CHAPTER VI : GEARS GENERALITIES
VI-1- BASIC FUNDAMENTALS OF GEAR DRIVES
A gear is a toothed wheel that engages another toothed mechanism to change speed or
the direction of transmitted motion. Gears are generally used for one of four different reasons:
1. To increase or decrease the speed of rotation ;
2. To change the amount of force or torque ;
3. To move rotational motion to a different axis (i.e. parallel, right angles, rotating, linear
etc.) ; and
4. To reverse the direction of rotation.
Gears are compact, positive-engagement, power transmission elements capable of
changing the amount of force or torque. Sports cars go fast (have speed) but cannot pull any
weight. Big trucks can pull heavy loads (have power) but cannot go fast. Gears cause this.
Gears are generally selected and manufactured using standards established by
American Gear Manufacturers Association (AGMA) and American National Standards
Institute (ANSI).
VI-2- CLASSIFICATION
The gears can be classified according to :
1. The position of shaft axes
2. The peripheral velocity
3. The type of gears
4. The teeth position
a) According to the position of shaft axes :
Gears may be classified according to the relative position of the axes of revolution. The
axes may be:
1. Parallel shafts where the angle between driving and driven shaft is 0 degree.
2. Intersecting shafts where there is some angle between driving and driven shaft.
3. Non-intersecting and non-parallel shafts where the shafts are not coplanar.
b) According to peripheral velocity:
Gears can be classified as :
1. Low velocity type, if their peripheral velocity lies in the range of 1 to 3 m/sec.
2. Medium velocity type, if their peripheral velocity lies in the range of 3 to 15 m/sec.
3. High velocity type, if their peripheral velocity exceeds 15 m/sec.
c) According to type of gears:
Gears can be classified as external gears, internal gears, and rack and pinion.
1. External gears mesh externally - the bigger one is called “gear” and the smaller one is
called “pinion”.
2. Internal gears mesh internally - the larger one is called “annular” gear and the smaller
one is called “pinion”.
3. Rack and pinion type – converts rotary to linear motion or vice versa. There is a
straight line gear called “rack” on which a small rotary gear called “pinion” moves.
d) According to teeth position :
Gears are classified as straight, inclined and curved.
1. Straight gear teeth are those where the teeth axis is parallel to the shaft axis.
2. Inclined gear teeth are those where the teeth axis is at some angle.
3. Curve gear teeth are curved on the rim’s surface.
VI-3- TYPE OF GEARS
VI-4- CHARACTERISTICS OF EACH TYTE OF GEARS
- SPUR GEARS
Spur gears are used to transmit power between two parallel shafts. The teeth on these gears
are cut straight and are parallel to the shafts to which they are a
Characteristics:
• Simplest and most economical type of gear to
manufacture.
• Speed ratios of up to 8 (in extreme cases up to 20)
for one step (single reduction) design ; up to 45 for
two step design ; and up to 200 for three-step design.
Limitations :
• Not suitable when a direction change between the
two shafts is required.
• Produce noise because the contact occurs over the
full face width of the mating teeth instantaneously.
- HELICAL GEARS
Helical gears resemble spur gears, but the teeth are cut at an angle rather than parallel to the
shaft axis like on spur gears. The angle that the helical gear tooth is on is referred to as the helix
angle. The angle of helix depends upon the condition of the shaft design and relative position
of the shafts. To ensure that the gears run smoothly, the helix angle should be such that one end
of the gear tooth remains in contact until the opposite end of the following gear tooth has found
a contact. For parallel shafts, the helix angle should not exceed 20 degrees to avoid excessive
end thrust.
Characteristics:
The longer teeth cause helical gears to have the following differences from spur gears
of the same size :
• Tooth strength is greater because the teeth are longer than the teeth of spur gear of equivalent
pitch diameter.
• Can carry higher loads than can spur gears because of greater surface contact on the teeth.
• Can be used to connect parallel shafts as well
as non-parallel, non-intersecting shafts.
• Quieter even at higher speed and are durable.
Limitations :
• Gears in mesh produce thrust forces in the axial
directions.
• Expensive compared to spur gears.
- BEVEL GEARS
A bevel gear is shaped like a section of a cone and primarily used to transfer power between
intersecting shafts at right angles. The teeth of a bevel gear may be straight or spiral. Straight
gear is preferred for peripheral speeds up to 1000 feet per minute ; above that they tend to be
noisy.
Characteristics:
• Designed for the efficient transmission of power and motion between
intersecting shafts. A good example of bevel gears is seen as the main
mechanism for a hand drill. As the handle of the drill is turned in a
vertical direction, the bevel gears change the rotation of the chuck to a
horizontal rotation.
• Permit a minor adjustment during assembly and allow for some
displacement due to deflection under operating loads without
concentrating the load on the end of the tooth.
- MITTER GEARS
Mitter gears are identical to bevel gears with the exception that both
gears always have the same number of teeth.
Characteristics:
• They provide a steady ratio ; other characteristics are similar to bevel
gears.
• They are used as importants parts of conveyors, elevators and kilns.
Limitations
• Gear ration is always 1 to 1 and therefore not used when an application
calls for a change of speed.
- HYPOID GEARS
Hypoid gears are a modification of the spiral bevel gear with the axis offset. The
distinguishing feature of hypoid gears is that the shafts of the pinion and ring gear may continue
past each other, never having their axis intersecting.
The major advantages of the hypoid gear design are
that the pinion diameter is increased, and it is stronger
than a corresponding bevel gear pinion.The increased
diameter size of the pinion permits the use of
comparatively high gear ratios and is extremely useful
for non-intersecting shaft requirements such as automotive
applications where the offset permits lowering of the drive
shaft
- WORM GEARS
Worm gears are used to transmit power between two shafts that are at right angles to each
other and are non-intersecting. Worm gears are special gears that resemble screws, and can
be used to drive spur gears or helical gears. Worm gearing is essentially a special form of
helical gearing in which the teeth have line contact and the axes of the driving and driven shafts
are usually at right angles and do not intersect.
Characteristics:
• Meshes are self-locking. Worm gears have an interesting feature that no other gear set has :
the worm can easily turn the gear, but the gear cannot turn the worm. This is because the angle
on the worm is so shallow that when the gear tries to spin it, the friction between the gear and
the worm holds the worm in place. This feature is useful for machines such as conveyor
systems, in which the locking feature can act as a brake for the conveyor when the motor is not
turning.
• Worm gear is always used as the input gear, i.e. the torque is applied to
the input end of the worm shaft by a driven sprocket or electric motor.
• Best suited for applications where a great ratio reduction is required
between the driving and driven shafts. It is common for worm gears
to have reductions of 20:1, and even up to 300:1 or greater.
Limitations :
• Yield low efficiency because of high sliding velocities across the teeth,
thereby causing high friction losses.
• When used in high torque applications, the friction causes the wear on the gear teeth and
erosion of the restraining surface.
- RACKS (STRAIGHT GEARS)
The rack is a bar with a profile of the gear of infinite diameter, and when used with a
meshing pinion, enables the rotary to linear movement or vice versa.
Characteristics:
• Racks with machined ends can be joined together to make any
desired length.
• The most well-known application of a rack is the rack and pinion
steering system used on many cars in the past. The steering wheel of
a car rotates the gear that engages the rack. The rack slides right or
left, when the gear turns, depending on the way we turn the wheel.
Windshield wipers in cars are powered by a rack and pinion
mechanism.
- HERRINGBONE (DOUBLE HELICAL) GEARS
Herringbone, also known as double helical gears, are used for transmitting power
between two parallel shafts. Double helical gearing offers low noise and vibration along with
zero net axial thrust.
Characteristics:
• Conduct power and motion between non-intersecting, parallel axis that may or may not have
center groove with each group making two opposite helices. Action is equal in force and friction
on both gears and all bearings, and free from any axial force.
• Offer reduced pulsation due to which they are highly used for
specialized extrusion and polymerization. The most common
application is in heavy machinery and power transmission.
• Applications include high capacity reduction drives like that of cement
mills and crushers.
Limitations :
• Manufacturing difficulty makes them costlier.
• Noise level of double helical gears averaged about 4dB higher than
otherwise similar single helical gears. The phenomenon is due to the axial
shuttling which occurs as the double helical pinion moves to balance out
the net thrust loading.
- INTERNAL GEAR
Internal gears have their teeth cut parallel to their shafts like spur gears, but they are cut on the
inside of the gear blank. The properties and teeth shape are similar as the external gears
except that the internal gears have different addendum and dedendum values modified to
prevent interference in internal meshes.
Characteristics:
• In the meshing of two external gears, rotation goes in the opposite direction. In the meshing
of an internal gear with an external gear the rotation goes in the same direction.
• The meshing arrangement enables a greater load carrying capacity with improved
safety (since meshing teeth are enclosed) compared to equivalent external gears.
• Shaft axes remain parallel and enable a compact reduction with rotation in the same sense.
Internal gears are not widely available as standard.
• When they are used with the pinion, more teeth carry the load that is evenly distributed.
The even distribution decreases the pressure intensity and increases the life of the gear.
• Allows compact design since the center distance is less than for external gears. Used in
planetary gears to produce large reduction ratios.
• Provides good surface endurance due to a convex profile surface working against a concave
surface.
Applications :
Planetary gear drive of high reduction ratios, clutches, etc
Limitations :
• Housing and bearing supports are more complicated because the external gear nests within
the internal gear.
• Low ratios are unsuitable and in many cases impossible because of interferences.
• Fabrication is difficult and usually special tooling is required.
SUMMARY
