Gear Classification: Page - 1
Gear Classification: Page - 1
Gear Classification: Page - 1
Gears may be classified according to the relative position of the axes of revolution. The axes may
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be
1. parallel,
2. intersecting,
Here is a brief list of the common forms. We will discuss each in more detail later.
1. Spur gears
The left pair of gears makes external contact, and the right pair of gears makes internal
contact
2. Parallel helical gears
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4. Rack and pinion (The rack is like a gear whose axis is at infinity.)
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2. Hypoid gears
Gear-Tooth Action
Tooth profile 1 drives tooth profile 2 by acting at the instantaneous contact point K.
N1 is the foot of the perpendicular from O1 to N1N2N2 is the foot of the perpendicular
from O2 to N1N2.
Although the two profiles have different velocities V1 and V2 at point K, their velocities
along N1N2 are equal in both magnitude and direction. Otherwise the two tooth profiles would
Point P is very important to the velocity ratio, and it is called the pitch point. Pitch point divides
the line between the line of centers and its position decides the velocity ratio of the two teeth.
For a constant velocity ratio, the position of P should remain unchanged. In this case, the motion
transmission between two gears is equivalent to the motion transmission between two imagined
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slipless cylinders with radius R1 and R2 or diameter D1 and D2. We can get two circles whose
centers are at O1 and O2, and through pitch point P. These two circle are termed pitch circles.
The velocity ratio is equal to the inverse ratio of the diameters of pitch circles. This is the
The fundamental law of gear-tooth action may now also be stated as follow (for gears with
The common normal to the tooth profiles at the point of contact must always pass through a
fixed point (the pitch point) on the line of centers (to get a constant velocity ration).
Conjugate Profiles
To obtain the expected velocity ratio of two tooth profiles, the normal line of their profiles must
pass through the corresponding pitch point, which is decided by the velocity ratio. The two
profiles which satisfy this requirement are called conjugate profiles. Sometimes, we simply
termed the tooth profiles which satisfy the fundamental law of gear-tooth action the conjugate
profiles.
Although many tooth shapes are possible for which a mating tooth could be designed to satisfy
the fundamental law, only two are in general use: the cycloidal and involute profiles. The
involute has important advantages -- it is easy to manufacture and the center distance between a
pair of involute gears can be varied without changing the velocity ratio. Thus close tolerances
between shaft locations are not required when using the involute profile.
The most commonly used conjugate tooth curve is the involute curve(Erdman & Sandor 84).
Involute Curve
The following examples are involute spur gears. We use the word involute because the contour of
gear teeth curves inward. Gears have many terminologies, parameters and principles. One of the
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important concepts is the velocity ratio, which is the ratio of the rotary velocity of the driver gear
The SimDesign file for these gears is simdesign/gear15.30.sim. The number of teeth in these
gears are 15 and 30, respectively. If the 15-tooth gear is the driving gear and the 30-teeth gear is
The curve most commonly used for gear-tooth profiles is the involute of a circle. This involute
curve is the path traced by a point on a line as the line rolls without slipping on the
circumference of a circle. It may also be defined as a path traced by the end of a string which is
originally wrapped on a circle when the string is unwrapped from the circle. The circle from
In Figure 7-3, let line MN roll in the counterclockwise direction on the circumference of a circle
without slipping. When the line has reached the position M'N', its original point of tangent A has
reached the position K, having traced the involute curve AK during the motion. As the motion
1. The distance BK is equal to the arc AB, because link MN rolls without slipping on the
circle.
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2. For any instant, the instantaneous center of the motion of the line is its point of tangent
Note: We have not defined the term instantaneous center previously. The instantaneous
center or instant center is defined in two ways (Bradford & Guillet 43):
1. When two bodies have planar relative motion, the instant center is a point on one
2. When two bodies have planar relative motion, the instant center is the point at
3. The normal at any point of an involute is tangent to the base circle. Because of the
property (2) of the involute curve, the motion of the point that is tracing the involute is
perpendicular to the line at any instant, and hence the curve traced will also be
the terminology has been defined previously but we include them here for completeness.
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Pitch surface : The surface of the imaginary rolling cylinder (cone, etc.) that the toothed
Addendum circle: A circle bounding the ends of the teeth, in a right section of the gear.
Root (or dedendum) circle: The circle bounding the spaces between the teeth, in a right
Addendum: The radial distance between the pitch circle and the addendum circle.
Dedendum: The radial distance between the pitch circle and the root circle.
Clearance: The difference between the dedendum of one gear and the addendum of the
mating gear.
Face of a tooth: That part of the tooth surface lying outside the pitch surface.
Flank of a tooth: The part of the tooth surface lying inside the pitch surface.
Circular thickness (also called the tooth thickness) : The thickness of the tooth
measured on the pitch circle. It is the length of an arc and not the length of a straight line.
Tooth space: The distance between adjacent teeth measured on the pitch circle.
Backlash: The difference between the circle thickness of one gear and the tooth space of
Circular pitch p: The width of a tooth and a space, measured on the pitch circle.
Diametral pitch P: The number of teeth of a gear per inch of its pitch diameter. A
toothed gear must have an integral number of teeth. The circular pitch, therefore, equals
the pitch circumference divided by the number of teeth. The diametral pitch is, by
definition, the number of teeth divided by the pitch diameter. That is,
where
p = circular pitch
P = diametral pitch
N = number of teeth
D = pitch diameter
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That is, the product of the diametral pitch and the circular pitch equals .
Module m: Pitch diameter divided by number of teeth. The pitch diameter is usually
specified in inches or millimeters; in the former case the module is the inverse of
diametral pitch.
Fillet : The small radius that connects the profile of a tooth to the root circle.
Pinion: The smaller of any pair of mating gears. The larger of the pair is called simply
the gear.
Velocity ratio: The ratio of the number of revolutions of the driving (or input) gear to the
Pitch point: The point of tangency of the pitch circles of a pair of mating gears.
Common tangent: The line tangent to the pitch circle at the pitch point.
Line of action: A line normal to a pair of mating tooth profiles at their point of contact.
Path of contact: The path traced by the contact point of a pair of tooth profiles.
Pressure angle : The angle between the common normal at the point of tooth contact
and the common tangent to the pitch circles. It is also the angle between the line of action
Base circle :An imaginary circle used in involute gearing to generate the involutes that
Table 7-1 lists the standard tooth system for spur gears. (Shigley & Uicker 80)
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Gear trains consist of two or more gears for the purpose of transmitting motion from one axis to
another. Ordinary gear trains have axes, relative to the frame, for all gears comprising the
train. Figure 7-6a shows a simple ordinary train in which there is only one gear for each axis.
In Figure 7-6b a compound ordinary train is seen to be one in which two or more gears may
Velocity Ratio
We know that the velocity ratio of a pair of gears is the inverse proportion of the diameters of Page | 10
their pitch circle, and the diameter of the pitch circle equals to the number of teeth divided by
the diametral pitch. Also, we know that it is necessary for the to mating gears to have the same
diametral pitch so that to satisfy the condition of correct meshing. Thus, we infer that
the velocity ratio of a pair of gears is the inverse ratio of their number of teeth.
The tooth number in the numerator are those of the driven gears, and the tooth numbers
Gear 2 and 3 both drive and are, in turn, driven. Thus, they are called idler gears. Since
their tooth numbers cancel, idler gears do not affect the magnitude of the input-output
ratio, but they do change the directions of rotation. Note the directional arrows in the
figure. Idler gears can also constitute a saving of space and money (If gear 1 and 4
meshes directly across a long center distance, their pitch circle will be much larger.)
There are two ways to determine the direction of the rotary direction. The first way is to
label arrows for each gear as in Figure 7-6. The second way is to multiple mth power of
"-1" to the general velocity ratio. Where m is the number of pairs of external
contact gears (internal contact gear pairs do not change the rotary direction). However,
Planetary gear trains, also referred to as epicyclic gear trains, are those in which one or more
gears orbit about the central axis of the train. Thus, they differ from an ordinary train by having a
moving axis or axes. Figure 7-8 shows a basic arrangement that is functional by itself or when
used as a part of a more complex system. Gear 1 is called a sun gear , gear 2 is a planet, link H
The SimDesign file is simdesign/gear.planet.sim. Since the sun gear (the largest gear) is fixed,
the DOF of the above mechanism is one. When you pull the arm or the planet, the mechanism
has a definite motion. If the sun gear isn't frozen, the relative motion is difficult to control.
Velocity Ratio
To determine the velocity ratio of the planetary gear trains is slightly more complex an analysis
than that required for ordinary gear trains. We will follow the procedure:
1. Invert the planetary gear train mechanism by imagining the application a rotary motion
with an angular velocity of H to the mechanism. Let's analyze the motion before and