Non-Standard

Cylindrical
Gears
Bryan N.V. Parsons
Douglas Walton
Laurentia Andrei
Gabriel Andrei
 Abstract
This paper examines three gear geometries,
Management Summary
Curved face width (CFW) spur gears are not popular in the gear
each of which has special features not found on industry. But these non-metallic gears have advantages over stan-
standard cylindrical gears. The first are high pres- dard spur gears: higher contact ratio, higher tooth stiffness, and
sure angle spur gears where the pressure angle lower contact and bending stresses.
CFW gears also provide better operating features. Tooth height
has been maximized at the expense of contact decreases in the sections away from the gear center, so a lower slid-
ratio. High pressure angles result in higher forces, ing friction is expected with consequences on the gear’s thermal
but the stresses are less and are mostly compres- behavior. They axially locate each other, improving meshing when
misaligned. There also are no axial forces inherent in helical gears.
sive, leading to good fatigue resistance. The sec- For spur gears, load sharing follows the classic “top hat” shape
ond design is a curved face width gear, giving a with a sudden change when moving from partial load to full load.
higher contact ratio compared to spur gears and With a CFW gear, tooth contact and load changing are gradual like a
helical gear. This should lead to smoother running, quieter gears
lower contact and bending stresses. These gears compared to spurs.
are similar to double helical gears in that there are But CFW gears are difficult to design and mount in gear trains. For
no axial forces. The third gear is a tapered face certain tooth geometries, the gear train is sensitive to center distance
variations.
width gear, in which the addenda, dedenda and Gears with high pressure angles (> 20°) are generally viewed as
tooth width are all tapered. The benefits are that unsuitable due to lower contact ratios and higher noise levels. These
tooth engagement is gradual and compensation gears, however, benefit from having stronger tooth forms and lower
contact stresses and are more efficient due to shorter sliding dis-
for center distance variations can be achieved by tances. With dry-running plastic gears, the increased efficiency
relative axial adjustment. All these gears were means lower running temperatures and, because of plastic’s
made of plastic materials. resilience, no noticeable noise difference. If the gears are fully lubri-
cated, the high pressure angles result in higher entrainment veloci-
Introduction ties, leading to advanced lubrication. The authors tested 30° pressure
The annual production of plastic gears now angle gears and “extreme” 40° pressure angle gears with measure-
outnumbers the production of metal gears (more able improvements in strength and running temperatures.
than 500 million per year for cars alone). Tapered face width gears can adjust backlash by axial movement
of one of them. Such adjustment is much easier than backlash adjust-
However, the design of plastic gears relies heavi- ment via radial center distance adjustment. The tapered face width
ly on the experience gained from many years of principle can be applied to spur and helical internal and external
designing and manufacturing steel gears. Work in gears and rack and pinion sets, so it is a versatile means of employ-
ing backlash control in, for example, automotive steering systems.
the United Kingdom and Romania has focused on
increasing the transmissible power density of
polymer gears. The basic geometry used for poly- pitch line fracture are also commonplace (Ref. Gabriel Andrei
mer gears is mainly determined from standard 1). In the case of lubricated plastic gears, pitting is a professor of mechanical
engineering and vice dean in
tooth proportions as recommended in steel gear can also arise. Plastic gears are particularly sus-
the Department of Machine
standards. The work described sought to provide ceptible to temperature. In the case of dry run- Elements & Tribology at the
gears of superior performance designed to non- ning plastic gears, large friction forces will arise, University of Galati, located
and these can lead to high temperatures. It is not in Romania.
standard forms where pressure angles, addenda
and dedenda are chosen for maximum efficiency uncommon for the combined bulk and flash tem- Laurentia Andrei
and load carrying capacity. The forms suggested peratures to exceed the melting temperature of is an associate professor in
here are novel in concept and differ considerably the plastic, which will result in high wear rates the Department of
Descriptrive Geometry,
from conventional practice. (Ref. 2). Even if the temperatures are below the Mechanisms & Tolerances at
The authors are primarily concerned with the melting point, the mechanical properties of plas- the University of Galati.
design and practical aspects of plastic and poly- tics are affected by heat and, for example, the
mer composite gears. The aim is to improve the elastic modulus decreases markedly with tem-
Douglas Walton
is a professor in the Depart-
performance of these gears in order that the trans- perature, altering the contact ratio and load shar- ment of Mechanical Engi-
missible power levels are raised so that plastic ing. Thus, any design procedures and innova- neering at the University of
Birmingham in Birmingham,
gears can be employed in a wider range of prod- tions which might reduce running temperatures
U.K. Walton is head of the
ucts. Historically, plastic gears have followed and/or reduce tooth stresses in plastic gears are Vehicle Technology Research
steel gear practice in terms of tooth proportions. worth examining. Center and teaches engineer-
The gears described in this paper challenge ing design. His area of exper-
However, since the primary manufacturing
tise is in plastic and uncon-
method is a molding process, almost any profile the accepted wisdom of cylindrical gear design ventional gearing.
can be considered (i.e. tooth forms are not a func- first by examining the effects of pressure angle,
tion of the cutting process). This provides an the benefits of a curved face width gear and the Bryan N.V. Parsons
is a research associate in the
opportunity for designing novel gear forms. advantages of tapered face width gears, which Department of Mechanical
Wear is the predominant mode of failure for permit gradual tooth engagement without the Engineering at the University
dry running gears, but root bending fatigue or need for a helical tooth form. of Birmingham.
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 Non-Standard Cylindrical Gears
Table 1 High Pressure Angle Gears
Pressure angle (deg) 20 30 40 The aim: To investigate the potential of high
Contact ratio 1.65 1.35 1.12
Center distance extendibility (mm) 1.43 0.98 0.37 pressure angle gear tooth profiles in polymer and
polymer composite materials. A preliminary
(30-tooth spur gear, module 2 mm, standard proportions)
study showed that such tooth profiles could lower
contact and bending stresses and increase effi-
ciencies compared with gears of standard propor-
tions. Studies on tooth forms showed that wear
for gears molded with high 25° pressure angles
was less than at standard (20°) or low (14.5°)
pressure angles (Ref. 3). This raised questions as
(a) (b) to what extent the pressure angle might be
increased still further to reduce wear. A brief
Figure 1—Showing (a) a standard 20° profile compared to
(b) a 40° high pressure angle profile. study was conducted for this application to inves-
1.6
tigate effects of pressure angle on sliding veloci-
1.4
40° PA
20° PA CR = 2
ty, contact stress, tooth bending stress and effi-
14.5° PA CR = 2
ciency. High pressure angle (30° and 40°) gears
1.2
were injection molded from acetal (the bench-
1
mark material), a glass-filled nylon (high per-
Torque Nm/mm

0.8
formance polymer composite) and PEEK (to per-
0.6 mit high temperature operation). Tests were per-
0.4 formed under dry and oil-lubricated conditions.
0.2 High pressure angle gear geometry results in
0
a reduction of the addendum and the elimination
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Tooth Number
of the top land.
Figure 2—Comparison of torque capacity against tooth It also results in an increase in the radius of
number for different pressure angles. the involute at the pitch point, (see Fig. 1), which
0.3 will manifest itself as a reduction in both the con-
tact and bending stresses (the section modulus
0.25
increasing with pressure angle) as well as a
0.2
20° PA standard reduction in sliding velocities. Figure 2 shows the
40° PA
20° PA CR =2
transmissible torque per mm face width against
Foam Factor

0.15 tooth number at constant Hertzian contact stress

for a 40°, 20° and 14.5° pressure angle gears (18
0.1
teeth is about the minimum for this 40° pressure
0.05 angle). The 20° and 14.5° pressure angle gears
both have a contact ratio of 2. Also, Table 1
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 shows the effects of changing pressure angle on
Tooth Number
contact ratio and center distance extendibility.
Figure 3—Showing Lewis form factor against tooth numbers for gears of varying pressure
angles.
The Lewis form factor for these gears is
shown in Figure 3. This factor becomes question-
99.5
able as an indication of tooth bending strength for
99 the 40° pressure angle gear since radial load is
20° PA CR = 2
98.5 40° PA not considered. The line of action of the force
14.5° PA CR = 2
acting on the teeth for the majority of the contact
Efficiency %

98
period falls within the extent of the tooth root.
97.5
This implies there is no bending of the tooth form
97 and that both flanks of the tooth are in compres-
96.5 sion. This factor might be important for a number
96
of brittle materials that have good strength in
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Tooth Number compression but break under moderate tension.
Figure 4—Showing variation of efficiency with tooth numbers for different pressure angles. Preliminary Finite Element Analysis (FEA) indi-
32 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2004 • GEAR TECHNOLOGY • www.geartechnology.com • www.powertransmission.com
cates that the profile of the 40° pressure angle β β
gear teeth shows an improvement in tooth bend-
a) b)
ing stress compared to the standard profile, even
allowing for the difference in load sharing.
A A
An unexpected result was the discovery that
the apparent efficiency increased with pressure
Mf Mi Mf
angle (Fig. 4). In nearly every case, contact and Mi
M
bending stresses and efficiency for the high pres- B Rb B
C C Rb
sure angle gear indicate improved performance.
This higher efficiency mostly results from the
Figure 5—Gear tooth flank generation.
reduced contact ratio of the high pressure angle
design. If gears with low pressure angles were
modified, such as by reducing their outside diam- cutting edges
β β
eters, the claimed efficiency benefits would
largely, possibly completely, disappear. 24
Still, high efficiency has two rewards for
plastic gears. One is economy, and the second

4
Ø6
reward is a lower running temperature for a given
transmitted power. Material properties deterio-
rate with increasing temperature so that, at low
temperatures, the material will be stiffer and
stronger. High pressure angle gears are not nor-
mally favored because of higher normal loads for blank tool 1 tool 2
a given transmitted torque, low contact ratios and Figure 6—Showing the solid primitives used to simulate the curved face width gear teeth
higher noise. Our preliminary studies show that generation.
other advantages (such as low stresses, higher
efficiency) might more than outweigh these con- β
β
siderations, resulting in a higher transmitted
power for a given size of gear.
Finally, the higher resilience of plastics α α
means that the operating noise levels are less than
those for steel. Thus, noise considerations may
not be a problem. During the subsequent tests, tool 1 tool 2
mesh temperatures, efficiency and noise were
recorded. Average dynamic coefficients of fric-
tion will be back-calculated from measured effi-
blank
ciencies, so the results can be compared to gears
made from the same materials, but of standard 20°
pressure angle form. It will be possible to take the
Figure 7—Simulation of the tooth cutting process.
design a stage further and include high pressure
angles with a helical tooth form. This would result
in even higher transverse pressure angles as well as
improved load sharing. Should the results prove
promising, other materials might be investigated,
such as ceramics. Thus, if high pressure angle gears
are successful, there will be considerable future
research and development potential.
Curved Face Width Gears
Curved face width gears (Fig. 8), have been
developed in Russia (Ref. 4) and by Gleason in
the U.S., but, due to their complex geometry, few
engineers are aware of their existence. The par-
ticular advantages these gears have over standard Figure 8—Pictorial representation of the curved face
spur gears are higher contact ratios and lower width spur gear, with modified geometry.
www.powertransmission.com • www.geartechnology.com • GEAR TECHNOLOGY • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2004 33
 Non-Standard Cylindrical Gears
contact and bending stresses, due to the double lower sliding velocities and, when run in oil,
curvature of the tooth flanks. They axially locate enhanced lubrication conditions were expected.
each other, offering better meshing in plane mis- The shape of these gears makes the design of a
alignment conditions, and there are no axial molding die commercially impractical. Hence
forces, which are inherent in helical gears. The this proposed design is suitable only for
difficulty in gear train mounting and, for certain machined gears, plastic or metal. Such gears
tooth geometries, a sensitivity to center distance must be mounted with close control of relative
variations are the only two serious disadvantages. axial position, generally not required for spur or
The curved face width spur gear described in helical parallel-axis gears (Ref. 5).
this article differs from previous curved face The kinematics of the gear generation
width gears in that they have a modified geome- process. Two different cutters were used for the
try with a variable tooth height and width along concave and convex tooth flank generation.
the gear face width. Reduced bending stresses, Figure 5 illustrates the kinematics of the genera-
tion process, where the tools are working in the
half-width plane of the blank. The normal sections
of the cutters show straight lines for the imaginary
rack-cutter flanks, with a zero pressure angle. The
designed geometry for the tooth flanks is based on
the following kinematic principles:

• the cutting tool performs rotational motion (A)

about its inclined axis, leading to a curved tooth
along the gear face width and a variation in
tooth height;
Figure 9—Path of contact for the initial gear tooth • the gear being generated is rotated about its axis
contact. (B) and is provided with translational motion
(C), tangential to the base circle of the gear
(Rb), in order to obtain the rolling motion
required for involute tooth form generation.

Two phases are necessary in order to generate

the entire gear. The cutting process starts with the
tooth-by-tooth concave flank generation (Fig. 5a)
followed by the convex flank generation (Fig.
5b), where a new tool is used, properly posi-
tioned relative to the already cut concave flank.
Simulation of the gear generation process.
Figure 10—Path of contact after 1° rotation. The modified geometry of the curved face width
spur gears described here requires a theoretical
investigation before the gears can be made. A
numerical simulation of the gears’ generation and
mesh, based on the traditional conjugate surface
generation theory, was developed by one of the
authors (Ref. 6). The complexity of the gear tooth
geometry implied complex mathematical calcula-
tions and large computer programs. The authors
used the advantages of solid modeling techniques
in order to obtain a complete representation of the
gear. The gear design model can be further used for
the gear generation error analysis, for finite ele-
Figure 11—Path of contact after 3° rotation. ment analysis and for rapid prototyping.

34 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2004 • GEAR TECHNOLOGY • www.geartechnology.com • www.powertransmission.com

 To simulate the kinematic generation of the virtual gear, corresponds to an arbitrary point
curved face width gear flanks, the blank and the along the theoretical line of contact. The gear
tools are modeled by cylindrical and conical train was next rotated by 1° (Fig. 10) and then 3°
solid primitives using solid modeling methods (Fig. 11), to obtain the contact path during gear
with conveniently chosen dimensions. Work pre- meshing. Analyzing the tooth contact, it is obvi-
viously done by the authors on measuring and ous the “contact line” is a spatial curve, which
comparing the performance of plastic gears led changes in curvature during the mesh cycle.
to a “standard” gear being used that has a 20° Bending stresses and deflections in curved
pressure angle, 30 teeth of module 2 mm and face width gears. The authors designed a modi-
addendum equal to the module. In order that the fied geometry for the plastic curved face width
curved face width gear could be compared to spur gears in order to enhance the load capacity
standard geometries, the first curved face width and to avoid excessive tooth deflection. The data-
gears were made the same size. Thus, a gear base obtained from the gear generation simula-
blank of 64 mm diameter and 24 mm face width tion was used to analyze the gear tooth resistance,
(Fig. 6) was made. The rotational motion of the using finite element analysis procedures. Stresses
two cutters about their own axes was replaced by and stiffness of a curved face width gear were
the solids “Tool 1” and “Tool 2,” obtained by compared to those of a standard spur gear.
rotating the tool’s normal sections around the Curved and straight spur gears were modeled
same axis, using the REVOLVE command. The using COSMOS/M set to the following geometri-
rotational motion of the blank was performed cal parameters: modulus 2 mm, 30 teeth and 24
incrementally by using a ROTATE3-D com- mm face width. Poisson’s ratio for the plastic
mand, with an angular increment; its translation- material used in the gear’s manufacture, Ertalon
al motion was also done incrementally. 66SA, was 0.3; and the tensile modulus of elas-
The tool successively intersects the blank ticity was 3,450 MPa. The analysis was devel-
until the generation of a tooth flank is completed oped for two teeth in mesh under the applied
(Fig. 7). The removal of the “material” is done loads given in Table 2 and shown in Figure 12.
using a Boolean subtraction operation, per-
formed by the SUBTRACT command. The auto- Table 2
matic development of the procedure enables a Torque Von Mises stresses Maximum deflection
dynamic view of the process and a representa- [Nm] [N/mm2] [mm]
4 1.18 0.014
tion of the gear to be made (Fig. 8). 6 1.77 0.021
Gear meshing simulation. A theoretical 8 2.36 0.027
analysis of the gears in mesh shows that the con- 10 2.96 0.035
tact line depends on the magnitude of the trans- 12 3.55 0.041

mitted torque and on the gear alignment. When

the concave side of the pinion tooth enters mesh,
contact starts at the tooth dedendum, at the end
of the gear face width and extends to the mid-
point of the face width, leading to a concave
curve of contact. Similarly, contact on a tooth’s
convex flank determines a convex curve of con-
tact, starting at the tooth dedendum, at the gear’s
mid-section. The facilities offered by the solid
modeling technique enabled the gear mesh to be
simulated, in order to investigate the path of con-
tact. Using the virtual models and the dynamic
simulation of the gear meshing, the theoretical
path of contact was obtained from a virtual
model of the ideal gear train. y
Figures 9–11 show several representations of
the path of contact on the pinion teeth’s convex
x
flanks (a 0.1 mm interference was used for the
path representation). The initial contact shown in
Figure 9, obtained by hand positioning of the Figure 12—Showing the applied loads.
www.powertransmission.com • www.geartechnology.com • GEAR TECHNOLOGY • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2004 35
 Non-Standard Cylindrical Gears
Table 3 Table 2 lists the results of the tooth bending
Torque Von Mises stresses Maximum tooth stresses and deflections for a standard region of
[Nm] [N/mm2] deflection [mm]
the curved face width gear—a continuum divid-
4 10.78 0.017
6 16.47 0.022
ed into 18,348 linear tetrahedral elements inter-
8 21.55 0.033 connected at 3,721 nodes. For the maximum
10 27.59 0.043 load applied (12 Nm), Figures 13 and 14 illus-
12 32.64 0.051 trate the distribution of the Von Mises stresses
and the tooth deflections, respectively.
Figure 13 shows that maximum stresses are
concentrated on the dedendum of the tooth with
load applied close to its addendum. Figure 14
shows that maximum tooth deflection appears in
the gear mid-face width, at the tooth addendum.
Due to variable tooth height and width, the tooth
stiffness can differ, as shown by the variation of
tooth deflection along the gear face width. It can
be seen that, close to the gear face width ends,
the tooth deflection decreases by approximately
20% compared to the gear mid-section tooth
Figure 13—Von Mises stress distribution. deflection. A similar analysis, done for the
curved face width gears with the load applied on
the concave flanks, showed higher bending
stresses concentrated on the tooth dedendum and
similar maximum displacements of the tooth
addendum, at the gear’s mid-face width.
The analysis of the spur gear tooth bending
resistance was also developed, for the same
applied loads. The results are given in Table 3
and show the high bending stresses developed
compared to the curved face width gears; the
bending stresses developed in standard spur
gears being approximately 10 times higher than
the curved gear tooth stresses. The result of the
finite element analysis on the bending resistance
is summarized in Figure 15.
Figure 14—Distribution of curved face width tooth deflections. Tapered Gears
The tapered gear design utilizes the principle
[N/mm2] of access and recess action within a single gear.
curved tooth-load applied on the convex flank At the mid-plane, the geometry of the tooth form
curved tooth-load applied on the concave flank is substantially standard. The gear has a linear
spur gear tooth
taper so that the profile is modified to access
Von Mises stresses

30 action at one end of the gear and recess action at

the other. The matching meshing gear must have
20 a similar taper and the access region must mesh
with the recess portion of the mating gear. This
10 condition can be satisfied when the direction of
the taper is inverted (Fig. 16). For spur gears,
0 this profile results in the flanks of the teeth being
2 4 6 8 10 12 [Nm] slightly helical and a small end thrust will be
Torque generated when torque is transmitted.
Figure 15—Comparison of maximum stresses in curved face width and standard spur gears. Interestingly, the direction of the axial force is
36 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2004 • GEAR TECHNOLOGY • www.geartechnology.com • www.powertransmission.com
the same for both drive and overrun conditions. This paper was printed
Another feature of the gear profile is the abil- with the friendly permis-
ity of the gears to compensate for center distance sion of the previous pub-
variation or backlash by adjusting the relative lisher, VDI-Verlag of
axial position of the gears. This results from the Dusseldorf, Germany. It
taper in the tooth width. The taper of the gears is was printed in 2002 in
in all proportions linear with axial position, so the proceedings for the
that the addendum, dedendum and tooth width all International Conference
change proportionally (Fig.17). This produces a on Gears, VDI report
shape that has a natural draft angle on all exter- Figure 16—Showing two tapered gears in mesh. 1665, Vol. 1, pp. 311–326.
nal surfaces, facilitating the manufacture of these h t = tooth width thin end
gears by some molding process. This process T = tooth width fat end
might be cavity molding for plastic gears or sin- h = change in addendum
d= change dedendum
tering or forging for metal gears.
The contact ratio varies across the plane of
T
the meshing gears, and the slight helical profile
of the flanks provides a small phase difference t
between the ends of the gear. The important fea-
ture is that the contact ratio changes smoothly as
the mesh progresses so that the teeth are gradual-
d
ly loaded and unloaded. This feature should help
to make these gears quiet in operation. The beam Figure 17—Comparison of the extremes of profile for the
tapered gear.
strength of the tooth profile should be compara-
ble with conventional gears’ tooth profiles. The
second moment of area is that the tooth root is
larger for the tapered gear profile than for a stan-
dard tooth.
The tapered gear can also be made helical
(Fig. 18) with a different helix angle on the oppo-
site flanks of the teeth. In this case, left- and
right-handed helical gears are required. A special
case is where the helix angle is made so that one Figure 18—Showing a pair of helical tapered gears.
flank of the tooth is straight while the other is
helical. For example, an axial reaction force ease of manufacture by molding techniques,
might be generated while the gear pair is driving including sintering and forging. Kinematically,
and no such force is generated during overrun. they offer a degree of action that effectively pro-
Conclusions vides mesh overlap. The gears provide tolerance
Three novel gear types are examined in this to mold shrinkage due to the adjustability of the
paper, each offering some benefits over conven- mesh by axial displacement. r
tional cylindrical gears. High pressure angle References
gears of the same materials have withstood high- 1. Walton, D, A.B. Cropper and D. Weale. “Failure Mode Analysis
of Plastic Gears,” Proceedings of International Tribology
er loads than gears of standard geometries. Noise Conference, Nagasaki, Japan, 2001. Tell Us What
has not been a problem. Curved face width gears 2. Hooke, C.J., K. Mao, D. Walton, A. Breeds, and S.N. Kukureka,
You Think . . .
“Measurement and Prediction of the Surface Temperature in
are shown to provide lower stresses compared to Polymer Gears and its Relationship to Gear Wear,” Translation E-mail
spur gears of the same dimensions. These gears ASME Japan of Tribology, 92-Trib–12, Oct. 1992. wrs@geartechnology.com
3. White, J. Ph.D. Thesis, “Design and Evaluation of Polymer to
are manufactured by cutting the plastic, and Composite Spur Gears,” The University of Birmingham, U.K.,
• Rate this article
though this form of production results in less 1999.
4. Sidorenko, A.K. “70 NKMZ” Gear Train (in Russian), • Request more
accurate gears, these gears run satisfactorily and Mashinostroienie, Moscow, 1984. information
demonstrate their capacity to operate at higher 5. Andrei, L., G. Andrei, A. Epureanu, N. Oancea, and D. Walton. • Contact the authors or
“Numerical Simulation and Generation of Curved Face Width
torque levels than conventional spur gears. Gears,” International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture, organizations mentioned
Tapered face width gears are modeled and man- 42 (2002), pp. 1–6. • Make a suggestion
6. Andrei, L. “Study of the Plastic Curved Face Width Spur Gears Or call (847) 437-6604 to
ufactured using rapid prototyping techniques. Generation and Behaviour,” Ph.D. Thesis, The University of talk to one of our editors!
The main advantages of the tapered gears are the Galati, Romania, 2001.
www.powertransmission.com • www.geartechnology.com • GEAR TECHNOLOGY • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2004 37