CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT -2

Name Binoy Mandal

University Roll No 28100720014

University Registration No 202810100710001

Department Mechanical Engineering

Paper Name Kinematics & Theory of Machines

Paper Code PC-ME503

Year 3rd Semester 5th

Contact No 8348126928
 A Report

on

Gear Train

Prepared

by

Binoy Mandal

Mechanical Engineering

(3rd Year)

Dated: 28 Aug 2022

 Table of Contents

Sl. No Topic Name Pg. No

1. Introduction 1
2. Types Of Gear Train 1
3. Gear Terminology 2-3
4. Compound Gear Train 3-4
5. Working Principle of Compound Gear Train 4-5
6. Discussion 5-6
7. Conclusion 6
8. References 6-7

List of Figures

Fig. No Figure Name Pg. No

1. Gear Terminology 2
2. Compound Gear Train 4
3. Gear Rotation 4
 1. INTRODUCTION
A gear train is a system of gears that transmits motion from one shaft to another. Simplistic
configurable arrangements will be used to gain experience with these systems and the calculations
associated with them. Then will progress to do calculations of gear ratios for epicyclic gear systems.
Simple gear trains were firstly assembled in order to gain a good understanding of what a train gear
was and how to do calculations associated with them. This system consisted of two spur gears
mounted on a frame with the teeth of the gears interlocking so when one of the gears were turned the
other would turn in the opposite direction. The results of this experiment were dependent on the
number of teeth on the gears being used and this was what determined the rotation ratio and the
number of revolutions the gears did.
The compound gear train consists of a system that has four or more gears in which two gears rotate
together on one shaft. In the experiment, two different arrangements of the gears were arranged with
four gears and two gears together on one shaft in the center. The rotation ratio and the number of
rotations that each gear did, depended on the arrangement of the gears and the number of teeth per
gear.
2. TYPES OF GEAR TRAIN
Following are the different types of gear trains, depending upon the arrangement of wheels:
➢ Simple gear train,
➢ Compound gear train,
➢ Reverted gear train, and
➢ Epicyclic gear train.
In the first three types of gear trains, the axes of the shafts over which the gears are mounted are
fixed relative to each other. But in case of epicyclic gear trains, the axes of the shafts on which the
gears are mounted may move relative to a fixed axis.

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 3. GEAR TERMINOLOGY

Fig.1. Gear Terminology

The following are the important dimensions and geometries concerned with toothed gear:
➢ Pitch Circle:
Pitch circle is the apparent circle that two gears can be taken like smooth cylinders rolling without
friction.
➢ Addendum Circle:
Addendum circle is the outer most profile circle of a gear. Addendum is the radial distance between
the pitch circle and the addendum circle.
➢ Dedendum Circle:
Dedendum circle is the inner most profile circle. Dedendum is the radial distance between the pitch
circle and the dedendum circle.
➢ Clearance:
Clearance is the radial distance from top of the tooth to the bottom of the tooth space in the mating
gear.
➢ Backlash:
Backlash is the tangential space between teeth of mating gears at pitch circles.
➢ Full Depth:
Full depth is sum of the addendum and the dedendum.
➢ Face Width:
Face width is length of tooth parallel to axes.

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 ➢ Diametral Pitch:
Diametral pitch (p) is the number of teeth per unit volume.
p = (Number of Teeth) / (Diameter of Pitch circle)
➢ Module:
Module (m) is the inverse of diametral pitch.
m = 1/p
➢ Circular Pitch:
Circular pitch is the space in pitch circle used by each teeth.
➢ Gear Ratio:
Gear ratio is numbers of teeth of larger gear to smaller gear.
➢ Pressure Line:
Pressure line is the common normal at the point of contact of mating gears along which the driving
tooth exerts force on the driven tooth.
➢ Pressure Angle:
Pressure angle is the angle between the pressure line and common tangent to pitch circles. It is also
called angle of obliquity. High pressure angle requires wider base and stronger teeth.
➢ Pitch Angle:
Pitch angle is the angle captured by a tooth.
Pitch angle = 360/T
➢ Contact Ratio:
Contact ratio is angle of angle of action and pitch angle.
➢ Path of Approach:
Path of approach is the distance along the pressure line traveled by the contact point from the point
of engagement to the pitch point.
➢ Path of Recess:
Path of recess is the distance traveled along the pressure line by the contact point from the pitch point
to the path of disengagement.
➢ Path of Contact:
Patch of contact is the sum of path of approach and path of recess.
➢ Arc of Approach:
Arc of approach is the distance traveled by a point on either pitch circle of the two wheels from the
point of engagement to the pitch.
➢ Arc of Recess:
Arc of recess is the distance traveled by a point on either pitch circle of the two wheels from the
point to the point of disengagement.
➢ Arc of Contact:
Arc of contact is the distance traveled by a point on either pitch circle of the two wheels during the
period of contact of a pair of teeth.
➢ Angle of Action:
Angle of action is the angle turned by a gear during arc of contact.

4. What is Compound Gear Train

A compound gear is a number of gears fixed together. Consequently, they rotate at the same
speed.The gears that make up a compound gear usually differ in size and have a different number of
teeth. This is useful if there is a need to speed up or slow down the final output.
Compound gear trains have two or more pairs of gears in mesh, so that they rotate together. This

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compound gear train has gears on three shafts. The gear on the input shaft meshes with a larger gear
on a counter-shaft or cluster gear. The counter-shaft has a smaller gear formed on it, in mesh with the
output shaft gear. The motion of the input is transferred through the large gear, along the counter-
shaft to the smaller gear, to the output.

Fig: 2. Compound Gear Train

Fig: 3 Gear Rotation

5. Working Principle of Compound Gear Train

When there is more than one gear on a shaft, it is called a compound train of gear.
We have seen in previous section that the idle gears, in a simple train of gears do not affect the speed

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ratio of the system. But these gears are useful in bridging over the space between the driver and the
driven. But whenever the distance between the driver and the driven or follower has to be bridged
over by intermediate gears and at the same time a great (or much less) speed ratio is required, then
the advantage of intermediate gears is intensified by providing compound gears on intermediate
shafts. In this case, each intermediate shaft has two gears rigidly fixed to it so that they may have the
same speed. One of these two gears meshes with the driver and the other with the driven or follower
attached to the next shaft.
If a simple gear train has three gears, such that the input gear GA meshes with an intermediate gear
GI which in turn meshes with the output gear GB, then the pitch circle of the intermediate gear rolls
without slipping on both the pitch circles of the input and output gears. This yields the two relations

The speed ratio of this gear train is obtained by multiplying these two equations to obtain

6. Discussion
From the results in the first section of the experiment it is possible to calculate the modulus of the
gears and from the calculations determine whether the gears were metric or imperial. In the case of
the gears used in this experiment, the gears were metric.
From the second experiment it was proven that the tooth ratio and the rotation ratio are the same
when there is no idler used. The direction of rotation of the pinion is always opposite to that of the
gear. For the second part off the experiment upon insertion of the idler, it can be seen that, the idler
then allows the pinion to rotate in the same direction as the gear. Once again it is observed that the
tooth ratio and the rotation ratio is the same even after the addition of the idler. It is observed that
even after altering the size of the idler the rotation ratio remains unchanged.
For the experiment involving the use of the compound gears it is observed, that the compound gear
changes the rotation ratio and also the speed of the pinion. The changing of the compound gear
changes the number of rotations of the pinion. In the case of this experiment the larger the number of
teeth (i.e., the teeth ratio) the larger the number of rotations of the pinion.
For the final experiment involving the Epicyclic gear system it was found that even when link was
fixed the sun still rotated the same amount. While in the case of both the ring and the planet the

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number of revolutions of both increased upon the fixing of the link.
We found that the most significant source of measurement error was when the gears didn’t perfectly
mesh together and if they weren’t perfectly aligned. We solved these problems by pinning the gears
in place and using washers to make sure all the gears lay on the same level.
Another thing that might significantly affect the experiments is the differences in terms of the model
and practical setup. This is because in the model all the gears are perfectly aligned, while in the
practical setup, washers must be used to attempt to align the gears and it might not be possible to
ensure that they are balanced due to different thickness of the gears and washers.
7. Conclusions
After completing this experiment it was found that the equipment and the procedure for this
experiment was capable of meeting the other aims of this experiment in terms of getting results and
calculating data.
It was also found that there was a relationship between the tooth ratio and the rotation ratio for a
simple gear, the tooth ratio and the rotation ratio were the same even after the insertion of the idler.
While for the compound gear while there was a relationship between the tooth ratio and the rotation
ratio, they were not the same, for the compound gear it was found that as the tooth ratio increased so
too did the rotation ratio.
It was also found that the modulus of the gear could be calculated using the number of teeth and the
diameter of the gear, and from the result it was possible to calculate whether the gear was metric or
imperial.
Finally it was proven that the ratio between the link and other components of an epicyclic gear
system can be found using the 3 step approach and how the fixing of the link will have an effect on
all the readings except for the sun.
8. References
[1] “Bodine Electric Gearmotor Blog,” 2013. [Online]. Available:
https://gearmotorblog.wordpress.com/2013/05/07/planetary-gearmotors/. [Accessed 06 October 2016].

[2] “Woodgears,” [Online]. Available: https://woodgears.ca/gear/ratio.html. [Accessed 5 October 2016].

[3] D. T. Levingstone, “MM203 Lab manual,” [Online]. Available:

https://loop.dcu.ie/pluginfile.php/1228608/mod_resource/content/1/MM203LabManual2016.pdf.
[Accessed 5 October 2016].

[4] “Woodgears,” [Online]. Available: https://woodgears.ca/gear/ratio.html. [Accessed 5 October

2016].

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[5] “Woodgears,” [Online]. Available: https://woodgears.ca/gear/planetary.html. [Accessed 5
October 2016].

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