameters for the pinion and gear are: dP = NP m = 18 (12) = 216 mm and dG= NG m =
30 (12) = 360 mm. Thus, central distance = (dP + dG)/2 = 288 mm.

Now, we can draw the two pitch circles for the pinion and the gear with the above
central distance and make a common tangent line between them as shown in Figure
13-9 of the textbook. The next move is to draw a pressure line or line of action
making a pressure angle of  with the tangent line. It is called the line of action,
because contact forces between the gears act along this line. The value of this angle is
between 20o and 25o (usually 20o). We can then draw circles, base circles, tangent to
the pressure line for both gears, as depicted in Figure 13-10. The radius of this base
circle (rb) is related to the pitch radius (r) through the pressure angle () as: rb = r
cos.

Next, we can draw an involute tooth profile on the base circle as explained in the
textbook by the aid of Figure 13-8. The addendum (a) and dedendem (b) are found as:
a = 1m = 12 mm and b = 1.25m = 15 mm. The addendum and dedendum circles can
then be drawn for both gears. We also find: circular pitch = p = m = 12 = 37.7 mm,
tooth thickness = t = p/2 = 37.7/2 = 18.85 mm and clearance = c = b – a = 3 mm.
The complete picture is given in Figure 13-12.

13-6 Contact Ratio

The contact ratio is defined as the average number of teeth in contact between two
mating gears at a given time. It is given as: mc = qt/p, where qt is the arc of action and
p is the circular pitch. We want: mc  1.2 in order to avoid impact and noise.

13-7 Interference
The interference is the contact portions of tooth profiles that are not conjugate. The
effect is eating up or digging out of the tooth by the mating tooth during the contact,
which weakens the tooth. This can be avoided by ensuring a minimum number of
teeth for the pinion.

The smallest number of teeth NP of a pinion without interference is given by

NP 
2k
(1  2mG ) sin 
2
mG  mG2  (1  2mG ) sin 2  
where mG = NG/NP and k = 1 for full-depth teeth. If, for example, mG = 4 and  = 20o,
then we find from the above equation the smallest number of teeth to avoid
interference as: NP = 15.4  16 teeth and NG = 64 teeth. On the other hand, the
smallest number of teeth for a spur pinion operating with a rack without interference
is given as
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2k
NP 
sin 2 
Hence, for a pressure angle of  = 20o, it can be seen that NP = 17.1  18 teeth.

The interference can also be avoided by increasing the pressure angle . But, this will
result in smaller base circle and increased bearing loads.

13-12 Tooth Systems

Standards for gear teeth are provided by AGMA (American Gear Manufacturer’s
Association). These are given in Tables 13-1 to 13-5 of the textbook.

13-13 Gear Trains

Consider a pinion 2 driving a gear 3. Then, we have
N d
N 3 n3  N 2 n 2  n3  2 n 2  2 n 2
N3 d3
where n stands for number of rotations in rev/min, N for number of teeth and d for the
pitch diameter. The absolute sign indicates the fact that we are dealing with
magnitudes, because the senses of rotations of mating gears are usually opposite. In
other words, if, say, the sense of rotation for n2 is positive (ccw), then the sense of
rotation for n3 is negative (cw).

For the gear train shown in the textbook in Figure 13-27, the pinion 2 is the input gear
and the gear 6 the output. Hence,
N N N
n6   2 3 5 n 2
N3 N4 N6
Since the gear 3 only affects the direction of rotation, not the magnitude, it is called an
idler. A train value e is then defined as

product of driving tooth numbers

e
product of driven tooth numbers

which is positive if the last gear (L) rotates in the same sense of the first one (F), and
is negative vise versa. We have in short

nL = e nF

Usually, a train value of up to 10 can be obtained for one pair of gears. Hence, a two-
stage gear train shown in Figure 13-28 in the textbook can yield a train value of up to
100.
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The gear trains in which some gear axes rotate about others are called planetary or
epicyclic gear trains. Some examples are shown in Figures 13-30 and 13-31 on p. 706
of the textbook. They always include a sun gear, an arm and one or more planet
gears. They have two inputs, e.g. sun gear and ring gear rotations. Output could be the
motion of the arm. In Figure 13-31, p. 706, we define the revolutions of the sun gear
(2) and planet gear (5) with respect to the arm (3) as: n23 = n2  n3 and n53 = n5  n3.
Therefore,
n n  n3
Train Value = e = 53  5
n23 n2  n3
In general, we have
n  nA
e= L
nF  n A
where the subscripts L, F and A stands for the last, first and arm.
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13-14 Force Analysis: Spur Gears

Consider a pinion 2 driving a gear 3. The gear set and the free body diagrams are
shown below.

b
Gear 3 Tb3 Fb3 


n3
 F32
 F23 

n2 Pinion 2 
a Fa2 Ta2

Gear Set Free-Body Diagrams

In the above figures, a and b indicate shaft bearings and hence forces containing a or
b in subscripts are bearing reactions. Also, the contact force F23 means the force
applied by pinion 2 on gear 3, and so on. As shown in Figure 13-33, the contact forces
and bearing reactions on the pinion can be split into horizontal and vertical
components. Out of these forces, the horizontal contact force is given the special
name of transmitted load, because it is the one responsible for generating the torque
and hence transmitting the power. We have the following definitions:

Transmitted Load = Wt = F32t (N)

d
Torque = T = Wt (Nm)
2
d 2 n d  nd
Pitch-Line Velocity = V =  = = (m/s)
2 60 2 60
 d  d  2 n n
Power = H = T = Wt   = Wt  = (Wt d) (Watt  W) (1)
 2  2  60 60
Power = H = F V = Wt V (Watt  W) (2)

In above expressions, the angular velocity  is given in rad/s and the number of
revolutions n in rev/min.

In gear problems, the power H and revolution n are usually given. Hence, the
transmitted load Wt can be found using the above equations (1) or (2). Afterwards, the
radial contact force can be found via the pressure angle . After finding the contact
force components, the next step is to determine the bearing reactions.
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13-9 Straight Bevel Gears

When gears are used to transmit motion between intersecting shafts, then bevel gears
are required. The pitch of bevel gears is measured at the large end of the tooth, and
both the circular pitch and the pitch diameter are calculated in the same manner as for
the spur gears. As seen in Figure 13-20, the pitch angles  and  for the pinion and
gear, respectively, are defined as
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NP d NG dG
tan  = = P and tan  = =
NG dG NP dP

meaning that  +  = 90o.

13-15 Force Analysis: Bevel Gears

In determining shaft and bearing loads in bevel-gear applications, it is assumed that
the gear contact forces occur at the midpoint of the tooth (Figure 13-35). Usually, the
power H and the rpm of the shaft (n) are given and hence the torque (T) is found from
the relation: H = T = T (2n/60). Afterwards, the transmitted load (Wt) is found from
the relation: T = Wt rav , where rav is the pitch radius at the midpoint of the tooth.
Radial and axial (thrust) forces shown in Figure 13-35 are then found by the following
equations:

Wr = Wt tan cos and Wa = Wt tan sin

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13-10 Parallel Helical Gears

Helical gears are used to transmit power between parallel shafts previously shown in
Figure 13-2. The helix angle  is same on each mating gear, one being right-hand
helix and the other left-hand. The shape of the tooth is an involute helicoid. The
contact of a spur-gear occurs along a line, whereas that of a helical gear starts at a
point and extends into a line as the teeth engage further. It is this gradual engagement
that makes smooth transfer of the load among the teeth; and therefore the helical gears
are suitable for transmitting heavy loads.

Helical gears subject the shaft bearings to both radial and thrust loads. When thrust
loads are high, they can be cancelled by mounting two helical gears of opposite hand
side by side. The following relations are defined (Figure 13-22):

pn = pt cos and mn = mt cos

where pn : normal circular pitch, mn : normal module, pt : transverse circular pitch (in
the plane of rotation) and mt : transverse module. An axial pitch px along direction of
the shaft axis (x-axis) is also defined as: px = pt/tan . The normal and transverse
pressure angles (n and t) are related to each other thru the helix angle  as: cos =
tann/tant.

Furthermore, similar to spur gears, the minimum number of teeth for a helical pinion
(mating with a helical gear) to avoid interference is given by:
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2k cos 2
NP = 2
mG + mG + (1 + 2mG ) sin 2 t
(1 + 2mG ) sin t

And for a helical pinion-rack pair:

2k cos
NP =
sin 2 t

13-16 Force Analysis: Helical Gears

Figure 13-37 (below) shows a 3-D view of the forces acting on a helical gear tooth.
The point of application of forces is in the pitch plane and in the center of the gear
face. As before, first the transmitted load Wt is found from the given power and rpm
of the shaft. Then, the radial and thrust forces (Wr and Wa) are determined using the
following relations

Wr = Wt tant and Wa = Wt tan

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13-17 Force Analysis: Worm Gearing