Unit 4: Bevel Gears

Bevel Gears: Intro

• Bevel gears are used to transmit power
between two intersecting shafts.
• There are two common types of bevel
gears—straight and spiral, as shown in
Fig.
• The elements of the teeth of the straight
bevel gears are straight lines, which
converge into a common apex point.
• The elements of the teeth of the spiral
bevel gears are spiral curves, which also
converge into a common apex point.
 Bevel Gears: Intro
• Straight bevel gears are easy to design and manufacture and give
reasonably good service when properly mounted on shafts. However,
they create noise at high-speed conditions.
• Spiral bevel gears, on the other hand, are difficult to design and costly
to manufacture, for they require specialized and sophisticated
machinery for their manufacture.
• Spiral bevel gears have smooth teeth engagement, which results in
quiet operation, even at high speeds. They have better strength and are
thus used for high speed–high power transmission.
 Bevel Gears: Intro
In some cases, bevel gears are classified on the basis of pitch angle.
• When the pitch angle is less than 90°, it is called external bevel gear.
• When the pitch angle is equal to 90°, it is called crown bevel gear.
• When the pitch angle is more than 90°, it is called internal bevel gear
 Bevel Gears: Intro
• Miter Gears When two identical bevel gears
are mounted on shafts, which are intersecting
at right angles, they are called ‘miter’ gears.
• The pitch angles of pinion and gear are same
and each is equal to 45°.
• The pinion and gear rotate at the same speed.
• The pinion and gear have same dimensions,
namely, addendum, dedendum, PCD, no of
teeth and module.
• The pinion and gear are always mounted on
shafts, which are perpendicular to each other.
 Bevel Gears: Intro
• Crown Gear In a pair of bevel gears,
when one of the gears has a pitch angle of
90° then that gear is called ‘crown’ gear.
• Such bevel gears are mounted on shafts,
which are intersecting at an angle that is
more than 90°.
• The crown gear is equivalent to the rack
in spur gearing. The pitch cone of the
crown gear becomes plane.
• The pitch angle of crown gear is 90°.
• The bevel pinion and crown gear are
always mounted on shafts, which are
intersecting at angle more than 90°.
Bevel Gears: Terminologies
 Bevel Gears: Terminologies
• Pitch Cone: Pitch cone is an imaginary cone, the surface of which contains the pitch
lines of all teeth in the bevel gear.

• Cone Centre: The apex of the pitch cone is called the cone centre. It is denoted by O.

• Cone Distance: Cone distance is the length of the pitch-cone element. It is also
called pitch-cone radius. It is denoted by A0.

• Pitch Angle The angle that the pitch line makes with the axis of the gear, is called the
pitch angle. It is denoted by g. The pitch angle is also called centre angle.

• Addendum Angle It is the angle subtended by the addendum at the cone centre. It is
denoted by α
 Bevel Gears: Terminologies
• Dedendum Angle It is the angle subtended by the dedendum at the cone centre. It is
denoted by δ.

• Face Angle It is the angle subtended by the face of the tooth at the cone centre.
Face angle = pitch angle + addendum angle = γ+α

• Root Angle It is the angle subtended by the root of the tooth at the cone centre.
Root angle = pitch angle – dedendum angle = γ-α

• Back Cone The back cone is an imaginary cone and its elements are perpendicular to
the elements of the pitch cone.

• Back Cone Distance It is the length of the back cone element. It is also called back
cone radius. It is denoted by rb.
 Bevel Gears: Terminologies
• Cross section of the tooth decreases in size as it approaches towards
the apex point O.

• Therefore, the PCD, module, addendum, and dedendum decreases and

there is no single value for these parameters.

• In practice, these dimensions are measured at the largest tooth section

called the large end of the tooth.

• The addendum ha, the dedendum hf and the pitch circle diameter D are
specified at the large end of the tooth.
 Bevel Gears: Terminologies
• As shown in Fig, an imaginary spur gear
is considered in a plane perpendicular to
the tooth at the large end.
• rb is the pitch circle radius of this
imaginary spur gear and Z’ is the number
of teeth on this gear.
• The gear is called the formative gear
and the number of teeth Z’ on this gear is
called the virtual or the formative
number of teeth.
• The formative number of teeth is given
by
Bevel Gears: Terminologies
 Bevel Gears: Force Analysis
• In force analysis, it is assumed that the
resultant tooth force between two meshing
teeth of a pair of bevel gears is concentrated
at the midpoint along the face width of the
tooth.
• The resultant force has following three
components:
Pt = tangential force (N)
Pr = radial component (N)
Pa = axial or thrust component (N)
The angle between lines OD and OX is the pitch angle γ.
Therefore, the angle between lines AD and FD should be
equal to the pitch angle γ.
Bevel Gears: Force Analysis
• Consider the plane DEAF shown in Fig.
19.9(c). From triangle ADF
Bevel Gears: Force Analysis
 Beam strength
• In the above analysis, the beam strength
(Sb) is determined using the pitch radius R
at the large end of the tooth (Sb = Mt /R).

• Therefore, the beam strength indicates the

maximum value of the tangential force at
the large end of the tooth that the tooth can
transmit without bending failure.

• It is necessary to compare the beam

strength with an imaginary force Pt ,
The face width of the bevel gear is generally
considered to be acting at the large end of
taken as 10 m or (A0/3), i.e.,
the tooth. This component is given by
b = 10 m or b = A0 /3 (whichever is smaller) Pt=(2Mt)/D
Wear strength
Effective Load

Peff= CsPt+Pd
 Wear strength
• The method used to calculate the error e
between two meshing teeth in previous units
is limited to spur and helical gears.
• For bevel gears, such precise information is
difficult to get.
• Table 19.1 may be used to get the values of
error e.
• The classes of gears mentioned in the table
indicate the following manufacturing
methods,
Class-1 Well cut commercial gear teeth
Class-2 Gear teeth cut with great care
Class-3 Ground and lapped precision gear
teeth
• A pair of bevel gears transmitting 7.5 kW at 300 rpm is shown in Fig. The pressure
angle is 20°. Determine the components of the resultant gear tooth force. draw a
free-body diagram of forces acting on the pinion and the gear
• The dimensions of a pair of bevel gears are given in Fig. The gear G delivers 5 kW
of power at 500 rpm to the output shaft. Determine the forces acting on pinion
and gear.
• A pair of bevel gears, with 20° pressure angle, consists of a 20 teeth pinion
meshing with a 30 teeth gear. The module is 4 mm, while the face width is 20 mm.
The material for the pinion and gear is steel 50C4 (Sut = 750 N/mm2). The gear
teeth are lapped and ground (Class-3) and the surface hardness is 400 BHN. The
pinion rotates at 500 rpm and receives 2.5 kW power from the electric motor. The
starting torque of the motor is 150% of the rated torque. Determine the factor of
safety against bending failure and against pitting failure.
Form factor can be taken as 0.33712
• A pair of straight bevel gears, mounted on shafts which are intersecting at right angles,
consists of a 24 teeth pinion meshing with a 32 teeth gear. The pinion shaft is connected
to an electric motor developing 12.5 kW rated power at 1440 rpm. The starting torque of
the motor is 150% of the rated torque. The pressure angle is 20°. Both gears are made of
case hardened steel (Sut = 750 N/mm2). The teeth on gears are generated and finished by
grinding and lapping processes to meet the requirements of Class-3 Grade. The factor of
safety in the preliminary stages of gear design is 2.
Form Factor can be taken as 0.358
• (i) In the initial stages of gear design, assume that velocity factor accounts for the
dynamic load and that the pitch line velocity is 7.5 m/s. Estimate the module based on
beam strength.
• (ii) Select the first preference value of the 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 the surface hardness for the gears assuming a factor of safety of 2 for wear
consideration.
• A pair of straight bevel gears is mounted on shafts, which are intersecting at right
angles. The number of teeth on the pinion and gear are 21 and 28 respectively. The
pressure angle is 20°. The pinion shaft is connected to an electric motor
developing 5 kW rated power at 1440 rpm. The service factor can be taken as 1.5.
The pinion and the gear are made of steel (Sut = 750 N/mm2) and heat-treated to a
surface hardness of 380 BHN. The gears are machined by a manufacturing
process, which limits the error between the meshing teeth to 10 mm. The module
and face width are 4 mm and 20 mm respectively. Determine the factor of safety
against bending as well as against pitting failure.
• Form factor can be taken as 0.345