DESIGN OF SPUR GEARS

NOMENCLATURE OF SPUR GEAR TOOTH

NOMENCLATURE OF SPUR GEAR TOOTH
• Pitch circle: It is an imaginary circle which by pure rolling action would give the same
motion as the actual gear . Here Tooth thickness ≈ Tooth space.
• Addendum circle: It is the circle drawn through the top of the teeth and is concentric with
the pitch circle.
• Dedendum circle: It is the circle drawn through the bottom of the teeth. It is also called root
circle.
• Addendum: It is the radial distance of a tooth from the pitch circle to the top of the tooth.
• Dedendum: It is the radial distance of a tooth from the pitch circle to the bottom of the
tooth.
• Total depth: It is the radial distance between the addendum and the dedendum circles of a
gear. It is equal to the sum of the addendum and dedendum.
• Working depth: It is the radial distance from the addendum circle to the clearance circle.
The difference between the dedendum of one gear and the addendum of the mating gear.
• Tooth thickness: It is the width of the tooth measured along the pitch circle.
• Tooth space: It is the width of space between the two adjacent teeth measured along the
pitch circle.
• Face of tooth: It is the surface of the gear tooth above the pitch surface.
• Flank of tooth: It is the surface of the gear tooth below the pitch surface.
• Top land: It is the surface of the top of the tooth.
• Face width: It is the width of the gear tooth measured parallel to its axis.
• Profile: It is the curve formed by the face and flank of the tooth.
• Fillet radius: It is the radius that connects the root circle to the profile of the tooth.
• Pitch circle diameter: It is the diameter of the pitch circle. The size of the gear is usually
specified by the pitch circle diameter. It is also known as pitch diameter. It is represented by D
or d.
• Pitch point: It is a common point of contact between two pitch circles.
• Pressure angle or angle of obliquity: It is the angle between the common normal to two gear
teeth at the point of contact and the common tangent at the pitch point. ‘Or’ The angle
between the line of action and tangent at the pitch point of two gears. It is usually denoted by
φ. The standard pressure angles are 14 1/2 ° and 20°.
• Circular pitch. It is the distance measured on the circumference of the pitch circle
from a point of one tooth to the corresponding point on the next tooth. It is
usually denoted by Pc ,Mathematically,

▪ A little consideration will show t h a t the two gears will mesh together correctly,
if the two wheels have the same circular pitch.
Note: If 𝐷1 and 𝐷2 are the diameters of the two meshing gears having the teeth 𝑇1
an d 𝑇2 respectively, then for them to mesh correctly,
• Diametral pitch: It is the ratio of number of teeth to the pitch circle diameter in millimetres. It is
denoted by pd. Mathematically,

• Module (SI): It is the ratio of the pitch circle diameter in millimeters to the number of
teeth. It is usually denoted by m.
Mathematically,
• Clearance: Refers to the radial distance between he top and bottom of gears in mesh.
BACKLASH
It is the distance between the tooth space and the tooth thickness of mating gear as measured
on the pitch circle. “Or”
Clearance between the mating teeth measured at the pitch circle.
Purpose of backlash:
❖ Prevent gears from jamming together.
❖ Lack of backlash may cause noise, overloading, overheating of the gears and bearings,
and even seizing and failure.
BASE CIRCLE
An imaginary circle used in involute gearing to generate the involutes that form the tooth
profiles.
 FUNDAMENTAL LAW OF GEARING
• “The angular velocity ratio between 2 meshing gears of a Gear set remains
constant throughout the mesh.”
• Angular velocity ratio (mV)
• Torque ratio (mT) is opposite of mechanical advantage (mA)

Input

ωout rin d in
v = ωr mV = = =
ωin rout d out
ωin rin = ωout rout
ωin rout d out
mT = = =
ωout rin d in
Output
FUNDAMENTAL LAW OF GEARING

The common normal to the

tooth profiles at the point of
contact between a pair of
teeth must always pass
through the pitch point on
the line of centers (to get a
constant velocity ratios).
Example 12-1
Example 12-1
Example 12-1
Example 12-1
GEAR TOOTH PROFILE

Most commonly, following tooth profiles are used:

• Involute teeth
• Cycloidal teeth
• Epi-cycloidal teeth
• Hypo cycloidal teeth
 Involute tooth profile
• The involute curve is most easily understood as the trace of a point at the end of a taut
string that unwinds from a cylinder. It is imagined that a point on a string, which is
pulled taut in a fixed direction, projects its trace onto a plane that rotates with the base
circle. Note the following about the circle:

1. The string is always tangent to

base circle.
2. The center of curvature of the
involute is always at the point of
tangency of the string with the
base circle.
3. A tangent to the involute is always
normal to the string, which is the
instantaneous radius of curvature
of the involute curve.
Cycloidal curve tooth profile

➢ Consider a point, “P” on the periphery of a circle. Now if the circle rolls on a
fixed line, then the contour made by the point “P”, is known as cycloidal curve.

➢ If the circle rolls on the outer periphery of another circle (which is fixed), then
the contour made by the point “P”, is known as epi-cycloidal curve.

➢ If the circle rolls on the inner periphery of another circle (which is fixed), then the
contour made by the point “P”, is known as hypo- cycloidal curve.
Center Distance
The center distance of 2 spur gears is the
distance from the center shaft of one spur
gear to the center shaft of the other.

• Center to center distance for two gears

in mesh can be calculated with this
formula

• There will be some range of center-to-

center distances over which we can
achieve a mesh between the gears.
Change in Center Distance
• There will also be an ideal center distance that will give us the nominal pitch diameters for
which the gears were designed.
• Due to the limitations of the manufacturing process there will be some error in the center
distance, even if small.
• If the gear tooth form is not an involute, then an error in center distance will cause variation,
or “ripple,” in the output velocity.
• However, with an involute tooth form, center-distance errors do not affect the velocity ratio.
This is the principal advantage of the involute over all other possible tooth forms and is the
reason why it is nearly universally used for gear teeth.
Change in Center Distance
• Figure shows what happens when
center distance is varied on involute
gear set. Note common normal still
goes through the pitch point, only
pressure angle is affected by change
in center distance.

• Fundamental law of gearing still

holds in modified center distance
case.
• The pitch point has moved in
proportion to the shifts of the center
distance and the pitch radii.

• The velocity ratio is unchanged

despite the shift in center distance.
 INTERFERENCE & UNDERCUTTING
• The involute tooth form is only defined outside of the base circle. In some cases, the dedendum
will be large enough to extend below the base circle. If so, then the portion of tooth below the
base circle will not be an involute and will interfere with the tip of the tooth on the mating gear,
which is an involute. This results in an undercut tooth.

• Undercutting weakens the tooth by removing material at its root. The maximum moment and
maximum shear from the tooth loaded as a cantilever beam both occur in this region. Severe
undercutting will cause early tooth failure.

• Interference and its attendant undercutting can be prevented simply by avoiding gears with too
few teeth.

• If a pinion has a large number of teeth, they will be small compared to its diameter. As the number
of teeth is reduced for a fixed diameter pinion, the teeth must become larger. At some point, the
dedendum will exceed the radial distance between the base circle and the pitch circle, and
interference will occur.
INTERFERENCE & UNDERCUTTING
INTERFERENCE & UNDERCUTTING
 Un-equal Addendum Tooth form
• In order to avoid interference on small pinions, the tooth form can be changed from the standard,
full-depth shapes that have equal addenda on both pinion and gear to an involute shape with a
longer addendum on the pinion and a shorter one on the gear. These are called profile-shifted
gears.
• The AGMA defines addendum modification coefficients, 𝑥1 and 𝑥2 , which always sum to zero,
being equal in magnitude and opposite in sign. The positive coefficient 𝑥1 is applied to increase
the pinion addendum and the negative 𝑥2 decreases the gear addendum by the same amount. The
total tooth depth remains the same.

• There are some secondary benefits to

this technique. The pinion tooth
becomes thicker at its base and thus
stronger but increases the tooth surface
stresses.
Why involute curve is widely used?

The involute curve is almost exclusively used in modern gearing system. The advantage of
involute profile over the cycloidal profile is given below:

➢ The form of the basic rack tooth is straight-sided, and therefore is relatively simple and
can be accurately made. A hob cutter for the cycloidal gear is not as easily made.
➢ In cycloidal gears, for a mating pair, there is only one theoretical correct centre distance
for which this will transmit motion maintaining a constant angular velocity ratio.
➢ in case of involute gearing system, the centre distance can be changed without affecting
the angular velocity ratio.
➢ This advantage of involute system is of prime importance as most of the modern gears are
corrected ones having changed centre. Also, in case of gearing systems having standard
centre distance, it is not possible to accurately maintain that distance due to mounting
inaccuracies, misalignments and a number of other diverse factors.
 Why involute curve is widely used?

➢ While the cycloidal tooth profile has double curvature, an involute tooth has single
curvature, which facilitates ease of manufacturing.

➢ In involute profile as the path of contact is straight line and the pressure angle is
constant, there is constant force acting on the axes. In cycloidal gear, the pressure angle
continuously changes. This results in separating forces of variable magnitude, which in
turn gives rise to unquiet operation.
Disadvantages of involute curve over cycloidal curve:

➢ In case of cycloidal gear, minimum number of teeth can be as low as 6 or 7; but in case
of involute gears, minimum number of teeth is 17.

➢ The cycloidal teeth is stronger than the involute teeth. There is more material at the
root portion of the cycloidal tooth as compared to an involute tooth.

➢ Involute teeth has the problem of interference, but the cycloidal gears do not have
interference and the problem thereof.