Experiment No: 7

Aim: Study of power transmitting elements: gears, coupling, keys,

Bearings & shafts.
Objectives:
DEFINITION OF GEARS:
Gears are toothed members which transmit power / motion between two shafts by
meshing without any slip. Hence, gear drives are also called positive drives. In any pair
of gears, the smaller one is called pinion and the larger one is called gear immaterial of
which is driving the other. When pinion is the driver, it results in step down drive in
which the output speed decreases and the torque increases. On the other hand, when the
gear is the driver, it results in step up drive in which the output speed increases and the
torque decreases.

CLASSIFICATION OF GEAR:
Gears are classified according to the shape of the tooth pair and disposition into
spur, helical, double helical, straight bevel, spiral bevel and hypoid bevel, worm and
spiral gears.

1. SPUR GEARS:
Spur gears have their teeth parallel to the axis in Fig. and are used for transmitting power
between two parallel shafts.
They are simple in construction, easy to manufacture and cost less. They have highest
efficiency and excellent precision rating.
They are used in high speed and high load application in all types of trains and a wide
range of velocity ratios. Hence, they find wide applications right from clocks, household
gadgets, motor cycles, automobiles, and railways to aircrafts.

2. HELICAL GEARS:

Helical gears are used for parallel shaft drives. They have teeth inclined to the
axis as shown in Fig.
Hence for the same width, their teeth are longer than spur gears and have higher
load carrying capacity. Their contact ratio is higher than spur gears and they operate
smoother and quieter than spur gears.
They are recommended for very high speeds and loads.
Applications: automotive gearboxes, machine tool gear box, rolling mills, steam
and gas turbines.
 Their efficiency is slightly lower than spur gears. The helix angle also introduces
axial thrust on the shaft.

3. DOUBLE HELICAL GEAR OR HERRINGBONE GEAR:

Double helical or Herringbone gears used for transmitting power between two
parallel shafts.
They have opposing helical teeth with or without a gap depending on the
manufacturing method adopted, Two axial thrusts oppose each other and nullify. Hence
the shaft is free from any axial force.
Though their load capacity is very high, manufacturing difficulty makes them
costlier than single helical gear.
Their applications are limited to high capacity reduction drives like that of cement
mills and crushers.
 4. INTERNAL GEAR:

Internal gears are used for transmitting power between two parallel shafts. In
these gears, annular wheels are having teeth on the inner periphery. This makes the drive
very compact Shown in Fig.
In these drives, the meshing pinion and annular gear are running in the same direction.
Their precision rating is fair. They are useful for high load and high speed application
with high reduction ratio.
They are not recommended for precision meshes because of design, fabrication,
and inspection limitations. They should only be used when internal feature is necessary.
However, today precision machining capability has led to their usage even in position
devices like antenna drives.
Applications of these gears can be seen in planetary gear drives of automobile
automatic transmissions, reduction gearboxes of cement mills, step-up drives of wind
mills.
 5. RACK AND PINION :

fig.1

fig.2
Rack is a segment of a gear of infinite diameter. The tooth can be spur as in Fig.1
or helical as in Fig.2. This type of gearing is used for converting rotary motion into
translatory motion or vice versa.
These types of gears are used in Lathe Carriage, Radial drilling machine spindle
movement.
 6. STRAIGHT BEVEL GEAR:

Straight bevel gears are used for transmitting power between intersecting shafts.
They can operate under high speeds and high loads. Their precision rating is fair to good.
They are suitable for 1:1 and higher velocity ratios and for right-angle meshes to any
other angles. Their good choice is for right angle drive of particularly low ratios.
However, complicated both form and fabrication limits achievement of precision.
They should be located at one of the less critical meshes of the train. Wide
application of the straight bevel drives is in automotive differentials, right angle drives of
blenders and conveyors.
 7. WORM GEAR:

(b)

Worm and worm gear pair consists of a worm, which is very similar to a
screw and a worm gear, which is a helical gear as shown in Fig. They are used in right-
angle skew shafts. In these gears, the engagement occurs without any shock. The sliding
action prevalent in the system while resulting in quieter operation produces considerable
frictional heat. High reduction ratios 8 to 400 are possible.

Efficiency of these gears is low anywhere from 90% to 40 %. Higher speed ratio
gears are non-reversible. Their precision rating is fair to good. They need good
lubrication for heat dissipation and for improving the efficiency. The drives are very
compact.

Worm gearing finds wide application in material handling and transportation machinery,
machine tools, automobiles etc. An industrial worm gear box used for converting
horizontal to vertical drive.

COUPLINGS:
Couplings are used to connect two shafts for torque transmission in varied
applications. It may be to connect two units such as a motor and a generator or it may be
to form a long line shaft by connecting shafts of standard lengths say 6-8m by couplings.
Coupling may be rigid or they may provide flexibility and compensate for misalignment.
They may also reduce shock loading and vibration. A wide variety of commercial shaft
couplings are available ranging from a simple keyed coupling to one which requires a
complex design procedure using gears or fluid drives etc.
However there are two main types of couplings:
Rigid couplings
Flexible couplings

1. RIGID COUPLING:
Since these couplings cannot absorb any misalignment the shafts to be
connected by a rigid coupling must have good lateral and angular alignment. The
types of misalignments are shown schematically in fig.
A. Muff or Sleeve coupling:
One of the simple type of rigid coupling is a sleeve coupling which
consists of a cylindrical sleeve keyed to the shafts to be connected. A typical
sleeve coupling is shown in fig.,

B. Flange coupling:
A typical rigid flange coupling is shown in Fig.
If essentially consists of two cast iron flanges which are keyed to the shafts to
be joined. The flanges are brought together and are bolted in the annular space
between the hub and the protecting flange. The protective flange is provided
to guard the projecting bolt heads and nuts. The bolts are placed equi-spaced
on a bolt circle diameter and the number of bolt depends on the shaft diameter
d. A spigot A on one flange and a recess on the opposing face is provided
for ease of assembly.
2. Flexible Couplings:
These couplings can accommodate some misalignment and impact.
A large variety of flexible couplings are available commercially and
principal features of only a few will be discussed here.

A. Oldham coupling:
These couplings can accommodate both lateral and angular misalignment
to some extent. An Oldham coupling consists of two flanges with slots on the
faces and the flanges are keyed or screwed to the shafts. A cylindrical piece,
called the disc, has a narrow rectangular raised portion running across each face
but at right angle to each other. The disc is placed between the flanges such that
the raised portions fit into the slots in the flanges. The disc may be made of
flexible materials and this absorbs some misalignment.
B. Universal coupling or hooks joint:
These joints are capable of handling relatively large angular
misalignment and they are widely used in agricultural machinery, machine
tools and automobiles. A typical universal joint is shown in fig. There are
many forms of these couplings, available commercially but they essentially
consist of two forks keyed or screwed to the shaft. There is a center piece
through which pass two pins with mutually perpendicular axes and they
connect the two fork ends such that a large angular misalignment can be
accommodated. The coupling, often known as, Hookes coupling has no
torsional rigidity nor can it accommodate any parallel offset.
 Fig. Hooks joint

KEYS:
Steel keys are widely used in securing machine parts such as gears and pulleys.
There is a large variety of machine keys and they may be classified under four broad
headings:
Sunk keys, flat keys, saddle keys and pins or round keys.

1. Sunk key:
Sunk keys may be further classified into the following categories:
(a) Rectangular sunk keys
(b) Gib head sunk keys
(c) Feather keys
(d) Woodruff keys

A. Rectangular sunk keys: are shown in fig. They are the simplest form of
machine keys and may be either straight or slightly tapered on one side. The
parallel side is usually fitted into the shaft.The slots are milled as shown in fig.
While transmitting torque a rectangular sunk key is subjected to both shear
and crushing or bearing stresses.
B. Gib head sunk keys :The gib head keys are ordinary sunk keys tapered on
top with a raised head on one side so that its removal is easy. This is shown in
fig.

C. Feather Key: Some feather key arrangements are shown in fig.

A feather key is used when one component slides over another. The key may
be fastened either to the hub or the shaft and the keyway usually has a sliding
fit.

D. Woodruff Key: A woodruff key is a form of sunk key where the key shape is
that of a truncated disc, as shown in fig. It is usually used for shafts less than
about 60 mm diameter and the keyway is cut in the shaft using a milling
cutter, as shown in the fig. It is widely used in machine tools and automobiles
due to the extra advantage derived from the extra depth.
2. Lewis keys: Lewis keys, shown in fig, are expensive but offer excellent service.
They may be used as a single or double key. When they are used as a single key
the positioning depends on the direction of rotation of the shaft. For heavy load
two keys can be used as shown in fig.

3. Flat Key: A flat key, as shown in fig. is used for light load because they depend
entirely on friction for the grip. The sides of these keys are parallel but the top is
slightly tapered for a tight fit. Theses keys have about half the thickness of sunk
keys.
 4. Saddle Key: A saddle key, shown in fig., is very similar to a flat key except that
the bottom side is concave to fit the shaft surface. These keys also have friction
grip and therefore cannot be used for heavy loads. A simple pin can be used as a
key to transmit large torques. Very little stress concentration occurs in the shaft in
these cases. This is shown in fig.

BEARINGS:
Bearing is a machine element which supports another moving machine element
called journal.
Bearing permits a relative motion between the contact surfaces of the members, while
carrying the load.
Functions of bearings:
1. The bearing provides the support to the shaft or axle and holes them in correct
position.
2. The bearing facilitates free rotation of the shaft or axle with minimum amount of
friction
Classification of bearings:
1. According to nature of contact:
i. Sliding contact bearings
ii. Rolling contact bearings
2. According to the direction of load to be supported:
i. Thrust bearings
ii. Radial bearings
 Types of rolling contact bearings:
1. Ball bearings:
i. Single row deep groove ball bearings
ii. Double row deep groove ball bearings
iii. Angular contact bearings
iv. Self-aligning bearings
2. Roller bearings
i. Cylindrical roller bearings
ii. Spherical roller bearings
iii. Tapered roller bearings
iv. Needle roller bearings

1. Ball bearings:
i. Single row deep groove ball bearings:
- These bearings have high radial load carrying capacity and moderate thrust
load capacity.
ii. Double row deep groove ball bearings:
- These bearings are appreciably narrower than the two single row bearings
- The load carrying capacity of such bearings is slightly less than twice that of
single row bearings.

a) Single-Row Deep-Groove Ball Bearing B)Double-Row Deep-Groove Ball

Bearing
iii. Angular contact bearings:
- In these bearings, one side of the outer race is cut to insert the balls. This
permits the bearing to take the thrust load only in one direction
- These bearings are generally mounted in pairs, either side by side or at the
opposite ends of shaft
iv. Self aligning bearings :
- Self aligning bearings can compensate for the angular misalignment between
the axes of shaft and housing.
- The misalignment is either because of deflection of shaft or mounting errors
- These bearings consist of two rows of balls, which roll on a common spherical
surface in the outer race and the inner race can freely adjust itself to the
angular misalignment of the shaft.
a) Angular Contact Bearing b)Self Aligning Bearing

3. Roller bearings:

. Cylindrical roller bearings:

- In these bearings, due to large contact area between roller and races, there is
increase in load carrying capacity.
- These bearings are used in high speed applications
. Spherical roller bearings:
- These types of bearing consist of two rows of spherical rollers which run on a
common spherical surface in the outer race.
- Radial loads and thrust load carrying capacity of these bearings is relatively
high.

a) Cylindrical Roller Bearing b)Spherical Roller Bearing

. Tapered rolling bearings

- The rolling element of these bearings is in the form of frustum of cone as
shown in fig.
- These bearings are generally used in pairs to take the thrust load in either
direction.

V. Needle roller bearings:

- These bearings are relatively slender and completely fill the space so that
neither a cage nor a retainer is required.
- These bearings are used for heavy loads with oscillatory motion.
 - For example, piston pin bearing in diesel engine.

a) Taper Roller Bearing b) Needle Roller Bearing

SHAFTS:
A shaft is a rotating member, usually of circular cross-section, used to transmit
power or motion.
Types of shafts:
1. Transmission shafts
2. Machine shafts
1. Transmission shafts:

- A shaft which is used to transmit the power between the source and the
machine absorbing the power is called the transmission shaft.
- The transmission shafts supports transmission elements like: gears,
pulleys, sprockets,etc.
- Example: line shaft and counter shaft
2. Machine shafts:

- A machine shaft is the short rotating shaft which forms an integral part of
the machine itself.
- Machine shafts are subjected to torque , bending moment and or axial
force. Similar to transmission shaft.
- Example: spindle and crankshaft
Shaft material and their desirable properties:
1) It should have high static strength.
2) It should have high fatigue strength.
3) It should be ductile.
4) It should have high machinability.
The material commonly used for shaft: plain carbon steels like: 40C8, 45C8,
55C8 and alloy steels like: 40Crl