Planetary Gear Train

(Epicyclic Gear Train)

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 Planetary Gear Train…

• In this train, the blue gear has six times the diameter
of the yellow gear
• The size of the red gear is not important because it is
just there to reverse the direction of rotation
• In this gear system, the yellow gear (the sun) engages
all three red gears (the planets) simultaneously
• All three are attached to a plate (the planet carrier),
and they engage the inside of the blue gear (the ring)
instead of the outside.

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 Planetary Gear Train…

• Because there are three red gears instead of

one, this gear train is extremely rugged.
• planetary gear sets is that they can produce
different gear ratios depending on which gear
you use as the input, which gear you use as
the output, and which one you hold still.

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 Planetary Gear Train…

• They have higher gear ratios.

• They are popular for automatic transmissions
in automobiles.
• They are also used in bicycles for controlling
power of pedaling automatically or manually.
• They are also used for power train between
internal combustion engine and an electric
motor

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 Epicyclic Gear train
Epicyclic means one gear
revolving upon and around
another. The design involves
planet and sun gears as one
orbits the other like a planet
around the sun. Here is a
picture of a typical gear box.

This design can produce large gear ratios in a small space and are
used on a wide range of applications from marine gearboxes to
electric screw drivers.
5
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 Epicyclic Gear train

A small gear at the

center called the
sun, several medium
sized gears called
the planets and a
large external gear
called the ring gear.

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 Epicyclic Gear train
Planetary gear trains have several
advantages. They have higher
gear ratios. They are popular for
automatic transmissions in
automobiles. They are also used
in bicycles for controlling power
of pedaling automatically or
manually. They are also used for
power train between internal
combustion engine and an electric
motor.

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 Epicyclic Gear train
It is the system of epicyclic gears in which at least one wheel
axis itself revolves around another fixed axis.

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 Epicyclic Gear train

Planet wheel
Basic Theory
B B
The diagram shows a
gear B on the end of an Arm
arm. Gear B meshes with Arm 'A'
gear C and revolves
around it when the arm is
rotated. B is called the
planet gear and C the C
sun.
C
Sun wheel

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 Epicyclic Gear train

Basic Theory

Planet wheel
B B
Observe point p and you will see that Arm
gear B also revolves once on its own Arm 'A'

axis. Any object orbiting around a center

must rotate once. Now consider that B is C
free to rotate on its shaft and meshes C
Sun wheel
with C.
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 Epicyclic Gear train

Basic Theory
Suppose the arm is held Planet wheel
stationary and gear C is B B
rotated once. B spins about
its own center and the Arm
number of revolutions it Arm 'A'
makes is the ratio:
NC
NB C
B will rotate by this number
for every complete C
revolution of C. Sun wheel

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 Epicyclic Gear train

Basic Theory
Planet wheel
Now consider the sun gear C
B B
is restricted to rotate and the
arm A is revolved once. Gear
Arm
B will revolve
NC Arm 'A'
1
NB
because of the orbit. It is this
extra rotation that causes
C
confusion. One way to get
round this is to imagine that C
the whole system is revolved
once. Sun wheel

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 Epicyclic Gear train

Basic Theory
Planet wheel
Then identify the gear B B
that is fixed and revolve
it back one revolution. Arm
Work out the revolutions Arm 'A'
of the other gears and
add them up. The
following tabular C
method makes it easy.
C
Sun wheel
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 Epicyclic Gear train
Basic Theory
Suppose gear C is fixed and the arm A makes one revolution.
Determine how many revolutions the planet gear B makes.
Step 1: revolve all elements once about the center.
Step 2: identify that C should be fixed and rotate it backwards
one revolution keeping the arm fixed as it should only do one
revolution in total. Work out the revolutions of B.
Step 3: add them up and we find the total revolutions of C is
zero and for the arm is 1.

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 Epicyclic Gear train
Basic Theory

Step Action A B C

1 Revolve all once 1 1 1

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 Epicyclic Gear train
Basic Theory

Step Action A B C

1 Revolve all once 1 1 1

Revolve C by –1
tC
2 revolution, keeping the 0  -1
arm fixed tB
3

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17
 Epicyclic Gear train
Basic Theory

Step Action A B C

1 Revolve all once 1 1 1

Revolve C by –1 tC
2 revolution, keeping the 0  -1
arm fixed tB
tC
3 Add 1 1 0
tB

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18
 Example 1
A simple epicyclic Planet wheel
gear has a fixed sun B B
gear with 100 teeth
and a planet gear with Arm
50 teeth. If the arm is Arm 'A'
revolved once, how
many times does the
planet gear revolve?
C
C
Sun wheel

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 Example 1-continued

Step Action A B C

1 Revolve all once 1 1 1

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20
 Example 1-continued

Step Action A B C

1 Revolve all once 1 1 1

Revolve C by –1 100
2 revolution, keeping 0  -1
50
the arm fixed

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21
 Example 1-continued

Step Action A B C

1 Revolve all once 1 1 1

Revolve C by –1 100
2 revolution, keeping 0  -1
50
the arm fixed

3 Add 1 3 0

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22
 Gear Ratio(Velocity Ratio)
Many machines use gears. A very
good example is a bicycle which
has gears that make it easier to
cycle, especially up hills. Bicycles
normally have a large gear wheel
which has a pedal attached and a
selection of gear wheels of
different sizes, on the back wheel.
When the pedal is revolved the
chain pulls round the gear wheels
at the back.

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 Gear Ratio(Velocity Ratio)

The reason bicycles are easier to cycle up a hill when the gears are
changed is due to what is called Gear Ratio (velocity ratio). Gear
ratio can be worked out in the form of numbers and examples are
shown. Basically, the ratio is determined by the number of teeth
on each gear wheel, the chain is ignored and does not enter the
equation.
Driven 30 1
   1: 2
Driving 60 2
But WHAT does this mean? It means that
the DRIVEN gear makes TWO rotations
for every ONE rotation of the Driving Gear.

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 Gear Ratio - Examples

Driven 75 3
   3 :1
Driving 25 1

What does this mean? For every 3

rotations of the driving gear, the driven
gear makes one rotation.

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 Gear Ratio - Examples

Driven 80 4
   4 :1
Driving 20 1

What does this mean? For every 4 rotations

of the driving gear, the driven gear makes 1
rotation.

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 Working out RPMs (revolutions per minute)

In the example shown, the

DRIVER gear is larger than the
DRIVEN gear. The general rule
is - large to small gear means
'multiply' the velocity ratio by
the rpm of the first gear.
Divide 60 teeth by 30 teeth to
find the velocity ratio(1:2).
Multiply this number (2) by
the rpm (120). This gives an
answer of 240rpm

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 Working out RPMs (revolutions per minute)

In the example shown, the

DRIVER gear is smaller
than the DRIVEN gear. The
general rule is - small to
large gear means 'divide'
the velocity ratio(3:1) by
the rpm of the first gear.
Divide 75 teeth by 25
teeth to find the velocity
ratio. divide the 60rpm by
the velocity ration (3). The
answer is 20rpm.

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 Working out RPMs (revolutions per minute)

If A revolves at 100 revs/min what is B ?

(Remember small gear to large gear decreases
revs)

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 Compound Gear Ratios

When faced with three gears the question can

be broken down into two parts. First work on
Gears A and B. When this has been solved
work on gears B and C.
The diagram shows a gear train
composed of three gears. Gear A
revolves at 60 revs/min in a
clockwise direction.
What is the output in revolutions per minute at Gear C?

In what direction does Gear C revolve ?

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 Compound Gear Ratios
GEAR A GEAR B GEAR C
20 teeth 60 teeth 10 teeth

Driven 60 3
   3 :1
Driving 20 1

This means that for every THREE revolutions of GEAR A, Gear B travels once.
Since we are going from a SMALLER gear to a LARGER gear we DIVIDE the
Rpms.
Now find the gear ratio for B & C.
60 rev / min
 20 rev / min Driven 10 1
   1: 6
3 Driving 60 6

This means for every ONE rotation

20 rev / min 6  120 rev / min
of gear B, gear C makes SIX rotations.
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 Is there an easier way?

Driven 60 10 10 1
     1: 2
Driving 20 60 20 2

You can also multiply the two gear ratios together to get the TOTAL gear
ratio. In the above figure we see that gear C will make TWO rotations for
every one rotation of gear A. And since gear C is smaller than gear A we
multiply.
60 rev / min  2  120 rev / min

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 Compound Gear Ratios
Below is a question regarding 'compound gears'. Gears C and B
represent a compound gear as they appear 'fixed' together.
When drawn with a compass they have the same centre. Two
gears 'fixed' together in this way rotate together and at the
same RPM. When answering a question like this split it into
two parts. Treat gears A and B as one question AND C and D
as the second part.

What is the output in

revs/min at D and what is
the direction of rotation if
Gear A rotates in a clockwise
direction at 30 revs/min?
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 Compound Gear Ratios
Gear A Gear B Gear C Gear D
120 teeth 40 teeth 80 teeth 20 teeth

Driven 40 1
 
Driving 120 3
Driven 20 1
 
Driving 80 4

Considering that Gear B is smaller than Gear A we can conclude that the
RPMs for gear B is 30*3 = 90 rev/min

Since Gear B is at 90rev/min and has the SAME rotational speed as gear C
Multiply by 4 to get Gear D’s speed. Thus, Gear D moves at 90*4 = 360 rev/min

1 1 1 Since Gear A moves at 30rpms and

OR   Gear D is SMALLER. We multiply
3 4 12
by 12. 30*12 = 360 rev/min
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 Try this one

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 Answer
Gear A Gear B Gear C Gear D
100T 25T 50T 150T
100 rpm

Driven 25 1
   1: 4
Driving 100 4
100  4  400 rpm  gear b
If Gear A turns CCW, then
Driven 150 3
gear B    3 :1
turns CW along with gear Driving 50 1
C as they are a compound 400
gear. Therefore, Gear D  133.3rpm  gear D
3
rotates CCW.
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 Gear
The gear ratio of this gear box is 75 to 1

That means
the last axle
rotates 75
times slower
than
the first axle.
It also means
the last axle
has 75 times
the torque as
the first axle.

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 Try this experiment.

Have one person turn And have another person

this wheel. try to hold on to this wheel.
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 Gears can increase the torque (and force) that they exert
on something. This is known as mechanical advantage.

torque increases

BUT, it comes at a price. Do you know what it is?

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