Tooth Design: Forces Acting On Spur Gears

Tooth design
Forces acting on Spur Gears
T= Force transmitted due to torque (torque/pitch radius)

P= Actual Force
S=Force tending to cause seperation of wheel and pinion
Forces all act in the same plain as the pitch circle surface diametral
plane. The force that must be transmitted by the gearing is that related to the
power developed in the turbine P=2πnT hence for the same power the torque
is inversely related to the speed of transmission.
This resultantforce P = Tcosθ is found on both driving and driven teeth.
Straight ( spur ) gear teeth meshing is accompanied by impact as the load is
transmitted from tooth to tooth. No more than 1.2 to 1.4 teeth are in mesh at
any one time.
Forces acting on Helical Gears
For helical gears the force triangle is inclined to the diametral plane. An
additional component acts along the shaft.
It is normal, for large gear sets, to have a second attached wheel with teeth
angled opposite to the first to cancewl out this component.
As the pitch circle is now in the form of an ellipse it is now necessary to resolve
the angles in the normal and diametral plane to find a new pressure angle so
the forces can be resolved in the diametral plane.
This can be shown to give the formula
θ' = tan-1(tanθ / Cos α)
θ' = Pressure angle in diametral plane

θ = Pressure angle in normal plane
α = angle of helix
As cosα is less than 1 then θ' is always greater than θ hence the
actual loading on a tooth is increased slightly for the transmission of the smae
force.
The angle of helix given to helical gears (about 30 o) is to ensure

that one end of a tooth engages before its preceding teeth has disengaged. In
this way several teeth may be in mesh and smooth transfer of load is allowed.
The axial loading caused by this type of mesh is countered by having back to
back opposite hand teeth.
Due to unbalanced axial loads caused by irregularities in the

manufacturing process and wear, the gear teeth tend to shuttle and flexible
coupling arrangements must be able to cope.
Gear Bearing Load

The forc P must be carried by the bearings. Additionally the weight of the gear
wheel must be carried. By resolving the force triangle the resultant magnitude
and direction of force may be calculated. The bearing split on some gearbox
designs are angled to be at right angles to the resultant force direction under
full load. Oil supply holes are provided well away from the direction of load.
Relief and oil channels are provided to carry the oil to the load point. The
length to diameter ratio is approx. 2/3
Fo the main gear wheel which may have more than one pinion a polygon of
forces must be resolved at the wheel centre to determine resultant ahead and
astern load on the bearings
Construction of Primary Wheel

The wheel cenrte is forged integral with the shaft. Wheel is
stiifened by a number of axial steel tubes welded to the side plate. This type of
construction is resistant to vibration.
No key is fitted
Tip relief
Some early methods of gear cutting led to a lack of uniformity
between the start and end of the helix. Teeth relief is given to prevent shock
loading caused by this. Some teeth relief is also given to reduce loading and
prevent subsequent breakdown of the oil film. Too much tip relief reduces the
effective depth to a point where the number of teeth in contact is reduced. Also
due to the distortion of the Torque twist and bending due to the tooth load and
bearing reactions the load tends to be thrown towards the outer edge of the
tooth. Hence, the ends of the teeth are chamfered to 30 o both from tip to root
but also the tooth width is reduced by chamfer to about half root width .
Tooth cutting process

The gear teeth are cut in a separate room which is kept at constant
temperature. They are hobbled, then they are shaved ( a scrapper takes off
very fine slivers and is free to follow the tooth form )
The ends and tip of the teeth are relieved.
Pinion and wheel are arranged so as not to be as multiples of each

other e.g. if ratio 10:250 was required the designer would use 10:251 so that
there where many revolutions before two teeth repeated a mesh
Involute shape
Often described as the form a the end of a taut string on a drum follows when
it is unwound.
This form gives a strong root section, improving the resistance to

bending whilst being able to tolerate a degree of misalignment.
Nomenclature
It can be seen that increasing the distance between the centres of
the gears will not change the gearing ratio but will change the pressure angle.
The pitch circle can be related to the diameter of a drum with no

gear teeth when related to gear speeds and hence gear ratio's.
n1/n2 = d1/d2 = N1/N2
n = speed of rotation
d = diameter of pitch circle
N = Number of teeth
Geartooth nomenclature
The pressure angles are normally kept between 14.5 - 20 o . Too high and it
tends to produce sharp pointed teeth of increased pitch. Too fine and it tends
to produce undercutting.
The root circle must be at a radius greater than the base circle for
the tooth shape to fall on the involute curve. By definition, any undercutting
below the base line cannot be of the involute shape i.e. the involute curve is
generated from the base circles of both gears. For pinion of the all addendum
form the root circle is pushed out to the base circle so all of the tooth is of the
involute shape. The mating teeth are then all addendum. the teeth engage
with pure rolling action at the pitch circle and are only in contact during the arc
of recess with the relative sliding in one definite direction over the whole tooth
The addendum and deddendum for the pinion and wheel are made
different to give the clearance. This allow oil to become entrapped flow around
and out giving a cooling effect. Also it allows debris to be washed out. The
provision of the clearance also allows fillets to be introduced into the base of
the teeth without causing interference.
Modified teeth ( not normal nowadays)
The pinion, being subjected to the highest stress fluctuations is more likely to
fail. Hence the pinion may be given a positive Addendum Modification to
increase the thickness of the root thereby reducing bending stresses. This is
especially seen on pinions with a small number of teeth to avoid undercutting
If the pinion was made with all addendum, the arc of contact would be reduced
and the wheel would require all deddendum teeth profile. This gives a very
thick root form for the pinion , this is particularly seen on nested gears.
BACKLASH
The backlash in a tooth is limited to oil film thickness and also to allow
movement to alleviate problems caused by;
i. Angular movement
ii. Expansion
iii. Flexibility within gear set
MATERIALS IN USE
Up until 20 yrs ago 'through hardened' materials were widely used and still are
but less frequently. These are carbon steel wheel rims and nickel steel pinions.
The factors which govern the suitability of a material are;
1. Surface strength,i.e. resistance to pitting and flaking. This has found
to increase with tensile strength but only to a point with fatigue
strength.
2. Tooth bending fatigue strength i.e. the ability to resist fracture at or
about the root due to the cyclical application of loads
3. The ability to resist scuffing and scoring during short term
lubrication failure, and a resistance to wear.
The ideal was to have both wheel and pinion carburised then
machined to remove imperfections caused by the carburising process. Here
materials are held at 900'C in carbon rich atmosphere. However this is
expensive and difficult to carry out on large wheel rims.
Heat treatment is carried out after the hardening process.
Balance is to use the hard on soft principle, after hobbing and

shaving only the pinions are hardened by nitriding (the shaft is heated in an
atmosphere containing free hydrogen, created by heating ammonia to 500'C)
Nitriding created little distortion hence making grinding unnecessary.
Providing proper design and manufacture and adequate lubrication
the surface should tend to work harden and provide a polished surface. As the
surface improves so does friction and wear. Pinion may be 3% nickel,
chromium, molybdenum steel. Wheel may be 0.4-0.5 % carbon steel

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Tooth design

Forces acting on Spur Gears

T= Force transmitted due to torque (torque/pitch radius)

Forces acting on Helical Gears

θ' = Pressure angle in diametral plane

The angle of helix given to helical gears (about 30 o) is to ensure

Due to unbalanced axial loads caused by irregularities in the

Gear Bearing Load

Construction of Primary Wheel

Tooth cutting process

The ends and tip of the teeth are relieved.

Pinion and wheel are arranged so as not to be as multiples of each

This form gives a strong root section, improving the resistance to

The pitch circle can be related to the diameter of a drum with no

n1/n2 = d1/d2 = N1/N2

Modified teeth ( not normal nowadays)

Heat treatment is carried out after the hardening process.

Balance is to use the hard on soft principle, after hobbing and

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