1、Gears and gear driveGears are the most durable and rugged of all mechanical drives. They can transmit high power at efficiencies up to 98% and with long service lives. For this reason, gears rather than belts or chains are found in automotive transmissions and most heavy-duty machine drives. On the
2、other hand, gears are more expensive than other drives, especially if they are machined and not made from power metal or plastic. Gear cost increases sharply with demands for high precision and accuracy. So it is important to establish tolerance requirements appropriate for the application. Gears th
3、at transmit heavy loads or than operate at high speeds are not particularly expensive, but gears that must do both are costly. Silent gears also are expensive. Instrument and computer gears tend to be costly because speed or displacement ratios must be exact. At the other extreme, gears operating at
4、 low speed in exposed locations are normally termed no critical and are made to minimum quality standards. For tooth forms, size, and quality, industrial practice is to follow standards set up by the American Gear Manufactures Association (AGMA). Tooth form Standards published by AGMA establish gear
5、 proportions and tooth profiles. Tooth geometry is determined primarily by pitch, depth, and pressure angle. Pitch：Standards pitches are usually whole numbers when measured as diametral pitch P. Coarse-pitch gearing has teeth larger than 20 diametral pitch usually 0.5 to 19.99. Fine-pitch gearing us
6、ually has teeth of diametral pitch 20 to 200.Depth: Standardized in terms of pitch. Standard full-depth have working depth of 2/p. If the teeth have equal addenda(as in standard interchangeable gears) the addendum is 1/p. Stub teeth have a working depth usually 20% less than full-depth teeth. Full-d
7、epth teeth have a larger contract ratio than stub teeth. Gears with small numbers of teeth may have undercut so than they do not interfere with one another during engagement. Undercutting reduce active profile and weakens the tooth.Mating gears with long and short addendum have larger load-carrying
8、capacity than standard gears. The addendum of the smaller gear (pinion) is increased while that of larger gear is decreased, leaving the whole depth the same. This form is know as recess-action gearing.Pressure Angle: Standard angles are and . Earlier standards include a 14-pressure angle that is st
9、ill used. Pressure angle affects the force that tends to separate mating gears. High pressure angle decreases the contact ratio (ratio of the number of teeth in contact) but provides a tooth of higher capacity and allows gears to have fewer teeth without undercutting.Backlash: Shortest distances bet
10、ween the non-contacting surfaces of adjacent teeth . Gears are commonly specified according to AGMA Class Number, which is a code denoting important quality characteristics. Quality number denote tooth-element tolerances. The higher the number, the closer the tolerance. Number 8 to 16 apply to fine-
11、pitch gearing.Gears are heat-treated by case-hardening, through-hardening, nitriding, or precipitation hardening. In general, harder gears are stronger and last longer than soft ones. Thus, hardening is a device that cuts the weight and size of gears. Some processes, such as flame-hardening, improve
12、 service life but do not necessarily improve strength. Design checklistThe larger in a pair is called the gear, the smaller is called the pinion.Gear Ratio: The number of teeth in the gear divide by the number of teeth in the pinion. Also, ratio of the speed of the pinion to the speed of the gear. I
13、n reduction gears, the ratio of input to output speeds.Gear Efficiency: Ratio of output power to input power. (includes consideration of power losses in the gears, in bearings, and from windage and churning of lubricant.)Speed: In a given gear normally limited to some specific pitchline velocity. Sp
14、eed capabilities can be increased by improving accuracy of the gear teeth and by improving balance of the rotating parts.Power: Load and speed capacity is determined by gear dimensions and by type of gear. Helical and helical-type gears have the greatest capacity (to approximately 30,000 hp). Spiral
15、 bevel gear are normally limited to 5,000 hp, and worm gears are usually limited to about 750 hp.Special requirementsMatched-Set Gearing: In applications requiring extremely high accuracy, it may be necessary to match pinion and gear profiles and leads so that mismatch does not exceed the tolerance
16、on profile or lead for the intended application.Tooth Spacing: Some gears require high accuracy in the circular of teeth. Thus, specification of pitch may be required in addition to an accuracy class specification.Backlash: The AMGA standards recommend backlash ranges to provide proper running clearances for mating gears. An overly tight mesh may produce overload. However, zero backlash is required in some applicatio
