2.

0 TYPES OF GEARS
In addition to spur gears, many other types of gears have been developed for various
applications. Some of these are; Helical, Herringbone, Bevel and Worm and wheel. It is
important to know their significant features as well as their limitations so as to select the
appropriate gear for a particular application.
One of the first considerations in gear selection is the geometrical relationship between the
centre-lines of the shafts. The size limitations, speed ratios and power requirements should then
be introduced.

2.1 Spur Gears.

As discussed in section 1.2, Spur gears are used to connect two parallel shafts and having straight
teeth parallel to the axes of the wheel.

Figure 2.1: Spur Gears

As shown in figure 2.1a, the gears have external teeth on the outer surfaces and the two shafts
rotate in opposite direction.
Figure 2.1b; the internal teeth are formed over the outer wheel and external teeth are formed over
the inner wheel. The inner wheel having external gears (smaller gear) is known as pinion. In this
case, the two shafts will rotate in the same direction.
It should be noted that in spur gears, the contact occurs across a line. Hence spur gears have a
line contact.

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2.2 Helical Gears
The gears are used to connect two parallel shafts and have their teeth inclined at an angle to the
gear axis or axis of the shafts. This angle is called helix angle and normally ranges between 7° to
23°. In Helical gears each teeth is helical in shape. The two mating gears have the same helix
angle, but have teeth of opposite hands. this means that if the pinion is left handed, the gear must
be right handed.

(a) (b)
Figure 2.2: Helical Gears
Helical gears can transmit more power and operate at higher speeds than spur gears because they
run more smoothly and quietly.

Transmissions of automobiles are one of the very common places where helical gears are used.

The main disadvantage of helical gears is the resulting axial thrust forces produced due to the
helix angle. Bearings which support the general shafts must be designed to absorb these axial
thrust forces. Fig. 2.2.(c)

Helical gears can also be designed to transmit power between non-parallel shafts. Such gears are
usually used under relatively light situations because the teeth have only point contact. Example;
the drive between the camshaft and the distributor shaft of the automobile engine.

For Helical gears mounted on non-parallel shafts, the gears can either be of the same hand or of
opposite hand. Furthermore the helix angles don't have to be equal.

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 (c)

2.2.1 Important Terms for Helical Gears.

1. Helix Angle. The angle to which the teeth are inclined to the axis of a gear. It is also known as
spiral angle of the teeth. It is denoted by ϕ. (see fig 2.2d)
2. Normal pitch. The shortest distance between similar faces of the adjacent teeth. It is denoted
by pn. The normal pitch of two mating gears must be same..
3. Circular pitch. The distance measured parallel to the axis between similar faces of adjacent
teeth. It is also known as axial pitch or transverse pitch. It is denoted by p or pc.

pn = pc cos ϕ
Fig. 2.2(d)

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2.3 Herringbone Gear (Double Helical Gears)
A pair of Helical Gears secured together, one having a right hand helix and the other a left-hand
helix is known as double helical gears. This pair is mounted on one shaft and the similar other
pair (having teeth of opposite hand) is mounted on other parallel shaft which is to be connected.

a) b)
Figure 2.3: Herringbone Gears.
See figure 2.3; Herringbone gears consisting of 2 rows of helical teeth cut into one gear.
One of the rows of each gear is right handed and the other is left handed to cancel out the axial
thrust force. The axial thrust force are cancelled by direct subtraction. see fig. (c)
Since the axial thrust force is eliminated, the herringbone gears are used for heavy and
continuous load applications.
They have all the advantages of helical gears without the undesirable feature of axial thrust
forces. One excellent application is for driving rolling mills in modern steel plants.

2.4 Bevel Gears.

Bevel gears are used to connect two intersecting shafts.
Bevel gears are characterized by their conical shape. Three basic types of conical gears are;
the straight bevel - the teeth on the gears are straight radial to the point of intersection of shaft
axes.
the spiral tooth (helical bevel) – the teeth are inclined
the hypoid gears – similar to spiral except for meshing the shaft centre lines are perpendicular
and offset from each other.

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 Figure 2.4 (a); Straight Bevel Gear.
The straight tooth bevel gear is used for non-parallel shafts that intersect if extended. The teeth
are straight and are inclined to the gear axis by a conical angle called the pitch angle.
The speed ratio of two meshing bevel gears is the ratio of the number of teeth in each gear.
The speed ratio is also the ratio of their pitch diameters and the ratio of the sines of their pitch
angles.
If the shafts are perpendicular, the bevel gears are called miter gears. Miter gears have the same
number of teeth on each gear giving a 45° cone (pitch) angle. Since miter gears have the same
number of teeth on each gear, the speed ratios equals one. The sum of the two pitch angles equals
the angle between the centre lines of the two shafts.

Figure 2.4 (b); Helical bevel (Spiral bevel) Gears

The spiral bevel gear is also used for non-parallel shafts that would intersect if extended.
However, the teeth are not straight but are curved in the form of spirals around the conical
surface.

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Spiral bevel gears enjoy the same advantages over straight tooth bevel gears that helical gears
have over spur gears. Thus spiral bevel gears are used for high speed, high load applications.
They also produce large axial thrust loads and thus complicate the design of shaft bearings.

The hypoid gear is similar in appearance to the spiral bevel gear, except for meshing hypoid
gears the shaft centre-lines are perpendicular and offset from each other. The hypoid gear was
developed for the rear axles of automobiles and enables the drive shaft to pass below the level of
the floor.
Since the shaft centre lines do not intersect for hypoid gears, even if extended, bearings can be
mounted on both sides of either gear, promoting greater system stiffness and subsequent smooth
operation.

2.5 Worm and Wheel Gears.

A worm and wheel are used for large speed reductions between two perpendicular but non-
intersecting shafts. The driver, which is called the worm has a small diameter and a low helix
angle. In appearance it is similar to a threaded screw and thus the helical teeth are commonly
called threads. The follower is called the worm gear or worm wheel and has a face which is
made concave to match the curvature of the worm. Hence, the wheel is said to envelope the
worm, and their matching curvatures provide a large area of contact and reduce wear.

Figure 2.5; Worm and wheel Gear

Worms can be made with either right or left-hand threads similar to those used for threaded
fasteners such as screws and bolts. Also the worm can have a single, double, triple or quadruple
threads.

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NB: the following 2 definitions used in connection with threaded fasteners and worm:

The pitch – is the axial distance from one point of a thread to the corresponding point on an
adjacent thread.

The lead – is the axial distance that a point on a thread advances in one revolution of the worm.

By geometric necessity, the pitch of a worm equals the circular pitch, p of the gear. We can now
write an equation to relate the lead of a worm to its pitch or to the circular pitch of the gear.

l = kp **[Recall threads; lead, l = p x n]

where; l = lead of the worm

p = circular pitch of the gear or pitch of the worm.
k = 1 for a single threaded worm (lead = pitch)

k = 2 for a double threaded worm (lead = 2 x pitch)

k = 3 for a triple-threaded worm (lead = 3 x pitch)

k = 4 for a quadruple threaded worm (lead = 4 x pitch)

If the worm gear has 20 teeth, it would require 20 turns of a single threaded worm to rotate the
worm gear one revolution. This relationship exists because one revolution of a single threaded
worm indexes the worm gear exactly one tooth.

A double threaded worm indexes its worm gear 2 teeth with exact revolution, and so forth. As a
result, the speed ratio of a worm and a wheel can be found from:

 wg k
Speed ratio = =
w N wg

where; ω = rotational speed in rpm

N = Number of teeth
wg = subscript for the worm gear
w = subscript for the worm
Obviously, the greatest speed reduction occurs with a single threaded worm.

Also note that the speed ratio does not depend upon diameter ratios or tooth ratios, as was the
case for spur gears.

Because of low helix angle of the worm, the worm gear cannot normally drive the worm. This is
a self-locking feature that is usually desirable.

Note that the use of small angles (less that 20°) results in poor efficiencies, which can be as low
as 25%. If the helix angle is optimized (30° - 45°) the efficiency can be as high as 95%.
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 Power output =   Power in.
where  is the efficiency of the gearset.
 Twg ωwg =  Twωw
Tw w
Output torque, Twg =  
 wg

Substituting the worm gear set speed ratio equation, we have,

  wg 
Twg =  T w  
 k 
2.6 RACK AND PINION.
A rack is a gear whose pitch diameter has become infinite in size thus resulting in a straight line
for the pitch circle which is called the pitch line.

Figure 2.6 (a); Rack

The straight line gear is called the rack and the circular wheel the pinion. The rack and pinion
combination converts rotary motion into linear motion or vice-versa.

Figure 2.6 (b); Rack & Pinion Gears

An involute of a very large base circle approaches a straight line .Therefore the surfaces of the
rack teeth are flat but mesh properly with the involute surfaces of the mating pinion.

When a pinion meshes with a rack, the rotary motion of the pinion is transformed into translation
motion of the rack or vice-versa.

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 The linear velocity of the rack equals the tangential velocity of the pitch circle of the pinion. The
teeth of the rack have the same values of addendum and dedendum as the mating pinion.

Applications of rack and pinion drives are found virtually in all machine tools. For example a
motor can drive a rotating pinion, which in turn translates a rack mounted on the table of a
milling machine. Also, drill presses use rack and pinion to change the rotary motion of a hand-
wheel into linear motion of the spindle towards the workpiece.

2.7 Characteristics of Various Types of gear drives.

Table 1.
Gear Drive Advantages Disadvantages Shaft Relationship
External spur No axial thrust force Low contact ratio Parallel shafts

Rotary to linear motion or

Rack & Pinion Compact Low contact ratio vice-versa
Low speeds

Internal spur No axial thrust force Costly Parallel shafts

Large contact ratio
Compact

Helical Quiet & smooth operation Axial thrust force Parallel & non-parallel shafts
High speed

Herringbone No end thrust Costly Parallel shafts

Large contact ratio
Large load capacity

Axial thrust force on Perpendicular non-

Worm & wheel High speed reduction worm shaft intersecting shafts
Can be self locking

Bevel Gears
a) Straight Less expensive than spiral &
tooth hypoid Low medium speeds non-parallel shafts

b) Spiral large load capacity Costly non-parallel shafts

Large contact ratio

c) Hypoid Large load capacity Costly Perpendicular shafts

Very rigid support

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2.8 Advantages and Disadvantages of Gear Drive.
Advantages.
i. It transmits exact velocity ratio
ii. It may be used to transmit large power
iii. It has a high efficiency
iv. It has reliable service
v. It has compact layout.

Disadvantages.

i. The manufacture method of gears require special tools and equipment.

ii. The error in cutting teeth may cause vibrations and noise during operation.
iii. A gear tooth failure can be very costly since an entire machine must be shut down.
iv. Replacement of a gear is usually a complex job because it requires proper installation, as
well as the removal of other machine parts to get to the damaged gear. (see gear failure
methods)

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