SECTION 8 BEVEL GEARING For intersecting shafts, bevel gears offer a good means of transmitting motion and power.

Most transmissions occur at right angles, Figure 8-1, but the shaft angle can be any value. Ratios up to 4:1 are common, although higher ratios are possible as well. 8.1 Development And Geometry Of Bevel Gears Bevel gears have tapered elements because they are generated and operate, in theory, on the surface of a sphere. Pitch diameters of mating bevel gears belong to frusta of cones, as shown in Figure 8-2a. In the full development on the surface of a sphere, a pair of meshed bevel gears are in conjugate engagement as shown in Figure 8-2b. 8.2 Bevel Gear Tooth Proportions Bevel gear teeth are proportioned in accordance with the standard system of tooth proportions used for spur gears. However, the pressure angle of all standard design bevel gears is limited to 20. Pinions with a small number of teeth are enlarged automatically when the design follows the Gleason system. Since bevel-tooth elements are tapered, tooth dimensions and pitch diameter are referenced to the outer end (heel). Since the narrow end of the teeth (toe) vanishes at the pitch apex (center of reference generating sphere), there is a practical limit to the length (face) of a bevel gear. The geometry and identification of bevel gear parts is given in Figure 8-5.

The crown gear, which is a bevel gear having the largest possible pitch angle (defined in Figure 8-3), is analogous to the rack of spur gearing, and is the basic tool for generating bevel gears. However, for practical reasons, the tooth form is not that of a spherical involute, and instead, the crown gear profile assumes a slightly simplified form. Although the deviation from a true spherical involute is minor, it results in a line-of-action having a figure-8 trace in its extreme extension; see Figure 8-4. This shape gives rise to the name octoid" for the tooth form of modern bevel gears.

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8.3 Velocity Ratio The velocity ratio, i, can be derived from the ratio of several parameters: i = z1 = d1 = sin1 (8-1) z2 d2 sin2 where: = pitch angle (see Figure 8-5) 8.4 Forms Of Bevel Teeth * In the simplest design, the tooth elements are straight radial. converging at the cone apex. However, it is possible to have the teeth curve along a spiral as they converge on the cone apex. resulting in greater tooth overlap, analogous to the overlapping action of helical teeth. The result is a spiral bevel tooth. In addition, there are other possible variations. One is the zerol bevel, which is a curved tooth having elements that start and end on the same radial line.

short face width sections, angularly displace one relative to the other, and one has a spiral bevel gear. Well-designed spiral bevels have two or more teeth in contact at all times. The overlapping tooth action transmits motion more smoothly and quietly than with straight bevel gears. Zerol bevels (Figure 8-6d) have curved teeth similar to those of the spiral bevels, but with zero spiral angle at the middle of the face width; and they have little end thrust. Both spiral and Zerol gears can be cut on the same machines with the same circular face-mill cutters or ground on the same grinding machines. Both are produced with localized tooth contact which can be controlled for length, width, and shape. Functionally, however. Zerol bevels are similar to the straight bevels and thus carry the same ratings. In fact, Zerols can be used in the place of straight bevels without mounting changes. Zerol bevels are widely employed in the aircraft industry, where ground-tooth precision gears are generally required. Most hypoid cutting machines can cut spiral bevel, Zerol or hypoid gears. 8.5 Bevel Gear Calculations Let z1 and z2 be pinion and gear tooth numbers; shaft angle and pitch cone angles 1 and 2 then:

Straight bevel gears come in two variations depending upon the fabrication equipment. All current Gleason straight bevel generators are of the Coniflex form which gives an almost imperceptible convexity to the tooth surfaces. Older machines produce true straight elements. See Figure 8-6a. Straight bevel gears are the simplest and most widely used type of bevel gears for the transmission of power and/or motion between intersecting shafts. Straight bevel gears are recommended: 1. When speeds are less than 300 meters/mm (1000 feet/ min - at higher speeds, straight bevel gears may be noisy. 2. When loads are light, or for high static loads when surface wear is not a critical factor. 3. When space, gear weight, and mountings are a premium. This includes planetary gear sets, where space does not permit the inclusion of rolling-element bearings.

(8-2)

Generally, shaft angle = 90 is most used. Other angles (Figure 8-7) are sometimes used. Then, it is called "bevel gear in nonright angle drive". The 90 case is called "bevel gear in right angle drive". When 1 = 90, Equation (8-2) becomes:

Other forms of bevel gearing include the following: (8-3) Coniflex gears (Figure 8-6b) are produced by current Gleason straight bevel gear generating machines that crown the sides of the teeth in their lengthwise direction. The teeth, therefore, tolerate small amounts of misalignment in the assembly of the gears and some displacement of the gears Miter gears are bevel gears with = 90 and z1 = z2. Their under load without concentrating the tooth contact at the ends of the teeth. Thus, for the operating conditions Coniflex gears speed ratio z1 / z2 = 1. They only change the direction of the are capable of transmitting larger loads than the predecessor shaft, but do not change the speed. Gleason straight bevel gears. Figure 8-8 depicts the meshing of bevel gears. The meshing Spiral bevels (Figure 8-6c) have curved oblique teeth whichmust be considered in pairs. It is because the pitch cone angles contact each other gradually and smoothly from one end to the and are restricted by the gear ratio z / z In the facial 1 2 1 2 other. Imagine cutting a straight bevel into an infinite number of view, which is normal to the contact line of pitch cones, the _________________________________________ meshing of bevel gears appears to be similar to the meshing of The material in this section has been reprinted with the spur gears. permission of McGraw Hill Book Co., Inc., New York, N.Y. from "Design of Bevel Gears by W. Coleman, Gear Design and Applications, N. Chironis, Editor, McGraw Hill, New York, N.Y. 1967, p. 57. 357

8.5.1 Gleason Straight Bevel Gears The straight bevel gear has straight teeth flanks which are along the surface of the pitch cone from the bottom to the apex. Straight bevel gears can be grouped into the Gleason type and the standard type.

In this section, we discuss the Gleason straight bevel gear. The Gleason Company defined the tooth profile as: whole depth h = 2.188m; top clearance Ca = 0.188m; and working depth hw = 2.000m. The characteristics are: Design specified profile shifted gears: In the Gleason system, the pinion is positive shifted and the gear is negative shifted. The reason is to distribute the proper strength between the two gears. Miter gears, thus, do not need 8.5.2. Standard Straight Bevel Gears A bevel gear with no profile shifted tooth is a standard any shifted tooth profile. straight bevel gear. The applicable equations are in Table 8-3. The top clearance is designed to be parallel These equations can also be applied to bevel gear sets with The outer cone elements of two paired bevel gears are parallel. That is to ensure that the top clearance along the whole other than 90 shaft angle. tooth is the same. For the standard bevel gears, top clearance is 8.5.3 Gleason Spiral Bevel Gears A spiral bevel gear is one with a spiral tooth flank as in variable. It is smaller at the toe and bigger at the heel. Figure 8-11. The spiral is generally consistent with the curve of Table 8-1 shows the minimum number of teeth to prevent a cutter with the diameter dc The spiral angle is the angle undercut in the Gleason system at the shaft angle S = 90. Table 8-2 presents equations for designing straight bevel between a generatrix element of the pitch cone and the tooth gears in the Gleason system. The meanings of the dimensions flank. The spiral angle just at the tooth flank center is called and angles are shown in Figure 8-9. All the equations in Table central spiral angle In practice, spiral angle means central m 8-2 can also be applied to bevel gears with any shaft angle. spiral angle. The straight bevel gear with crowning in the Gleason system is All equations in Table 8-6 are dedicated for the called a Coniflex gear. It is manufactured by a special Gleason manufacturing method of Spread Blade or of Single Side from "Coniflex" machine. It can successfully eliminate poor tooth wear Gleason. If a gear is not cut per the Gleason system, the due to improper mounting and assembly. equations will be different from these. The first characteristic of a Gleason straight bevel gear is its The tooth profile of a Gleason spiral bevel gear shown here profile shifted tooth. From Figure 8-10, we can see the positive has the whole depth h= 1.888m; top clearance Ca= 0.188m; tooth profile shift in the pinion. The tooth thickness at the root and working depth hw = 1.700m. These Gleason spiral bevel diameter of a Gleason pinion is larger than that of a standard gears belong to a stub gear system. This is applicable to gears straight bevel gear. with m>2.1 Table 8-4 shows the minimum number of teeth to avoid Table 8-1 The Minimum Numbers of Teeth to Prevent undercut in the Gleason system with shaft angle = 90 and Undercut pressure angle an = 20. Combination of Numbers of Teeth Z1 Pressure If the number of teeth is less than 12, Table 8-5 is used to Angle Z2 determine the gear sizes. 29/over 28/Over 27/Over 26/Over 25/Over 24/Over All equations in Table 8-6 are also applicable to Gleason (14.5) bevel gears with any shaft angle. A spiral bevel gear set 29 29 31 35 40 57 requires matching of hands; left-hand and right-hand as a pair. 16/Over 15/Over 14/Over 13/Over 20 16 17 20 30 13/Over (25) 13 358

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