Introduction

1. Gear
A toothed wheel that engages another toothed mechanism in order to change the
speed or direction of transmitted motion.

Fig. 1 Gear [Ref. 4]

A gear is a component within a transmission device that transmits rotational force to

another gear or device. A gear is different from a pulley in that a gear is a round wheel which
has linkages ("teeth" or "cogs") that mesh with other gear teeth, allowing force to be fully
transferred without slippage. Depending on their construction and arrangement, geared
devices can transmit forces at different speeds, torques, or in a different direction, from the
power source. The most common situation is for a gear to mesh with another gear.

Gears most important feature is that gears of unequal sizes (diameters) can be
combined to produce a mechanical advantage, so that the rotational speed and torque of the
second gear are different from that of the first.

To overcome the problem of slippage as in belt drives, gears are used which produce
positive drive with uniform angular velocity.

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2.Gear Classification
Gears or toothed wheels may be classified as follows:
1. According to the position of axes of the shafts.
The axes of the two shafts between which the motion is to be transmitted, may be
a. Parallel
b. Intersecting
c. Non-intersecting and Non-parallel

(a)Gears for connecting parallel shafts

Spur Gear
Teeth is parallel to axis of rotation can transmit power from one shaft to another
parallel shaft. Spur gears are the simplest and most common type of gear. Their general form
is a cylinder or disk. The teeth project radially, and with these "straight-cut gears".

Fig. 2 Spur Gear [Ref. 4]

Spur gears are gears in the same plane that move opposite of each other because they
are meshed together. Gear A is called the driver because this is turned by a motor. As gear
A turns it meshes with gear B and it begins to turn as well. Gear B is called the driven
gear.

Fig. 3 Meshing of Gears [Ref. 4]

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 Spur gears are used in Electric screwdriver, dancing monster, oscillating sprinkler,
windup alarm clock, washing machine and clothes dryer.

Parallel Helical Gear

The teeth on helical gears are cut at an angle to the face of the gear. When two teeth
on a helical gear system engage, the contact starts at one end of the tooth and gradually
spreads as the gears rotate, until the two teeth are in full engagement.

Fig. 4 Parallel Helical Gear [Ref. 4]

This gradual engagement makes helical gears operate much more smoothly and
quietly than spur gears. For this reason, helical gears are used in almost all car transmissions.
Because of the angle of the teeth on helical gears, they create a thrust load on the gear when
they mesh. Devices that use helical gears have bearings that can support this thrust load. One
interesting thing about helical gears is that if the angles of the gear teeth are correct, they can
be mounted on perpendicular shafts, adjusting the rotation angle by 90 degrees.

Fig. 5 Crossed Helical Gear [Ref. 4]

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Herringbone gears

To avoid axial thrust, two helical gears of opposite hand can be mounted side by side,
to cancel resulting thrust forces. These are called double helical or herringbone gears

Fig. 6 Herringbone gears (or double-helical gears) [Ref. 4]

The most common application is in power transmission. They utilize curved teeth for
efficient, high capacity power transmission. This offers reduced pulsation due to which they
are highly used for extrusion and polymerization. Herringbone gears are mostly used on
heavy machinery.

(b) Gears for connecting intersecting shafts

Straight Bevel Gear

Bevel gears are useful when the direction of a shaft's rotation needs to be changed.
They are usually mounted on shafts that are 90 degrees apart, but can be designed to work at
other angles as well. The teeth on bevel gears can be straight, spiral or hypoid. Straight
bevel gear teeth actually have the same problem as straight spur gear teeth as each tooth
engages, it impacts the corresponding tooth all at once.

Fig.7 Bevel Gear [Ref. 4]

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Just like with spur gears, the solution to this problem is to curve the gear teeth. These spiral
teeth engage just like helical teeth: the contact starts at one end of the gear and progressively
spreads across the whole tooth.

On straight and spiral bevel gears, the shafts must be perpendicular to each other, but they
must also be in the same plane. If you were to extend the two shafts past the gears, they
would intersect
The bevel gear has many diverse applications such as locomotives, marine applications,
automobiles, printing presses, cooling towers, power plants, steel plants, railway track
inspection machines, etc.

(c) Gears for connecting non-intersecting and non-parallel shafts

Worm and worm gear
Worm gears are used when large gear reductions are needed. It is common for worm
gears to have reductions of 20:1, and even up to 300:1 or greater. Many worm gears have an
interesting property that no other gear set has: the worm can easily turn the gear, but the gear
cannot turn the worm.

Fig. 8 Worm and Worm Gear [Ref. 4]

This is because the angle on the worm is so shallow that when the gear tries to spin it, the
friction between the gear and the worm holds the worm in place. This feature is useful for
machines such as conveyor systems, in which the locking feature can act as a brake for the
conveyor when the motor is not turning. One other very interesting usage of worm gears is in
the Torsen differential, which is used on some high-performance cars and trucks. They are
used in right-angle or skew shaft drives.
Worm gears are used widely in material handling and transportation machinery,
machine tools, automobiles etc.

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2. According to the peripheral velocity of the gears
The gears, according to the peripheral velocity of the gears, may be classified as:
(a) Low velocity, (b) Medium velocity, and (c) High velocity.
The gears having velocity less than 3 m/s are termed as low velocity gears and gears having
velocity between 3 and 15 m / s are known as medium velocity gears. If the velocity of gears
is more than 15 m / s, then these are called high speed gears.

3. According to the type of gearing

The gears, according to the type of gearing, may be classified as:
(a) External gearing, (b) Internal gearing, and (c) Rack and pinion.
(a) External gearing: In external gearing, the gears of the two shafts mesh externally with
each other. The larger of these two wheels is called spur wheel or gear and the smaller wheel
is called pinion. In an external gearing, the motion of the two wheels is always unlike.
(b) Internal gearing: In internal gearing, the gears of the two shafts mesh internally with
each other. The larger of these two wheels is called annular wheel and the smaller wheel is
called pinion. In an internal gearing, the motion of the wheels is always like.

Fig. 9 Internal and external gears [Ref. 4]

(c) Rack and pinion: Sometimes, the gear of a shaft meshes externally and internally with
the gears in a straight line Such a type of gear is called rack and pinion. The straight line gear
is called rack and the circular wheel is called pinion. A little consideration will show that
with the help of a rack and pinion, we can convert linear motion into rotary motion.

Fig. 10 Rack and pinion [Ref. 4]

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3.Nomenclature of spur gears

Fig. 11 Nomenclature of Spur Gear [Ref. 3]

Pitch surface: The surface of the imaginary rolling cylinder (cone, etc.) that the toothed gear
may be considered to replace.

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Pitch circle: A right section of the pitch surface.

Addendum circle: A circle bounding the ends of the teeth, in a right section of the gear.

Root (or dedendum) circle: The circle bounding the spaces between the teeth, in a right
section of the gear.

Addendum: The radial distance between the pitch circle and the addendum circle.

Dedendum: The radial distance between the pitch circle and the root circle.

Clearance: The difference between the dedendum of one gear and the addendum of the
mating gear.

Face of a tooth: That part of the tooth surface lying outside the pitch surface.

Flank of a tooth: The part of the tooth surface lying inside the pitch surface.

Circular thickness (also called the tooth thickness): The thickness of the tooth measured on
the pitch circle. It is the length of an arc and not the length of a straight line.

Tooth space: pitch diameter The distance between adjacent teeth measured on the pitch
circle.

Backlash: The difference between the circle thickness of one gear and the tooth space of the
mating gear.

Circular pitch (Pc) : The width of a tooth and a space, measured on the pitch circle.

D
Pc
N
Diametral pitch (Pd): The number of teeth of a gear unit pitch diameter. A toothed gear must
have an integral number of teeth. The circular pitch, therefore, equals the pitch circumference
divided by the number of teeth. The diametral pitch is, by definition, the number of teeth
divided by the pitch diameter. That is,

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 N
Pd
D

Where

Pc = circular pitch
Pd = diametral pitch
N = number of teeth
D = pitch diameter

Module (m): Pitch diameter divided by number of teeth. The pitch diameter is usually
specified in inches or millimeters; in the former case the module is the inverse of diametral
pitch.

m = D/N

Fillet: The small radius that connects the profile of a tooth to the root circle.

Pinion: The smaller of any pair of mating gears. The larger of the pair is called simply the
gear.

Velocity ratio: The ratio of the number of revolutions of the driving (or input) gear to the
number of revolutions of the driven (or output) gear, in a unit of time.

Pitch point: The point of tangency of the pitch circles of a pair of mating gears.

Common tangent: The line tangent to the pitch circle at the pitch point.

Line of action: A line normal to a pair of mating tooth profiles at their point of contact.

Path of contact: The path traced by the contact point of a pair of tooth profiles.

Pressure angle ( ): The angle between the common normal at the point of tooth contact and
the common tangent to the pitch circles. It is also the angle between the line of action and the
common tangent.

Base circle: An imaginary circle used in involute gearing to generate the involutes that form
the tooth profiles.

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4.Forms of Teeth
Following are the two types of teeth commonly used.
1. Cycloidal teeth and 2. Involute teeth.
1. Cycloidal Teeth
A cycloid is the curve traced by a point on the circumference of a circle which rolls without
slipping on a fixed straight line. When a circle rolls without slipping on the outside of a fixed
circle, the curve traced by a point on the circumference of a circle is known as epicycloid. On
the other hand, if a circle rolls without slipping on the inside of a fixed circle, then the curve
traced by a point on the circumference of a circle is called hypocycloid.
2. Involute Teeth
An involute of a circle is a plane curve generated by a point on a tangent, which rolls on the
circle without slipping or by a point on a taut string which is unwrapped from a reel. In
connection with toothed wheels, the circle is known as base circle.

Advantages of involute teeth

Following are the advantages of involute gears:
1. The most important advantage of the involute gears is that the centre distance for a pair of
involute gears can be varied within limits without changing the velocity ratio. This is not true
for cycloidal gears which requires exact centre distance to be maintained.
2. In involute gears, the pressure angle, from the start of the engagement of teeth to the end of
the engagement, remains constant. It is necessary for smooth running and less wear of gears.
But in cycloidal gears, the pressure angle is maximum at the beginning of engagement,
reduces to zero at pitch point, starts increasing and again becomes maximum at the end of
engagement. This results in less smooth running of gears.
3. The face and flank of involute teeth are generated by a single curve whereas in cycloidal
gears, double curves (i.e. epicycloid and hypocycloid) are required for the face and flank
respectively. Thus the involute teeth are easy to manufacture than cycloidal teeth. In involute
system, the basic rack has straight teeth and the same can be cut with simple tools.

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 Literature Review

There has been a great deal of research on gear analysis, and a large body of literature
on gear modeling has been published. The gear stress analysis, the transmission errors, and
the prediction of gear dynamic loads, gear noise, and the optimal design for gear sets are
always major concerns in gear design.

Pinaknath et al. (2016) analysed the bending stresses characteristics of an involute

spur gear tooth under static loading conditions. The tooth profile is generated using Catia and
the analysis is carried out by Finite element method using ANSYS software. The stresses at
the tooth root are evaluated analytically using existing theoretical models. The theoretical and
FEM results are compared. The results obtained theoretically are in good agreement with
those obtained from software. Also an attempt is made there to introduce Stress and
displacement characteristics of tooth under dynamic loading conditions.

Krishanu et al. (2015) analysed static stresses for spur gear with different pressure
angles. The analysed results of a symmetric type involute profiled spur gear pair at different
pressure angles are compared. Gears are one of the most important and crucial component in
a mechanical power transmission unit and also in most of the industrial rotating machineries.
Generally, a spur gear pair in action undergoes two types of stresses: the bending stress and
the contact stress. In this paper, both these stresses on the gear tooth pair are analyzed using
the finite element analysis and are compared. The stresses on the gear tooth are first analyzed
using a finite element software and then those results are validated using the conventional
formulae for finding stresses in gear tooth.

Rajaprabakaran et al. (2014) analysed high stress concentration at the root and the
point of contact. The repeated stressing on the fillets causes the fatigue failure of gear tooth.
The main objective of this study is to add different shaped holes to reduce stress
concentration. A finite element model of Spur gear with a segment of three teeth is
considered for analysis and stress concentration reducing holes of various sizes are
introduced on gear teeth at various locations. Analysis revealed that aero-fin shaped hole
introduced along the stress flow direction yielded better results.

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 Prajapati et al. (2013) analyzed bending stress at critical section of asymmetric spur
gear. Bending stress at critical section is most important parameter in gear design. It must be
low as low possible. To minimize it by optimize all affected Parameters of asymmetric spur
gear tooth to reduce Bending Stress at critical section of tooth. This reduction can translate
into Increased Load Capacity, Size and Weight Reduction, Longer Life, Cost Reduction,
Increased Reliability, Noise and Vibration reduction, Increased Gear Efficiency and
Maintenance Cost Reduction etc. As the pressure angle on drive side increases, the bending
stress reduces at critical section of asymmetric spur gear. But Decision on maximum
magnitude of drive side pressure angle is constraint by the safe contact ratio and tooth
peaking effect. These way parameters are affecting directly or indirectly on performance.
There are so many parameters are likes Contact ratio, Top land tip thickness, Pressure angle
on drive side profile, Pressure angle on coast side profile, Asymmetry factor, No. of teeth,
Interference, Undercut, Centre distance, Gear ratio, Critical section thickness, Profile shift of
pinion, Profile shift of gear, Module, Bending stress at critical section, Optimal fillet radius
and Balance stress etc. affects the performance.

Rincon et al. (2013) presented the procedure to determine loaded transmission error
of a spur gear transmission as well as meshing stiffness and load sharing ratio. The procedure
also allows a better representation of load transfer between teeth pairs. The analysis of
contact forces and deformations in spur gear transmissions was done using an advanced
model. The deformation at each gear contact point was assumed as a combination of a global
and a local term. The global term was obtained by means of a finite element model and the
local term was described by an analytical approach derived from Hertzian contact theory. The
quasi static behaviour of a single stage spur gear transmission was discussed in this study
using numerical example, which showed the capabilities of the methodology to obtain the
loaded transmission error under several load levels as well as some other related measures
such as load ratio or meshing stiffness.

Ristivojevic et al. (2013) studied the impact of load distribution in meshed teeth.
Also teeth geometry and manufacturing accuracy on wear of the spur gear tooth flanks were
studied in this paper. Due to wearing causes uneven load distribution hence dynamic forces
increases, and thus energy efficiency was decreases. A larger number of impacts on the tooth
flanks stress state were taken into account so as to reach more accurate model for the analysis
of tooth flanks load carrying capacity. A mathematical model depending on the value and

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sign of base pitch difference of meshed teeth developed for the contact stress during contact
period. It was concluded that the original geometry and proper teeth mesh were impaired by
adhesive wear. This results in the lower efficiency, larger variation of load distribution and
higher dynamic forces. Uniformity and intensity of tooth flanks wear depend on pitch point
position on the profiles of meshed teeth.

Kim et al. (2010) analysed the dynamic response of a pair of spur gears having
translational motion due to bearing deformation. A new dynamic model for the gear set was
formed considering translational motion which means the distance between the centres of a
pinion and a gear varies with time. So the pressure angle and the contact ratio were
considered as time varying variables. The dynamic responses were computed by applying the
Newmark time integration method after deriving nonlinear equations of motion for gears. The
new model gave more accurate dynamic responses. The effects of damping and stiffness upon
the dynamic responses were also investigated.

Shuting et al. (2008) investigated the effect of addendum on tooth contact strength,
bending strength and other performance parameters of spur gears. Mathematical
programming method (MPM) and finite element method (FEM) were used together to
conduct loaded tooth contact analyses (LTCA), deformation and stress calculations of spur
gears with different addendums and contact ratios. Tooth load, load-sharing, contact stresses,
root bending stresses, transmission errors and mesh stiffnesses of the spur gears were
analyzed. Effects of addendum and contact ratio on gear strength and basic performance
parameters were also discussed.Finally, strength calculations of HCRG by considering
misalignment error and lead crowning were presented in this paper.

Podzharov et al. (2008) used high contact ratio spur gears to exclude or reduce the
variation of tooth stiffness. In this work the analysis of static and dynamic transmission error
of spur gears with standard tooth of 20 profile angle was presented. A simple method for
designing spur gears having a contact ratio nearly 2.0 was used. It included the increasing the
number of teeth on mating gears and simultaneously introducing negative profile shift in
order to provide the same center distance. A tooth mesh of periodic structure was used to
consider deflection and errors of each pair of teeth in the engagement. Computer programs
were developed to calculate static and dynamic transmission error of gears under load. This

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analysis of gears concluded that gears with high contact ratio have much less static and
dynamic transmission error than standard gears.

Shuting et al. (2007) presented three-dimensional (3-D), finite element methods

(FEM) to conduct surface contact stress (SCS) and root bending stress (RBS) calculations of
a pair of spur gears with machining errors (ME), assembly errors (AE) and tooth
modifications (TM). In this paper, firstly positions of a pair of parallel-shaft spur gears with
ME, AE and TM were defined in a 3-D coordinate system. The tooth contact of the gear pair
was assumed on a reference face around the geometrical contact line. Deformation influence
coefficients of the pairs of contact points were calculated by 3-D, FEM and loaded tooth
contact analysis (LTCA) of the pair of gears with ME, AE and TM was conducted by
mathematical programming method. Tooth contact pattern and root stains of a spur gear pair
with assembly errors were calculated using the programs and these results were compared
with experimental results. Calculated results were in agreement with the measured ones well.
It is concluded that surface contact stress and root bending stress were greater than the case
without errors and tooth modifications.

Objective of Study

Gear teeth fails due to the static and the dynamic loads acting over it, also the contact
between the two mating gears causes the surface failures. The gear fails without any warning
and the results due to this failure are catastrophic. Since the requirements are broad and are of
varying difficulty, gearing is a complex and diversified field of engineering. It includes gear
mathematics, geometrical design, strength and wear, material and metallurgy, fabrication and
inspection. Each parameter of gear plays important role in designing of gears. Following are
objectives of present study:

1. To prevent gear from failure due to fatigue loading at contact point.

2. To know the fillet radius at which the contact stress is maximum to avoid failure due to
contact stress.
3. To use the FEA analysis for fast and accurate analysis of gears.

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 Experiment Analysis

It is difficult to accurately predict the contact stress using conventional methods. On the
contrary, the contact stress and deformation can be accurately predicted using the finite
element method for contact problems with proper definition of gear geometry, loading and
boundary conditions. The spur gear is designed using ANSYS design modular. The material
used is structural steel. The various properties of gear used are:
1. Pitch Radius, = 63.5mm
2. Pressure Angle, = 20
3. No. of Teeth, = 20
4. Module, m = 6.8mm
5. Radius of Addendum, = 69.8mm
6. Radius of Dedendum, = 55.8mm
7. Shaft Radius, = 31.75mm
8. Fillet radius, r = varies between 1.27 to 3.30mm
9. Thickness, = 25.4mm

The analysis for the contact stress at the gear tooth is done by using different fillet radius
for the gear tooth. A moment of 1690 N-m is applied for the analysis. The Equivalent (von-
Mises) stress is calculated using ANSYS Workbench 17.2 and results are prepared.

Fig. 12 ANSYS Design Modular Sketch

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Equivalent (von-Mises) stress using different fillet radius

Fig. 13 Fillet radius 3.30mm Fig. 14 Fillet radius 2.54mm

Fig. 15 Fillet radius 2.15mm Fig. 16 Fillet radius 1.77mm

Fig. 16 Fillet radius

1.27mm

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 Results and conclusion

The following values of stress are obtained for different fillet radius:

S. No. Fillet Radius(mm) Max. Equivalent Stress (MPa)

1 1.27 145.34
2 1.77 159.98
3 2.15 145.57
4 2.54 158.44
5 3.30 152.47

Table 1. Stress values

Conclusion

The effect on the strength of spur involute gear by changing the radius of the circular
fillet was investigated. Gears of different parameters but having same module and pressure
angle was modelled and the contact stress due to the loading at the highest point of single
tooth contact was analysed by using Finite Element Analysis. From the analysis it is
concluded that, as the fillet radius increases from 1.27mm to 1.77mm and from 2.15mm to
2.54mm the contact stress increases. The minimum value of stress is obtained at 1.27mm and
2.15mm so gear is more safe at these values.

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14. E. Podzharov, V. Syromyatnikov, J. Navarro and R. Navarro, Static and Dynamic
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