SPUR GEARS

A gear is a rotating machine part having cut teeth, or cogs,

which mesh with another toothed part in order to transmit torque.

Spur gears are gears which are cylindrical in form, operate on

parallel axes, and have straight teeth parallel to the axis.
 A gear may either be external, with teeth formed on the outer
surface of a cylinder or cone, or internal, with the teeth formed on
the inner surface of a cylinder.
 A rack is a spur gear of infinite diameter, i.e., its pitch
surface is a plane surface, and the pitch line is a straight line.
SPUR GEAR NOMENCLATURE

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SPUR GEAR NOMENCLATURE

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standard pressure angles are 14and 20.
TOOTH PROFILES

In order that the teeth of two mating gears will transmit uniform
angular velocity, the common normal to the mating tooth surfaces at
their point of contact must always pass through the same pitch point.
This is fundamental condition which must be satisfied while
designing the profiles for the teeth of gear wheels.
It is also known as law of gearing.
Cycloidal Gears
Cycloidal gears was one of the first regular profiles used for gear
teeth. The difficulties encountered in producing accurate profiles have
gradually forced this system into obsolescence.
Epicycloid is the curve traced by a point on the circumference of a
circle when a circle rolls without slipping on the outside of a fixed circle.
Hypocycloid is the curve traced by a point on the circumference of a
circle If a circle rolls without slipping on the inside of a fixed circle.
INVOLUTE GEARS
The involute curve is the
basis of nearly all tooth
profiles now in general use.
The tooth profile is the
involute of a base circle.

 
= = = constant
Interference in Involute Gears
Interference is the phenomenon when the tip of a tooth
undercuts the root on its mating gear.
 Ae = Rg =

Rg + =

but Rp = and Rg =

where Np and Ng are the numbers of teeth in

the pinion and gear, respectively.

Np2 + 2NpNg =

For a rack and pinion, Ng = ,

Np =
Line of Action
•   The arc of action must be equal to or greater than the circular
pitch, which for involute gears will be true when the line of action, or
path of contact, is equal to or greater than p .
 ge =

From which

And
g +p
LINE OF ACTION

•   For smooth transmission, the line of action should be greater than the
minimum. A value of at least 1.4 times the circular pitch is desirable.
The theoretical length of the line of action of any pair of true involute
gears is given by the equation

(11-7)
STANDARD INVOLUTE GEARS

Fourteen-and-one-half-degree Full-depth System

True involute profiles are obtained by the gear-generating process, using a
straight-sided rack as the basic form. Small pinions have undercut flanks and do
not have an arc of contact long enough to ensure continuous driving action.
STANDARD INVOLUTE GEARS

Fourteen-and-one-half-degree Composite System

This standard differs from the 14 1/2-degree full-depth involute system in
regard to the form of the basic rack teeth. The nominal pressure angle is the same
and also the various formulas for determining tooth depth, addendum,
dedendum, etc.
STANDARD INVOLUTE GEARS

Twenty-degree and Twenty-five degree Full-depth System

These systems use 20-deg and 25-deg pressure angles, which allow fewer teeth on
the pinion without undercutting and greater load-carrying capacity than the 14 ½-deg
pressure angle.
Fine-pitch System
This system is similar to the 20-deg full-depth system with a pressure angle of 20
deg but has a slight increase in whole depth to allow for the greater proportional
clearance. Diametral pitches of 20 and finer are used in this system.
Stub-tooth Systems
Since interference in full-depth gears prevents the use of small pinions without
modification, the stub, or shortened tooth, is often used.
STANDARD INVOLUTE GEARS

Special Tooth Systems

In these systems, the addenda, dedenda, pressure angle, and center
distances are chosen for each installation to give the best operating
conditions and strongest teeth.
 Internal Gears
The internal gear has its teeth cut on the inside of the rim and is used when
the direction of rotation of both gears must be the same, and when short-center
distances are required.

If full-depth teeth are used, there may

be fouling or interference point.

To prevent this action, the gear should

have at least 12 more teeth than the pinion
when 14 ½-deg full-depth teeth are used.
With 20-deg stub-tooth gears, the gear
should have at least seven more teeth than
the pinion.
The Gear-design Problem
 The gears must operate without tooth interference, with proper
length of contact, and without undue noise.
 The gear teeth must have the ability to transmit the applied load
without failure and with a certain margin of safety.
 The wearing qualities of the teeth must be considered.
 The Strength of Spur Gears

Each tooth may be considered to be a cantilever beam loaded as shown in the

figure.

The maximum bending stress may be

located and computed as follows: Through
the point a in the figure, draw a parabola
tangent to the tooth curves at c and d. This
parabola represents the outline of a beam
of uniform stress, and therefore the
maximum stress in the actual tooth will be
at the points of tangency c or d.
 THE STRENGTH OF SPUR GEARS

 
from which

Let

Substituting,
(11-10)
where,
=
= force transmitted, lb
= stress, psi
= face width, in.
and = Lewis’ form factor
and = circular and diametral pitch, respectively
THE STRENGTH OF SPUR GEARS

  In the figure, traingles cge and agc are

similar.

and

Then
Form factors for the Lewis equation
Working Stress in Gear Teeth
The permissible working stress s in the Lewis equation depends
upon the material, the heat treatment, the accuracy of the machine
work, and the pitch line velocity.
Safe working stresses for common gear materials operating at very
low velocities are usually assumed to be one-third the ultimate
strength.
Representative values are given in Table 11-3.
WORKING STRESS IN GEAR TEETH

•   Slight inaccuracies in the tooth profile and tooth spacing, the fact that the
teeth are not absolutely rigid, variations in the applied load, and repetition of the
loading cause impact and fatigue stresses that become more severe as the pitch-
line velocity increases. To allow for these additional stresses, it is customary to
introduce a velocity factor into the Lewis equation.

for ordinary industrial gears operating at velocities up to 2,000 fpm;

for accurately cut gears operating at velocities up to 4,000 fpm; and

WORKING STRESS IN GEAR TEETH

•  
for precision gears cut with high degree of accuracy and operating at velocities of
4,000 fpm and over.

The tangential force Ft at the pitch line may be obtained from the horsepower
equation

These equations are for gears operating under steady-load conditions. When
operating more than 10hr/day and when subjected to shock, the permissible
tangential load should be modified according to the factors in Table 11-4.
For any set operating conditions, there are many combinations of pitch, face
width, and number of teeth that will satisfy the Lewis equation. However, well
proportioned gears should have face width of from 8/P to 12.5/P; or
approximately 10/P.
Table 11-4. Service factors
Dynamic Loads on Gear Teeth
•   Small machining errors and the deflection of the teeth under load cause period of
acceleration, inertia forces, and impact loads on the teeth with an effect similar to
that of a variable load superimposed on a steady load. The total maximum
instantaneous load on the tooth, or dynamic load, is

Where Fd = total equivalent load applied at pitch line, lb

Ft = tangential load required for power transmission, lb
Fi = increment load (variable load), lb
C = a factor depending upon machining errors
 Table 11-5 Maximum error in action between gears

Table 11-6 Values of the dynamic factor C

Fig 11-12 Maximum permissible error in gears at

various speeds
Stress Concentration
•   The exact value of the stress-concentration factor depends upon the material, the thickness
of tooth at root, the load position on the tooth, the fillet radius, and the pressure angle.
The stress concentration factors are
0.2 for 14 ½-deg gears
0.15 for 20-deg gears

Where
t = thickness of tooth at “theoretical weakest section,” in.
r = radius of fillet, in.
h = height of load position above “theoretical weakest section,”in.

This stress-concentration factor should be introduced into Lewis equation and the resulting
dynamic stress will be
STRESS CONCENTRATION

The dynamic stress should be less than the endurance limit and give
a reasonable margin of safety, depending upon the type of service.
Table 11-7 gives values of the endurance limit for some common
gear materials.

Table 11-7 Fatigue limits

of gear materials
 Design of Spur Gears for Wear
•   The wear is dependent upon the materials used, the curvature of the tooth
surfaces.
The load limit for wear is expressed by equation

where sew is the surface endurance limit from Table 11-7, N is the number of teeth,
and E is the modulus of elasticity, the subscripts g and p referring to the gear and
pinion, respectively.
GEARS WITH CAST TEETH

•   The teeth of gear may be cast. Cast teeth gears may be designed by the modified
Lewis equation

NONMETALLIC SPUR GEARS

  Gears made of rawhide, laminated fabric, and phenolic materials are frequently
used to reduce noise. The permissible tangential force on these gears is
PROPORTIONS OF GEARS

•   To complete the gear design, the first step is to determine the

shaft size. When solid pinion is keyed to the shaft, the minimum pitch
diameter is approximately

The minimum thickness of metal between the keyway and root

circle shall be
PROPORTIONS OF GEARS

•   Small gears may be built with a web joining the rim to the hub.
Larger gears are provided with arms. These arms are assumed to be
cantilever beams loaded at the pitch. The design load is the stalling
load

and
PROPORTIONS OF GEARS

•   Elliptical arm is generally used except on very large and wide gears.
Assuming the usual elliptical arm with major axis twice the minor axis,
the major axis at the outside axis at the outside of the hub will be

The minimum thickness of the rim below the root circle is

generally taken to be equal to the tooth thickness at the pitch line.
The thickness should be
GEAR MOUNTINGS AND BEARINGS

Gear mountings and bearings should be placed so that the bending

deformation will e reduced to a minimum.

EFFICIENCY OF GEARS

The finish of the tooth surface is the most important factor in the
efficiency of gears. Gears may have 98 percent efficiency but can drop
to 95 percent if the lubrication is poor.
LUBRICATION

To obtain the maximum life, the gears must be given a generous

supply of the proper lubricant.
The lubricant must maintain an oil film between the teeth and must
also carry away the heat of friction, especially from the pinion, which
tends to heat faster than the larger gear.
Sample Problem
A compressor running at 300 rpm is driven by a 20-hp, 1,200-rpm
motor through a pair of 14 ½-deg full-height gears. The center distance is
15 in., the motor pinion is to be forged steel (SAE 1045), and the driven
gear is to be cast steel. Assume medium shock conditions. Determine
the diametral pitch, the face width, and the number of teeth on each
gear.
SOLUTION:

•   The pitch diameters will be 6 and 24 in., respectively. The pitch velocity will be

From Table 11-4, the service factor is 0.65; hence the design tangential force at the pitch line will
be

If both gears were to be made of the same material, only the weaker pinion would have to be
considered. For trial purposes, face width of 10/P and Y equal to 0.30 are assumed. The permissible
stress at low speeds is 30,000 psi for the pinion. Substituting to Lewis equation
•   This suggests that the diametral pitch is 6 with 36 teeth on the pinion and 144
teeth on the gear. Values for Y are 0.330 and 0.374. Thus, the face width is
for the pinion

for the gear

A face width of 1 ¾ in. is satisfactory, which is between 8/P to 12.5/P = 1.33

in. to 2.1 in.
ANSWER:

Therefore, the diametral pitch is 6 with 36 teeth on the pinion and

144 teeth on the gear and the face width is 1 ¾ in.