MACHAKOS UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL AND MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING

PROGRAMME:

BSc. MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

UNIT:

EMM301: MECHANICS OF MACHINES 1

LECTURER:

MR JOHNSON NGUGI

MAY, 2021
 LECTURE TEN

Lecture overview

In this lesson, we shall discuss the mechanics of chain drives. In particular, we shall
demonstrate how to determine the pitch and pitch circle diameter of a chain and proceed to
show how the length of a chain for a particular power transmission application can be
determined.

This lecture covers:

(i) Lecture objectives

(ii) Lecture notes: The Mechanics of Chain Drives
(iii) Summary of the lecture
(iv) Suggestions for further reading

Lecture Objectives

At the end of this lecture, students should be able to:

(i) Compare and contrast belt and chain drives

(ii) Categorise chain drives
(iii) Derive the equation for the pitch circle diameter of a chain
(iv) Determine the length of a chain
 5. MECHANICS OF CHAIN DRIVES
5.1. Introduction

To avoid slipping that occurs in belt drives, steel chains are used. The chains are made up of rigid
links which are hinged together to provide the necessary flexibility for warping around the driving
and driven wheels. The wheels have projecting teeth and fit into the corresponding recesses in the
links of the chain as shown in Figure 5.1.

The wheels and the chain are thus constrained to move together without slipping and ensure a
perfect velocity ratio. The toothed wheels are known as sprocket wheels or simply sprockets.

Figure 5.1

The chains are mostly used to transmit motion and power from one shaft to another, when the
distance between the centres of the shafts is short such as in bicycles, motorcycles, agricultural
machinery, road rollers, etc.

Advantages of using chain drives over belt drives

a) As no slip takes place during chain drive, hence perfect velocity ratio is obtained.
b) Since the chains are made of metal, therefore they occupy less space in width than a belt
c) Chain drives may be used when the distance between the shafts is less.
d) A chain drive gives a high transmission efficiency (up to 98 per cent).
 e) A chain drive gives less load on the shafts.
f) A chain drive can transmit motion to several shafts by one chain only.

Disadvantages of using chain drives over belt drives

a) The production cost of chains is relatively high.

b) Chain drives are more sensitive to misalignment than belt drives
c) Chain drives require lubrication, more servicing, maintenance and repairs, as
compared to belt drives.
d) Chain drives produce more noise during operation

5.2. Types of Chain Drives

From the functional point of view, chains may be classified into the following categories: power
transmission chains, hoisting chains and traction or pulling chains.

Hoisting chains are used for hoisting and hauling purposes. A hoisting chain with oval links is
shown in Figure 5.2.

Figure 5.2: a hoisting chain

Traction and pulling chains (also referred to as conveyor chains) are used for elevating and
conveying the materials continuously. A conveyor chain is shown in Figure 5.3.

Figure 5.3: a conveyor chain

We will be concerned mainly with power transmission chains. The three most common types of
power transmission chains are:

a) Roller chains
b) Bush (bushed) chains
c) Inverted tooth (silent) chains

Roller chains: these are the most common type of power transmission chains. A roller chain is
shown in Figure 5.4.

Figure 5.4: a roller chain

In roller chains, the outer rows of link plates are known as pin links or coupling links whereas the
inner link plates are known as roller links.

The pins are press-fitted into the pin links. The bushes, through which the pins pass, are press-
fitted into the roller links. The pins can rotate freely within, and relative to, the bushes, thus
forming the revolute joints between the pin links and the roller links. The chain rollers are mounted
onto the bushes so as to be able to rotate freely relative to the bush. Thus, the rollers can freely roll
onto and off the sprocket teeth. The sprocket teeth are specially designed to smoothly engage the
rollers.
The various components of a roller chain are normally made of case-hardened and ground alloy
steel. Other materials, such as brass and bronze, are used in special applications, such as in food
processing machines or where corrosion may be a problem.

One way of increasing the load-carrying capacity of a chain drive is to increase either the pitch of
the chain or the sprocket diameter. However, where either or both of these increases are
undesirable, the load-carrying capacity of the drive may be increased by the use of multi-strand
chains. Chains of up to eight strands (octuplex) are available but up to four strands (quadruplex)
are more usual.

Table 5.1 below gives the load capacities of multi-strand roller chains. The relative load capacity
of a chain may be approximated by the formula:

𝑅𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 = 0.825𝑛 (Where n is the number of strands)

Table 5.1: Relative Load Capacities of Roller Chains

Inverted tooth chains: these are designed to eliminate the stretching of parts that are sometimes
observed in roller chains. This stretching of parts increases the pitch and causes the total load to
fall on only a few teeth. In inverted teeth chains, several, thin and identical toothed link plates are
mounted on pins side by side such that every other plate belongs to the adjacent chain link. In this
manner, very wide chains of correspondingly high load capacities may be obtained. An inverted
tooth chain drive is shown in Figure 5.5.
 Figure 5.5: inverted tooth chain drive

Bush Chains: Bushed chains differ from roller chains in that they do not have rollers.
Compared to a roller chain of the same pitch, the bushes and pins of a bushed chain can be
made of somewhat larger diameter so as to impart greater strength. On the other hand, noise
and wear in bushed chains are somewhat greater than in roller chains. For these reasons,
roller chains are to be generally preferred.

5.3. Mechanics of Chain Drives

(a) Relationship between Pitch and Pitch Circle Diameter

Before this relationship can be defined, it is important to first understand what these two terms
refer to.

Pitch is the distance between the hinge centre of a link and the corresponding hinge centre of the
adjacent link as shown in Figure 5.6.

Figure 5.6
Pitch circle diameter is the diameter of the circle on which the hinge centres of the chain lie when
the chain is wrapped around a sprocket as shown in Figure 5.7. The points A, B, C, and D are the
hinge centres of the chain and the circle drawn through these centres is called pitch circle and its
diameter (d) is known as pitch circle diameter.

Figure 5.7

Now consider a chain wrapped around the sprocket is shown in Figure 5.7. Since the links of the
chain are rigid, the pitch of the chain does not lie on the arc of the pitch circle. The pitch length
becomes a chord. Consider one pitch length AB of the chain subtending an angle θ at the centre of
the sprocket (or the centre of the pitch circle).

Let d be the diameter of the pitch circle and T the number of teeth on the sprocket. From Figure
5.7,

𝜃 𝑑 𝜃 𝜃
𝑝 = 𝐴𝐵 = 2𝐴𝑂 sin ( 2) = 2 × 2 × sin (2) = 𝑑 sin (2) … … … … … … … (1)

360
But 𝜃 = … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … . . (2)
𝑇

Therefore,

360 180
𝑝 = 𝑑 sin ( 2𝑇 ) = 𝑑 sin ( ) … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … . … … . (3)
𝑇
 180
𝑑 = 𝑝 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑐 ( ) … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … . (4)
𝑇

(b) Length of the Chain

Like a belt, the length of a chain can be calculated by considering its geometry.

Worked Example 1

The chain drive shown below is used for speed reduction from 300 rpm to 100 rpm. The number
of teeth on the driving sprocket is 10. If the pitch circle diameter of the driven sprocket is 600 mm
and centre to centre distance between the two sprockets is 800 mm, determine:

(i) The pitch of the chain

(ii) The length of the chain.

Solution

Given:

𝑁1 = 300 𝑟𝑝𝑚 𝑁2 = 100 𝑟𝑝𝑚 𝑇1 = 10 𝑑2 = 600 𝑚𝑚 𝑥 = 600 𝑚𝑚

(i) Considering the driven sprocket,

180
𝑝 = 𝑑2 sin ( 𝑇 )
2

𝑁1 𝑇1 300×10
𝑁1 𝑇1 = 𝑁2 𝑇2 𝑇2 = = = 30 𝑡𝑒𝑒𝑡ℎ
𝑁2 100
 180 180
𝑝 = 𝑑2 sin ( 𝑇 ) = 600 × sin ( 30 ) = 0.0627 𝑚
2

(ii) The length of the chain is given by,

𝐿 = 2(𝑎𝑟𝑐 𝐾𝐵 + 𝐵𝐸 + 𝑎𝑟𝑐 𝐸𝐻𝑀)
𝐵𝐸 = 𝐴𝐹 = √𝐴𝐷 2 − 𝐷𝐹 2
𝐷𝐹 = 𝑟2 − 𝑟1
𝑁2 𝑟2 100×300
𝑁1 𝑟1 = 𝑁2 𝑟2 ⇒ 𝑟1 = = = 100 𝑚𝑚
𝑁1 300

𝐷𝐹 = 𝑟2 − 𝑟1 = 300 − 100 = 200 𝑚𝑚

𝐴𝐷 = 𝑥 = 800 𝑚𝑚
Therefore,
𝐵𝐸 = 𝐴𝐹 = √𝐴𝐷 2 − 𝐷𝐹 2 = √8002 − 2002 = 774.6 𝑚𝑚
𝐴𝑟𝑐 𝐾𝐵 = 𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 𝐾𝐴𝐵(𝑖𝑛 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑠) × 𝑟1
𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 𝐾𝐴𝐵 = 90 − 𝛼
𝐷𝐹 200
tan 𝛼 = = = 14.480
𝐴𝐹 774.6

𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 𝐾𝐴𝐵 = 90𝑜 − 𝛼 = 90𝑜 − 14.480 = 75.52𝑜

𝜋
𝐴𝑟𝑐 𝐾𝐵 = (75.52𝑜 × 180𝑜 ) × 100 = 131.8 𝑚𝑚

𝐴𝑟𝑐 𝐸𝐻𝑀 = 𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 𝐸𝐷𝑀(𝑖𝑛 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑠) × 𝑟2

𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 𝐸𝐷𝑀 = 90𝑜 + 𝛼 = 90𝑜 + 14.480 = 104.48𝑜
𝜋
𝐴𝑟𝑐 𝐸𝐻𝑀 = (104.48𝑜 × 180𝑜 ) × 300 = 547.1 𝑚𝑚

𝐿 = 2(131.8 + 774.6 + 547.1) = 2907 𝑚𝑚

Summary

In this lesson, we discussed the mechanics of chain drives. We compared the use of chain drives
and belt drives, categorised chain drives, and finally showed how to determine the pitch circle
diameter and length of a chain

Further Reading

1. Khurmi, R.S. & Gupta, J.K. (2015). Theory of Machines (5th Ed.). New Delhi, IN: S.
Chand & Company.
2. Uicker, J., Pennock, G. & Shigley, J. (2010). Theory of Machines and Mechanism (4th
Ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
3. Hannah, J. & Stephens. R.C. (1962). Mechanics of Machines: Elementary Theory and
Examples, London, UK: Edward Arnold (classic book).