ME 375(Program Elective-V)

Power Gear Train

Instructor:
Dr. Sushanta Ghuku
Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, BIT Mesra
Former Researcher, Department of Aerospace Engineering, IIT Kanpur
PhD, M.E. (Gold Medalist), B.E. (1st Class Honours), Mechanical Engineering, Jadavpur University
Website: [Link]
Research publications: [Link]
MECHANICAL DRIVES
Mechanical drive is defined as a mechanism, which is intended to transmit mechanical power over a certain
distance, usually involving a change in speed and torque.

Mechanical drives are classified into two groups according to their principle of operation. The two broad groups
are as follows:
(i) Mechanical drives that transmit power by means of friction, e.g., belt drive and rope drive
(ii) Mechanical drives that transmit power by means of engagement, e.g., chain drives and gear drives

GEAR DRIVES
Gears are defined as toothed wheels or multilobed cams, which transmit power and motion from one shaft to another by
means of successive engagement of teeth.
Gear drives offer the following advantages compared with chain or belt drives:

(i) It is a positive drive and the velocity ratio remains constant.

(ii) The centre distance between the shafts is relatively small, which results in compact construction.
(iii) It can transmit very large power, which is beyond the range of belt or chain drives.
(iv) It can transmit motion at very low velocity, which is not possible with the belt drives.
(v) The efficiency of gear drives is very high, even up to 99 percent in case of spur gears.
(vi) A provision can be made in the gearbox for gear shifting, thus changing the velocity ratio over a wide range.

Disadvantages compared with chain or belt drives:

Gear drives are, however, costly and their maintenance cost is also higher. The manufacturing processes for gears
are complicated and highly specialized. Gear drives require careful attention for lubrication and cleanliness. They
also require precise alignment of the shafts.
CLASSIFICATION OF GEARS

Spur gears have teeth parallel to the axis of rotation and are used to transmit
motion from one shaft to another, parallel, shaft. Of all types, the spur gear is
the simplest and, for this reason, will be used to develop the primary
kinematic relationships of the tooth form.

Helical gears have teeth inclined to the axis of rotation. Helical gears can be
used for the same applications as spur gears and, when so used, are not as
noisy, because of the more gradual engagement of the teeth during meshing.
The inclined tooth also develops thrust loads and bending couples, which are
not present with spur gearing. Sometimes helical gears are used to transmit
motion between nonparallel shafts.
Bevel gears have teeth formed on conical surfaces and are used mostly for
transmitting motion between intersecting shafts. The figure actually illustrates
straight-tooth bevel gears. Spiral bevel gears are cut so the tooth is no longer
straight, but forms a circular arc. Hypoid gears are quite similar to spiral bevel
gears except that the shafts are offset and nonintersecting.

Worms and worm gears represent the fourth basic gear type. As shown, the worm
resembles a screw. The direction of rotation of the worm gear, also called the worm
wheel, depends upon the direction of rotation of the worm and upon whether the
worm teeth are cut right-hand or left-hand. Worm gearsets are also made so that the
teeth of one or both wrap partly around the other. Such sets are called single-
enveloping and double-enveloping worm gearsets. Worm gearsets are mostly used
when the speed ratios of the two shafts are quite high, say, 3 or more.
SELECTION OF TYPE OF GEARS

The speed reduction or velocity ratio for a single pair of spur or helical gears is normally taken as 6 : 1. On rare
occasions, this can be raised to 10 : 1. When the velocity ratio increases, the size of the gear wheel increases.
This results in increase in the size of the gearbox and the material cost increases. For high speed reduction, two-
stage or three-stage constructions are used.

The normal velocity ratio for a pair of bevel gears is 1 : 1, which can be increased to 3: 1 under certain
circumstances.

For high speed reduction, worm gears offer the best choice. The velocity ratio in their case is 60 : 1, which can
be increased to 100 : 1. They are widely used in material handling equipment due to this advantage.
LAW OF GEARING

The common normal to the tooth profile

at the point of contact should always pass
through a fixed point, called the pitch
point, in order to obtain a constant
velocity ratio.
PRINCIPLE OF TRANSMISSION AND CONJUGATE ACTION

When a pair of mating gear teeth act against each other, rotary motion is produced which is transmitted from
driver to driven gear. Tooth profiles are designed to give a constant angular velocity ratio. The two gears are said
to have conjugate motion and the tooth profiles are said to have conjugate curves, if:

Most commonly employed curves which serve this purpose are: (a) involute, (b) cycloidal curves. These
profiles satisfy the law of gearing: “In order to have a constant angular velocity ratio, the tooth curves must be so
shaped that the common normal to the tooth profile at the point of contact will always pass through the pitch
point, irrespective of position of the point of contact during the course of action.”
Involute Curve:
Divide the base circle into a number of equal parts, and construct
radial lines OA0, OA1, OA2, etc. Beginning at A1, construct
perpendiculars A1B1, A2B2, A3B3, etc. Then along A1B1 lay off
the distance A1A0, along A2B2 lay off twice the distance A1A0,
etc., producing points through which the involute curve can be
constructed.
Cycloidal Curves:

A cycloidal tooth has double curvature, obtained by rolling a circle on the outside (epicycloid curve) and on the
inside (hypocycloid curve), that is, on the pitch circle, as shown in Fig. The face of a cycloidal gear tooth consists
of a portion of an epicycloid curve and the flank consists of a portion of hypocycloid curve.
GEAR TRAINS
A gear train consists of two or more gears transmitting power from the driving shaft to the driven shaft. The gear
trains are classified into the following categories: (i) Simple gear train, (ii) Compound gear train, (iii) Reverted
gear train, and (iv) Epicyclic gear train

Simple gear trains are illustrated in Fig. A simple gear train is one
in which each shaft carries only one gear. In this type of train, the
velocity ratio is equal to the number of teeth on the last driven gear
to the number of teeth on the first driving gear.
For the simple gear train shown in Fig. (c)
A compound gear train is one in which at When the number of teeth on various gears in
compound gear train are selected in such a way that the
least one shaft carries two gears. centre distance between gears 1 and 2 is equal to the
centre distance between gears 3 and 4 then the driving
and driven shafts can be located on the same centre
line. This type of arrangement is called ‘reverted’ gear
train
An epicyclic gear train is illustrated in Fig. It is a gear train in which one gear is fixed and the meshing gear has
a motion composed of two parts, namely, a rotation about its own axis and a rotation about the axis of the fixed
gear. This type of train is also called a ‘planetary’ gear train. The fixed gear is called the sun gear, while the
revolving gear is called the planet gear. In the arrangement shown in the figure, the sun gear is the driving gear
and the crank is connected to the driven shaft. The crank is also called the planet carrier.
Syllabus

Reference books:
1. Design of Machine Elements by
V.B. Bhandari
2. Machine Design by U. C. Jindal
3. Shigley's Mechanical Engineering
Design by Richard G Budynas
and J Keith Nisbett
Spur Gear
TERMINOLOGY OF SPUR GEARS
The terminology of gears includes a number of terms peculiar to gears
and it forms the basis of gear language. Gear terminology consists of
the following terms:
STANDARD SYSTEMS OF GEAR TOOTH
Example 1 A pair of spur gears consists of a 20 teeth pinion meshing with a 120 teeth gear. The module is 4 mm.
Calculate:
(i) the centre distance;
(ii) the pitch circle diameters of the pinion and the gear;
(iii) the addendum and dedendum;
(iv) the tooth thickness;
(v) the bottom clearance; and
(vi) the gear ratio.
FORCE ANALYSIS
In gears, power is transmitted by means of a force exerted by the tooth of the driving gear on the meshing tooth of
the driven gear. The driving pinion is exerting a force PN on the tooth of the driven gear. According to the
fundamental law of gearing, this resultant force PN always acts along the pressure line.

The resultant force PN can be

resolved into two components-
tangential component Pt and
radial component Pr at the
pitch point.
The tangential component Pt is a useful load because it determines the magnitude of the torque and consequently
the power, which is transmitted. The radial component Pr is a separating force, which is always directed towards
the centre of the gear. The torque transmitted by the gears is given by,
BEAM STRENGTH OF GEAR TOOTH
EFFECTIVE LOAD ON GEAR TOOTH
ESTIMATION OF MODULE BASED ON BEAM STRENGTH
WEAR STRENGTH OF GEAR TOOTH

The failure of the gear tooth due to pitting occurs when the contact stresses between two meshing teeth exceed
the surface endurance strength of the material. Pitting is a surface fatigue failure, characterized by small pits
on the surface of the gear tooth. In order to avoid this type of failure, the proportions of the gear tooth and surface
properties, such as surface hardness, should be selected in such a way that the wear strength of the gear tooth is
more than the effective load between the meshing teeth. The analysis of wear strength was done by Earle
Buckingham, in his paper ‘The relation of load to wear of gear teeth’, which was submitted before the American
Gear Manufacturing Association (AGMA) in 1926. Buckingham’s equation gives the wear strength of the
gear tooth.

Buckingham’s equation is based on Hertz theory of contact stresses. When two cylinders are pressed together as
shown in Fig. 17.42(a), the contact stress is given by,
ESTIMATION OF MODULE BASED ON WEAR STRENGTH
Some important data tables:
Exercise problems:

(1) A pair of spur gears with a centre distance of 495 mm is used for a speed reduction of 4.5:1. The module is 6
mm. Calculate the number of teeth on the pinion and the gear.

[Answer: 30 and 135]

(2) A train of spur gears is shown in Fig. 17.47. Gear 1 is the

driving gear and transmits 5 kW power at 720 rpm. The number
of teeth on gears 1, 2, 3 and 4 are 20, 50, 30 and 60 respectively.
The module for all gears is 4 mm. The gears have a 20° full-
depth involute profile. Calculate the tangential and radial
components of the tooth force between (i) Gears 1 and 2 and (ii)
Gears 3 and 4.

[Answer: (i) 1657.86 and 603.41 N (ii) 2763.11 and 1005.69 N]

(3) A train of spur gears with 20° full-depth involute teeth is
shown in Fig. 17.49. Gear 1 is the driving gear and transmits 50
kW power at 300 rpm to the gear train. The number teeth on
gears1, 2, 3 and 4 are 30, 60, 25 and 50 respectively, while the
module for all gears is 8 mm. Gears 2 and 3 are mounted on the
same shaft. Gear 1 is rotating in the clockwise direction when
seen from the left side of the page. Calculate

(i) tangential and radial components of tooth forces between gears 1 and 2 and gears 3 and 4; and
(ii) resultant reactions at bearing Bl and B2.
[Answer: (i) 13262.91 and 4827.31 N, 31830.99 and 11585.53 N, (ii) 43871.35 and 8693.44 N]
(4) The following data is given for a pair of spur gears with 20° full-depth involute teeth:

number of teeth on pinion = 24

number of teeth on gear = 56
speed of pinion = 1200 rpm
module = 3 mm
service factor = 1.5
face width = 30 mm
Both gears are made of steel with an ultimate tensile strength of 600 N/mm^2. Using the velocity factor to account
for the dynamic load, calculate

(i) beam strength;

(ii) velocity factor; and
(iii) rated power that the gears can transmit without bending failure, if the factor of safety is 1.5.

[(i) 6066 N (ii) 0.3987 (iii) 4.86 kW]

(5) A pair of spur gears with 20° pressure angle, consists of a 25 teeth pinion meshing with a 60 teeth gear. The
module is 5 mm, while the face width is 45 mm. The pinion rotates at 500 rpm. The gears are made of steel and
heat treated to a surface hardness of 220 BHN. Assume that dynamic load is accounted by means of the velocity
factor. The service factor and the factor of safety are 1.75 and 2 respectively. Calculate
(i) wear strength of gears; (ii) the static load that the gears can transmit without pitting; and (iii) rated power that
can be transmitted by gears.
[Answer: (i) 6149.8 N, (ii) 840.41 N, (iii) 2.75 kW]
(6) A pair of spur gears consists of a 24 teeth pinion, rotating at 1000 rpm and transmitting power to a 48 teeth
gear. The module is 6 mm, while the face width is 60 mm. Both gears are made of steel with an ultimate tensile
strength of 450 N/mm2. They are heat treated to a surface hardness of 250 BHN. Assume that velocity factor
accounts for the dynamic load. Calculate (i) beam strength; (ii) wear strength; and (iii) the rated power that the
gears can transmit, if service factor and the factor of safety are 1.5 and 2, respectively.
[Answer: (i) 18 198 N (ii) 11 517.12 N (iii) 8.24 kW]