Gears

• Spur Gears

• Helical Gears

• Worm Gears

• Bevel Gears

Gear Nomenclature

Pitch Circle— Theoretical circle upon which all gear calculations are usually based.
Pitch circles of mating gears are tangent to one another

Addendum— The amount of tooth that protrudes above the pitch circle (from top land to
pitch circle)

Dedendum— The amount of tooth below the pitch circle to the bottom land

Whole Depth— addendum + dedendum

Circular Pitch— a distance measured on the pitch circle form a point on tooth to a
corresponding point on an adjacent tooth; it is equal to the sum of the tooth thickness
and the width of space.

p = circular pitch = πd/N

Diametral Pitch— is the ratio of the number of teeth on the gear to the pitch diameter,
the module is the reciprocal of the diametral pitch

P= N/d N = # of gear teeth, d = pitch diameter

m = d/N = 1/P (module is usually in millimeters)

Clearance Circle— A circle that is tangent to the addendum circle of the mating gear.

Clearance— the amount by which the dedendum in a given gear exceeds the addendum
of a mating gear

Backlash— The amount by which the width of a tooth space exceeds the thickness of
the engaging tooth, measured on the pitch circle

Fundamental Law of Gearing

The angular velocity ratio between the gears in a gear-set must remain constant
throughout the gear mesh

Why do gears work?

The fundamental law of gearing can be enforced because of special kinematic property
called conjugate action

Do you remember from dynamics what instant centers are?

An instant center is point that describes, at an instant, the velocity of two bodies that is
same for both bodies. In the picture above, there are three bodies, A, B, and the
ground, or point O. A and O share the same velocity where O grounds body A (the pin
in A), instant center AO. B and O share the same velocity where O grounds B (the pin in
link B). There is one last instant center— a point where A and B share the same
velocity. Where is it?

How do we find this particular instant center?

Is there a way to ensure that this special point, called the pitch point, always falls on
the line connecting the grounds of A and B?

If we could design the shapes of A and B, so that the pitch point always fell on the line of
centers, the fundamental law of gearing would be enforced

Vp = rap*ω a = rbp*ω b

rap/ rbp=*ω b/ω a

(Vp is called the pitch line velocity)

A special shape called an involute can be built into the gear tooth to ensure that
conjugate action occurs between mating gear teeth.
Examples:

Design a speed reducer such that the input speed is 1800 RPM and the output speed is
1200 RPM.

ω in r 1800 3
= out = =
ω out rin 1200 2
2rout = 3rin
3
d out = d in
2
N out 3 N in 3
= = N out = N in
P 2P 2

(P = diametral pitch, N = number of teeth)

Draw the pitch circles, base circles, addendum and dedendum circles for the following
gear set:

N1 = 18 teeth N2 = 30 teeth

Diameteral Pitch = 2 teeth/inch

1. find r1, r2— center distance = r1 + r2

2. draw pitch circle 1, radius r1
3. draw pitch circle 2, radius r2,tangent to circle 1
4. draw the common tangent to the circles, perpendicular to the center distance and
through the common tangent— pitch point
5. draw a line at an angle φfrom the common tangent; this line is called the line of
action , the angle φis called the pressure angle
6. draw a circle tangent to the pressure line for each gear— these circles are called
the base circles— the radius of the base circle is, rb = r cos (φ)
7. draw an involute on each base circle
8. addendum, a = 1/P, draw the addendum circle
9. dedendum = 1.25/P, draw the dedendum circle
10. tooth thickness = t = p/2; p = π/P
Solve the following problems:

A gearset consists of a 16-tooth pinion driving a 40 tooth gear. The diametral pitch is 2,
and the addendum and dedendum are1/P and 1.25/P respectively. The gears are cut
using a pressure angle of 20°.

Compute the circular pitch, the center distance, and the radii of the base circle.

In mounting these gears, the center distance was incorrectly make ¼ inch larger.
Compute new values of the pressure angle and pitch radii.